爾京
“江南無所有,聊贈(zèng)一枝春?!痹谧蠲赖慕虾贾荩軗?dān)當(dāng)這一枚“春”者,非西湖龍井莫屬!正是春茶采摘好時(shí)節(jié),我在杭州梅家塢品鑒新茶時(shí),看到茶室中竟有一本舊書《春茶》,我眼睛為之一亮。這是著名作家陳學(xué)昭的長(zhǎng)篇小說呵!《春茶》就是她在這里深入到基層和茶區(qū)群眾打成一片的可貴的成果。
新中國(guó)成立后,陳學(xué)昭已是全國(guó)婦聯(lián)執(zhí)行委員、全國(guó)政協(xié)委員、中國(guó)文聯(lián)和作協(xié)的委員與理事,可是她卻放棄了留北京的機(jī)會(huì),主動(dòng)要求回到家鄉(xiāng)浙江,參加浙江大學(xué)的接管工作并任教。后又在擔(dān)任浙江省人民政府委員會(huì)常委、省文聯(lián)副主席等職務(wù)的情況下,放棄了機(jī)關(guān)的舒適生活,長(zhǎng)期落戶在西湖區(qū)的梅家塢茶鄉(xiāng)。中國(guó)是產(chǎn)茶大國(guó),浙江是名茶之都,像陳學(xué)昭那樣長(zhǎng)期深入茶區(qū),和茶農(nóng)親如一家的作家,并寫出《春茶》這樣名著的,至今還沒有第二人。
說來也巧,陳學(xué)昭于1906年4月17日出生,正是春茶采摘時(shí)節(jié)。陳學(xué)昭是浙江海寧鹽官鎮(zhèn)人。她出生于書香門第,自幼閱讀古代詩文、小說和戲曲。在海寧高小畢業(yè)后,入南通女子師范,半年后轉(zhuǎn)入上海愛國(guó)女學(xué)文科。1923年畢業(yè)后,參加淺草社。應(yīng)上?!稌r(shí)報(bào)》征文,寫作散文《我所希望的新婦女》,代表了早期女性追求的心聲。她最早接近的是戈公振、茅盾、瞿秋白、楊之華、周建人、鄭振鐸等進(jìn)步文化人和黨的早期革命家,因而走上了革命的道路。1925年初出版第一部散文集《倦旅》。同年夏天到北京大學(xué)旁聽,在京滬報(bào)刊上發(fā)表散文,后結(jié)集成《寸草心》《煙霞伴侶》兩本散文集。
為求知、為獨(dú)立生活,陳學(xué)昭1927年5月22日乘郵船阿朵斯二號(hào)赴法國(guó)求學(xué)。1929年出版了第一部長(zhǎng)篇小說《南風(fēng)的夢(mèng)》。在法國(guó),為《大公報(bào)》、《生活》周刊撰稿,同時(shí)埋頭讀書,大量閱讀名家的劇本和詩歌。但丁、莫里哀、伏爾泰、歌德、海涅、巴爾扎克、易卜生的作品為她所喜愛。她在法國(guó)獲克萊蒙大學(xué)文學(xué)博士學(xué)位后,于1935年回國(guó)。
陳學(xué)昭前后兩次去延安,第一次于1938年8月到延安各處采訪,并撰寫了《延安訪問記》。待了近一年,離開延安返重慶。1940年冬再度赴延安,先后任《解放日?qǐng)?bào)》編輯和中央黨校文化教員。1942年5月23日,陳學(xué)昭在楊家?guī)X參加了延安文藝座談會(huì),親聆毛澤東同志的講話。1945年7月14日,她光榮地加入了中國(guó)共產(chǎn)黨。
彌漫的烽火終于過去,抗戰(zhàn)勝利后陳學(xué)昭赴東北,曾任《東北日?qǐng)?bào)》副刊主編。1949年大連新中國(guó)書局出版了她的長(zhǎng)篇小說《工作著是美麗的》上冊(cè)。1953年11月,中國(guó)婦女代表團(tuán)赴蘇聯(lián)訪問,陳學(xué)昭是代表團(tuán)成員之一。代表團(tuán)帶著她著的《工作著是美麗的》一書,作為禮品贈(zèng)送給蘇聯(lián)婦女界。
到了晚年,陳學(xué)昭又寫了《工作著是美麗的》下冊(cè),1979年10月與《工作著是美麗的》上冊(cè)合在一起,由浙江人民出版社出版。
陳學(xué)昭對(duì)新生的共和國(guó)是一往情深的。訪蘇回來,她一頭扎進(jìn)茶區(qū)深入生活。為了工作方便,組織上讓她擔(dān)任梅家塢黨支部組織委員,負(fù)責(zé)梅家塢建黨工作。在那里,她了解了許多茶農(nóng)生活,了解到茶鄉(xiāng)一些基層干部的個(gè)性和思想。漸漸地,茶農(nóng)在合作化過程中的喜怒哀樂在陳學(xué)昭頭腦中清晰起來,一個(gè)個(gè)鮮活的人物和一個(gè)個(gè)想象中的藝術(shù)形象,慢慢地成熟了。她鋪開稿紙,開始寫作《春茶》。
浙江省委為了讓陳學(xué)昭有個(gè)比較安定的寫作環(huán)境,專門選擇了兩個(gè)地方讓她挑選。陳學(xué)昭選了赤山埠法相巷的半山腰(今法相巷18號(hào))一處房子,稍加整理,添些家具,又買了一架舊鋼琴。陳學(xué)昭總算有了一個(gè)安定的住所,這個(gè)地方讓她滿意,一則安靜,沒有市區(qū)的喧囂;二則此地就在茶區(qū)附近,距離她的生活基地很近。1956年整整一年,她全身心地投入《春茶》的寫作。
她曾參加中央慰問團(tuán),隨陳叔通老先生等一些知名人士一起去慰問寧波、舟山的解放軍。慰問回來,已是1955年夏天了。緊接著,中國(guó)作協(xié)通知陳學(xué)昭去北京學(xué)習(xí)。其間,中國(guó)作協(xié)又派她陪同法國(guó)作家薩特和女作家特波娃訪問中國(guó)。在北京訪問了作家丁玲、老舍,在上海訪問了巴金,在廣州受到作家歐陽山的接待。在國(guó)慶佳節(jié)來臨時(shí),陳學(xué)昭陪法國(guó)作家出席國(guó)宴,并介紹給毛澤東主席和陳毅。
長(zhǎng)篇小說《春茶》,以獅嶺村為中心,描寫農(nóng)業(yè)生產(chǎn)合作社的誕生、鞏固和發(fā)展過程中遇到的種種艱難曲折,塑造了沈大達(dá)、沈瑞珍兄妹和趙小毛、唐開祥等先進(jìn)農(nóng)民的形象,并通過描述前后擔(dān)任大隊(duì)黨支部書記的楊達(dá)生、楊達(dá)祥兄弟的蛻變,生動(dòng)地反映出我國(guó)農(nóng)村中各種類型人物不同的思想、感情,及其所走的道路,有著深刻的現(xiàn)實(shí)意義。
作品對(duì)茶鄉(xiāng)普通人家世俗的家庭生活的描寫,對(duì)青年男女的戀愛與婚姻生活的描繪是質(zhì)樸、自然、生活化的。
《春茶》這本書是美麗的。茅盾先生為該書題寫書名;著名版畫家趙宗藻繪制插圖,而著名裝幀設(shè)計(jì)家邵秉坤為此書設(shè)計(jì)的封面清新雅致,充盈著西湖茶鄉(xiāng)風(fēng)貌和藝術(shù)氣息。
我讀《春茶》,總感到作品文筆樸素、秀美、細(xì)膩,讀來非常親切,一股濃郁的鄉(xiāng)土氣息撲面而來,猶如一幅幅淡雅的素描,展現(xiàn)出江南茶區(qū)的生活畫面。
譯介外國(guó)優(yōu)秀的文學(xué)作品是陳學(xué)昭整個(gè)文學(xué)創(chuàng)作的一部分。法國(guó)巴爾扎克劇本《伏德昂》,經(jīng)她翻譯后于1946年由東北書店出版。陳學(xué)昭翻譯的屠格涅夫的中篇小說《阿細(xì)雅》于1929年出版,那是屠格涅夫小說世界里富有光彩的作品。
陳學(xué)昭在法國(guó)期間還翻譯了法國(guó)詩人Geraldy的詩作寄回國(guó)內(nèi),在《小說月報(bào)》上發(fā)表。在延安期間,陳學(xué)昭在繁忙的工作之余,翻譯了不少文藝?yán)碚摵臀乃囎髌?,如《列寧與文學(xué)及其他》《戲劇家高爾基》《A·契訶夫》及托爾斯泰、愛倫堡等作家的作品,在延安文藝界漾起一縷別樣的清風(fēng)!
新中國(guó)成立后,陳學(xué)昭在翻譯上致力于童話的譯介。1956年翻譯的《鯰魚奧斯加歷險(xiǎn)記》在當(dāng)年第二期《譯文》雜志發(fā)表后,同年由中國(guó)少兒出版社出版。她的另一本童話集《〈噼——啪〉及其他故事》,原著為法國(guó)愛德華·拉布萊依的六篇童話,1979年由浙江人民出版社出版。在這半個(gè)世紀(jì)譯介過程中,我們可以看到陳學(xué)昭這位五四時(shí)期成長(zhǎng)起來的老作家對(duì)人類充滿著愛、對(duì)未來充滿著希望。
1981年3月廣州花城出版社出版的陳學(xué)昭的《浮沉雜憶》,于1990年由美國(guó)漢學(xué)家金介甫先生作序,悌華(TiHua)和卡羅利娜·葛海納(Caroline Greene)兩位女士譯成英文在美國(guó)出版。
陳學(xué)昭的女兒陳亞男在《陳學(xué)昭》一書的序言中寫道:“母親辛勤創(chuàng)作六十八年,留下四百多萬字的作品及譯著,體裁較為廣泛,有小說、散文、詩歌、評(píng)論等。著有長(zhǎng)篇小說《工作著是美麗的》《春茶》,散文《倦旅》《憶巴黎》,回憶錄《天涯歸客》《浮沉雜憶》《如水年華》,報(bào)告文學(xué)《延安訪問記》,翻譯作品《列寧與文學(xué)及其他》、《〈噼——啪〉及其他故事》等。”
1991年5月26日,陳學(xué)昭最后一次來到茶鄉(xiāng),與茶農(nóng)歡聚敘談,最后一次在西湖邊漫步。9月20日她病倒了,10月10日病逝于杭州浙江醫(yī)院。她經(jīng)歷了漫長(zhǎng)曲折坎坷的85年人生之路。
陳亞男為《陳學(xué)昭》一書的出版,從眾多照片中精選出50幅,“雖然不多,卻是母親人生的縮影。這些照片賦予我深遠(yuǎn)美好的想象的空間,夾帶著海寧潮水浸潤(rùn)的氣息,彌漫著來自異國(guó)的溫馨和芳香,心中飄逸著對(duì)革命圣地延安的憧憬和向往……”
陳學(xué)昭在晚年對(duì)好友說,從前,為了生活而寫作;現(xiàn)在,為寫作而生活。
是的,為人民而工作,工作著是美麗的;為人民而寫作,寫作著是美麗的。
我翻看著這本《春茶》,作者在全書的結(jié)尾這樣寫
著——
“滿山碧綠的茶蓬,數(shù)不盡的嫩芽,也像這些歡樂的茶農(nóng)一樣,在暖意洋溢的春風(fēng)里充滿著朝氣,準(zhǔn)備迎接這個(gè)繁榮的春茶季節(jié)!”
Reading Spring Tea in Springtime
By Er Jing
It was a spring day that I lounged at a teahouse at Meijiawu, a quiet and scenic rural hangout in the immediate suburb of Hangzhou for people to get away from the citys madding noise. To my surprise, I spotted among the books and magazines stacked in a corner of the teahouse. The book reminded me of the author Chen Xuezhao (1906-1991) who penned it in the 1950s, featuring tea farmers around the West Lake, Hangzhou.
Chen was born into a family of intellectuals in Haining near Hangzhou. She grew up with books and made herself known as a promising writer in her late teens in Shanghai. Before she was twenty, she published two collections of essays. From 1927 to 1935, she studied in France. During her stay there, she wrote her first novel and contributed articles to news media back home. She came back to China with a PhD degree. She first visited Yanan, the central base of the Communists in 1938. Her first stay lasted nearly a year. She came back to Yanan again in 1940, working as an editor at Liberation Daily and teacher at the Central Party School. In short she made contribution to the success of the revolution and to the founding the Peoples Republic of China.
In the 1950s she was a key member of the executive committee of All China Womens Federation, deputy of the CPPCC, and a director of China Writers Association and China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. She was supposed to stay in Beijing to perform as a high-ranking government official, but she decided to come back to Zhejiang and teach at Zhejiang University. She chose not to work in office and lived in Meijiawu for a long while. She got to know local residents gradually. The experience planted a seed in her heart of writing a novel about them.
Back then, the provincial government offered her two choices for a house near the tea-farming area around the West Lake. She chose a house on a hill slope. She moved into it after it was repaired and got a piano and some simple furniture. She liked her new home very much for two reasons: the location gave her a quiet living far away from the city proper and it wasnt far from tea farmers of Meijiawu. She spent the whole year of 1956 writing the novel. It tells how some local farmers organize themselves into a co-op and what they experience in the young and new China. The novel also touches upon the themes such as love and marriage. It depicts characters well and portrays the rural life vividly. Mao Dun wrote the book title in calligraphy. Zhao Zongzao, a famed printmaker, created illustrations and the book layout was designed by Shao Bingkun, who worked for Cultural Dialogue in the 1990s. I enjoyed reading it.
Compared to novel writing, Chen Xuezhao dedicated more time to translation. During her studies in France, she translated some poems of Paul Geraldy, a French poet of modern life, and published them in a literary magazine in China. She translated more during her stay in Yanan. Her translations gave the literary and art circles in Yanan a lot of things to think and talk about.
After 1949, Chen chose to translate stories for children. One long translation was published in 1956 and the last one was a collection of stories for children published in 1979. Her daughter comments that her mother wrote 68 years and published quite a lot. Chen Xuezhao wrote novels, essays, poems, and reviews. In her evening years, she commented once that she wrote to make a living at first and now she lived to write.
Chen published her memoir in 1981. It was translated into English by Ti Hua and Caroline Greene in 1990 and published in USA.
Her last meeting with local tea farmers was on May 26, 1991. She chatted with them and took a stroll along the West Lake. She fell ill on September 20 and passed away on October 10 at the age of 85.