憂傷的年代

by Wang Anyi, 王安憶

本書集結五篇王安憶最新中短篇小說。作者以第一人稱敘事方式，<憂傷的年代>充滿瑣碎陰鬱的個人告白，夾著青澀私語，描繪出童年成長與記憶的版圖。文革時期王安憶曾至安徽插隊落戶，＜蚌埠＞乃述寫作者從工作隊返家必經的轉接碼頭風情，揮灑出一部細膩的地方民族誌。＜姊妹們＞以強烈的女性書寫，描繪作者落戶地區的眾家姊妹們，民風純樸良善的心性底下，待出閣的稚嫩姊妹，仍兀自百花爭豔，織就出一幅青春美麗的百工圖。　　憂傷是一座城市，一座灰撲撲的，俗陋的城市，卻又暫時安頓著無數遊子身心的城市。憂傷是一種年紀，懵懂成長、初識愁滋味的年紀。憂傷是一種身分，不上不下，沒有出路的身分。憂傷的一種性別，那從屬的、不被理解的，卻兀自掙扎要強的第二性。憂傷是一種鄉愁，對身體、年歲、共和國歷史青春期的綿綿思念。憂傷是銘誌身心裂變的創口，傷由此汩汩流出，然後「結痂，留下了疤痕」。——王德威

Paperback

Published July 1, 1998

About the author

Wang Anyi (王安忆, born in Tong'an in 1954) is a Chinese writer, and currently the chairwoman of Writers' Association of Shanghai. The daughter of a famous writer and member of the Communist Party, Ru Zhijuan(茹志鹃), and a father who was denounced as a Rightist when she was three years old, Wang Anyi writes that she "was born and raised in a thoroughfare, Huaihai Road." As a result of the Cultural Revolution, she was not permitted to continue her education beyond the junior high school level. Instead, at age fifteen, she was assigned as a farm labourer to a commune in Anhui, an impoverished area near the Huai River, which was plagued by famine.

Transferred in 1972 to a cultural troupe in Xuzhou, she began to publish short stories in 1976. One story that grew out of this experience, "Life In A Small Courtyard", recounts the housekeeping details, marriage customs, and relationships of a group of actors assigned to a very limited space where they live and rehearse between their professional engagements.

She was permitted to return home to Shanghai in 1978 to work as an editor of the magazine "Childhood". In 1980 she received additional professional training from the Chinese Writer's Association, and her fiction achieved national prominence, winning literary award in China.

Her most famous novel, The Everlasting Regret (长恨歌), traces the life story of a young Shanghainese girl from the 1940s all the way till her death after the Cultural Revolution. Although the book was published in 1995, it is already considered by many as a modern classic.

Wang is often compared with another female writer from Shanghai, Eileen Chang, as both of their stories are often set in Shanghai, and give vivid and detailed descriptions of the city itself.

A novella and six of her stories have been translated and collected in an anthology, "Lapse of Time". In his preface to that collection, Jeffrey Kinkley notes that Wang is a realist whose stories "are about everyday urban life" and that the author "does not stint in describing the brutalising density, the rude jostling, the interminable and often futile waiting in line that accompany life in the Chinese big city".

In March 2008, her book The Song of Everlasting Sorrow was translated into English.In 2011, Wang Anyi was nominated to win the "Man Booker International Prize."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Anyi

Reviews

[宅女阿reen · Rating 4 out of 5]

忧伤的年代，是一篇写在童年/少年分水岭的疗伤之作。任谁都有经过这种年代，当时的患得患失，在我们迅速成长以后变得泛黄，但这样一张老照片，却总是藏在心底的。看似已经遗忘的琐事会在某个时刻，突然跳出来跟当下的脆弱联合在一起，给了毫无防范的我们一击。可叹的是，这些经历都是个人的，无法言喻的，即使是每个人的必经之路，但是我们无法将自己的经验相授给下一代，让他/她们少受点成长的磨难。我们终究无法代替幼虫躺进蛹里，能否破蛹而出，当需各自的因缘和合。