徐贵祥:写出激发激情和斗志的作品是军旅作家的责任

来源:CCTSS

作者:罗雨静

2018-11-23

  编者按


  近年来,中国文化“走出去”的影响力不断扩大,在全球文化多元化发展日益兴盛的背景下,中国文化译研网(CCTSS)联合中国作家协会《小说选刊》杂志社,启动“新世纪中国当代作家、作品海外传播数据库”项目,将100位中国当代优秀作家的简介、代表作品以及展示作家风采的短视频翻译为10种语言,集结成1000张中国作家名片向全球推介。千张“作家名片”将鲜明地向世界宣告:我是中国作家,我在进行中国创作。


  此种形式和规模是中国故事走向世界的一大创新,会让世界更加全面、客观、公正地了解中国优秀作家作品,同时也是打通中国文化走向世界的“最后一公里”。


  徐贵祥,男,1959年12月生于安徽省六安市霍邱县。1978年12月参军,1991年毕业于解放军艺术学院文学系,现为中国作协副主席、中国作家协会军事文学委员会主任、国防大学军事文化学院文艺创演系主任。著有小说集《弹道无痕》《天下》,长篇小说《仰角》《历史的天空》《八月桂花遍地开》《明天战争》《特务连》《马上天下》《四面八方》《对阵》等。其中《历史的天空》获得第六届茅盾文学奖。     


  作为一个军旅作家,徐贵祥认为战争的内涵十分深厚,存在着多种认知的角度和阐释的空间。战争是一个客观存在,必须正视它。在当今世界维持平衡的局面里面,中国的军队是一支不可缺少的力量,所以对它存在的价值,对生活在这个群体里面的人、人的情感、人的命运、人的价值,应该有一个比较客观和清醒的认识。军旅文学应该为生活在这其中的成员提供一份赏心悦目,能够引起深思、能够激发情感、能够激励斗志的文学作品,这是军旅作家的基本责任,也是徐贵祥一直在坚守的写作伦理。  


  《历史的天空》是一部“把人当成人来写”的小说,徐贵祥撇开一切社会文化的依附,让人格以原生状态登场。主要角色梁大牙是以不太光彩的形象露面的:订了亲的小媳妇儿因为厌恶他不愿意嫁给他而宁肯上吊自杀。逃脱日军追杀后,在八路军的营地里蹭了几碗萝卜炖肉白米干饭,吃饱后又看不起游击队的破枪,老是算计要到国民党军队去“混个团长司令干干”。即便最后留在游击队里,动机既不是为了抗日,也不是为了革命,而是因为门口出现了年轻漂亮的女八路,这才脑子一热,冲口而出:“也好,这个八路咱就先当着试试。” 同时,由于不避讳梁大牙最初的非革命动机,因而可以从容地揭示革命阵营内部的人格对比、较量、演进和认同过程,也这就使得作品迭宕起伏,峰回路转,引人入胜。另一部产生广泛影响的代表作《马上天下》通过一个家庭生离死别、一对父子殊途同归、一组师生分道扬镳,和一群人物悲欢离合的故事,包围军事文学的核心问题:为什么要进行战争?怎样进行战争?战争文学的终极关怀是什么?《马上天下》写战术与谋略,有许多关于战术本质问题的思考。徐贵祥认为,战争智慧和战争精神同样重要,有勇无谋不行,有谋无勇也不行。他把主人公对战术的理解上升到艺术层面,归根结底,徐贵祥巧妙地刻画人物、渲染气氛,最终的目的还是以强烈的艺术感染力表达人类心底的愿望——和平。


  2017年徐贵祥的新作《对阵》由长江文艺出版社出版,这是他沉淀七年的心血之作,作品大气磅礴,显示了他旺盛的创作力。


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  徐贵祥


  Xu Guixiang


  Xu Guixiang was born in December 1959 in Huoqiu County, Liu’an City, Anhui Province. He joined the army in December 1978 and graduated from the literature department of the People’s Liberation Army Art Academy in 1991. He is currently the vice chairman of the China Writers’ Association, the director of the Military Literature Committee of the China Writers’ Association, and the director of the Department of Literary Creation at the Military Culture Academy of the National Defense University. He has written the novel collections, Scarless Bullet, All Beneath Heaven, the novels Elevation, Heaven of History, The Osmanthus Opening in August, Tomorrow’s War, Secret Service Company, Right Now Under Heaven, All Around, Fighting, and so on. Among them, Heaven of History won the sixth Mao Dun Literature Prize. 


  As a military writer, Xu Guixiang believes that the implications of war are extremely profound and there are many cognitive perspectives and lots of space for interpretation. War is an objective existence and it must be taken seriously. In the current world where balance is maintained, the Chinese military is an indispensable force. Therefore, there should be a more objective and sober understanding of the value of its existence and the people who live in this group, their feelings, fates and values. Military literature should provide visually pleasing, mentally stimulating, emotionally exciting and physically motivating literary works for members living in it. This is the basic responsibility of military writers and the writing ethics that Xu Guixiang has always adhered to.


  Heaven of History is a novel that “writes people as adults.” Xu Guixiang casts aside the attachment of all social cultures and makes people appear in their original state. The main character Liang Daya appears in a less glamorous image: a young woman who has had a marriage arranged for her would rather hang herself because she does not want to marry him. After escaping from the Japanese army, he picks up a few bowls of radish stew and dried rice in the camp of the Eighth Route Army. After eating, he looks upon down on the guerrilla fighters’ broken guns. He is always planning how to get to the Kuomintang army to “have a go at being a regimental commander”.


  Even though he ends up with the guerrillas, his motive is not resisting the Japanese, and nor is it for the revolution, it is because of the appearance of a young and beautiful female soldier in the Eighth Route. Then with a rush of blood to the head, he blurts out: “Well, let’s give this Eighth Route Army a try.” At the same time, by not avoiding the taboo of bringing up the initial non-revolutionary motives of Liang Daya, it is therefore possible to calmly reveal the process of personality contrast, contest, evolution, and identification within the revolutionary camp, which also gives the novel more complex and ups and downs, with lots of interesting twists and turns. 


  Another masterpiece with a wide-ranging influence, Right Now Under Heaven, which through a family’s eternal parting, a father and a son reaching the same goal through different means, a group of teachers and students parting ways, and the story of a group of characters’ joys and sorrows, surrounds the core issues of military literature: Why would there be war? How to conduct war? What is the ultimate concern for war literature? Right Now Under Heaven is about tactics and planning. There is a lot of thinking about the nature of tactical problems. Xu Guixiang believes that the wisdom of war is just as important as the spirit of war. Bravery without planning is no good. He takes the protagonist’s understanding of tactics to the level of art. In the final analysis, Xu Guixiang skillfully portrays the characters and renders the atmosphere. The ultimate goal is to express with a strong artistic appeal the desire of the human heart – peace.


  In 2017, Xu Guixiang’s new book Fighting was published by the Yangtze River Literature and Art Publishing House. This is a work he worked hard on for seven years. It is a majestic work, showing his strong creative powers.


责任编辑:王爽