Chapter 2 preamble

It is called "Ten Years of a Cat's Life", but it is actually ten years of life. The reason why it is called "Ten Years of a Cat's Life", I think, is because the cat is not only the narrator of this story, but also an important participant. One of the indispensable reasons. Anyone who has read the famous work of the famous Japanese writer Natsume Soseki will probably think of the nameless cat living in the poor teacher Kushami’s house when reading this novel. It is the cat that tells the story of the world for readers. Boredom, helplessness, filth and misery.Of course, the cat named "Ajiu" in "Ten Years of a Cat's Life" is not telling readers about the life world described by Natsume Soseki, but about the daily life of educated youths entering the metropolis. Ordinary, practical and colorful life.The ten-year life in Ah Jiu's eyes is the life that many educated young people may experience today. It is the upward life of those who enter the big city, mature in frustration and struggle, and seek a reconciliation point between ideals and reality. A mediocre, irresponsible, and lack of thinking life.

There are two main lines in the novel, one bright and one dark, that is, the growth of the protagonist Zhaodi and the growth of the cat Ajiu. These two main lines blend and complement each other.The novel captures the ten years of youth (for the protagonist, almost the whole life) which are the most variable in life, and describes the protagonist Zhaodi's attitude towards ideals, love, family affection, responsibility and even life and death.Although Zhaodi is just an ordinary girl, she is simple, caring, responsible, and treats life with a clear and tolerant attitude. Although her life is short, Zhaodi "gained her own perfection" in the words of Ah Jiu.And Ah Jiu, who lives with his younger brother Zhao, also has his own relatively independent world.In Ah Jiu's world, Zhaodi, Hua Hua, son Xiaobai, Hengheng, Xiaoyu, etc. have their own positions. Ten years of cat life, a series of life and death, made Ah Jiu grow from a cute and ignorant kitten. As a "mature big cat with thought", he has become an old cat who has gone through vicissitudes but still retains the "warm and peaceful" state of mind inherited from his younger brother.Only such an old cat can regard Zhaodi's death as its own new life; only such an old cat can tell us the story of the past ten years in a calm tone on a spring afternoon .

Before reading this novel by Zhao Yujiao, as her teacher, I only knew that she was good at writing and had translated some Japanese literary works. As a translator, she was recognized by readers, but I didn’t know that she still had the ability to create novels. Enthusiasm, and never thought that she would use the precious time to study in Japan to write such a novel.From this, it can be imagined how important the life described in the novel is to her. She could not suppress her urge to describe such a life, and eagerly released the enthusiasm gathered in her heart.A doctoral student studying Japanese literature at Peking University and the author of the novel "Ten Years of Cat Life", I think for Zhao Yujiao, she is very concerned about her status.The two identities of a literary researcher and a literary creator appear in the same person. Although conflicts in time or energy are inevitable, they may reach a perfect unity. Literary creation can promote literary research, make literary research, Criticism is more literary.Although I prefer to read her academic works, as a literary lover who likes to think and love to write, I am also very pleased that she can express her experience and sentiments with her own pen.