Biographical notes

Cao Yu (19 10- 1996) was born in Qianjiang, Hubei. Qing Xuan Tong was born in Tianjin on August 2, 20001day (1965438+September 24, 2000), formerly known as Wan Jiabao. I was nicknamed "Little Baby" when I was studying in Tsinghua. "Cao Yu" is the pseudonym he used for the first time when he published a novel on 1926 (the prefix "Cao" in the traditional Chinese characters of Wan surname is homophonic "Cao"). Cao Yu is "an audience of civilized drama, an amateur actor who loves American drama, and a playwright under the influence of left-wing drama" (Sun Qingsheng: On Cao Yu, Peking University Publishing House, 1986). This sentence roughly summarizes Cao Yu's dramatic life.

The author's life

Cao Yu is an outstanding dramatist in modern China. Formerly known as Wan Jiabao, his ancestral home is Qianjiang, Hubei. Born in a declining feudal bureaucratic family in Tianjin. I participated in drama activities while studying in Nankai Middle School in Tianjin, and once played the leading role in Ibsen's A Doll's House and other plays. From 65438 to 0929, he was admitted to the Foreign Languages Department of Tsinghua University, covering a wide range, from ancient Greek tragedies to Shakespeare's plays, as well as the plays of Chekhov, Ibsen and O 'Neill.

1933 On the eve of college graduation, Cao Yu created a four-act drama Thunderstorm, which was published the following year and quickly aroused strong repercussions. It is not only Cao Yu's first work, but also his famous work and masterpiece. 1936 and 1937, Cao Yu published his important plays Sunrise and Yuan Ye respectively. Cao Yu's important play during the Anti-Japanese War was Peking Man. After the founding of New China, Cao Yu's plays mainly include Liang Jian and Wang Zhaojun.

Thunderstorm, in one day (from morning till night) and two scenes (Zhou Jia and Lujia), shows the intricate contradictions and conflicts between Zhou Jia and Lujia in the past 30 years, and shows the rigorous and exquisite dramatic structure skills of the work. In the play, cicadas and frogs are heard repeatedly, and the weather is sultry before and after the thunderstorm. Its intention is not only to render the "hot" atmosphere in the hot summer, but also to imply the emotions, psychology and personality of the characters.

What is more commendable is the language of the play: First of all, Thunderstorm is written in highly personalized language-from its lines, the audience (readers) can hear (see) the age, gender, status, personality and psychology of each character; Secondly, the language in Thunderstorm has a strong lyrical flavor-its language comes from the characters' hearts and has a strong emotional color, and the lines in some occasions (such as Zhou Chong's lines about Sifeng's ideal future in the third act) are lyric poems without branches. Thunderstorm, with its vivid and delicate language, fully demonstrates the charm of drama as an art of speaking. It appeared on thousands of stages with various appearances, and was deeply interpreted and interpreted by different people, pushing China's plays to the most sensational peak in history.

193 1 year, when the September 18th Incident broke out, Tsinghua University students organized an anti-Japanese propaganda team to carry out anti-Japanese propaganda, with Cao Yu as the propaganda captain. June 65438+ 10/October 65438+In the early morning of February this year, he and his classmates from the propaganda team went to Baoding by train to publicize. On the train, they met a burly man named Zhao, a worker at Changxindian Iron Works. He praised the students' anti-Japanese actions, saying: Japan's occupation of the three northeastern provinces of China is like cutting a piece of meat on our country. Mom is very painful and sad. Whoever cuts my mother's flesh will fight him! Cao Yu sincerely admires the patriotic spirit of the worker's eldest brother. He remembered the drama Thunderstorm that he was conceiving, and a distinctive character image gradually became clear in his mind.

Cao Yu led the Tsinghua University Anti-Japanese Propaganda Team to conduct anti-Japanese propaganda in Baoding Yude Middle School, and performed plays such as The Moon Rises. This drama, which depicts people on the Songhua River in Northeast China covering the crossing of the anti-Japanese armed members, was warmly welcomed by teachers and students. There is an iron factory near Yude Middle School. Cao Yu is discussing with the workers in the factory. The simple image and vivid language of the worker Cao Yu met in the car and the worker surnamed Zhao merged into Lu Dahai in Thunderstorm. How many days and nights, in the western language reading room of Tsinghua University Library and by the river of Tsinghua campus, Cao Yu was fascinated by the creation of Thunderstorm. After pondering and writing for half a year, Cao Yu finally finished the originality of Thunderstorm. Based on the China society around 1925, the play depicts the tragedy of a bourgeois family with strong feudal color. It was August 1933. Cao Yu was about to graduate from Tsinghua University and was hired as a teacher of Baoding Yude Middle School.

During his stay in Yude Middle School, he finally perfected the script. Yude Middle School is a complete middle school founded by Chen Youyun, a member of the League, on the basis of the former public higher primary school of Neigong Temple in Zhili in June 1907+0 17. In June 19 17, French preparatory classes such as work-study programs were added, and in June 193 1, advanced general education courses were added. The school requires science teachers to teach in English so that students can reach the pre-university level when they graduate. In this way, English class is quite important. Cao Yu was hired as an English teacher in Yude Middle School, teaching Lin Yutang's Enlightened English Reader, English Masterpieces and English Essays. Before teaching in Yude Middle School, he sent the script of Thunderstorm to Literature Quarterly. A "Thunderstorm" made him think hard for nearly five years, painstakingly writing for half a year and changing five drafts. After writing, he handed the script to Jin Yi, a classmate of Nankai Middle School. Jin Yi and Ba Jin are jointly responsible for soliciting contributions for the Literary Quarterly edited by Zheng Zhenduo. Jin Yi is very honest. He thought Cao Yu was his good friend, so he didn't have the guts to recommend the script of Thunderstorm to the editor-in-chief. The manuscript has been kept in the drawer of his desk. During this period, Cao Yu has been devoted to the teaching of Yude Middle School, but he has never let go of his beloved drama creation. So, six months later, he was admitted to Tsinghua University for further study with excellent results. Until he left Yude Middle School, his Thunderstorm still sank into the sea.

1one day in July, 934, Jin Yi and Ba Jin talked about the contribution of Literature Quarterly. Ba Jin said: We should pay attention to new people in the literary world and make greater achievements. In order to give Cao Yu's Thunderstorm to Ba Jin. Ba Jin finished reading that night and was deeply moved. He recommended the script to editor-in-chief Zheng Zhenduo and published it in the third issue of Literature Quarterly. Soon after, China students' new drama performance was staged in Tokyo, Japan, and Tokyo Kanda Joy Education Center released a Japanese translation of Thunderstorm, which became a best seller. Lu Xun was very excited when he read the Japanese translation of Thunderstorm. He told visiting American journalist Si Nuo that the best dramatists in China are Guo Moruo, Tian Han, Hong Shen and Cao Yu, a new left-wing dramatist. After watching the performance of Thunderstorm in Tokyo, Guo Moruo personally prefaced the Japanese version of Thunderstorm, saying that Thunderstorm is indeed a rare excellent work. Cao Yu jumped from an unknown young man to a superstar in China.

Cao Yu's history as an audience of civilized dramas began with the embrace of his mother (stepmother).

Cao Yu's father, Wan Dezun, studied at Tokyo NCO School in the late Qing Dynasty and returned to China with Yan Xishan at the beginning of 1909. Before the Revolution of 1911 (19 16), he served as Li's secretary, and was awarded the rank after the founding of the Republic of China. He served as commander of Xuanhua and Chahar. Mother Xue was born in a merchant family and died of puerperal fever three days after giving birth to Jiabao. Cao Yu once said: "I lost my mother when I was a child, and my heart was very lonely." Xue Yong-nan, Xue's sister, became Jiabao's stepmother. She always regarded Jiabao as her own flesh and blood, and she was childless for life. Cao Yu's stepmother likes going to the theater. He watched many Peking Opera, local operas and civilized operas with his stepmother since childhood.

Cao Yu is an amateur actor who loves American TV series, but his history as an amateur actor began long before American TV series appeared. 19 15 When Cao Yu was five years old, he was tutored by his cousin Liu Qike, who was familiar with poetry, and began to act and make up plays with his classmates, but he did not go to a formal primary school. From 65438 to 0920, he finished his private school study and entered bank of tianjin Chinese-English Translation Institute, where he began to get in touch with the works of foreign writers such as Shakespeare. As a movement, "Love American TV" appeared after 192 1 year.

1922 entered the second grade of Nankai Middle School and became lifelong friends with Jin Yi (Zhang). 1923 began to be keen on new literary works, especially Lu Xun's Scream and Guo Moruo's Goddess, but he admitted that Diary of a Madman didn't understand it at that time, but Goddess made his blood boil. 1925, 15-year-old Cao Yu officially joined Nankai Middle School Literary Federation and Nankai New Troupe (one of the earliest troupes in China, founded by Yen Hsiu and Zhang Boling, the founders of Nankai School, and Zhou Enlai was an active member), and began his acting career.

1926, the novel where to sober up tonight was serialized in Xuanbei, the supplement of Tianjin Yongbao, and the pseudonym "Cao Yu" was used for the first time. Later, he published many poems, essays and novels translated by Mo Bosang in Nankai Weekly and Chinese Weekly. His poems "At the end of April, I bid farewell to a beautiful pedestrian" and "Nanfengqu" are all influenced by Guo Moruo's Goddess. 65438-0927 also participated in the drama rehearsal of Ding Xilin, Tian Han and Ibsen.

As a writer under the influence of the left-wing drama movement, although it happened after 1934, in 1928, after Cao Yu became the drama editor of Biweekly in Nankai, he began to conceive Thunderstorm. His father wanted him to be a doctor, but he was not admitted to Union Medical College twice. In the summer of the same year, after graduating from Nankai Middle School with excellent results, Cao Yu was promoted to the Department of Political Science of Nankai University without examination, but he was not interested in the course of political economy. In the summer of 1930, he went to Beijing to apply for Tsinghua. In September, Cao Yu took eight students to Tsinghua University and entered the second year of the Department of Western Literature. He dabbled extensively in western literature, especially drama literature, and often went to see Peking Opera with Ba Jin and Jin Yi after school. At the end of the year, he became the editor-in-chief of Tsinghua Weekly with Qian Zhongshu and others.

From 65438 to 0933, 23-year-old Cao Yu began to write and conceive a five-year-long drama Thunderstorm and a graduation thesis about Ibsen. Cao Yu took the exam and went to Tsinghua to study, but he was not admitted. After graduation, I went to Baoding Mingde Middle School as an English teacher. I returned to Beijing after my illness at the end of the year, and returned to Tsinghua Research Institute after my illness, specializing in drama research. 1934 1 month, Literature Quarterly, edited by Zheng Zhenduo, Ba Jin and Jin Yi, was founded. After seeing Thunderstorm in Jinyi, Ba Jin advocated its immediate publication. In July, Thunderstorm was published in the third issue of the first volume of Literature Quarterly. At that time, it did not attract the attention of Chinese people, but attracted the praise of Japanese students studying in China. 1935 was translated into Japanese by Xing Zhenduo, a Japanese student from Imperial University of Commerce in Tokyo, and the drama party for overseas students from China premiered in the lecture hall of Kandahashi in Tokyo on April 27th. Guo Moruo wrote Thunderstorm About Cao Yu immediately after reading it, which was greatly appreciated. On August 17, a solo performance by Tianjin Normal University was performed for the first time in China (the third performance of the play), which immediately caused a sensation. Liu Xiwei (played by Li Jianwu), a famous Beijing dramatist and critic, published the article Thunderstorm, saying that it was "a play of a performer, a very long play".

1September, 934, invited to Tianjin to teach in Hebei Women's Normal College. 1936 In May, encouraged and urged by Ba Jin and others, he began to write Sunrise, giving classes to female teachers and students during the day and burying himself in writing at night. From June to September, it began to be serialized in Wen Ji Monthly, issue 1-4. 1936, before Cao Yu wrote his second work Sunrise, Thunderstorm, as the first collection of Cao Yu's plays, was published by Shanghai Cultural Life Publishing House hosted by Ba Jin. Therefore, "Sunrise" is not only Ba Jin's expectation, but also attracts extensive attention in the literary world. After the publication of Sunrise, under the auspices of Xiao Gan, the supplement of Tianjin Ta Kung Pao Literature and Art invited almost all the people from the literary circles at that time, including Mao Dun, Ba Jin, Ye Shengtao, Shen Congwen, Jin Yi, Li Guangtian, Zhu Guangqian, Yang Gang, Huang Mei and Xie Dike, the head of western literature department in yenching university, for two collective discussions, which was unprecedented. As a drama, the whole critical circle reacted so quickly and wonderfully, which is the first time in the history of China's drama and even China's modern literature. 1In August, 936, at the invitation of Yu Shangyuan, president of the National Academy of Drama, he went to Nanjing to teach drama, western drama, modern drama and drama criticism. 165438+ 10, directed the drama "Gilded" in Nanjing. 1937 from April to August, Yuan Ye was serialized in Wen Cong, and the first volume was edited by Jin Yi.

/kloc-at the beginning of 0/938, he moved to Chongqing with the Theatre Academy. June+10, 5438, cooperated with Song Zhi to adapt the story of the whole people (the original play was a story created by Song Zhi, Chen Huangmei, Luo Feng and Shu Qun), which premiered in that month and caused a sensation in Chongqing. /kloc-in the spring of 0/939, he moved to Jiang 'an with the school. During the summer vacation, I wrote Metamorphosis. At the end of summer, he went to Kunming to direct vilen and Heizi 28 (that is, the general mobilization of the whole people). In the early winter, the teachers and students of the drama school went to Chongqing to perform Metamorphosis, and Chiang Kai-shek ordered the performance to be banned. /kloc-in the autumn of 0/940, he began to write Peking man, which premiered the following year. /kloc-resigned from the Theatre Academy at the beginning of 0/942, and went to Chongqing Tangjiatuo to create and adapt Ba Jin's home in the summer vacation. 1August, 943, I traveled to the northwest with my friends to prepare for the creation of the historical drama Li Bai and Du Fu. After returning to Chongqing, I wrote Bridge, which showed the contradiction between national capitalists and bureaucratic capitalists in the rear area. 1946, Lao She and He were invited by the State Council to give lectures in the United States via Shanghai, and met with the famous German playwright Brecht twice. 1947 returned to Shanghai, and then worked as a director in Shanghai Wenhua Film Company. He wrote the screenplay Sunny Days and directed it himself. 1at the end of 948, to Hong Kong. At the beginning of 1949, arranged by the underground party of the Communist Party of China, it went to Peiping via Yantai.

1July, 949, attended the first literary congress. 65438-0950 Vice President of the Central Academy of Drama. 195 1 edited Selected Works of Cao Yu and made a lot of revisions to Thunderstorm, Sunrise and Peking Man. In the same year, he served as the editorial board of Script and People's Literature. In June, 1952, Beijing People's Art Theatre (a national theater specializing in drama) was established as the dean. In the same year, I collected materials for writing the script Clear Sky with the theme of an intellectual's ideological transformation, and started writing on 1954, and won the first prize of "the first national drama viewing performance" on 1956. Joined China in April, 1956. /kloc-in 0/960, he collaborated with Mei Qian and Yu Shizhi to create a historical drama "Sleeping for a Taste of Courage" (later renamed "Sword of the Brave"), and asked Shen Congwen about some historical materials in the drama. Shen Congwen wrote a long letter, describing in detail all aspects of wuyue society during the Warring States period, and then put forward some suggestions for revision. 1In August, 962, he began to write about Wang Zhaojun during his vacation in Beidaihe. During the Cultural Revolution, he was punished successively and kept a reception room in the Beijing People's Art Troupe and dormitory. 1973 was personally asked by Zhou Enlai, Prime Minister of the State Council, and was assigned to work in Beijing Repertory Theatre. 1975 participated in the four sessions of the National People's Congress. 1978, Beijing Repertory Theatre resumed its original name as "Beijing People's Art Theatre" and served as the dean again. In August of the same year, he went to Xinjiang to create Wang Zhaojun, and completed the first draft, which contained the No.1 People's Literature. 11.19961213 died.