(1937 July 1 1-), * *, a famous contemporary writer in Taiwan Province province, was born in Guilin, Guangxi. China * * * son of Bai Chongxi, a senior general. When Bai Xianyong was 7 years old, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and could not go to school. 1956 graduated from Jianguo middle school. 1965 obtained a master's degree from the university of Iowa, and Bai Xianyong went to the University of California, Santa Barbara to teach Chinese and literature in China, and then settled here. He retired on 1994. He has published a collection of short stories, Lonely Seventeen, Taipei People, The New Yorker, a collection of essays and the novel Evil Son.
First, growth experience
Writer Bai Xianyong was born in Guilin, Guangxi, China. His father Bai Chongxi is a general in Guangxi, China, and his mother's name is Ma Peizhang. Bai Xianyong ranked eighth, with nine brothers and sisters (only five of them are still alive), Bai Yunqin, a radio celebrity, is his cousin, and most of his family still live in Taiwan Province province. When Bai Xianyong was 7 years old, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis by a doctor. He was unable to go to school and spent most of his childhood alone. While in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, he and his family visited Chongqing, Shanghai and Nanjing. Later 1948 moved to Hong Kong to study in Lhasa College. Soon after, he moved to Taiwan Province Province on 1952.
1956 After graduating from Jianguo Middle School, I was admitted to the Department of Hydraulic Engineering of National national cheng kung university (now "National" national cheng kung university) in Taiwan Province Province as my first choice because I dreamed of participating in the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. The following year, I found my interests incompatible, and transferred to the Foreign Literature Department of "National" Taiwan Province Provincial University to study English literature. 1958 published his first short story "Grandma Jin Da" in Literature magazine. Two years later, he co-founded Modern Literature magazine with his classmates Ouyang Zi, Chen Ruoxi and Wang Wenxing from National Taiwan University, and published many novels here, such as Dream on the Moon, Sister-in-law Yu Qing and Graduation.
1962, Bai Xianyong's mother Ma Peizhang died. According to his autobiographical article "Looking Back Suddenly", "After my mother was buried, I went to the grave for forty days, and on the forty-first day, I went abroad to fly to the United States." After his mother died, he flew to the Iowa Writers' Studio of the University of Iowa to study literary theory and creative research. At that time, my father Bai Chongxi also came to see me off, which was the last time Bai met his father.
On the day of Bai Xianyong's funeral, at the moment of burial, I felt that it was not his mother's body that was buried, but also a part of his life. Suddenly Looking Back prevented me from writing when I first arrived in the United States. In the same year, I was on holiday in Chicago at Christmas, and I felt a lot in my heart, so I wrote it again and wrote "Death of Chicago", which was published in 1964. Critics think this is his transformation work. Xia Zhiqing called this article "stylistically, it shows the amazing progress after studying western novels for two years", and "the use of symbolism and the expansion of the theme mark that Bai Xianyong has entered a new mature realm".
From 65438 to 0965, after receiving a master's degree from the University of Iowa, Bai Xianyong went to the University of California, Santa Barbara, to teach China language and literature, and then settled here. He retired on 1994. June 1999, 1 65438+1October1published the article "Raising a tiger as a trouble-a father's regret" (1the cause and effect of the first "Siping street fighting" between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in the spring and summer of 946 and its great influence) () Today, most of Bai Xianyong's family lives in Taiwan Province Province.
Bai Xianyong published a collection of short stories, Lonely Seventeen, Taipei People, The New Yorker, a collection of essays and the novel Evil Son. Bai Xianyong absorbed the writing skills of western modern literature, and integrated them into China's traditional expression, describing people's stories and lives in the old and new times, full of historical ups and downs and vicissitudes of the world.
In 2004, China Guangxi Normal University Press published his collection of works "Youth", "Selected Thoughts of Bai Xianyong" and his new work "Colorful Peony Pavilion". Bai Xianyong loves Kunqu Opera, a local opera in China, such as Peony Pavilion, and spares no effort to preserve and inherit it.
Second, the character evaluation
Professor Xia Zhiqing, a scholar studying in the United States, once said: "Among the writers studying in the United States, they are the most persistent and committed to their own artistic progress, hoping to leave some value for today's literary world."
Bai Xianyong recited two works for later generations: Yu Lihua and Bai Xianyong. He even praised Bai as a "genius writer of China's contemporary short stories". Since the May 4th Movement, only five or six people, from Lu Xun to Zhang Ailing, can match him in artistic achievements. For this reason, in 2008, Bai Xianyong was appointed honorary dean of the College of Literature (Zhuhai Branch) of Beijing Normal University.
Ouyang Zi believes that "Bai Xianyong is brilliant and unwilling to be arrested; He has tried all kinds of novels and been exposed to all kinds of themes. It is rare that he not only tried to write, but also wrote almost very successful works. Bai Xianyong tells stories in many ways. The plots of his novels include traditional direct narration such as Let's Go to Chrysanthemum, Sister Jade Qing, Lonely Seventeen, Simple Flashback Narration, Hong Kong-1960, Expression of Complex Stream of Consciousness, and more useful is direct narration. His dialogue between characters, like everyday language, is very natural. In addition, he can use strong colors, just like words in oil paintings. 1960 Hong Kong is a good example. In Sister Jade Qing, he adopted the spoken language of Guilin, Guangxi, which gave the novel a strong local color. His previous novels, that is, the works he wrote when he was in Taiwan Province Province, were simple and simple. From the fifth article "Going to the Skyscraper", he began to pay great attention to the effect of words, and often conveyed various' impressions' to readers effectively through proper selection and arrangement of sentences and the use of various appropriate' symbols'. "
Third, comment on homosexuality.
Bai Xianyong once publicly stated that he was gay in Hongkong, but rarely mentioned his sexual orientation in public in Taiwan Province Province. Bai Xianyong once said that he believed Naifu knew his homosexuality, but he didn't really talk to him about it.
Bai Xianyong's only novel, Evil Children (1983), is particularly eye-catching because of its merciless description of the subculture of some gay communities in Taipei and the homosexual plot. From the perspective of Li Qing, a young man who was expelled from his home by his father because of his homosexuality, Evil Son tells a story about a group of gay men who were not accepted by the mainstream society in the1970s. The author's description of the affection between father and son is also the theme of this book. In 2003, Taiwan Province Public Television adapted it into a TV series of the same name, which caused various discussions on homosexuality in society.
Bai Xianyong and his family In 2002, Chen Junzhi, a gay rights activist in Taiwan Province Province, accused Bai Xianyong and dancer Lin Huaimin of not doing their best for the gay movement in Taiwan Province Province. However, there are different views on the social obligations of celebrities who came out of the gay rights movement.
Fourth, personal beliefs.
Bai Xianyong, accepting Phoenix Weekly
Is your work influenced by * * * or Buddhism?
A: Buddhism. I am influenced by rebellious and unorthodox ancestry, but I am not very close to the religion of * * *. I went to a Catholic school. When I was in junior high school in Hong Kong, I recited the Bible, but I was old. I want to convert to Buddhism. My parents believe in * * *, and the China * * * Association was founded by my father. But for children, it is freedom of religious belief. My second sister is a Catholic. I believe in Buddhism now. I think if he knows, he may be disappointed, but he won't interfere. Hehe, I often say that he is an "enlightened monarch". "
V. Creative experience
Connecting China and the West.
Bai Xianyong loved China's folk literature and classical literature since childhood, and read a lot of China's folk stories and classical works. For example, Xue Dongzheng, the Western Expedition, talking about the Tang Dynasty, the biography of the swordsman in Shushan, laughing and laughing; Ba Jin's Home and Spring and Autumn Annals; Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Journey to the West, especially Dream of Red Mansions, are all his favorite works. In college, influenced by the trend of western modern literature, Bai Xianyong began to read and introduce the works of western modernist writers, and also began to imitate western literature in creation. But after graduation, he entered the creative class in Iowa, and the author turned his attention to the study of China's history, culture and literature. His love for China's folk stories and China's classical literature gave him a profound understanding of China's traditional literature, which is why he lived in Taiwan Province Province and the United States for a long time, bathed in European customs and beautiful rain and dew, but most of his works still maintained a relatively distinct national style. Bai Xianyong loved the splendid mountains and rivers of the motherland since childhood and had deep feelings for the motherland and the nation.
Bashu complex
The author lives in Chongqing, a land of abundance. When he recalls the Bashan and Shushui he saw in his childhood, he is still fascinated. When he graduated from high school, Bai Xianyong gave up the favorable conditions of walking to National Taiwan University because he loved the splendid mountains and rivers of the motherland, and entered the Taiwan Province Institute of Water Conservancy. Later, I found that I was not interested in water conservancy, so I transferred to the Foreign Languages Department of National Taiwan University. He was deeply impressed by the mainland of his motherland. I miss it very much. The so-called "home" that he misses day and night is nothing more than his own "motherland" and his own "nation". It is this deep affection for the nation and the motherland that makes this wanderer far away from the motherland exude a lonely "homesickness" in his works.
Sympathize with the bottom workers
Bai Xianyong Although Bai Xianyong grew up in an official family with better living conditions than ordinary people, he was very sympathetic to the lower-level workers he came into contact with from an early age. In Lonely Flowers, The Last Night of Jin Daban and Blood Red Rhododendron, the author sympathetically describes the images and tragic fate of Juanjuan, Zhu Feng and Wang Hua. Of course, this is not accidental. He has a lot of feelings about his family background. According to the author himself, 1963, on the eve of going abroad, my mother died, and when I came back from school, "my father had already returned to his home." This incident has a great shock to his mind. The author once wrote: "others are probably full of excitement when studying abroad, but I am not." Take me for example, I just feel flustered and at a loss. In the first year in the United States, my mood was bleak. " "After arriving in the United States, I deeply felt the loss of my motherland for the first time." These thoughts and emotions are quite negative. Later, the author wrote The Death of Chicago and The Story of the Dead Immortal, in which Wu Hanhun and Thomas Li drowned, which was probably related to the author's sad mood during this period. Bai Xianyong began to engage in creative activities in the late 1950s. From 1958 to 1979, the first short story Grandma Jin Da was published in Hong Kong. So far, more than 30 short stories have been published. /kloc-co-founded Modern Literature magazine with Ouyang Zi and Wang Wenxing in Taiwan Province Province in 0/960. Most of his works were first published in this magazine, and then compiled into several collections of short stories, such as Lonely Seventeen, Taipei People, The New Yorker, The Story of the Immortal, etc. His first novel "Evil Son" has been serialized in modern literature since 1977 and has been published by Taiwan Province Visual Publishing House. The contents of these works can be roughly divided into three categories: first, early works mainly describe the life the author was exposed to in his childhood, or works that imitate western literature, such as most of the works in Lonely Seventeen; Second, works describing the upper-class social life in Taiwan Province Province, such as Taipei People; Third, works describing the life of intellectuals living in the United States, such as The New Yorker; Fourth, the works describing the lower classes in Taiwan Province Province, such as the novel "Evil Son".
Novel staging
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Bai Xianyong's novels can be divided into early stage and late stage. Generally speaking, the line is Death of Chicago 1964 published in the United States. Before this novel, all novels written in Taiwan Province Province were called the former works, and after that, all novels written in the United States were called the later works. The early works were greatly influenced by western literature, with more personal colors and fantasy elements, and were immature in thought and art. In his later works, he inherited the tradition of China national literature more and integrated it into the modern times, which made his works more realistic and historical, and his art became more and more mature. Bai Xianyong is a writer with strong realistic spirit in Taiwan Province modernist school. He lived in several different times and social environments, such as Chinese mainland, Taiwan Province and the United States, which had a far-reaching influence on his thought and creation. His boyhood was spent in a bureaucratic family, and the "grandeur" of his predecessors and the "style" of the upper class left a deep impression on his childhood memory. After I arrived in Taiwan Province Province, I witnessed the decline of the old bureaucrats and the painful struggle of many lower-class people who left their homes and lived in Taiwan Province Province. Their homesickness and homesickness have influenced the author. In the United States, China people living in the United States yearn for American material civilization, resent the decadent side of western culture, cling to the cultural tradition of the motherland and suffer from rootless drifting overseas, and at the same time flood into his mind. These rich life contents and complex thoughts and feelings have been truly reflected in his works to varying degrees.