Anna Zhao

    anna.whizh@yahoo.com

    WANG MENG is known for many things, but probably his achievements as a writer have had the most far-reaching influence on generations of people. He shared his reading experiences at the Shenzhen Library in November, which was part of a series of events during the city’s Reading Month.

    Wang has published over 60 books since 1955, including six novels, 10 short-story collections, as well as other works of poetry, prose and critical essays. His works have been translated and published in 21 different languages.

    A member of the Chinese Writers Association, Wang has a large number of publications, including “The Wounded,” “A Spate of Visitors,” “The Butterfly,” “Voices of Spring,” “The Movable Parts,” and “Bolshevik Salute.”

    Despite being 80 years of age, the ex-head of the Ministry of Culture has been keeping a busy schedule with seminars and speeches around the country. In June, his latest work, a full-length novel, was published.

    Wang believes that his childhood and teenage years were a time of discovery. His excitement about the world was kindled by the first book he read in 1941 when he was in second grade. The picturesque description of the moon in that book immediately appealed to him.

    Reading opened a gateway to the world for him. He said his spirit would fluctuate with the fortune of the protagonists in the books he read.

    “Without literature, my feelings for things in life would not be so strong and my knowledge of the world would be far less. The world for me is more impressive with language and symbols. It is fair to say that I feel sorry for those who seldom read because they have lost many opportunities to explore the world,” he said.

    Wang said that when he was a youth, reading lit a fire in him. Books enchanted him. He often felt an emotional resonance with what he read in books and would share the happiness, sadness or anger of his characters with those around him.

    “Youths who didn’t read were insipid and dull. Beauty in life may wither and our passion for life may be worn out as time goes by, but reading makes these things eternal in life,” Wang said.

    Wang said his favorite book is “Wild Grass,” a collection of prose poetry by Lu Xun. “Lu Xun’s works make me feel that a human’s inner world could be unbound by imagination. Reading his descriptions of his childhood, I remember the feelings of my own childhood. Literature boasts a unique charm, that is, it allows people to use their spiritual powers to perceive, discover, review and pursue beauty,” he said.

    Wang said in an interview in 1980 that he became a writer because beautiful things usually have a short life, so he wanted to preserve life’s beauties. Writing for him is like extending his lifespan since he can preserve the transient beauties he has perceived in life through writing.

    He compared writing to freezing a moment in life. “When you read ‘A Dream of Red Mansions,’ your impression from that book is that it’s about a group of young people, and they seem to be able to live forever at that age,” he said. “That is the magic of literature.”

    Citing his own experience, Wang said that reading is nourishment for the mind, particularly for those who face adversities. After the publication of his controversial novel “A New Arrival at the Organization Department” in 1956, Wang was banned from writing for two decades. He recalled that reading “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens helped him weather the difficult years. In 1963, Wang was sent to Xinjiang to be “reformed” through labor after he was labeled a “rightist” until his case was readdressed in 1979. Reading during that period gave him spiritual support, and he accrued nutrients from extensive reading.

    “You cannot choose your birth or when you shall die, and many things in your life are not at your own disposal. But you can choose to expand your life’s width and your vision beyond the limits of life by reading good literature that gives vivid accounts of different aspects of life,” Wang said.

    Wang rejected the idea that literature is disappearing as people increasingly rely on information transmitted via multimedia technology. He acknowledged that technology is changing people’s reading habits and that more people talk about literature works with fragmented understanding thanks to films and TV dramas adapted from books but without really reading the original works. “But literature won’t disappear as long as mankind has language and the ability to think,” he said.