Chapter 20 For the beauty of the past

——On the novel and performance of "A Dream in the Garden" Dear students and gentlemen: This time Tsinghua University invited me to come, and Professor Hong Mingshui had already assigned the topic for me, so I had no choice but to talk about my own stuff. Speaking about my own work is the hardest.Once, when giving a speech at the University of Wisconsin in the United States, Mr. Zhou Cezong assigned the topic for me. He asked me to talk about my novel "A Dream in the Garden" - what kind of stimulation did I get when I wrote it? What inspired me? I think, as a writer, sometimes it is difficult to say that a single event makes a novel, sometimes it is different.I remember that Maugham once traveled by boat, and saw a priest and a prostitute on the same boat; the prostitute looked cute, and the priest looked hateful, so he sympathized with the prostitute but not the priest, and wrote a novel called (The Rain) , a well-known work.It is about a pastor who loves a prostitute very much, but dares not pursue her, so he persecutes that prostitute.This is to form a novel by connecting them with two people.

Originally, I never thought about why I wrote those novels, but I was quite curious about other people's novels, and asked: "How did you write such a thing?" I never asked myself this question.Later, because Hong Mingshui asked me to talk about "A Dream in the Garden", I thought about it for a while. From "Colorful Purple and Red", leads to the root I think the most important thing is that when I watched it a long time ago, one of them described a few lines of drama Lin Daiyu listened to. It was the lyrics of "You Garden": "It turns out that there are so many blooming purple and red flowers, like this. Paying and ruining the well.” I was still a middle school student when I read this passage, and it was the first time I had an impression of the song, but I couldn’t understand it at that time, but I liked these lines very much.Therefore, if you want to talk about the root cause, I'm afraid it started from then.

I started listening to Kunqu opera "A Dream in a Garden" after I noticed the play "A Dream in a Garden".To put it simply, the story is that the daughter of the prefect of the Du family went to the garden and saw peonies in full bloom. She suddenly had a desire for life, so she had a dream. In the dream, she had a tryst with a scholar Liu Mengmei. The love and lovesickness, very eager, died of depression.However, there really was such a scholar who fell in love when he came back and saw a portrait of Du Liniang.Yan Wang sympathized with the two of them and revived Du Liniang, and the two were finally united.

The story is extremely romantic - love conquers death.When I was in the romantic period, I was very moved by the "kind of love", and decided that I would also write something, describing that love can conquer everything.Later, when I watched Kunqu Opera sing this piece of "A Dream in the Garden", I deeply felt that Kunqu Opera is the noblest and most exquisite form of our performing arts. Its beauty of rhetoric, music, and figure can be compared with other forms of drama. Nothing compares, I was amazed after watching it.Such an exquisite art form has declined today, and from this I have a feeling of mourning—beautiful things do not last long.From these sources, I began to think, if I integrate the artistic conception of Kunqu opera into the novel, I don’t know what the result will be? Just when I was very young, that is, in my childhood, I once met a lady whose Demeanor, everything about her, I have never forgotten in my life.Later I heard that she was an artist and that she sang Kunqu opera very well.After I left this impression, I thought, if I had such a heroine and told such a story, would I be able to write a novel? This is Mrs. Qian in my "A Dream in the Garden".I made up a story for her, which is a kind of mourning for the past, my most glorious era, and the nostalgia for the most beautiful art of Kunqu Opera.In this way, I wrote this novel.

Using the "stream of consciousness" technique to capture the melody of Kunqu Opera The process of writing "A Dream in the Garden" was quite tortuous. I was dissatisfied after writing it several times, and I couldn't express it. It was too far from the artistic conception of Kunqu Opera. It was the most difficult thing to express the music in words.I think the most successful example in Chinese literature is Bai Juyi's "Pipa Xing", in which he expresses music to the extreme with words.How to use words to express the music and the rhythm of the music, I spent a lot of effort, trying one by one.Later, I thought that since it was a memory, it should be in the form of memory.Especially for activities involving psychology, especially psychoanalysis, it is more appropriate to use the stream of consciousness method to write with the melody of music.In this way, I didn't feel that I had played it out until about the fifth time I wrote it.

This is one of the hardest things I've written.After I finished writing it, I didn't think that one day it would be changed into a play; I think novels and plays are completely different things. When I went to Hong Kong in 1979, the Hong Kong government held a Chinese Literature Week. When they invited me to give a speech, they simultaneously changed "A Dream in the Garden" into a play, performed by the Seal Troupe of the University of Hong Kong.Before they performed it, I didn't think of adapting "A Dream in the Garden", because I think novels and plays are completely different things, and this novel focuses on memories and is full of music. I don't know what effect it will have if it is changed into a play.Later I watched the performances in Hong Kong, and I was quite satisfied, although their scale was small, only 50 minutes of performances, completely in the form of novels.But this gave me a little inspiration. If it is expanded and dubbed with Kunqu opera, and the music of Kunqu opera is also integrated into the play, will the effect be better? After I came back, I discussed it with my friends in the cultural circles in Taiwan, and everyone encouraged me to try it. . Mr. Xu Boyun and Ms. Fan Manong, the hosts of "New Elephant", were very excited and started planning.

Lu Yan, Gui Yalei, Hu Jin, the stars stand together At the beginning of the plan, I just performed a drama. I didn't expect to encounter great difficulties later, and I had to spend a lot of time to overcome it.We started preparations two years ago. Fortunately, many friends in the cultural circles gave enthusiastic support. Many groups and individuals, even elders who did not want to be named, gave strong support and solved the problem of excessive funding.In addition, it is very important that we have found several ideal actors, directors and designers.In particular, this time we spent a lot of effort to finalize the actors. There are three important heroines: Ms. Lu Yan, Ms. Gui Yalei and Ms. Hu Jin.

At the same time, I was very touched this time, because the budget of the performance was very large, and it was impossible to pay for the actors and staff, so all the staff: actors, directors, designers... were all voluntary to participate, and their interest was also very high.In addition, Mr. Cao Jian and Ms. Qian Lu, seniors in the drama industry, also participated.Our leading actor is Mr. Jin Chaoqun, an actor from China Television, who once performed "Spring Hope".We have finalized our roles now, and the cast is indeed quite strong, because these few have experience in stage plays, and we will officially start rehearsals on the 28th of this month.Mr. Nie Guangyan was invited to design the stage. He used quite new techniques and the use of stage light areas and various props, because there are virtual scenes and real scenes in our play; the dream part and the real part change a lot, and we need to use multimedia. In the same way, slides and a movie are also used to create an atmosphere of memories.

At the beginning, our plan was relatively small, but now it can be said to be quite large, and the entire teamwork is very large.It will be officially staged around August 8, and will be performed for at least seven days. Just write about beauty's twilight and pain One of the many difficulties encountered during the preparation period was that many people had different views on our script. Some of them had a lot of opinions on the content, which we did not expect, and they explained it.According to my own reading of my novel, it is a very simple story - the story of a beautiful woman's twilight.But other people's views are not the same, they are very subtle, so our script review took almost a month and a half to come down, and it seems that everyone is very serious.Many of them helped us. One of them was Mr. Shen Junshan from Tsinghua University. He also gave me a report on this drama. Mr. Shen may also have a lot of research on drama. I can completely accept his explanation.With the assistance of all parties, the biggest difficulties were all passed.The future work will be entirely on the production side. We all work hard and hope that we will not disappoint everyone's expectations and enthusiasm.We don't know what the result will be, but we will try our best and hope to succeed.I hope that everyone will come to our play during the summer vacation.

In addition to my brief report on the drama "A Dream in the Garden", I hope to have a conversation with my classmates from Tsinghua University. If you have any questions about this drama, or novels, or other questions that I can answer, I hope to use this time A chance to talk. Stage performance, the first important thing is to express the atmosphere Q: "A Dream in the Garden" is a literary creation, did you change the plot after it was staged? Answer: The general plot is the same as the novel.Novels may spend a lot of space on clothing and appearance, but in dramas, there is no need for it, because it is done with makeup, so the text does not need to be used.But on the other hand, in the novel, there may be a lot of thoughts in the heart, and a lot of words spent in mental description, all of which must be spoken on stage, so the dialogue has increased a lot, and many descriptions are only expressed with images.Stage play is mainly promoted through dialogue, but we also use harmony, lighting, sound and other designs to assist.The whole play is mainly the creation of atmosphere.Personally, I think it is a bit like Chekhov's. There is not a big dramatic conflict, but a relatively subtle expression of the atmosphere and psychological changes.

Q: Part of the novel "A Dream in the Garden" is written in a stream-of-consciousness technique, so how does this manifest itself on stage? A: I mostly used monologues for the passages on the stream of consciousness.During the monologue, if the plot of the past is mentioned, the characters from the past will also appear on stage; Become a monologue.There will also be slideshows.It mainly depends on Lu Yan's acting skills. Q: I would like to ask you about this novel.There is a poem "The Bird Clothes Lane" by Liu Yuxi in front of it, and "Good Song" by a lame Taoist in front of it. The nature of the two is somewhat similar.Therefore, I would like to ask you when you wrote these novels, did you get a lot of inspiration from? A sense of vicissitudes from the Chinese literary tradition A: It is a book that I have read many times, and of course it has a great influence on me.I think when you are writing alone, among all the books you have read, there will always be one or two books that will have a particularly deep impact.The theme is also about the bitterness of the world and the impermanence of the world. This is the entire Chinese literary tradition, not only that it has a sense of rise and fall, a sense of history, which is the most special point of Chinese national culture.Westerners and Europeans also have this sense of vicissitudes, but it seems that Chinese literature is particularly obsessed with this theme. From ancient times to the present, whether it is Du Fu, Li Bai, Bai Juyi... it has continued Song Ci and Yuan Opera... …Writing about and writing about is always the theme.The opening poem "The green hills are still there, and the sunset is red a few times", I think this kind of theme is very important to the Chinese literary tradition.Of course, I am deeply influenced by traditional Chinese literature—also, the changes in history, the changes in the world, and even the most turbulent era in our modern Chinese history.Personally, I can say that I was born in adversity. I was born in the year of the Anti-Japanese War. I went through the war in my childhood and saw the rise and fall of people. I think it had a great influence on me personally.The entire philosophy of life is also under the entire Chinese tradition. Q: Generally, relatives and friends from other cities are invited to participate in banquets. The General Assembly will contact you in advance to arrange board and lodging. In "A Dream in the Garden", Mrs. Qian traveled from north to south to attend the sisters' shopping banquet. She came by taxi, and when she left, someone reminded the owner.Seems out of line, is there any special meaning? A: It does have special significance.First, this is writing a novel.Second, as Mrs. Qian said at the time, if you didn’t have a car yourself and thought that others had a car, you wouldn’t tell everyone that you didn’t have a car.In the end, Madam Qian never expected that she would leave in such an embarrassing situation without a car.Although they are sisters, it is a very proud time to invite her master. You will not ask her to send a car to pick her up. It is best to take a taxi and no one will know. Just walk away. It is quite embarrassing to be found.Of course, on the other hand, it is about the fickleness of the world.In the past, Madam Qian herself held a banquet to entertain this group of people, but now her identities have been completely reversed. Thoughts and growth in a foreign country - The New Yorker Q: In addition to your early works that have been compiled into books, it seems that there are some short stories that have not been compiled into books, such as "The New Yorker".Is the idea of ​​"The New Yorker" the same, it is a series, and then stopped.As far as the author is concerned, writing in Taipei (of course, part of it seems to be written abroad) is entirely based on Taiwan's experience as the subject matter.When writing a subject like "The New Yorker" in the United States, what is the difference in creative experience? That is, when the objects he cares about and the time and space he lives in change, will there be any influence on the creation? A: Actually, when I wrote the first article of "The New Yorker", a little earlier than that, it was "The Tale of Immortals".At that time, I really wanted to write about the mentality of some Chinese people overseas.Later, I realized that it was more important, so I put "The New Yorker" aside to write. Once I wrote it, I couldn't help myself. I finished writing one article after another, and after I finished writing, the time passed.I also wrote another article for The New Yorker in the middle, but I think it is more important.After finishing writing, I procrastinated a long time writing a long article, and only wrote another article for "The New Yorker" three years ago, piecemeal.I have this heart, because the experience in the United States is an important part of my experience, there are many stories to tell, and I also hope to finish writing "The New Yorker". Q: You said that the experience of the United States is very important to you, can you tell us something? A: The American experience is very important. The main reason is that after I went to a foreign country, I felt that my views on my own country had changed a lot.When I was outside, many friends here have returned from abroad. I think I feel a special nostalgia for the culture of my own country, and my views have also become distant.I think, if I don't go out, I can't be objective about our history because I am in it, but after going outside, I feel that I am a Chinese, and I am more concerned about the fate of my country. It can be said that although I am in Foreign countries, but the importance of foreign experience is actually a kind of appreciation and growth of one's own country's views and ideas in foreign countries, not that I absorb other things from outside.Of course, I have also learned Western culture outside, but it is not as good as my deep thinking and reflection on the history and culture of our own country outside. Question: I remember that you planned to adapt "A Dream in the Garden" into a movie, and now you have adapted "A Dream in the Garden" into a stage play. Both are the themes of the novel, and they have been changed into a drama. What are your hopes for this different form? Or do you think there are any differences in the effects of different forms of expression on conveying personal thoughts and feelings. Answer: It is written about a very passionate woman.That kind of subject matter cannot be put on stage, but movies can be staged.I talked to some people about this novel and said that our Chinese movies lack some strong personalities of female images and more intense depictions of personal hearts, so I hope to turn it into a movie with this wish in it.If it is changed to drama, only movies are the most suitable, and stage plays must not be performed. The Mysterious Tradition of "Stunner"——Yin Xueyan Q: What is the difference in the creation of the heroine of "Forever Yin Xueyan" and Mrs. Qian in "A Dream in the Garden"? Answer: "Forever Yin Xueyan" is about a woman who has experienced many scenes and met many men. She can confuse all the people she meets.Such a woman, I think, has a very different creative attitude from Mrs. Qian. I started to write. When I wrote about Yin Xueyan, I kept a long distance from her. I was describing her superficial image, paying attention to her mysterious feeling, and if there is social criticism, our Chinese tradition starts from Feiyan, Tai Really, we have a tradition that is called "beauty" in China, and this tradition is very strong.This kind of woman is not simple, but very mysterious. When I wrote about her, I took a more critical attitude; but when I wrote about Mrs. Qian, I was more sympathetic than critical. Now that everything has disappeared, I am sympathetic to her. And my creative attitude is completely different. When I write about Yin Xueyan, I write from the outside to the inside, guessing the heart from the outside; when I write about Mrs. Qian, I write from the inside to the outside, starting from the psychological description. Q: Do you adopt Western writing techniques in your views on local literature? Especially Huang Chunming's novels. A: The method used is not important.Every writer has a method of writing that he thinks is best for him.I think the era did not have Western techniques, but produced great novels.It is also very good if you can use Western writing techniques to write well.I think Huang Chunming's novels have his own method of creation.I think the subject matter determines the method of writing. What kind of subject matter is it? A writer can choose the most suitable method to express it intentionally or unintentionally. It is definitely not because one method is better than another or because a certain method is more popular. We just use it, no.I think that when a writer writes, he first has a theme, and then he ponders over how to express the theme.Of course, I am not denying the techniques of Western novels. Western novels have made great achievements. We can use whatever we can, but we don’t have to use it. Question: Did you write in a stream-of-consciousness way because you studied in the Department of Foreign Languages? Answer: The stream of consciousness writing method is only an experimental method in the West in the 1920s and 1930s. It may not necessarily be able to express all literary works better.This method has its historical background. After the First World War, the traditional society broke down for the first time, and social values ​​were confused. Therefore, the writer studied an experimental technique in writing, which was related to psychology, inwardly exploring and self-seeking. Wait. Of course, after I studied in the Department of Foreign Languages, I also read some novels using this technique. When I just wrote "A Dream in the Garden", I thought it could be used. Love writing about times gone by, other people's pain Question: Why did you choose a group of characters eliminated by the times as the theme in your novel? A: I think about being eliminated by the times, one day we will all be eliminated.No one can be in the middle of the era, time, and time is the cruelest.It cannot be said that some people's cultural forms and social forms have passed away, so we should not write about them.I think that the most important thing in writing is to write about people, whether it is in line with the times or not, it doesn't matter.Among the people I wrote about, although the times have passed, they have lived in their times. Some lived vigorously, some were very sad, and some failed.In their time, they lived a very meaningful life. This kind of subject matter is very interesting to me personally. Question: What kind of mentality did you have when you were a student to run Modern Literature? A: At that time, we created it ignorantly. In fact, it was a group of people who love literature "to make friends with literature". There was no certain reason for it, but to create a journal for writing. Later, it gradually had a little influence. This is also what happened later. matter.The initial mindset was all about a hobby. Q: Do you write novels to solve the pain? Is it sometimes an extension of the pain? Especially when you observe the pain of China’s bad roots? Answer: The second sentence is correct.I think that literary creation is probably due to some dissatisfaction with real life, so I create a world by myself; if you are already very satisfied with the current society, why would you create another one? I think, I feel less pain when writing about myself, I think When I help others suffer, I create more.I think everyone will feel that when they see others suffering, they will feel very painful in their hearts, which cannot be expressed.Because those people were not writers and couldn't write it down, I wanted to speak for them at that time, and I had that urge.Personally, I can say that I am very lucky. Our parents took over the great pain on our behalf. When we grew up, we were a very happy generation. I think that writers see their own nation more clearly, especially when they see the faults of their own nation, they will think, how can there be such a big problem? I think it is not a bad thing in terms of literature. Q: What is the special significance of Lantian jade? Answer: Jade is the most precious and beautiful thing in China.I probably liked the heroine very much, so I chose the best jade "Lantian Jade" in the allusion of "Lantian Rinuanyu Shengyan" for her.When the name was chosen, I thought she was like a piece of jade. Mr. Xu Fuguan's little misunderstanding Question: When you talked about novel art and social consciousness, Mr. Xu Fuguan once refuted, what is your opinion on this matter? Answer: Mr. Xu is my most respected predecessor. His moral character can be said to be spiritual. There are not many people like him. I am taking this opportunity to mourn here.I once gave a speech "The Art of Fiction and Social Consciousness" in Hong Kong. I mainly refuted one point: we in China have always had a view that politics interferes with literature. I will never compromise on this point as a writer.I think Mr. Xu misunderstood me a little bit, I didn't explain it clearly to him, he thought I said that the art of fiction is separate from social consciousness, but in fact I meant that some people did not pay attention to literature and art, but added it for political purposes In terms of literature, it is not about literature at all, but about the political goals of the time.For example, when some political slogans are advocated today, literature must follow suit. That is not social awareness but political means.I say this mainly because of some deviations since the May Fourth Movement. Question: Ouyang Ziping mentioned whether when you write characters, the clothes on the outside have hints on the inside? Answer: This is probably the case when writing novels. When writing about a person's appearance, I always hope to express my heart. Question: The CCP has included your "Forever Yin Xueyan" in the anthology of Taiwanese literature and co-edited it with local literature. Do you have any comments? Or do you have any reaction? A: In 1988, the mainland's policy changed. In the past, Taiwanese works were absolutely not allowed to be published in the mainland.They are publishing some novels in Taiwan, of course they have their purpose, I think they really want to understand our cultural situation on the one hand; second, of course there is a political purpose in it.I would like to say it fairly. The novel they selected was a good selection in terms of literary value. It can be said that they selected several well-known novels in Taiwan.The selection of poems and prose is extremely bad, not representative of Taiwan's standard, it's downright bad.Regardless of their political goals, their anthology of Taiwanese novels can enable mainland people to truly understand the style of Taiwanese novels after reading them. Q: The social state described in "Forever Yin Xueyan" is unconventional, but the situation of "upstarts" who have migrated to Taiwan.What is your opinion on this statement? A: I think I am writing about the cultural formations and social formations of the past.