Zhou Keqin writes at home
In December 1982, Zhou Keqin's novel "Xu Mao and His Daughters" won the first six works of the first Mao Dun Literature Award, followed by Wei Wei's "Orient", Yao Xueyu's "Li Zicheng" volume II, Mo Yingfeng's "General Yin", Li Guowen's "Spring in Winter" and Gu Hua's "Furong Town".
Zhou Keqin was born into a peasant family, and he wrote about farmers all his life. After his novel "Xu Mao and His Daughters" won the award, film, television, and opera competed to be adapted and performed. Later, his other novel, "The Confusion of Autumn", was also praised for its true depiction of the ten years of reform life in the countryside, but the impact was not as great as the former.
Before the award for his novels, his "Don't Forget the Grass" and "Mountain Moon Don't Know The Heart" had already won the Two National Outstanding Short Story Awards in 1980 and 1981.
On July 21, 1990, the writer was diagnosed with advanced liver cancer, and died at 2:05 a.m. on August 5 at the General Hospital of the Chengdu Military Region of the People's Liberation Army at the age of 53.
"Xu Mao and His Daughters" is Zhou Keqin's famous masterpiece for a while, but its detailed process of creation, serialization, publication, publication, and award-winning is little known.
On August 5, 2020, the 30th anniversary of Zhou Keqin's death, I collected information and interviewed Zhou Keqin's family to complete the "Zhou Keqin Annals" and other achievements, and now I commemorate this almost forgotten writer with this article.
<h3>The origin of the writing of "Xu Mao and His Daughters"</h3>
In November 1977, the Sichuan Provincial Federation of Literary and Literary Circles and the Sichuan Branch of the China Writers Association held a symposium on literary creation in Wenjiang County, Sichuan Province, on November 5, and Zhou Keqin, then an agricultural technician in Hongta District, Jianyang County, was invited to attend the meeting. The meeting lasted for half a month, at which he listened to the speeches of veteran writers Sha Ting, Ai Wu, ma Zhitu and Li Lei's report, and was deeply inspired, and came up with the idea of creating a long novel with realistic themes. After Zhou Keqin returned to Jian Yang's home, on the evening of November 22, he determined the creative idea of the novel "The Daughters of Xu Mao's Family". After a long night of sleepless contemplation, the novel to be written was finally titled "Xu Mao and His Daughters" in the early morning of November 23. Immediately, while the iron was hot, from the 23rd to the 27th, the characters of "Xu Mao and His Daughters" were carefully designed and a biography of the character was drafted. After a year or so of creation, in the winter of 1978, Zhou Keqin completed the first draft of "Xu Mao and His Daughters".
A <h3>long story transformed from an internal journal novella series</h3>
In 1979, the Neijiang Prefectural Committee of Sichuan Province decided to hold an essay contest for the 30th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in the whole region, and after Zhou Keqin learned the news, he submitted the novel to the competition at the request of Wu Yuanren, a friend and editor-in-chief of the quarterly magazine "Tuojiang Literature and Art", an internal publication of the Regional Bureau of Culture and Education at the time. Originally, the novel was published in the form of a "novella serial" in the "Selected Essays for the 30th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China" column of the first issue of Tuojiang Literature and Art, with the title of the essay "Xu Mao and His Daughters" (novella serial) Chapter 1 "Foggy". After the first issue of Tuojiang Literature and Art was published on February 15, Zhou Keqin's novella "Xu Mao and His Daughters" was loved and praised by the majority of readers. In May, the second issue of the Tuojiang Literature and Art Quarterly published the second chapter of "Xu Mao and His Daughters", "The Unrounded Moon".
The "Editor's Note" said: After the first chapter of the first chapter of the first issue of our magazine was published, comrade Zhou Keqin's new work "Xu Mao and His Daughters" was praised by the vast number of readers, and one reader wrote to say: This is a good novel with fresh, strong earthy atmosphere and distinct local colors, and it artistically shows the picture of life on the banks of the Tuojiang River. Qin Zelun, a teacher at Duoyue Commune Primary School in Meishan County, wrote to him that he had read the first chapter in one breath late at night, and he loved it, and the teachers of the school rushed to read it, hoping to read the full text as soon as possible. In order to help the author to further revise, I hope that the majority of readers will tell us what they want to read in time to promote the literary and artistic creation in our district.
In August 1979, the third issue of the Tuojiang Literature and Art Quarterly published the third chapter of "Xu Mao and His Daughters", "The First Visit".
On August 26, Zhou Keqin finally re-added and revised the length of the novella into a novella of more than 200,000 words, "Xu Mao and His Daughters". In September 1979, the special issue of "Tuojiang Literature and Art" edited by the 30th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China in The Neijiang Region of Sichuan Province, "Selected Literary Works of the Thirty Years of Neijiang" (1949-1979), republished the full text of the novel "Xu Mao and His Daughters" at the top of the novel column, so that Zhou Keqin's excellent work, which was originally the last novella to "transform" the growth novel, could present a complete picture.
<h3>Publication of Xu Mao and His Daughters</h3>
In late August 1979, after Learning of Zhou Keqin's novel "Xu Mao and His Daughters" in Tuojiang Literature and Art, Yin Bai, a Chongqing writer and critic, made a special trip from Chongqing to Jianyang to visit Zhou Keqin, believing that this novel was an excellent work, and enthusiastically wrote a review article entitled "Selecting Writers on Themes- Comments", which was published in the 1st issue of Tuojiang Literature and Art in 1980 and the 4th issue of Sichuan Literature and Art in 1980 and "Literature and Art Newspaper": "... The author originally planned to write a novella, but it was out of control, and the structure of the novella evolved into a long story. This is the author's pen involuntarily, the trigger of life accumulation, the maturity of creative brewing, and the law of the birth of literature. ”
At the same time, Yin Bai recommended Zhou Keqin's novel "Xu Mao and His Daughters" to Wang Jue, editor-in-chief of Red Rock Magazine, which attracted great attention from the editorial department. After three reviews, it was decided to publish the full text. On September 19, Zhou Keqin was invited by the editorial board of "Red Rock" to Chongqing to discuss the publication of the article. In December of that year, Red Rock made headlines for "Xu Mao and His Daughters" in one go.
Zhou Keqin was outside jianyang's hometown
<h3>Repercussions and evaluations of the novel</h3>
After "Xu Mao and His Daughters" was published in "Red Rock", it immediately attracted a warm response and wide attention in the literary circles of Sichuan and even the whole country.
In April 1980, the Literary and Art Daily published a correspondence between Zhou Yang, then chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and Sha Ting, a famous writer, who spoke highly of Xu Mao and His Daughters.
Zhou Yang wrote to Satin:
I have read most of this long book, and it is indeed a fascinating book. ...... The author's depictions of the rural environment and the personalities of the characters are vivid. ...... The novel also describes many negative and dark sides in our rural areas and society, but it does not give people a feeling of depression, but on the contrary, it gives people the power of encouragement.
Satin's letter to Zhou Yang reads:
It took two or three days of work to finally finish reading Comrade Zhou Keqin's novel "Xu Mao and His Daughters". It is indeed a good book, no wonder the editorial department of "Hongyan" and the editorial department of "Sichuan Literature" have recommended it to me successively, and you have specially sent the special issue of "Tuojiang Literature and Art" and comrade Yin Bai's article written according to this special edition, and told me your impressions and preliminary evaluation of the work after reading most of it. After reading the whole book, my impression is that it is not only a masterpiece reflected in the "Gang of Four" in the past three years, but also a long story reflecting rural life in the past thirty years. Because although it cannot be said that it has reached the level of some famous works that have been evaluated earlier, it has made a breakthrough.
In June 1980, the second issue of Red Rock published Su Zhi's commentary article "On the Achievements of The Ideological Art of Xu Mao and His Daughters". At the same time, a column entitled "Xu Mao and His Daughters" was set up, and four commentaries were published, including Wang Shide's "New Harvest of Realism," Xiangpu's "A Solid Literary Road," Li Jingmin's "On Xu Mao," and Chen Shukuan's "The Picture scroll of life, the Monument to Hope." In September 1980, the third issue of Hongyan continued to set up a column entitled Xu Mao and His Daughters and published four commentaries, including Wu Ye's Gaze and Deep Reflection on Reality, Su Hongchang's Artistic Achievements Worthy of Attention, Cao Tinghua's Discovery of Beauty, Creation of Beauty, and Ao Zhong's Working Deepening.
The publication of this series of comments has made "Xu Mao and His Daughters" attract more people's attention in the literary world.
Zhou Keqin in Tianjin
<h3>Publishing process as a single book</h3>
After the novel was published in "Red Rock", it attracted the attention of publishing houses across the country, and they competed to "seize" the publishing rights. In May 1980, the Tianjin Hundred Flowers Literary and Art Publishing House published Xu Mao and His Daughters, with a print run of 160,000 copies.
Liu Tieke, editor of Hundred Flowers Literary and Art Publishing House, once wrote about the ins and outs of the publication of "Xu Mao and His Daughters":
In my memory, in January 1980, I successively received a copy of "Selected Literary Works of Neijiang in the Thirty Years" sent by Wu Yuanren, a writer from Neijiang, Sichuan, and a copy of the second issue of the 1979 "Red Rock" literary quarterly sent by KeQin, who had not yet met. Both books and periodicals published Zhou Keqin's novel "Xu Mao" in full. The difference is that the works on the former "Neijiang" are the first draft, and the latter on the "Red Rock" are processed revised drafts. As a rule, it's better to be modified than not to be. In his letter to me, the author vaguely revealed that he was more fond of the unmodified first draft, with love: "Let it come out like a newborn baby with blood marks (shortcomings)!" A baby who has just landed on the ground is not beautiful, but it is a little moving. ”
Liu Tieke read the 240,000-word manuscript in one breath, and suddenly felt that he breathed from the work to a fresh spring breath of melting ice and snow and reviving the earth, and with his first impression after reading it, he recommended this work to Lin Na, the old president of Hundred Flowers Literary and Art Publishing House. Lin Na smiled and said, "If it is really as good as you said, our company can do a special article to review and quickly handle." Soon, the novel was successfully published.
<h3>Two studios made films at the same time, topping the Mao Awards</h3>
After the publication of "Xu Mao and His Daughters", it caused a huge response throughout the country. In June 1980, the 6th issue of Xinhua Monthly (Digest Edition) selected the first, second, fifth, sixth and ninth chapters of "Xu Mao and His Daughters", and at the same time published Zhou Yang and Sha Ting's "Correspondence on Xu Mao and His Daughters". In the same month, the 6th edition of Chinese Literature (English and French Edition) was translated into chapters 1, 2, 5, 6 and 9 of Xu Mao and His Daughters. Sichuan People's Radio and Central People's Radio have successively begun to broadcast "Xu Mao and His Daughters" in succession. In addition, "Xu Mao and His Daughters" has been adapted into a variety of local dramas, TV series, and radio productions. More successful are the Sichuan opera "Four Girls" by the Sichuan Zigong City Sichuan Opera Troupe, the Chu opera "Xu Mao and His Daughters" by the Chu Opera Troupe in Hubei Province, the drama "The Long Road" by the Neijiang Regional Cultural and Labor Troupe, and the TV series "The Story of Huluba" by Sichuan Television.
In 1981, "Xu Mao and His Daughters" was simultaneously put on the screen by Beijing Film Studio and Bayi Film Studio, and the two factories respectively arranged the most luxurious lineups in the film industry at that time: Bayi Factory was written by Zhou Keqin himself, directed by Li Jun, and Beijing Film Studio was written and directed by Wang Yan. The cast of the two factories competes with each other, Bayi Factory: Xu Mao (Jia Liu), Yan Shaochun (Tian Hua), Four Girls (Wang Fuli), Three Girls (Si Qinggaowa), Seven Girls (Zhou Hong), Nine Girls (Zhao Na), Jin Dongshui (Feng Enhe), zheng Bairu (Xu Guangming). North Film Studio: Xu Mao (Li Wei), Yan Shaochun (Lu Guilan), Four Girls (Li Xiuming), Three Girls (Zhang Jinling), Seven Girls (Liu Xiaoqing), Nine Girls (Li Fengxu), Jin Dongshui (Yang Zaibao), Zheng Bairu (Zhang Lianwen).
Two films, Xu Mao and His Daughters, were simultaneously released across the country, writing about the spectacle of Chinese film history.
In December 1982, the results of the first Mao Dun Literature Award organized by the Chinese Writers Association were announced, and Zhou Keqin's novel "Xu Mao and His Daughters" topped the list.
On December 15, Zhou Keqin attended the "First Mao Dun Literature Award" awarding conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, received a prize of 3,000 yuan, and made a speech entitled "Receiving the People's Encouragement with Affection" on behalf of the six winners.
Jiang Hongwei