Back to 80: My Literary Life

The novel "Wasteland" is completely different from the novels Jia Pingwa wrote before, and the work has received mixed reviews.

Perhaps this is due to the changes in his mood caused by the things he encountered in the past few years?

The funeral was officially held at 8 o'clock the next morning. In the countryside, this is called "going up the mountain". For the villagers of Dihua Town, it was originally going up the mountain - the cemetery is on the hillside behind the town.

The funeral route was measured in advance by the Yin-Yang master. Once the route was selected, no matter whether it was sunny or rainy, bridges would be built when encountering rivers, and ladders would be built when encountering slopes, and they would never look back.

As the eldest, Jia Pingwa wore mourning clothes and walked at the front of the team holding his father's portrait in his hand. When he arrived at the burial place, he "dropped the coffin" according to the instructions of the Yin-Yang master. Jia Pingwa also wrote an obituary and read it in front of his father's grave.

"My father, Jia Yanchun, taught in the countryside all his life and retired in Dihua, Danfeng County. At the beginning of the year, his stomach cancer recurred. Three months later, he was bedridden, hungry and painful, painful and hungry. He suffered until the evening of the 27th day, and suddenly died with a smile."

It was written with true feelings.

After the funeral, the Jia family held a banquet to thank the guests and those who helped. After eating, Fang Minghua and his friends drove back to Xijing.

It was seven days later when I saw Jia Pingwa again.

After entering August, there were many meetings of the Writers Association. They often studied every two or three days and learned various documents. They were not allowed to take leave, and even Chen Zhongshi, who was writing behind closed doors in Bailuyuan, was no exception.

It was for this reason that Fang Minghua and Chen Zhongshi could get together to chat, and that was the case today.

After studying in the morning, they had to discuss in the afternoon. At noon, everyone ate at the Writers Association's stove. It was so hot outside that no one went home and just chatted in Fang Minghua's office - because the tea in his office was high-quality, not the labor protection tea issued by the Writers Association, but Longjing brought from his own house. Several people liked to drink tea, so of course they would not give up this opportunity.

Drinking hot tea and blowing electric fans, the four people chatted.

Jia Pingwa's face was still a little yellow, but his spirit was much better than before. He didn't drink wine, but he kept smoking.

"Zhongshi, have you finished writing your novel "White Deer Plain"?" Jia Pingwa asked casually.

Although Chen Zhongshi has not yet made public the content of the novel, everyone knows the title of his novel - his hometown, White Deer Plain.

Chen Zhongshi was also smoking a cigarette. He was smoking a cigar called "Bashan", which is a brand of a factory in Hanzhong area. It has a strong taste but is cheap.

He listened to Jia Pingwa's question and said, "It's still early. The first draft is finished, but the second draft is less than half written."

"Minghua, I heard that you are also preparing a long novel?" Jia Pingwa asked Fang Minghua who was sitting next to him.

Fang Minghua did not hide it and generously admitted that he was writing a novel about rural education.

"Writing about rural education again? Counting your previous works "Rural Teachers" and "No One Can Be Less", isn't this a trilogy?"

Fang Minghua didn't notice this problem, but now after hearing what Jia Pingwa said, it is indeed true.

"Lu Yao, what about you?"

"I haven't written a novel. I'm writing an essay, mainly about my feelings about "Ordinary World". This is because of Minghua's invitation." Lu Yao said.

"It's not me, it's the readers." Fang Ming denied.

After "Ordinary World" was officially published, it has been printed twice. A huge number of readers want to know the background and feelings of Lu Yao writing this novel. These readers' letters were transferred to Shengshi Books by Shenzhen Haitian Publishing House, which was the nominal publisher, and then handed to Fang Ming by Song Tangtang.

So Fang Minghua saw Lu Yao invited him to write an essay.

Lu Yao agreed and has been busy with this during this period. The name of the essay is "Morning Starts at Noon". Lu Yao also wrote it in history. It is very touching.

It is very common for writers to write essays, not to mention such a hot-selling work as "Ordinary World". Jia Pingwa nodded and said nothing more.

"Pingwa, you asked a lot of questions, so what are you writing?" Lu Yao asked back.

"I've been worrying about my father's affairs for the past few months, so how can I have the energy to write?" Jia Pingwa smiled bitterly: "But after burying my father, I stayed in my hometown for a few days, and I had some ideas after calming down."

"What ideas?" Lu Yao asked.

"I want to change."

"Change what?"

"I used to write about the countryside, about our Shangzhou, but now I want to write about the city, about Xijing where we live now. I used to write traditional narratives, but now I want to write something magical."

Hearing Jia Pingwa say that he was going to write a "magical" novel, Chen Zhongshi, who had been relatively silent just now, also raised his head and looked at him.

"Magic? Magic realism?"

"Yes, Zhuangzi dreamed of butterflies in the morning, and Wangdi entrusted his spring love to the cuckoo." Jia Pingwa slowly blew out a smoke ring.

Poems by Li Shangyin.

When Chen Zhongshi heard this, he actually smiled, and his wrinkles on his face relaxed.

"You say, this is strange?"

"What's strange?"

"The book I'm writing now also has a touch of magic realism. Lu Yao's "The Tree of Life" published at the beginning of the year also has magic in it. OK, Pingwa, the new book you're preparing now is also about magic realism. Minghua, what about the one you're writing now?"

Chen Zhongshi turned his head and looked at Fang Minghua.

"I don't, it's honest realism, but I use the writing techniques of new realism novels." Fang Minghua told the truth.

"Look at you, you shouted about avant-garde writing a few years ago, stream of consciousness, postmodernism, magical realism. Now we listen to you, but you are running to the reality, and we can't keep up."

The other two laughed when they heard it.

Thinking about it, it is indeed true.

But it's just a joke. As for what kind of writing method to use, it is the writer's own business.

After talking about literature for a while, they talked about health. Jia Pingwa has hepatitis B. Several close friends already know about it, and everyone is concerned about his health now?

"I have a say in hepatitis B." The speaker is Lu Yao: "Although it can't be cured, it is much lighter than my liver cirrhosis. As long as you take medicine on time and pay more attention to your diet, it's okay. So Pingwa, don't have any mental burden. Don't you think I'm fine now?"

"That's true. I just can't drink."

Thinking of how he used to drink "Zao Shao" and the world in the cup, Jia Pingwa sighed.

"Among the four of us, two of us can't drink, leaving Zhongshi and Minghua. You should drink less, so that we won't be jealous." Lu Yao said half-jokingly and half-seriously.

"Okay, my wife also told me to drink less. She also told me before going to the United States this time. I can find someone to dance with, but I can't find someone to drink. You two can drink, so what's the point of just me and Teacher Chen?" Fang Minghua said.

But it's true. From then on, Fang Minghua obviously drank much less.

In addition to writing, he occasionally gave lectures at Xida.

This year, all major universities across the country will have classes in August to make up for the courses they missed last semester.

Fang Minghua's lectures were nothing new. They were all some literary theories he had talked about before: stream of consciousness, avant-garde literature, new realist novels, etc.

These literary theories have been published publicly for a long time. He just simplified the content, but he talked about them more deeply in some places - after all, he was facing Chinese graduate students.

They are not writers, but they do have a high level of literary theory.

At the end of August, Song Tangtang, who went to the United States, returned to China with her two children.