History Witnesses Literature

【活动回顾】| 历史双眸凝聚文学
【Review】| History Witnesses Literature
时间：11月24日，周六，15:00-16:30
Time: November 24, Saturday, 15:00-16:30
地点：言几又
Venue: Yan Ji You
主题：历史，文化与创作过程
Theme:History, Culture and the Creative Process
作家：Diana Evans（英国），Wojciech Jagielski（波兰），吴君（中国），谢宏（中国）
Writers: Diana Evans (United Kingdom), Wojciech Jagielski (Poland), Wu Jun (China), Xie Hong (China)
主持人：卫鸦（中国）
Moderator: Wei Ya (China)
第三届中欧国际文学节深圳站的第六场活动于11月24日下午在言几又书店成功举办。此次活动邀请到四位来自波兰、英国、中国的著名作家讨论历史与文化在他们的世界观中发挥的作用，特别是在写作中。参与本场活动的嘉宾有：波兰Wojciech Jagielski, 专注写的是南高加索、高加索、中亚、非洲等冲突地区；英国知名小说家Diana Evans，她有尼日利亚和英国的双重血统；籍贯河北的作者吴君，作品被译成英语、俄语和少数民族语言，曾从事新闻采编、公文写作等工作；来自广东的小说家、诗人谢宏，作品丰富，他在新西兰生活了数年。主持人是作家卫鸦。
On November 24, the sixth workshop in Shenzhen of the 3rd EU-China International Literary Festival was held successfully in Yan Ji You Bookstore. We invite four prolific and versatile authors from Poland, the UK and China to discuss the role history and culture plays in their world view in general and in their writing in specific. Wojciech Jagielski from Poland has written from conflict zones in the Transcaucasus, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Africa; British novelist Diana Evans is of Nigerian and British origin; Author Wu Jun, originally from Hebei, has had her work translated into English,Russian and minority languages in China; and Xie Hong, from Guangdong, is a widely published novelist and poet who has lived in New Zealand for several years. They are in conversation with the moderator Wei Ya, who is also a writer.
当天活动主题是历史，文化与创作过程。首先发言的是英国作家Evans。Evans的母亲是尼日利亚人，父亲是英国人。她表示，自己的血源就是自己的文化背景，就是自己的源头，这对她的写作有着很深的影响。历史和文化很重要，尤其对英国来讲。因为英国涵盖着征服、掠夺和不同身份的历史。现在，生活在英国的人们来自不同种族。他们时常会感觉到文化带来的很多冲击。如何在这样的文化背景下找回自己的身份，是至关重要的。Evans的第一部作品《26a》是讲述一对双胞胎的故事，里面也提及了很多尼日利亚的文化历史。在写作过程中，Diana Evans试图解码人物的身份，追溯他们的文化历史。
The theme of this event was: History, Culture and the Creative Process. Writer Diana Evans from the UK first talked about it. Evans’s mother is from Nigeria and her father is from the United Kingdom. She believes that the blood origin is a person’s culture background, is a person’s root and real origin. Her own culture background also influenced her writing. History and culture are important, especially so to the United Kingdom. For the reason that this nation has its own history of conquer and thus a variety of identities. Nowadays, live in the UK many people from different origins. They feel the impact of culture. How to find one’s own identity under the culture background remains a vital topic. Evans’s first novel “26a” is a story about twins. This book talked about the Nigerian culture and history as well. During the process of writing, she tried to decode the characters’ identities and date back to their cultural history.
第二位发言的是作家解宏。他曾在新西兰留学，所以对不同文化和历史有着自己的理解。提到一个人的历史背景，谢宏说道：“以前我的家乡有条小河。这小河穿越村庄，环绕山峰。我们那一代人，娱乐不多。所以每天就看着家乡环山绕水，看着风景、村庄、农田，我经常想象外面的世界。这激励了我成为作家，去写作。我想要写不同的地方，不同的文化，写自己的个人经历，写我的历史。我的故乡在重阳，所以我的写作中有客家人的故事，融入了自己的历史、文化、经历和家乡风俗。传统对写作非常重要。有人问我为什么写英文作品，因为我想试着用英文写家乡，让读者看到我们的历史和文化。”他认为，身为作家，应该关注自己的过去，关注自己的根源。同时，他也喜欢经常给自己一些挑战，用英文写作便是其中一例。
The second speaker was the writer Xie Hong. He has studied in New Zealand, so he has his own understanding of different cultures and history. Referring to a person’s historical background, Xie Hong said: “There used to be a small river in my hometown. The river traverses the village and surrounds the peaks. There is not much entertainment in our generation. So every day I look around the mountains and the water in my hometown, admiring the scenery, villages and farmland. I often imagine the outside world. It inspired me to become a writer. I want to write about different places, different cultures, and also my own personal experiences, my history. My hometown is in Chongyang, so I have Hakka stories in my writing which covered my history, culture, experience and local customs. Tradition is very important for writing. Some people ask me why I write English works, because I want to try to write my hometown in English so that readers can see our history and culture. ” As a writer, he believes, he should focus on his past and his roots. At the same time, he also likes to give himself a lot of challenges, such as writing in English.
接下来，主持人卫鸦同波兰作家Wojciech Jagielski进行了交流，同样碰撞出思想的火花。Wojciech是一名作家的同时，也是一名战地记者和通讯员。因报道世界上最混乱冲突的地区而闻名。在战乱中，当时看到的也许现在成为历史了，而在当下，那就是血淋淋的现实。对此，他是这样阐述的。“我本身是记者，做战地报道，这是我的工作，记录事实，报道新闻。我需要很快写文章给报社出版发布。但是，当我回来之后就会有时间思考，就会再创作。这个时候，我就是作家。写小说更多的是看历史故事能告诉自己什么。简单的去描述故事是不够的，还要从故事中找到自己要的答案，比如战争这些事会告诉自己什么道理和启示。”作为记者和作家，他想要了解国家历史，了解人民，想要去挖掘背后的人和文化。
In the following part, the moderator Wei Ya talked with Poland writer Wojciech Jagielski and there were splashes of thoughts as well. Wojciech was not only a writer, but also a journalist and correspondent. He has won acclaim for his reports on journeys to the world’s most troubled spots. What was seen in war may now be history, but at the very moment, it was real and bloody. This is what he explains. “I am a reporter, I do war reporting. It is my job to record facts and report news. I need to write articles for the newspaper. But when I get back, I’ll have time to think, and I’ll write from a writer’s perspective. Writing novels is more about seeing what historical stories tell you. It is not enough to simply describe the story. It is more about finding the answer you want from the story, such as the war. What truth and inspiration can you get? ” As a journalist and writer, he wants to know the history of the country, the people. He wants to excavate the culture behind it.
身为作家，其实不需要任何身份。只需要一双善于观察的眼睛和一颗写作的心。深圳作家吴君随后谈及了自己的感想。对于大的历史文化，她不敢妄谈。她更愿意就个人的感受谈谈与自己有关的历史文化，以及这些是如何贯穿创作的。她的作品主要有两个特点： 1.反映深圳小人物生活 2.与这座城市同步。她说：“深圳是中国特殊的存在。每一个移民都是带着自己的个人历史来到深圳的，这汇聚了深圳当下的人文环境和历史背景。如果简单认为深圳只有40年历史的话，这过于简单。”
As a writer, there is no need for any identity. All you need is a pair of observant eyes and a writing heart. Shenzhen writer Wu Jun then spoke about her feelings. She dares not talk about the great history and culture. She prefers to talk about her own history and culture about her personal feelings and how they run through her creation. Her works have two main characteristics: 1. Reflects the Shenzhen “small person”(middle and lower class) life 2. keeps in pace with the city. “Shenzhen is a special existence in China,” she said. “Each one who migrate to Shenzhen brought his own personal history. And this brings together the present cultural environment and historical background of Shenzhen. So from this perspective, saying Shenzhen only has a history of 40 years is a conclusion way too simple. ”
吴君的作品很多是反映过去的深圳打工仔的生活。她以这样的方式去探寻深圳的历史和文化的交融。在问答环节，有观众向吴君女士提出了这样的问题：如何看待打工文学和非虚构的关系？因为打工文学一般就是在叙述自己的经历。对此，作家吴君回答：“我认为，打工文学和非虚构小说都是文学。是文学就多少会有虚构的成分。文学不应该分阶级，不必强调种类。文学应该只有一个标准，就是好作品。好作品要关注的是人心、人性和人文。”
Many of Wu Jun’s works reflect the past life of Shenzhen immigrant workers and even sex workers. In this way, she explored the blending of Shenzhen’s history and culture. During the Q&A session, a reader asked Wu : how do you see the relationship between literature about immigrant workers and nonfiction? Because the former one is generally in the narrative of a person’s own experience. To this, writer Wu Jun replies: “I think both of them are literature. And all literature is more or less fictional. Thus, we do not need to emphasis too much on the types of literature. It should have only one standard, one type, that is, good work. Good works focus on people, humanity and culture. ”
一场90分钟的分享渐入尾声，我们听到了来自不同地域的历史和文化碰撞的美妙乐章。历史将文化融合，将创作激发。文学是地域性的，也是全球性的。
A 90-minute sharing is coming to an end. Here we heard the beautiful symphony of history and culture from many parts of the world. History blends culture and inspires creation. Literature is regional, but also global.