Chinanews.com, Beijing, March 14th (Reporter Shangguanyu) Explore the meaning of "growth" and "self-seeking" through two parallel story lines... Recently, children's literature writer Yin Jianling's new growth novel "Sail" has been well received extensive attention.
What is good children's literature?
How to write children's literature well?
Yin Jianling also has his own thoughts on this.
In her opinion, the highest state of children's literature writing is "telling the profound and complicated life in simple and simple language".
She believes that children's literature should not be lowered in terms of artistic standards just because it is labeled as "children", let alone scribble the essence of life that adult writers need to express in it because of the young age of the readers.
A novel that "comes naturally"
The time and geographical span of "Sail" is relatively large. Chunling (Catherine) and Xilian are two parallel clues. The former seeks the root of the family and the country, and the latter pursues the root of self. The Chinese writer Nanxi who came to New Zealand to visit accidentally intervened. Among them, two stories are strung together.
Yin Jianling, a writer of children's literature.
Photo provided by the interviewee
Yin Jianling said that Chunling is a legendary figure in the novel, who was born in Kaiping, Guangdong more than a hundred years ago.
Later, grandma and mother had no choice but to entrust the critically ill Chunling to Maggie, a New Zealand woman who came to China, and she began her tortuous growth process.
Chunling once fell into the dilemma and confusion about her own identity and position, and it was only after fulfilling her promise to her adoptive mother Maggie to "study medicine and return to China to be a doctor" that she really found her origin.
Also deeply troubled is Xilian, a Chinese woman who has settled in New Zealand.
In Yin Jianling's view, what the two characters Chunling and Xilian are discussing is actually a proposition: Who am I?
Where do I come from?
Why am I the way I am?
"Questions like this may accompany each of us throughout our lives." She is glad that she finally found the "double arch" structure in the novel to tell this story, and Nanxi is the bridge connecting the double arches.
For Yin Jianling, the creation of "Sail" is more out of a spontaneous need.
In 2017, she had a short life experience at the Mike King Writing Center in Auckland, New Zealand, and also came into contact with the Chinese community in New Zealand.
For a long time, those days of quiet writing were lingering in my memory like a knife.
She began to rethink the meaning of writing to herself, and decided to write something for those days, "It can be said that "Sail" has gone through a long time of material preparation and psychological brewing, and it has become what it is now, a kind of success. .”
The common denominator of "big bildungsroman"
From the perspective of content, Yin Jianling believes that "Sail" is a bildungsroman novel, which should be suitable for teenagers and above, and the self-seeking and other life topics discussed in the novel should also be suitable for adults.
"However, each child's reading level and comprehension ability are different. We cannot underestimate children." She said, "Perhaps, a child who has just entered elementary school will also make his own interpretation."
Yin Jianling's work "Sail" book cover.
Photo courtesy of Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House
The novel is polysemous. Once it is born, it will gain a new life from the readers. Everyone will get different enlightenment and insights from it. The things that "Sail" expects to convey to readers are also diverse.
"But bildungsroman has one thing in common: to show the complexity and diversity of the world and human nature as richly as possible, so that readers can integrate their own experiences and emotional experiences into it, so that their spiritual world can be expanded and grown." Yin Jianling said.
"From this perspective, novels need to carry the writer's thoughts and understanding of the fundamental value of life, so that people can open their eyes to see the richness of the world, and discover their own nobility and humbleness." "Sail" also tries to do it to this point.
Yin Jianling mentioned that in these years, even if he is not writing, he has not stopped reading, thinking and accumulating, "I like the unknown self, and I also enjoy the surprise moment when inspiration comes, and I love the state of ecstasy in hard work."
At the age of 18, embarked on a literary journey
Yin Jianling's writing can be traced back more than thirty years ago.
At the age of 18, she started her literary journey with "Youth Literature and Art" (Shanghai).
Initially, writing was simply for self-expression.
She said that when she passed adolescence and was able to find answers to the confusion and confusion in her growth, she chose to write.
After gradually gaining readers, Yin Jianling's writing is still for self-expression, but unconsciously, she has a mission and sense of responsibility to write for children, which invisibly penetrates into her writing.
This change can draw a clearer thread from her works.
The early "Glass Bird" was an autobiographical novel. Since then, from "Paper Man" and "Ye Mang Po" to the current "Sail", many novels have focused on the topic of "spiritual growth".
"I am more and more aware of the happiness of being a children's literature writer: you can actually participate in the growth of children, accompany them, warm them, inspire them, and lead them. They regard you as a confidant, and they will continue to grow up when they grow up. Keeping in mind — to me, that's priceless."
Yin Jianling, a writer of children's literature.
Photo provided by the interviewee
Some people say that Yin Jianling's writing style is relatively delicate, and he is good at describing the psychology of characters.
She does not deny this, "I entered children's literature from exploring the inner world of girls. Although there have been changes during the period, I still cannot get rid of some personal labels in my bones."
"This kind of personal label is sometimes a limitation, and sometimes it can be said to be a characteristic that cannot be easily shaken off. Therefore, it is probably inevitable that "Sail" will re-analyze the fate of girls and women." Yin Jianling said.
Telling the profound and complicated life in plain language
Summarizing decades of writing experience, Yin Jianling believes that the highest state of children's literature writing is "telling the profound and complicated life in simple and simple language".
"Children's literature should not be lowered in terms of artistic standards just because it is labeled children, let alone scribble the essence of life that adult writers need to express in it because of the young age of the readers," she said.
Different from some other types of literature, although excellent "children's literature" covers almost all themes that can be expressed in literature, it uses expressions and expressions that children can accept.
This also means that the difference between children's literature (juvenile literature) may be that the author not only needs to express himself, but also needs to have a unique aesthetic principle, considering what to give to readers in a way that readers can understand and like.
Whenever she thinks that readers of different age groups may read these words and stories, Yin Jianling will always remind herself to be in awe of children's literature writing, and therefore always manage the words and stories under her pen carefully.
She compares writing to climbing and exploring. Writing for children of different ages and using different expressions and language styles is a challenge for writers.
"But I like this kind of challenge. I can constantly discover myself and discover new scenery." But no matter what he writes, Yin Jianling always has a principle in his heart, that is, "respect children and pursue art".
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