Chapter 46 Cremation (Preface)

In the first half of the July 7th Anti-Japanese War, I wrote two novels at the same time.These two articles are specially invited manuscripts for the "long series" of the two publications, and it is agreed that each of them will publish ten thousand characters per month, and the manuscript will be paid ten yuan and one thousand characters.In this way, I can have a fixed income of 200 yuan per month, and I can be a professional writer.The two articles each had more than 30,000 characters, and the violent enemy attacked Lugou Bridge unexpectedly, so they did not continue writing.Both manuscripts and books are stored in Qilu University in Jinan, but they are all lost today.In November, I escaped from Jinan. Until last summer, I never wrote a novel.In order to do my best in the propaganda of the Anti-Japanese War, I would write whatever questions people asked me, no matter whether it was good or bad, I just tried my best;Also, writing before the Anti-Japanese War, choosing a topic, can collect materials calmly, and then arrange them calmly and revise them calmly.During the Anti-Japanese War, it was rare to be calm about the unique life of each day, so I did not dare to engage in long novels rashly.Besides, the war of resistance in an all-round way is all-encompassing, and I don't bother to write about small questions, and I can't write about big ones, so I have to wait and see.

I came to Bei last summer and decided to write a novella.Reasons: (1) The weather is extremely hot, so I dare not go back to Chongqing; Beibei is also hot, but quieter than Chongqing, so I decided to stay in Beibei to write. (2) During the Anti-Japanese War, I repeatedly tried to write scripts, but they were not decent at all. Many friends advised me to give up dramas and return to novels. (3) Xiao Jun, an honorary soldier, also served in Peiwu, and those who are interested in the military can inquire at any time. It is extremely hot in the sky, so I get up at five o'clock and stop writing at eight o'clock, and I can get more than a thousand words a day.I planned to write a novella, but I had 50,000 to 60,000 characters, and it was still difficult to finish, so I changed it to a novel.At the end of September, more than 80,000 characters have been obtained, and it is decided to finish the volume on Double Ten and return to Chongqing.On October 4th, he was admitted to the hospital to have the cecum removed, and everything came to a standstill.He was discharged from the hospital on the 20th and still had to rest in bed.At that time, the family members had already traveled from Beiping to Baoji: anxious and unable to move, the heart was even more anxious.Lai Youyou assisted in many ways, and his family members arrived in Bei in mid-November.Starting on the 23rd, I began to slowly fill in the novels; my wounds healed up, and I suffered from abdominal problems, so I might only write three to five hundred words a day.On December 11th, I wrote a complete article, about 110,000 words, which is "Cremation".

After finishing writing, read it from the beginning, and make a judgment: no good!There are various reasons for the failure of this book: (1) I haven't written a novel for more than five years, and I feel afraid when I write it; (2) The weather was extremely hot, and there were many illnesses, so I couldn't write any more because I mechanically mechanized myself.However, if you mechanize your mind and body, can you write good works?I dare not say.My writing life has always been regular, that is to say, I never rush to work day and night, but set aside the first half of the day for writing, regardless of whether I write more or less. I don't even write letters.However, this tricky method can only be done when the body is in good health and the mood is good.In seasons when I feel physically and mentally unwell, like last summer, I cannot help but exert excessive force, and excessive force often turns writing into torture.I smoked, drank tea, stared blankly, wiped my glasses, wandered around the room, anxious, sweating, and couldn't find the words I needed!The few sentences I managed to get were definitely not written out of the pen, but the words were piled together in one place.These piled up broken bricks and tiles cannot be modified. The best way is to tear off the paper and write another one.What else to write, I'm already exhausted!I had no choice but to leave those rags behind.This is not a literary creation.It's the blood from the pincers! (3) The local background of the story is Wencheng.Wencheng is a place that cannot be found on the map, that is to say, it does not exist, but it was drilled out of my heart.I want to write about a city that was occupied by the enemy, but during the years of the Anti-Japanese War, I have never lived in any place that has been occupied.Just talk nonsense.In this way, my "place" loses its authenticity so that readers can even smell the smell there.I wrote Wencheng, but when I read it after finishing writing, I don’t even know it myself!This method is unacceptable!

However, some of the above are not fatal.The most terrible thing is that I didn't write any point to the bone.I have many aspects to write about, but I dare not go deep into any aspect, because I don't have enough knowledge and experience to go deep.I only drew an outline, but I couldn't fill the inside perfectly. Anti-Japanese War literature and art, easier said than done! Some people say: war is nothing to write about, because war is ugly and destructive.I think this opinion is too biased.If everything in society can be used as literary material, I don't know why war should be excluded alone.If literature and art have the purpose of rewarding good and punishing evil, then war is the confrontation between good and evil, why can't it be written?Moreover, today's war is comprehensive, no distinction is made between front and rear, no distinction between men and women, young and old, everyone everywhere is affected by war.History, in this section, takes war as its theme.If we don’t write about war and its effects today, we just live with our eyes closed and pretend to be confused.It is true that war is ugly and destructive; however, only when we analyze it, care about it, and express it can we know, and let everyone know, how to eliminate war and establish peace.If we keep silent because we hate war, then we lose the courage to face the reality and truth, and we can only pray to the Bodhisattva to grant us peace.

Today's world is clearly divided into two halves, one half is aggressive, the other half is resisting, the other half is domineering, and the other half is democratic.On the aggressive side, they also have a lot of reason to say.Therefore, in the half of resisting violence and building democratic politics, not only must they fight with all their strength to defeat aggression, but they must also demonstrate their combat objectives to overwhelm the aggressors' deceit and lies.Our pens must also fight, not to advocate or praise war, but to dig out the truth from war to eliminate war.We cannot achieve peace by indifference to war and ignoring war, so we must grasp the reality and win victory from war; only when we win can the world have the dawn of peace.We want to take back beauty from ugliness and build from destruction.This is the responsibility of every citizen in the Democratic League. Why don't writers just like this tune?

This can get writers into trouble.What a great thing war is!Where to start teaching writers?They don't know tactics and army life, they don't know the methods and weapons of attack and defense, they don't know transportation and control, and they probably don't easily understand all the preparations and facilities in the rear.What did he write?How to write it? Then even the learned old Bernard Shaw frowned, and said that war was nothing to write about—I remember him seeming to say so.Wartime publications, then, instead make a statesman's or bureaucrat's report—like Wilkie's "One World" and Gru's "Tokyo Return"—or a journalist's Diary, all the rage.Yes, a script about a love story, or a detective novel about a murder case with ten suspects can also be popular for a while and sell millions, but readers have a sense of proportion in their hearts, and they will distinguish which is the big deal in the world , which is a boring idle book.When times have changed, if people want to read something that reflects the times, they will read "One World, One Family" instead of looking for Sherlock Holmes hidden in the back garden!

And they would laugh at how boring, shallow, and cowardly the wartime literati were! From this point of view, "Cremation" is understandable.It wants to care about war, and it wants to tell people how perfunctory and cowardice in war happen to be self-defeating.Its wish, however, could not save it from failure.Its failure is not that it should not write about war, or that there is no such thing as war, but that I know so little about war.My little emotion is like a drop of oil floating on the water, swinging back and forth, but never being able to penetrate into the water. What I know, everyone knows, and I haven't been able to reveal anything new to people.I wanted to write about war in many ways, but I hit a wall everywhere, I didn't know the big things, and I didn't know the small things.War is not impossible to write about, but difficult to write about.

I know that I should write what I do know.However, I can't put the War of Resistance aside because of this, and just write about the cats and dogs I know.I am not afraid of failure.If I don't try to write about something I don't know today, I'll never know it.What is greater than war?It turned the fertile fields into wasteland, changed the course of the Yellow River, and turned the city into ruins.Turn weak girls into healthy men, turn scholars into warriors, and make the flesh resist steel.Most importantly, it makes ideals and delusions sworn enemies.If we don't learn from here and get to know each other, what are we doing?It's a small thing to fail to write a book, but a big thing to let the biggest thing in the world slip by.If the purpose of a work of literature and art was solely to entertain, then such a work should not exist at all.It seems that we should "take the law from the top", right?

Some people say that my writing is completely blind, good is good, and bad is bad, because sometimes my writing is quite good, and sometimes it is very bad.I admit that I sometimes write extremely badly, but I deny random touches.Literature and art are not something that can be fudged.What the writer thinks is good, the readers may not think it is good. Different people have different opinions, and it is not easy to be consistent.However, whether the author has used his heart, he himself knows very well.If a work like "Cremation" had been left before the Anti-Japanese War, I would definitely ask it to go to the wastebasket.Now, I don't have that courage.This novel of more than 100,000 characters took four months.Although the time is wasted, the meals are not in vain.Ten lines of paper - with writing and copying - cost four knives, about one hundred yuan.One ingot of ink costs one hundred and twenty yuan—there are some cheaper ones, but they are still white after grinding.Each pen can only write about 10,000 characters, and at least 200 yuan is required for ten pens.It cost 1,100 yuan to ask someone to make a copy.I would like to ask: I have invested such a large amount of money, do I dare to throw it away?I know it's bad, but I can't publish it without the audacity.I didn't touch it blindly, but the writer's life knocked me down!I make this statement not to ask people to forgive me, but to teach everyone to pay attention to how the life of a writer should be improved.If literature and art are still needed in society, everyone must regard literary and art writers as animals that must eat and drink tea.The War of Resistance was difficult, and literati knew it better than anyone else, but when the fees for manuscripts were less than the fees for paper and pen, they had no choice but to find another way out.

Thirty-three New Year's Day in Beibei.