Chapter 2 staring at people

Mo Yan "integrates magical realism with folk tales, history and contemporary society". ——Nobel Prize Jury Mr. Shen Congwen once said: novels should be "written close to the characters".This is a rule of thumb, simple, but it works.Simple and effective words are not something ordinary people can say.I changed it to "Writing while staring at people", the meaning is similar to that of Mr. Shen, but it seems to be a little more ruthless, which is determined by my creative personality.Recently, Beijing People's Art Theater rehearsed my play at the Capital Theater. Reporters often asked me: What is this play about?I said: Write people.Write about people's growth and awareness, and write about people's pursuit of the "superior" realm.Growing from a human to a "superior" is like silkworms eating mulberry leaves and excreting feces, and finally approaching infinite transparency.Eating mulberry leaves is listening to criticism, and excreting feces is self-criticism.

Good literature, no matter the category, is about "I", and it has nothing to do with "I" and cannot gain insight into society and people's hearts.We must learn from Lu Xun and write about the "ego wrapped in a leather robe".For decades, I have been writing about others and the outside world. This time I am writing about myself and my heart, absorbing criticism and expelling toxins. It is a practice of "writing myself as a sinner". It is easy to expose the dark side of society, but it is difficult to expose the dark side of one's own heart.Criticize other people's writing like a knife's edge, and criticize your own pen for being merciless.This is human nature.When a writer writes, he must gain insight into human nature, but at the same time must fight against human nature, because human nature often conceals evil.In these few plays, am I completely self-critical?Not thorough.I know.In the future, we must work hard in the direction of thoroughness, dare to be cruel to ourselves, not just to repent, but to analyze, use a magnifying glass to stare at ourselves and write, and staring at ourselves to write is also an important part of "staring at people and writing".A person in his fifties who still cannot recognize his true colors is unprofessional for a writer.

A few days ago, I said that I won the Mao Dun Award and tried to forget it in ten minutes.If you can't forget it in ten minutes, you can forget it in ten days.This is not a slight to the award, but a check on inflated vanity.It is a disgraceful act to get carried away after winning an award.It must be clearly known that I am not the "superior person", and really good novels and scripts have not yet been "invented".Look in that direction, stare at the place where the thorns are overgrown and there is no road.There is an excellent scenery there, and there are "superior people" waving to us.

Thanks to the friends of Classic Bowei for compiling my three scripts into a book. This is my first collection of scripts. Although the content is thin, I still cherish it.Therefore, I will briefly reorganize the speeches I gave at the Mao Dun Literary Award Ceremony not long ago, and I have the right to write a preface. Finally, I would like to thank my elder brother, the famous writer Wang Shuzeng, who actually guided me in writing the script. Farewell My Concubine was a product of our collaboration, but he graciously allowed me to include it on my own album. The charm of the stage is endless, and writing plays is a lot of fun. My next work is a play, and the characters in the play have been with me day and night for a long time.