High Life

品 22 #8 2017 年 5 月 HIGH LIFE #8 May 2017 23 文学批评家对《兄弟》有褒有贬。保守派认为，小说的语 言和题材太过粗糙，尤其是第二部，而欣赏这部作品的人，则 看到了文革和开放两个时代之间在心理压迫上的相通之处。 个人认为，《兄弟》是一部引人入胜的作品。不难想象， 要打造出这样一部杰作，余华曾经有过怎样异乎寻常的经历。 随着采访接近尾声，我仍感好奇，想更多地了解余华对当代中 国的看法，因此我刻意问了一个可以展开阐述的问题，希望我 们的谈话可以持续下去。 “几年前，兴起了关于中国梦而非美国梦的讨论，后者是 我们所了解的一套理想。您如何界定中国梦，这与美国价值观 有关吗？” 余华笑起来，“不久之前，一个朋友在上海给我打电话， 他是中国一家大型国企的退休老总，一向说话大胆。但他在电 话里说话很谨慎，因为当时担心我的电话被监听了。他对我 说，‘现在中央提倡中国梦，我感到很振奋，因为我有一个小 小的愿望，就是在我有生之年，我能不能在选人大代表时投上 一票。’ “他不是想当人大代表，而是希望在选举时，有资格去投 票。然后他问我，你投过吗？我说这辈子还没见到过选票。因 此他说，我想要投票的意愿，算不算中国梦？我想了想，回答 说，即使不是中国梦，也是在中国做的梦。” Besides being “lazy,” another reason Yu produces few novels is to uphold the quality of his writing. He indicates that when a certain standard is established in an earlier work, the same level of excellence must be continued or surpassed in each work that follows. In the literary world, Yu’s To Live is hailed as a contemporary classic, yet in his own eyes, Brothers – a storyabout two boys exposed to the social transformations, economic reform and globalization of the Cultural Revolution – is his most significant piece to date. “When I was writing To Live , I startedwith an avant-garde style but figured out later that it didn’t work, so I used the voice of the protagonist in first person and successfully finished it. Xu Fugui, the protagonist, is not particularly well educated, so through his voice the language is simple and straightforward. Although the book’s subject matter is heavy, anyone can read it. “In the future, pessimistically speaking, I do not think I will come up with another novel as popular as To Liv e, but if I have to choose between To Live and Brothers , I would choose the latter to be the one that represents me best because it reflects two periods I have lived through – the Cultural Revolution and contemporary China. In some ways, the life experience of Baldy Li and Song Gang (the main characters of the novel) relates to my own,” he points out.