【正文】 lessly used material associated with my motheramp。39。s actual experience, but the fictional motheramp。39。s emotional state is either a total fabrication or a posite of many of northeast gaomi townshipamp。39。s mothers. though i wrote amp。quot。to the spirit of my motheramp。quot。 on the dedication page, the novel was really written for all mothers everywhere, evidence, perhaps, of my overweening ambition, in much the same way as i hope to make tiny northeast gaomi township a microcosm of china, even of the whole world.
　　母親去世后，我悲痛萬(wàn)分，決定寫(xiě)一部書(shū)獻(xiàn)給她。這就是那本《豐乳肥臀》。因?yàn)樾赜谐芍?，因?yàn)榍楦谐溆?，僅用了83 天，我便寫(xiě)出了這部長(zhǎng)達(dá)50 萬(wàn)字的小說(shuō)的初稿。在《豐乳肥臀》這本書(shū)里，我肆無(wú)忌憚地使用了與我母親的親身經(jīng)歷有關(guān)的素材，但書(shū)中的母親情感方面的經(jīng)歷，則是虛構(gòu)或取材于高密東北鄉(xiāng)諸多母親的經(jīng)歷。在這本書(shū)的卷前語(yǔ)上，我寫(xiě)下了”。獻(xiàn)給母親在天之靈”。的話，但這本書(shū)，實(shí)際上是獻(xiàn)給天下母親的，這是我狂妄的野心，就像我希望把小小的”。高密東北鄉(xiāng)”。寫(xiě)成中國(guó)乃至世界的縮影一樣。
　　the process of creation is unique to every writer. each of my novels differs from the others in terms of plot and guiding inspiration. some, such as amp。quot。the transparent carrot,amp。quot。 were born in dreams, while others, like the garlic ballads have their origin in actual events. whether the source of a work is a dream or real life, only if it is integrated with individual experience can it be imbued with individuality, be populated with typical characters molded by lively detail, employ richly evocative language, and boast a well crafted structure. here i must point out that in the garlic ballads i introduced a reallife storyteller and singer in one of the novelamp。39。s most important roles. i wish i hadnamp。39。t used his real name, though his words and actions were made up. this is a recurring phenomenon with me. iamp。39。ll start out using charactersamp。39。 real names in order to achieve a sense of intimacy, and after the work is finished, it will seem too late to change those names. this has led to people who see their names in my novels going to my father to vent their displeasure. he always apologizes in my place, but then urges them not to take such things so seriously. heamp。39。ll say: amp。quot。the first sentence in red sorghum, amp。39。my father, a banditamp。39。s offspring,amp。39。 didnamp。39。t upset me, so why should you be unhappy?amp。quot。 my greatest challenges e with writing novels that deal with social realities, such as the garlic ballads, not because iamp。39。m afraid of being openly critical of the darker aspects of society, but because heated emotions and anger allow politics to suppress literature and transform a novel into reportage of a social event. as a member of society, a novelist is entitled to his own stance and viewpoint。 but when he is writing he must take a humanistic stance, and write accordingly. only then can literature not just originate in events, but transcend them, not just show concern for politics but be greater than politics.
　　作家的創(chuàng)作過(guò)程各有特色，我每本書(shū)的構(gòu)思與靈感觸發(fā)也都不盡相同。有的小說(shuō)起源于夢(mèng)境，譬如《透明的紅蘿卜》，有的小說(shuō)則發(fā)端于現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中發(fā)生的事件。譬如《天堂蒜薹之歌》。但無(wú)論是起源于夢(mèng)境還是發(fā)端于現(xiàn)實(shí)，最后都必須和個(gè)人的經(jīng)驗(yàn)相結(jié)合，才有可能變成一部具有鮮明個(gè)性的，用無(wú)數(shù)生動(dòng)細(xì)節(jié)塑造出了典型人物的、語(yǔ)言豐富多彩、結(jié)構(gòu)匠心獨(dú)運(yùn)的文學(xué)作品。有必要特別提及的是，在《天堂蒜薹之歌》中，我讓一個(gè)真正的說(shuō)書(shū)人登場(chǎng)，并在書(shū)中扮演了十分重要的角色。我十分抱歉地使用了這個(gè)說(shuō)書(shū)人真實(shí)姓名，當(dāng)然，他在書(shū)中的所有行為都是虛構(gòu)。在我的寫(xiě)作中，出現(xiàn)過(guò)多次這樣的現(xiàn)象，寫(xiě)作之初，我使用他們的真實(shí)姓名，希望能借此獲得一種親近感，但作品完成之后，我想為他們改換姓名時(shí)卻感到已經(jīng)不可能了，因此也發(fā)生過(guò)與我小說(shuō)中人物同名者找到我父親發(fā)泄不滿(mǎn)的事情，我父親替我向他們道歉，但同時(shí)又開(kāi)導(dǎo)他們不要當(dāng)真。我父親說(shuō)：”。他在《紅高粱》中，第一句就說(shuō)amp。lsquo。我父親這個(gè)土匪種amp。rsquo。，我都不在意你們還在意什么?”。我在寫(xiě)作《天堂蒜薹之歌》這類(lèi)逼近社會(huì)現(xiàn)實(shí)的小說(shuō)時(shí)，面對(duì)著的最大問(wèn)題，其實(shí)不是我敢不敢對(duì)社會(huì)上的黑暗現(xiàn)象進(jìn)行批評(píng)，而是這燃燒的激情和憤怒會(huì)讓政治壓倒文學(xué)，使這部小說(shuō)變成一個(gè)社會(huì)事件的紀(jì)實(shí)報(bào)告。小說(shuō)家是社會(huì)中人，他自然有自己的立場(chǎng)和觀點(diǎn)，但小說(shuō)家在寫(xiě)作時(shí)，必須站在人的立場(chǎng)上，把所有的人都當(dāng)做人來(lái)寫(xiě)。只有這樣，文學(xué)才能發(fā)端事件但超越事件，關(guān)心政治但大于政治。
　　possibly because iamp。39。ve lived so much of my life in difficult circumstances, i think i have a more profound understanding of life. i know what real courage is, and i understand true passion. i know that nebulous terrain exists in the hearts and minds of every person, terrain that cannot be adequately characterized in simple terms of right and wrong or good and bad, and this vast territory is where a writer gives free rein to his talent. so long as the work correctly and vividly describes this nebulous, massively contradictory terrain, it will inevitably transcend politics and be endowed with literary excellence. prattling on and on about my own work must be annoying, but my life and works are inextricably linked, so if i donamp。39。t talk about my work, i donamp。39。t know what else to say. i hope you are in a forgiving mood. i was a modernday storyteller who hid in the background of his early work。 but with the novel sandalwood death i jumped out of the shadows. my early work can be characterized as a series of soliloquies, with no reader in mind。 starting with this novel, however, i visualized myself standing in a public square spiritedly telling my story to a crowd of listeners. this tradition is a worldwide phenomenon in fiction, but is especially so in china. at one time, i was a diligent student of western modernist fiction, and i experimented with all sorts of narrative styles. but in the end i came back to my traditions. to be sure, this return was not without its modifications. sandalwood death and the novels that followed are inheritors of the chinese classical novel tradition but enhanced by western literary techniques. what is known as innovative fiction is, for the most part, a result of this mixture, which is not limited to domestic traditions with foreign techniques, but can include mixing fiction with art from other realms. sandalwood death, for instance, mixes fiction with local opera, while some of my early work was partly nurtured by fine art, music, even acrobatics.
　　可能是因?yàn)槲医?jīng)歷過(guò)長(zhǎng)期的艱難生活，使我對(duì)人性有較為深刻的了解。我知道真正的勇敢是什么，也明白真正的悲憫是什么。我知道，每個(gè)人心中都有一片難用是非善惡準(zhǔn)確定性的朦朧地帶，而這片地帶，正是文學(xué)家施展才華的廣闊天地。只要是準(zhǔn)確地、生動(dòng)地描寫(xiě)了這個(gè)充滿(mǎn)矛盾的朦朧地帶的作品，也就必然地超越了政治并具備了優(yōu)秀文學(xué)的品質(zhì)。喋喋不休地講述自己的作品是令人厭煩的，但我的人生是與我的作品緊密相連的，不講作品，我感到無(wú)從下嘴，所以還得請(qǐng)各位原諒。在我的早期作品中，我作為一個(gè)現(xiàn)代的說(shuō)書(shū)人，是隱藏在文本背后的，但從《檀香刑》這部小說(shuō)開(kāi)始，我終于從后臺(tái)跳到了前臺(tái)。如果說(shuō)我早期的作品是自言自語(yǔ)，目無(wú)讀者，從這本書(shū)開(kāi)始，我感覺(jué)到自己是站在一個(gè)廣場(chǎng)上，面對(duì)著許多聽(tīng)眾，繪聲繪色地講述。這是世界小說(shuō)的傳統(tǒng)，更是中國(guó)小說(shuō)的傳統(tǒng)。我也曾積極地向西方的現(xiàn)代派小說(shuō)學(xué)習(xí)，也曾經(jīng)玩弄過(guò)形形色色的敘事花樣，但我最終回歸了傳統(tǒng)。當(dāng)然，這種回歸，不是一成不變的回歸，《檀香刑》和之后的小說(shuō)，是繼承了中國(guó)古典小說(shuō)傳統(tǒng)又借鑒了西方小說(shuō)技術(shù)的混合文本。小說(shuō)領(lǐng)域的所謂創(chuàng)新，基本上都是這種混合的產(chǎn)物。不僅僅是本國(guó)文學(xué)傳統(tǒng)與外國(guó)小說(shuō)技巧的混合，也是小說(shuō)與其他的藝術(shù)門(mén)類(lèi)的混合，就像《檀香刑》是與民間戲曲的混合，就像我早期的一些小說(shuō)從美術(shù)、音樂(lè)、甚至雜技中汲取了營(yíng)養(yǎng)一樣。
　　finally, i ask your indulgence to talk about my novel life and death are wearing me ou