In July this year, Chen Chong's collection of autobiographical essays "Cat Fish" was published by Utopia. "'Cat fish' is the Shanghai dialect of that year. The market sold a small fish that should have slipped through the net and was used to feed cats. It was pronounced as 'hairy

In July this year, Chen Chong's autobiographical essay collection "Cat Fish" was published by Utopia. "'Cat fish' is the Shanghai dialect of that year. The market sold a small fish that should have slipped through the net and was used to feed cats. It was pronounced as 'hairy fish' in Shanghainese. With the emergence of cat food in the future, it disappeared from people's memory. In Chen Chong's view, "cat fish" "are fleeting inspirations in life, and are the forgotten or hidden truths in human nature." She salvaged these "cat fish" through writing and put them together into pairs. Memories of one’s own life and times.

On November 3, Chen Chong came to the East Branch of Shanghai Library to have a conversation with writer and documentary director Zhou Yijun and writer Jin Yucheng. The conversation was not limited to writing, but also about love, loss, and fear hidden in writing and life. , relieved.

"Cat Fish" is a book urged by Jin Yucheng

"I can get emotional comfort from the expression of words, but I never thought that I would become a writer. Before meeting Lao Jin (Jin Yucheng), I never dreamed of it," Chen Chong said.

Jin Yucheng revealed that once he passed by Chen Chong's ancestral house and sent her photos. Everything in the photos was not what Chen Chong remembered. "I said it doesn't matter. You must still have a lot of memories and ideas. This is the most important thing." In this way, with Jin Yucheng's encouragement, Chen Chong wrote the next article "The Old House on Pingjiang Road", with more than 10,000 words. After that, she wrote prose one after another, recalling the stories of her ancestors and mother, the years of the old house on Pingjiang Road, the days of the "Little Flower" film crew caravan, her solo study abroad trip to a foreign country, and the uniqueness of each movie. The well-known behind-the-scenes, as well as the love, pain and struggle in life. These works were first published in "Shanghai Literature" and appeared on last year's "Harvest Literature List·Long Non-fiction List". These articles are collected into a book called "Cat Fish", with more than 600 pages. Jin Yucheng lamented, "It's much thicker than "Flowers"."

Jin Yucheng recalled that the first time he came into contact with Chen Chong's writing was when he saw an article she wrote about director Bertrucci (director of the movie "The Last Emperor"), "I did a lot of work in "Shanghai Literature" Having been an editor for many years, the professional sensitivity of an editor is that if you see a good article, you must remember it. If a good article is rejected by you and then published by another magazine and won an award, you will be an editor for a lifetime. nightmare. I have read Teacher Chen’s article and her post on Weibo I could tell that she was a good author. I didn’t know that she had published articles in magazines before studying abroad in the 1980s. tml2

The paper kingdom established by Chen Chong is delicate, free and straightforward.

Jin Yucheng believes that the reason why Chen Chong’s writing is attractive is not that as a filmmaker, he writes about unknown things in the industry. “She does not use this method to impress you. of". In Jin Yucheng's view, the paper kingdom established by Chen Chong is delicate, free, and straightforward. Her people and events, especially the history of several generations of intellectuals, fill the narrative gap of literary Shanghai. "Her parents are both scientists, but they can't do this. There is a kind of fate here, that is, Chen Chong will write these words to complete this thing (record the history and story of the family)."

Regarding Chen Chong's talent, Zhou Yijun quoted Qian Zhongshu's judgment criteria. "Qian Zhongshu said that a person's writing talent depends on how well he uses metaphors. When I watched "Cat Fish", I was often shocked. Chen Chong said that photos are fake memories, they are connected to you. , but not necessarily exactly the same. "

Zhou Yijun also found that there are many observations on contemporary life in "Cat Fish". For example, Chen Chong said that when filming "The Last Emperor", the director had to choose some. Everyman actor. "In their hotel, I saw a Manchu waiter. The director saw the nobility under his uniform and asked him to play a role in it."Chen Chong wrote in the book, "In that era, we could still see very good-looking people in daily life, nurses, doctors, workers, teachers, people selling vegetables, meat, and rice. Their appearance was like nature. Small miracles create ripples in our ordinary days. "She also wrote about a cousin in the book who was very beautiful, but she had some misfortunes in her life. "I heard my parents sigh many times, 'What a pity, it was a waste.' Maybe it was because of the waste that her life was short-lived. The surprise haunted my soul and made me feel a dull pain. "She lamented in the book, "Today's beauties have disappeared from ordinary work and life. Their beauty has been strictly managed, packaged and perfected, and then displayed in the virtual time and space we expect, on screens, screens, and magazine advertisements. Every bit of cards is capital and will not be wasted. "

However, what really surprised Zhou Yijun was the love that permeates the lines in "Cat Fish", especially the careless love. Even though it contains some unpleasant and even very hurtful experiences, what shocked me the most was, There is no resentment in it, no worry about gains and losses. "

"The more you understand cruelty and fear, the more you will yearn for beauty, and the more you know what love is."

But behind this text wrapped in love, there is also deep pain. Chen Chong recalled, "During the writing stage, my mother was seriously ill. My relationship with my mother was very close. During that time, my own emotions were also very sensitive. Therefore, I salvaged many fragments of my mother from my memory. Her words , her actions, her emotions. This emotional abundance helped my writing. "

Because of writing, Chen Chong kept looking back at the past and recalling his love and loss, only to find that in real experience, " It turns out that I have been afraid of losing my mother since I was very young. Now that I am 60 years old, I still have this fear." Chen Chong told a detail that he did not write in the book. "When I was very young, my mother and I were taking a bath together on the terrace to enjoy the cool air. She had something growing on her body, and it was full of blood. It was a bright red thing growing on her body. I asked what it was? My mother told me this What it is, it means that if this thing grows bigger and reaches many places on the body, the person will die. I was extremely scared at the time. This is the most fearful time for a child. Then I pursed my lips and cried. It crackled and fell down. My mother took a look and said, "Are you afraid that your mother will die?" I wiped my tears and said, "No, I don't know anyone in the kindergarten who doesn't give me smoked green beans." My mother looked at it. He looked at me and said: 'Really? ! ’ I remember such a detail very clearly, and I don’t know how to write it down. I don’t know why my mother said that at the time. But I didn't think of such things until my mother's hospital bed. I was once again afraid of such a loss in front of my mother's hospital bed. I really feel lucky that you only have one mother in your life. How can you bear such a loss for the second or third time? "

In the book, Chen Chong wrote about his mother's death, "I discovered that after a person dies, there are actually n atoms in her body. 63.7% of her substance is oxygen, 21% is carbon, 1.4% is calcium, and 1.1% It's phosphorus, etc. These were released and spread, and within 60 days they were in the air around the world. In the newborn child, there will also be some of her atoms. The idea that mother will forever circulate in the wind, water, and soil, and that mother will exist in all things, brings me comfort. "

It is precisely because of cruelty in life that there is love; because of fear, there is beauty. "No beauty can exist independently. The more you understand cruelty and the more you understand fear, the more you will yearn for beauty, and the more you understand fear. Know what love is. "

The picture comes from Weibo Super Talk

"This is probably the first time I have faced myself head-on."

Jin Yucheng revealed that he urged Chen Chong to write a book. He originally wanted her to write a novel. The protagonist was a young girl at first and continued until she changed. Mrs. Cheng said, "If you make a movie, there is no movie that allows you to act from 18 to 68 years old. You can set the protagonist as me through text and have a great time."

Chen Chong admitted that this idea is very tempting. "If you really perform a one-man show by yourself, you don't need a film crew, an art team, or anything else. It's just a one-man show by yourself." I could write from the age of 16 until her death. This is really the freedom that words can only give. "

" Writing has helped me a lot. "Chen Chong admitted that he missed the time when it was serialized in "Shanghai Literature" for nearly two years. "When you are alone with yourself, there is always a kind of tranquility, even if you write about excitement or disappointment. This was probably the first time in my life that I faced myself head-on. I sat down quietly in a room alone and faced my many weaknesses. Some readers sighed and said, "You really dare to write. In fact, I may be more candid when I am 80 years old." "

Because of writing, she has a deeper understanding of history. "History, as Teacher Jin said just now, one page records 300 years. All of a sudden, a century has passed, and all of a sudden, a dynasty has passed. Personal destiny seems to have completely disappeared. Who knows whether you have lived or not? In this case, I really like to see that the records of ordinary people, even if they are a running account, are meaningful, because there is a person's destiny in them. "

" One of the most gratifying things for me is that some readers of my generation will start to recall to me that their grandmothers were like this at that time, braiding glass fibers and putting them outside the glass bottles to use as tea cups. . Everyone thought of many things in their own families, and the feedback they gave me was very vivid. I believe that the history of each of us is meaningful from a long-term perspective."

text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Zu Weiwei

editor/Gong Lifang