Corners of the World& Souls in Society

【活动回顾】| 世界角落&社会灵魂
【Review】| Corners of the World& Souls in Society
时间：11月23日，周五，19:00-20:30
Time: November 23, Friday, 19:00-20:30
地点：飞地书局
Venue: Enclave Bookstore
主题：写作-社会灵魂的聚光灯
Theme:Writing-A Spotlight on Society’s Soul
作家：Diana Evans（英国），Mineke Schipper（荷兰），徐东（中国），杜绿绿（中国）
Writers: Diana Evans (United Kingdom), Mineke Schipper (The Netherlands), Xu Dong (China), Du Lulu (China)
主持人：张鸿（中国）
Moderator: Zhang Hong (China)
第三届中欧国际文学节深圳站第二场活动于11月23日晚7点在深圳飞地书局举行。活动以“写作：社会灵魂的聚光灯”为主题，邀请四位来自中国、荷兰和英国的作家共同探讨如何结合自己的亲身经历和个人感受，用文学照亮社会的黑暗角落。同时，各位嘉宾也共同讨论了各自深受影响或欣赏的作者。
The second Shenzhen event of The 3rd EU-China International Literary Festival was held on December 23 in Enclave Bookstore, Shenzhen. In theme of “Writing: A Spotlight on Society’s Soul”, four writers from China, United Kingdom and the Netherlands were invited to discuss how to shine a spotlight on the dark corners in different societies all over the world，meanwhile combining together their own experience and personal feelings. Meanwhile, the guests discussed together about their favourite writers and those who influenced them the most.
他们分别是：获奖作家及文学杂志编辑徐东；英国作家Diana Evans；荷兰小说家Mineke Schipper 和现居广州的获奖诗人杜绿绿。
Joining the panel was award-winning author and literary journal editor Xu Dong; British author Diana Evans; Dutch writer of fiction and non-fiction, Mineke Schipper and the award-winning poet Du Lulu who now lives in Guangzhou.
在深圳飞地书局里，幽幽的灯光下，一杯热茶袅袅飘香。主持人张鸿带来了今天活动的主题——写作：社会灵魂的聚光灯。作家Schipper微笑而诚恳的说道：“每一个人都希望被看到，都希望被尊重。”她坦言，自己的很多作品都是在与学生交谈的过程中受到激发而创作出来的。Mineke Schipper女士曾在非洲刚果生活6年之久。在目睹了非洲刚果内战后，她写了一本小说。书中主要描写刚果内战期间，她所看到的现实社会的种种黑暗面。
With a cup of steaming tea in hand, under the soft light in Enclave Bookstore of Shenzhen, the moderator Zhang Hong, who is also a writer, editor and curator, brought the theme of today’s workshop–Writing: A Spotlight on Society’s Soul. Author Mineke Schipper, with a gentle smile on her face, said honestly : “ Every human being wants to be seen, wants to be respected.” She said that lots of her work was inspired by her discussion with the students. Mineke Schipper once lived in Congo, Africa for 6 years. After witnessing the civil war in Congo, she wrote a novel. It mainly talked about the reality and cruelty people witnessed during the Civil War and the book revealed the dark side in reality.
另外一本著作《别娶大脚女人：世界谚语中的女性》也是基于她在非洲的所见所闻而完成的。她之所以写这本书，是因为有一次在非洲听到了这样一句很有趣的谚语：同女人一起进餐就等于同女巫一起进餐。这样的谚语引起了Mineke女士的深思。此后，她便开始搜集世界各地的谚语，希望能从中找到一些有关男性与女性关系的启示。社会是由男性和女性组成的，而探索这些谚语的过程就是探索社会两大类灵魂的过程。她搜集到大约五万多条世界各地的谚语，并最终写成著作《别娶大脚女人：世界谚语中的女性》。此书荣获2005年最佳非虚构小说Eureka奖。并被译成多国语言，在世界各地出版发行。
Her experience in Africa also led her to another one of her works “ Never Marry a Woman with Big Feet: Women in Proverbs from Around the World ”. The reason she started to write this book was from the first time she heard a saying in Africa which goes like: Eating with a woman is eating with a witch. This led Mineke to some deeper thinking. After that, she started collecting proverbs from all over the world hoping to know more about the relationship between men and women. Because the society is consisted of two kinds of souls: male and female. So the exploring of these proverbs is the exploring of those souls. She collected more than 50 thousand of proverbs from different regions of the world and finally finished her book “ Never Marry a Woman with Big Feet: Women in Proverbs from Around the World ”. For this book, she received the Eureka Award in 2005 for best non-fiction book. It was also translated into many different languages and has been sold in many regions around the world.
同样，作家徐东和来自英国的Diana Evans也是基于个人经历进行写作的。《藏·世界》一书就是来自作家徐东在西藏三年的生活经历。书中不仅反映了社会现实，更是对灵魂的真实写照。对自己的作品，他这样评价：“我们所看到的是现实的，是有限的。而我们内心的感受，是非现实的，是相对无限的。”
Writing from their own personal experiences as well, the British writer Diana Evans and Chinese writer Xu Dong shared their past and their works. The book “ Tibet World” by Xu Dong was from his staying in Tibet for 3 years. The book reflects not only the social reality, but also the real image of one’s soul. “ What we see is realistic but limited. What we feel is non-realistic, but relatively infinite”, Xu said when he was talking about his writing.
当提到写作经历和有关探索社会灵魂的话题时，作家Diana Evans表示，她从少年时期就开始写作了。那时的她，是用写日记的形式将自己的想法表达出来。每当有不愉快的经历，每当内心承受不住太多的情感，她便会将这些记录在自己的日记里。可以说，当时的日记就是她记录和描写生活的途径。当然，那时的日记里也就自然地记录了她所理解的生活和社会的不同面，黑暗面。后来，她的处女作《26a》在多年后创作完成。讲述的是一对双胞胎分散多年的故事。第二本书则是讲述一位舞者的故事，她曾是一个鲜活的灵魂，却在经历生活变故后，身体动弹不得。值得一提的是，Diana曾经也有过跳舞的经历，这是她将个人经历融入创作的表现。这些作品都是在不断从各种角度探索灵魂，从侧面照亮世界的不同角落。
Talking about writing experience and exploring the society’s souls, writer Diana Evans said she started writing in her teens. Back then, she would keep her thoughts in her journals. Sometimes the unpleasant encounters and feelings were too much for her to bear. Whenever they were bigger than she could bear, she wrote it down. In another word, the journal was the record of life. And of course, the life she understood at that time and different sides of society including dark ones were also wrote down in her journal. Years later,she published her very first work “26a”. It was a story about the loss of a twin. Her second book, writing about a dancer’s change from a vivid soul to someone who couldn’t move anymore, was rooted from her experience as a dancer before. All those works were trying to reveal human souls from different perspective, thus lighting corners of the world.
说到描写真实社会，将聚光灯打在世界角落，照亮不同灵魂的写作方式，主持人不由得问起了Diana，有英国评论家奖其作品同Charles Dickens 媲美一事。对此，Diana Evans表示，她个人非常欣赏Charles Dickens, 并且很喜欢他的作品。因为写伦敦，写伦敦的真实面，写伦敦的贫穷，写伦敦的脏乱角落，是Charles Dickens作品中最令人欣赏的对社会不同灵魂的真实写照。
Mentioning the writing style of depicting the real society, shining spotlight into corners and on different souls, the moderator Zhang Hong couldn’t resist but asked Diana about being compared to Charles Dickens by the English critics. Diana Evans said she liked his work a lot, especially the way Charles Dickens authentically depicts various kinds of souls in the society. He wrote about London, about the truth of London, about the poverty in London and about the dusty corners in London。
当代诗人杜绿绿也分享了自己的观点。“我更注重对灵魂的写照，因为内心世界是非常丰富的。关注内心就是关注自己所处的环境。”而环境，就是我们的社会。她认为，好的文学作品是能反映现实的。作为一位诗人作家，她欣赏俄罗斯作家契诃夫和中国作家鲁迅，因为他们的作品关注现实。不同时期读鲁迅，总会有不同的感触。她最喜欢的作家是文风真诚明亮的普希金，因此为读者推荐了普希金的作品。
The contemporary poet Du Lulu also mentioned a similar view: “ I pay more attention to the souls because they are enriching. Revealing the spiritual mind is to focus on the environment surrounding you.” The environment is the society we live in. She thinks a good literature is a reflection of the reality. And as a poet, she admires the writers who focus on the truth and the real, like Anton Pavlovich Chekhov from Russia and Lu Xun, the famous writer in China. Reading Lu Xun’s works in different phase of your life will lead you to new thoughts. Her favourite writer was Pushkin, who is also from Russia. She recommended his works to the audience because of his bight and candid writing style.
受邀作家同主持人和读者一同讨论了有关现实生活、经历和灵魂的话题。人的内心世界是丰富的，是无穷的。好的文学作品是能够通过角色揣摩人性，通过角色反映灵魂的。写作的魅力就在于，它的存在如同一盏明灯，照亮每个角落，让更多人看到，让更多灵魂被体悟。
Between the invited writers, the moderator and the audience, their was also a small discussion about real life, experience and their soul. What is so enrich and infinite is just the soul of human beings. A good work should be able to explore humanity and reflect inner souls through their characters. The charm of writing is within its existence. It can be the light in corners. It can be the bright in souls.
正如当有观众问起写作缘由时，Evans所答一样：“我为自己的灵魂而创作。”
“I wrote for my soul”, said Evans in the end when the audience asked about the writing purpose.
深圳站活动结束后，作家与各位读者合影留念。
After the workshop, four writers took photos together with the others.