After coming back, life is still difficult. Jiang Yang and his wife are separated. One is a professor of Foreign Languages Department in The National SouthWest Associated University, and the other is the principal of Shanghai Zhenhua Girls' School. Then the Pacific War broke out, and life in Shanghai was even more embarrassing until the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.
Entering the theater for the first time
During this period, Mr. and Mrs. Jiang Yang did not forget to work hard in the field of literature. Qian Zhongshu published a collection of essays "Writing on the Edge of Life", and Jiang Yang also worked as a tutor to supplement his family and created amateur dramas.
At that time, drama was a popular literary style at that time, and the Shanghai underground party also put the focus of the cultural anti-Japanese and national salvation movement on drama work, organized professional theatrical troupes, and also carried out amateur drama movements. At that time, not many people wrote plays, but it was Jiang Yang who stood out and attracted wide attention. At that time, her works "Proud" and "Turning Truth into False" were called the best two comedies, which were rare works in China's drama library.
It was a winter night in 1942. Chen invited Qian Zhongshu to eat roast mutton, and Li Jianwu was also present. A few people ate and chatted, and on a whim, they encouraged Jiang Yang. Why is there no script?
But at that time, Jiang Yang had not written the script, but when he heard the words of encouragement from his friends, his heart itched. So at that time, I used my spare time to step up the creation of Satisfied. After a simple review and adjustment, it was immediately rehearsed, directed by Huang, and officially premiered in the spring of 1943.
Li Junyu, the hero of the play, left Shanghai for Beiping because his mother didn't listen to his grandfather's arrangement, married a poor painter and lost the care of his family. After his parents died, Li Junyu was recalled to Shanghai by his three aunts. Obviously, one person helped her, but she took turns to use her as a labor force, and she was afraid that she would bring trouble to her family, and one family pushed it to the other. Finally, I was kicked to Uncle Xu Langzhai, but because of this last kick, I came to the yes-man and I was satisfied.
Xu Langzhai on the rich Jia side has money and a house, but he has no children and is alone. Everyone coveted his property and rushed to adopt their children to him, but the old man was eccentric. Third Aunt wanted to borrow the hand of the old man to get rid of Li Junyu. Unexpectedly, the old man and the young man were particularly gregarious and were accepted as heirs by Xu Langzhai. Li Junyu never dreamed that the last lucky one turned out to be himself.
Jiang Yang mastered the comedy skills just right, and fully revealed the contradictions and conflicts in life. She is very familiar with the lives of ordinary people in Shanghai, and her works have profoundly demonstrated the colorful social Vientiane since childhood. When I was young, I made a blockbuster and attracted cheers from all sides.
Japanese writer Yuksuke Kawakami commented that there is only a piece of paper between laughter and tears. Laugh heartily and implicitly. Zhao, a professor at Fudan University, wrote in "Memories of the Past in the Literary World": This drama depicts the world and human feelings, which is not written by women, but it is delicate and meticulous, which cannot but be greatly appreciated.
Interestingly, the daughter of the drama director Huang directed the adaptation of the TV series Fortress Besieged in the 1980s, which is also a much-told story.
marital happiness
With the success of Satisfied, Jiang Yang worked hard to create comedies, games and tragedies.
These works had a great response in the theater at that time, were sought after by the audience, and were highly praised by people such as Li Jianwu and Chen. His two comedies mocked the selfish, hypocritical and snobbish human world, tore up worthless things in life and achieved quite successful stage effects. However, Fengfen has turned from social criticism to life exploration, arousing people's taste and speculation about life, mercilessly destroying valuable things, and bringing spiritual shock to the audience as much as the former.
In the postscript of his two comedies, Jiang Yang said modestly that the lack of fighting significance in the script was only the work of an apprentice, although it was a serious work. If we say that the people who fell under the Japanese invaders refused to compromise, refused to yield, and even resisted, persevered, and had no sadness or setbacks, then the laughter in the comedy also meant that we never lost confidence in the darkness of the long night and always maintained an optimistic spirit in the difficult years.
As a well-known gifted scholar, Qian Zhongshu is naturally not to be outdone. On one occasion, the couple watched a play written by Jiang Yang, and when they got home, Qian Zhongshu said cheerfully that he would write a novel. Jiang Yang was very happy and urged him to write quickly.
But at that time, Qian Zhongshu was stealing time to write short stories, fearing that he didn't have time to write long ones. So Jiang Yang said that life can be more frugal and there is no need to find another maid, so he took a part-time job. As a maid under the stove, Yang Jianggan helped her husband write Fortress Besieged, which became a much-told story in the literary world in the 1940s.
Fortress Besieged was written in 1944 and ended in 1946. As Qian Zhongshu wrote in the preface, this book was written for two years. In the past two years, I have been worried about the world and repeatedly wanted to end it. Thanks to Ms. Jiang Yang's constant urging, she stopped many things for me, saved time and was able to finish the book. As usual, this book should be dedicated to her.
Qian Zhongshu's Fortress Besieged is a household name. Decades later, its readers are like clouds. In 1980s, it was reprinted by People's Literature Publishing House and Sanlian Bookstore, which was in short supply.
In Shanghai in the 1940s, the environment was harsh. Although Mr. and Mrs. Jiang Yang lived in poverty, they didn't change their fun and went on writing. Later, after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Qian Zhongshu was the English editor in the Central Library, editing the book Forest Quarterly, and was also an adjunct professor at Jinan University, and was also the editorial board of the British Culture Series.
Jiang Yang taught two or three courses in Aurora Women's College of Arts and Sciences, and her life was quite easy. However, due to overwork in recent years, she has been working several jobs to support her family, writing in her spare time and working as a maid under the stove. Every afternoon at three or four o'clock, she always has a low fever. She loses a catty every month, but she can't find the cause.
Therefore, even reading and writing articles are a little sickly, but during this period, many prose works have been produced, such as Wind and the Art of Obedience. Most of these articles are feelings about life, pure and natural, appealing to both refined and popular tastes. Jiang Yang's articles were not influenced by the disadvantages of prose creation at that time, but appeared in front of the world in a completely different style.
The pinnacle of translation
Until 1949, on the eve of the liberation of Shanghai, Mr. and Mrs. Jiang Yang, like many patriotic intellectuals, refused to win over the Kuomintang, refused to go to Taiwan Province Province, and wholeheartedly supported the leadership of the * * * production party.
Combined with Jiang Yang's description in Six Chapters of Cadre School and interview: On the eve of liberation, many people ran abroad in fear. Why do we both refuse to walk a lot? Of course, we don't want to go to Taiwan Province Province with a disappointing ruler. Hong Kong is a commercial pier, and we are cultural people, so we don't want to go. Of course, I don't want to be a second-class citizen abroad. Moreover, at that time, we are almost half a year old, even if we die short-lived, we will die in our country.
Shanghai was liberated in May that year. At this time, Jiang Yang and Qian Zhongshu had received the employment notice from Tsinghua University, so Jiang Yang left Shanghai with his family, settled in Beijing and started a new life. I have never left Beijing except for the Cultural Revolution and the May 7th Cadre School.
During this period, Jiang Yang really began to translate foreign literary works. At the beginning of her teaching in Tsinghua, she translated and published the first tramp novel "Little Scorpion" in the history of western literature, and 1956 translated Le Sacchi's "Jill Brass".
His translation achievements are highly praised by experts and scholars, especially Zhu Guangqian, a famous professor in Peking University, and Jiang Yang is the best in prose translation.
In recent years, Jiang Yang has made up his mind not to write articles, but to specialize in translation. In order to translate Don Quixote well, I began to teach myself Spanish at the beginning of 1959, but due to some interference, I didn't finish all the translation work until 1976.
Around Don Quixote, Jiang Yang also wrote a group of nine papers, focusing on the background, artistic features, author introduction and related historical facts. It is also mentioned that translation is a hard work, and every word of the original text should be obeyed, not disobeyed or perfunctory. It should also conform to the language habits of domestic readers and restore the original appearance.
This is also one of the most dazzling achievements in Jiang Yang's translation history. Coincided with1June 1978, the king and queen of Spain visited China. Jiang Yang attended the state banquet and then visited Spain on invitation, which was warmly received by the Spanish government and people.
1986 10, the king of Spain awarded King Alfonso X of Jiang Yang the Wisdom Cross in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the spread of Spanish culture.