Experience empathy not just on the page but also at 3rd EU-China International Literary Festival Shenzhen

第三届中欧国际文学节深圳首场研讨会，
同理心跃然纸上，更现于现场

第三届中欧国际文学节深圳首场研讨会在23日晚于言几又书店拉开帷幕，本场主题是“跃然纸上的同情”，现场作家及观众对此很有共鸣，嘉宾和主持人都就各自写作经历及作品畅谈互动。

首先，当获丹麦艺术基金会杰出三年学术奖的Mathilde Walter Clark被问及写作缘由时，她谈到多为个人经历，比如最新力作《孤夜星辰》是由继父逝世而回忆起与父母亲的时光，因此本书写的是一对父女及关系疏离的种种故事，关于家庭，归属及漫长距离的超越。苏州市作家协会副主席朱文颖也表示写作可以说是当命运来敲门。曾与非犹太人却写《辛德勒名单》的澳大利亚作家托马斯交流的她感慨，死亡并不是每个人可以理解，但是通过有能力感知微妙的作家就可以让更多人理解，可见同理心对于作家的重要性。

也是第一次来到深圳的波兰记者Wojciech Jagielski，因报道世界上最混乱冲突的地区而闻名。他表示真正意义上的写作开始于选择在战地留下来做记者写书，混乱冲突的环境挑战的确让他感受到什么是真正的战争以及战争受害者的生活。至于主持人提及位于波兰的奥斯维辛集中营，他意识到生活在和平时代已久的波兰人民，虽然当时不是主角，但是应该已经忘记战争了。

获鲁迅文学奖等多项文学奖的邓一光有幸读过Mathilde Walter Clark的新作，并且也写过同题材的书因此非常理解她所说的。一方面表示对于现代人逐渐失去传统同理心的尴尬，同时对波兰记者去到战地寻找同理心表示敬意。刚完成关于战争的长篇的他，提到如果不是写作，应该无人记住过去，如果没有同理心，则无人传递历史，因此需要写作，可见写作对于同理心的意义。

最后到观众问答环节，一名教师问及如何引导激发青少年的同理心比如阅读战地文学，波兰记者Wojciech答道战争是残酷的，如果没有亲身体验过很难做到，尽管虚拟世界有趣，还是要回到现实世界，可以鼓励学生多读书，多通过旅行等亲身体验。当另一位文学爱好者问及创作是否能让人们互相理解时，邓一光也表示十分赞同Wojciech的观点，文学不是唯一表示同理心的渠道。

在同理心显得尤为稀缺的当今时代，今晚的跨文化交流让大家感受到中外作家们强烈同理心的同时也带来深深思考。

Experience empathy not just on the page
but also at 3rd EU-China International Literary Festival Shenzhen
Nowadays , people seem hard to trust or understand each other including readers and writers. Can writing help about this and how ? Why it is important for writers to have empathy? Based on the topic of empathy on the page, the first salon of EU-China International Literary Festival at Shenzhen Yan Ji You bookstore on 23rd November might give you answers.

“ In Poland, we have forgot the war since we lived in a peaceful world” . Wojciech Jagielski ,the Polish writer who has spent most of his career in some of the worst conflict zones on the planet realized so and chose to be a journalist and writer.He witnessed “what is the war about and how is the victim’s life about”. Since the moderator mentioned about Auschwitz, he remembered he visited there as a student but not his son’s generation anymore.

Deng Yiguang, a Chinese multiple award-winning writer of Mongolian ethnicity appreciates Wojciech‘s empathy. When mentioning the long stories he just finished, he thinks if there is no writing or empathy about this war then probably nobody would remember or know it, so you can see it is meaningful to write for this.

When asked about how to start writing, Mathide Walter Clark，an author and essayist who had a transatlantic upbringing with a Danish mother and an American father took her latest work Lone Star as example, saying it started because of personal incident. Her stepfather’s past brought her memory of the separation among families.

Zhu Wenying, a widely translated author and curator originally from shanghai agreed with the idea of personal experience and highlighted Wojciech Jagielski’s. She once wondered why Thomas as a Australian would write Schindler’s List and realized writers who are the talented people able to sense many things easily and let more people understand therefore it is vital for writers to have empathy.

At Q&A section, a teacher and a literature lover asked about suggestions on how to help teenagers have empathy through reading, Wojciech Jagielski encourages them to travel more and experience the real world by themselves more although virtual world could be interesting. Deng Yiguang also commented that literature isn’t the only way for people to understand each other more.