Chapter 154 he is still writing

I read this anthology from the short story "The Desperado" in the 1930s to the prose "A Reply Letter" in the 1980s. It seems to have reorganized Ba Jin's personal and writing history in the past few decades. , my feeling is very deep. I knew Ba Jin in the early 1930s. I remember that he and Jin Yi came to see me one early summer morning.At that time we were all young, and I was a few years older than them, so I treated them as little brothers and talked casually and naturally. Jin Yi is very talkative, enthusiastic and lively.Ba Jin was relatively silent, shy and slightly melancholy. I had read some of his early works at that time, and I knew him deeply.I remember he said that he often loved to recite a famous quote from a senior:

He also said: "It seems that I was born with melancholy, and my melancholy almost ruined my life's happiness, but I never stopped striving for light." I know that he has lived in a collapsing and antiquated feudal family for more than ten years, and his "full" heart has too much nostalgia and anger.He wants to get rid of the terrible nightmare of these ten years.He left this feudal family, and at the same time picked up the pen painfully, and wrote his strong indictment against the feudal system.There was a fire of anger in him, he couldn't write, he didn't write to be a writer.

In the early 1940s, I lived in Geleshan, Chongqing.When he arrived in Chongqing, he would come to see me on the mountain, and he also talked about his writing.After he left, I heard a cuckoo calling incessantly in the dark mountains and forests in the middle of the night, and I would think of this "man who howls in the dark night"! He said: The true face of the world.I lie down.I cry, I cry for my helplessness, for the suffering of human beings, and for my own pain... My heart burns with a passion that can never be extinguished, so my heart hurts even more . " He loves the motherland, loves the people, loves all mankind, and cries out for their pain, but "brightness" is the goal he cries out in the dark night.He said:

The voice of my pursuit of light in my life...how deep my love for the motherland and the people...my fire is inexhaustible, my feelings are endless, and my love is never extinguished. " He finally saw the light.China was liberated, the old system and the enemies of the people were destroyed, and the socialist construction of the new China began. He felt great joy.For the advent of this great era, he contributed his heart, his pen and all his strength. After I returned from Japan in 1951, I often saw him happy and his happy family in Beijing and Shanghai.His lover Xiao Shan has also become my good friend. We have participated in several "World Peace Conferences" and overseas visits of friendly groups in the international activities of people's diplomacy.In addition, every time I go to Shanghai, he and Jin Yi must come to pick me up, and we will visit the Temple of the City God and eat snacks together. After Jin Yi passed away in 1959, he still picked me up by himself.Every time he comes to Beijing, he naturally comes to my house, except in public social occasions.During these encounters, I feel that he has always been full of energy and produced many works. He has been to the front lines of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and even to the front lines to resist US Aggression and Aid Vietnam. He is a new China warrior who strives for world peace and human progress.

During the ten years of catastrophe, he suffered serious personal insults and mental torture. What made him sad the most was that beside him was the urn of his beloved wife Xiao Shan! After the nightmare passed, we met again. We were grateful for the rebirth of the sun and the moon, and the rebuilding of the motherland. In the summer of 1980, we also participated in a goodwill visit to Japan.In the autumn of the same year, I got a cerebral thrombosis and broke my right leg.He has limited mobility and has been "staying at home" for three years.Ba Jin still came to see me every time he came to Beijing.He also broke his leg last year, and his mobility is not convenient, but he said in a letter to me:

And I can still hold a pen and write my caprice. " He wrote this letter in July this year. My friends from the south told me that Ba Jin is doing well, and he is still writing non-stop. Yes, Ba Jin will not stop writing, he will continue to repay his debts to future generations of readers! Ba Jin is a prolific writer, and this anthology is just a drop in his vast oeuvre.But readers can "see the leopard in the tube" and see the flying whole body from a spot. Ba Jin himself said: "Among Chinese writers, I am deeply influenced by Western works. I wrote my first novel in the form of Western novels, and I will follow this path in the future." This is his work It is different from Lu Xun, Guo Moruo, Mao Dun and others.But his thoughts and feelings and the characters in his works are completely Chinese.This is also available to readers. "September 6, 1983" series "Ba Jin" preface, originally published in "Literary News" No. 10, 1983.)