Chapter 54 postscript

Meng Xia started writing in 1941, and it was published continuously in "Public Life" (published in Hong Kong) edited by Zou Taofen. When "Popular Life" was preparing to be published, the editorial committee thought that there was a need for a long story to be serialized, and in order to rush to publish it in the first issue of the publication, the first batch of drafts had to be submitted within a week; manuscript, and I couldn't find a suitable person to take on this job in a hurry, so I had to bear the burden, reluctantly.This is the result. "Public Life" is a weekly magazine, and the length of each issue is 3,000 to 5,000 words, but once it has started to be published, it cannot be interrupted. If it is interrupted, it will cause criticism from readers, so I can only publish while writing. .

Although it was published as I wrote it, when I wrote the first paragraph of this book, it was not entirely without a general structural plan.The original plan was: when Xiao Zhao was murdered, the book would end.However, just when I was about to start "ending" as originally planned, an unexpected request came.This requirement comes from two aspects.The request from the readers is: What kind of ending does the author plan to give Zhao Huiming (the heroine in the book)?Readers demanded that she be given a new path. The editorial department of "Public Life" received more and more letters from such readers every day, so that the editorial department finally asked me to consider it.Another request came from the distribution department of Popular Life.The distribution department asked me to "delay" a few more issues, specifically, to delay until the twenty-sixth issue (?) to end the serialized novel.The reason is: the twenty-six issues of the publication will be combined into one bound volume. If I don’t procrastinate a few more issues, the next long serialization (Xia Yan’s "Cold Cold") will have a header on this bound volume. It is in the next bound volume, which is very inconvenient for readers. (And this is also unfavorable for those who book the publication for half a year, because readers who subscribe from the twenty-seventh issue will not see the beginning of "Cold Cold").

I can't help but accept the demands made on me by these two sides.The result is to regenerate branches on the original structure, and to give Zhao Huiming a road of self-renewal. Why did the readers in 1941 demand that Zhao Huiming be given a path of self-renewal?Is it out of sympathy for Zhao Huiming's "encounter"?As far as I know, there are only a small number of readers who sympathize with Zhao Huiming and ask her to give her a road to self-rehabilitation; the vast majority of readers who ask for a road to self-rehabilitation have clearly seen the essence of the character Zhao Huiming,— ——Although she is smart and capable, she has a lot of vanity and "does not understand the righteousness" (that is, the boundary between the enemy and the enemy is not clear). Although she also resists the oppression and insults of her by senior secret agents, her resistance motivation is individualistic, that is, based on personal There is a balance between interests and risks, and when the critical moment comes, she often softens; however, since the vast majority of readers in 1941 saw the essence of the character Zhao Huiming clearly, they demanded to be rehabilitated. This is because they considered: (1) Since Zhao Huiming exposed the cruelty, despicability and shamelessness of the Kuomintang secret agents in 1941, it revealed that the Kuomintang secret service organization was just the "Jiang Ji Police Station" of the Japanese spy organization. "(At that time, many people in the society were deceived into thinking that although the Kuomintang spy organization was anti-communist, it was also anti-Japanese), which exposed that many young elements in the Kuomintang spy organization were deceived and forced. In order to extricate themselves, then, (2) in order to divide and disintegrate these coerced followers (although these coerced followers are also stained with blood), and give Zhao Huiming a new path, from the perspective of the propaganda strategy at that time Come, it seems that there is no beginning.All these were the arguments for a large part of the readers at that time to put forward their demands, and I, the author, also accepted their demands based on such arguments. (Of course, having done so, whether the intended effect has occurred is another matter.)

The above briefly described the process of writing, and explained that the murder of Xiao Zhaozhi as the turning point of Zhao Huiming's life was not the original plan, but was "dragged" on the spot due to the request. But also because of this "procrastination", some readers today either sympathize with Zhao Huiming unconditionally, or think that such a bloody spy (even if it is a small spy) should not give her a way to rehabilitate, while the third It is said that: just because readers sympathize with Zhao Huiming, that is, they sympathize with the spies, there will be serious consequences, that is, they will relax their vigilance against the spies.

The reason why these opinions are divided is probably because of the deviation in the understanding of the character Zhao Huiming.It adopts the diary style, and the owner of the diary is the protagonist in the book.Zhao Huiming's self-indictment, self-deprecating, self-defense, etc. in the diary, if you understand it too honestly and positively, you will have unconditional sympathy for Zhao Huiming; Zhao Huiming's self-indictment, self-deprecating, self-defense, etc. are not understood positively, then we can see that these self-indictment, self-deprecating, self-defense, etc. are just exposing Zhao Huiming's contradictions, individualism, "unknown righteousness" and There is a lack of integrity; on this point, I think most readers who asked the author in 1941 saw the essence of Zhao Huiming clearly.

People's Literature Publishing House will rearrange and ask me if I have revised the original book. After considering the several opinions (slightly listed above) I have heard on the matter over the past few years, I finally made no amendments.I think, if I now want to write a novel about the criminal activities of Jiang’s gang spies today, I will not use the diary style, and I will not write about people like Zhao Huiming——of course, the title of the book will not be a class of words But since it was written under the historical conditions at that time, if I revise it according to today's requirements, I am afraid that not only is it unnecessary, but it will make it difficult to advance or retreat?

However, in view of the past two or three years, some naive readers wrote to me and asked me: Is it really a diary you got from the air-raid shelter?Why was Zhao Huiming so careless that he lost his diary in the air-raid shelter?What happened to Zhao Huiming later? ——And so on, there are so many questions; therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to write this postscript as a substitute for answering. Mao Dun was in Beijing on July 29, 1954.