The writer says Feng Jicai: The study is a writer's unguarded writing field
To enter Feng Jicai's study, he had to pass through a corridor first. Sunlight came in through the window of the study, leaving black and white silhouettes in the corridor. These special silhouettes are printed in Feng Jicai's mind: going to the study every day is like going through a gallery showing only ink and wash.
More than 40 years ago, Feng Yucai published his first novel, Yihequan; in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was involved in the rescue of cultural heritage; in 2018, he published "Binoculars" returned to the reader's field of vision; recently, he continued to write a few "worldly people", and for the first time wrote the most mysterious place of the writer to the reader-the study.
There are countless fascinating places in the world. For writers, the most fascinating place is their own study room-an unusual and unique material space and a pure self-spirited world. Feng Ye likes the moment he walks into the study every day. He always remembers the words of Hamlet: "Even if I put in a matchbox, I am the master of infinite space."
China Youth Daily · China Youth Daily: What does your study look like?
Feng Xicai: Many people mistakenly believe that the author's study must be full of books, neat and tidy like a library. In fact, the writer's study is cluttered. My book and artwork were completely mixed up. My nanny helped me clean up the house, and I asked her not to move a piece of paper. All the paper is messy, but I know where I can find the paper I need.
China Youth Daily · China Youth Daily: Do you want a study in your youth?
Feng Xicai: Life was very difficult in my youth, and my study was extravagant. (Last century) When I first started writing in the 1970s, I lived in a very small house with only a dozen square meters. The whole collapsed during the earthquake, and I covered it again. There is a table in the house, and the whole family eats at that table. After finishing eating, I can write and draw on it. Therefore, the study is also a bedroom, the desk is also a dining table, and the vegetables are mixed with ink. The child can't get to the table for his homework, so he can only get a board beside him, and the person is sitting on the bench.
I lived on the 4th floor. There was a north window in the house. It was very cold in winter. I had to hang all the windows with paper and block a board. Then, I made a book shelf out of some wooden slats and placed the books on the shelf. I took a picture. I was wearing a very old dress, and I had a patch on my elbow. There were books behind me. I just took it in front of this bookshelf. The picture is still there. That was my dream study, but it was actually my bedroom, living room, study, and studio. It was not until the 80s (in the last century) that life slowly improved and there was no study.
China Youth Daily · China Youth Daily: What's the difference between writing in the study and writing elsewhere?
Feng Yancai: This is just like you sleep. Of course, sleeping at home is not the same as staying at a hotel. Sleeping at home is safe. Home is the least secure place and you don't need any alert. It is impossible for a writer to create every day, he still has to live. Writing at home is integrated with life. It is natural to eat when you want to eat, and to sleep when you want to sleep.
The writer's study is the least fortified place of the writer, because all your imaginations and thoughts are naked in the study and must be expressed in good faith. The reader does not need to read a false word. At the same time, the study was the trench of the writer shooting bullets, a place to settle his own soul, and a place of poetic and artistic expression.
Almost all writers write at home, with exceptions. In the early 1980s, there was a short period of time when various publishing houses and magazines forced the press to be extremely tight. In the end, there was no way to pull the writer to a hotel to open a room, close it for a few months, and write a work. At that time, some people thought that the writer had become a "spiritual aristocrat" and called us "hotel writers". In fact, it was because there was no study at the time and there was too much interference.
China Youth Daily · China Youth Daily: If the study had to "break off" and remove something, what would you leave to the end?
Feng Jiicai: Now, more than 90% of everything left in my study will not be thrown away. The writer is a person who values details. The details in the study may be the details of his life. When I am serious about these details, I will definitely know life and know myself again.
The small things I wrote in "One World of the Study": letter openers, leather cigarette cases, sloppy vases, flower notes, pen holders ... The things that are left in the study are more meaningful things, which are very heavy in my heart Of weight. For example, my mother ’s photo, she ’s 103 years old this year, and photos of her when she was young will always be in my study; and photos of me and my lover when they are friends. A photo I took while taking a group photo.
In fact, a lot of my most valuable and precious things are in the school (Tianjin University) museum. I like art very much, ancient and western, and I collect a lot of books, about 100,000 books in the school library. I have built a library in my college (Feng Jicai Institute of Literature and Art of Tianjin University). These books will be presented to students in the future. I established a rule in the college. Books donated to the library can't be bought with public funds. They must be purely collected by me.
But there are some books that I wo n’t get in the library. When I was a kid, when I was young, when I first started reading, I kept all the books that are meaningful in life and memorable. From these books, I can see what I read. Footprint. I think any writer's bookshelf has their potential reading history.
China Youth Daily · China Youth Daily: Where do you go to buy books?
Feng Xicai: I wrote an article "A City Must Have a Used Book Market" before. In a city, new books go to bookstores, and old books go to used book markets. For a book lover, the used book market is full of too much fun and has a strong charm. When I was young, one of my favorite places to go was Tianjin Quanyechang and Tianxiang Mall's "combination department"-that is the old book department of Xinhua Bookstore, with old books stacked on the shelves, but line books, dress books, and The books of all kinds of different contents are all clear and clear.
Many of my books are related to the market for used books. The market is gone now, which is a pity. I now look at the Confucius Old Book Network for half an hour every day. When I see a good book, I ask my young friend to buy it for me. I saw a news in the past two days. A Prussian painter once came to Tianjin to paint some prints and published it in 1864. At that time, there was no concession in Tianjin and no photos. This book allowed me to see the early scenes of Tianjin. I immediately contacted overseas friends to help me find this book.
China Youth Daily · China Youth Daily: Have you ever been to someone's study? Whose study do you like?
Feng Xicai: I have entered many writers' study rooms, from Bingxin, Sun Li to Jia Pingwa. I believe that everything there is an externalization of the writer's personality, or an incarnation of the writer.
In the 1980s, I often went to Mr. Sun Li's house to play in Tianjin. There was almost no decoration in his room, and it was very clean, pure, and calm, just like his article.
On the table in Mr. Sun Li's study, a azure porcelain crock was placed, clean, clean water, a dozen rain stones, different colors and different patterns. There is always a stack of paper under his feet, and someone will send him the magazine envelope, and he will never tear it off. They are cut with a paper knife, folded up and placed beside their feet, and used to pack books when sending them to others. This tidy, diligent and orderly, impressed me very much, I think it is consistent with the spirit, temperament and style of human beings.
I go to many countries in the world. I like to see two places most. One is a museum and the other is the writer's former residence-often still keeping the original ecology. Tolstoy's two former homes in Polana and Moscow were handed over to the country intact after his death. You go in now, as if you can see all the information about the writer's life, and find a lot of details that can't be found in the book.
Chekhov had a former residence in Mellievo, and I spent a day specifically looking for it. What impressed me most about this former residence is a photo of Grigorovic. That was a well-known writer in Russia at the time. He saw some "tofu pieces" written by Chekhov and felt very aura, so he suggested that Chekhov should write "real literature" and not waste talent. Chekhov did not expect that he could be recognized by the great writers, so he began to take writing seriously. Later, considering him as his life mentor, Chekhov kept posing Grigorovic's photos.
Visiting Bernard Shaw's study in Dublin and seeing a portrait of a person hanging across the desk, which is particularly large and aggressive. I didn't know who it was, so I asked the museum staff, and he told me that this person was specifically criticizing Bernard Shaw and was very sharp and ruthless. Bernard Shaw put his portrait in front of him, inspiring himself to challenge criticism and stick to himself. This is very interesting. You can see the character of a writer from the study.
China Youth Daily · China Youth Daily: Do you think Chinese literati's study has any common characteristics?
Feng Caicai: I just read an article about Wang Zengqi, writing that he has the temperament of a traditional Chinese scholar, and this temperament is much smaller in modern and contemporary Chinese literati. I am afraid it is related to the great changes of this era. I think there are two characteristics of the study of Chinese scholars: one is a strong scroll, no exaggeration, no enjoyment, a pure spiritual place; the second is the piano, calligraphy and painting, the Chinese pay attention to touch the bypass, there are generally related things in the room .
China Youth Daily • China Youth Daily reporter Jiang Xiaobin Source: China Youth Daily