China News Service, Beijing, August 18 (Reporter Gao Kai) Looking back at a football story from the past, three games presented an era, as well as some people and spirits that cannot be forgotten.
Yu Geng, a writer and screenwriter known to the public for his work "If There Is No Tomorrow" and its film and television adaptation "I Am Yu Huanshui", recently launched his new novel "Fighting for the Country".
"Fighting for the Country". Photo courtesy of the publisher
In this novel, Yu Geng is set in the 1930s and 1940s, through the story of Xiaobei, who has grown from a beggar to a talented player, and Yu Boyong, a team manager who seems to be only interested in profit but has a mysterious identity. The experience of this main character reproduces the story of the Chinese football team, led by the Asian football king Li Huitang, who has achieved great results and is invincible in Asia.
Yu Geng recently accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Service. When talking about the original intention of this creation, he said, "The origin of "Fighting for the Country" is the top 12 competition in the Asian region of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. The Chinese men's football team is in Lost to Vietnam in this game.” This moment reminded Yu Geng of the Chinese football team 80 years ago. This team, led by a generation of football champion Li Huitang, swept across Asia that year and even faced the world's strongest team England at the 11th Berlin Olympics. His own character... "Under the circumstances at that time, their performance was so shocking. I feel that this story and that group of people should be recorded and presented in a more vivid way. They deserve to be seen." ".
According to reports, Yu Geng and his friends initially planned to bring this period of history directly to the big screen. They spent a lot of time discussing the plot, searching for information, and even formed a crew. However, the project was shelved because the film and television company's filming plans were blocked. So Yu Geng decided to write this story into a novel. He admitted that there are many differences between film script writing and novels, and in comparison, "novels allow more freedom to use imagination and creativity."
Exciting matches, fierce wars, and tragic national affairs echo each other. "Fighting for the Country" is not only a novel telling the story of football, but also a work that reflects the social style and feelings of family and country in that special era.
In "Fighting for the Country", Yu Geng wrote three football games. These three football games run through the whole book, relating to personal destiny and connecting with the pulse of the times. The transition from film to novel reflects Yu Geng’s creative flexibility and diversity. He blends history and literature to present readers with a picture of the times that is both real and full of imagination.
Yu Geng introduced that the first two of the three games in the book all happened in real life. The first game took place in the 10th Far Eastern Games in 1934, when the Chinese football team defeated the Japanese team; the second game took place in the 10th Far Eastern Games in 1936. At the Berlin Olympics, the Chinese football team faced the United Kingdom and lost. The third game is fictional, but combined with the real historical event "Dongjiang Rescue".
When talking about the balance between historical reality and literary fiction in creation, Yu Geng bluntly said that there are many literary works adapted from historical facts, such as Jin Yong's "The Deer and the Cauldron", Stendhal's "The Red and the Black", and Dickens's "The Red and the Black". "A Tale of Two Cities" are all fictional stories or characters embedded in real history or historical figures. "I have always hoped to present readers with a more realistic and complex historical picture through my works. Among them, the ability and inability of individuals in the great era, and the choices in the face of fate have eternal significance worth thinking about."
Yu Geng’s works have always paid great attention to the drama of the novel and the multi-faceted characters. His character creation is complex and three-dimensional. In this creation, Yu Geng fictionalized two main characters, Xiaobei and Yu Boyong. Among them, Xiaobei grew up from a beggar to a national hero, while Yu Boyong is a deeply hidden character. This open-ended characterization makes the novel more engaging.
"Xiao Bei is a character with a completely different background from the rest of the team. His appearance adds a lot of drama. More importantly, I hope to use such a character to reflect the fate and struggles of the people at the bottom of that era. I hope he Be able to undertake a larger interpretation of the relationship between people and the destiny of the times.Yu Geng said.
In comparison, there is another kind of "new" in Yu Boyong. This character with a hidden identity is "buried" by Yu Geng in most of the pages of "Struggle for the Country". "Written. "There has always been suspense in Yu Boyong, and the whole creative process is actually very interesting. I designed this line before creation, and I can even feel the interaction with readers in the future during the entire writing process."
Talking about this The challenge faced by Yu Geng in this creation was that it was difficult to restore the football skills and tactics of the past. Due to the age and lack of relevant historical materials, he could only vaguely process it through communication with old coaches and players and his own speculation. There were no overtime or penalty kick systems in football matches at that time, so I need to pay special attention when describing the game. In addition, because there is really no way to verify some current formations and tactics, I can only choose to blur them. This kind of blurring is not a random fabrication, but based on the understanding and respect of that era."
Yu Geng. Interviewed Photo provided by
Among the top ten works of the 6th "National Reading·Bookstore Selection" just selected, "Fighting for the Country" was ranked among the top ten works in the literature category, starting from the absurd but extremely realistic "If Not." "Tomorrow" to "Fighting for the Country", which is both historically realistic and dramatic. Over the years, Yu Geng's works have covered many completely different themes. He bluntly said that he is willing to try and does not like to be "labeled". It's like setting a limit for myself. In fact, I have been constantly making some changes, not only in the theme of the story, but I also don't want to get used to any type of language style, because every creation with a different theme is an independent one. "Life form". (End)
[Editor: Huang Yuhan]
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