编者按：为了更好地进行中国文学海外传播工作，让中国作品在海外被发现（Discover）、被理解（Understand）、被传播（Express），中国文化译研网（CCTSS）邀请国内资深文学主编及文学评论家，精选出近两百部短中长篇小说，形成第一期《中国当代文学作品指南》（简称“指南”），从更具权威性、价值性的角度出发，更好地向世界展示中国当代文学精品，传播中国书香。

春读书，兴味长，磨其砚，笔花香。现将“指南”中的精品文学作品以一日一推的方式向读者呈现，让我们不负春日好时光。

《无字》

Without Words

推荐理由

《无字》1998 年由上海文艺出版社出版。它以女作家吴为的人生经历为主线，进述了她及其家族几代女性的婚姻故事，描摹了社会大动荡、大变革中各色人等的与世浮沉、坎坷人生，展现了中国近百年间的风云际会，对二十世纪的中国进行了独特的记录与审视。作品性别立场鲜明，激情控诉男权力量对母女两代女性的伤害，鞭挞犀利男性的种种丑恶，而关于叶莲子、吴为、禅月三代女性的描写，又显示了作者的女性同盟立场，作品最终把改变女性弱势生存状况的希望寄托在年轻一代女性身上。除性别立场外，作品的还有强烈的道德立场。精明世故是作者鄙视的庸俗品格，真诚单纯则是作者赞赏的品质。

小说文字灵动洒脱，情节精妙跌宕，人物复杂逼真，布局宏达伟阔，好似一部雄浑的交响乐，一个回旋又一个回旋，撞击着人们的心灵，进行着灵魂的拷问，留下无尽的思索。

Reviews

Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House first published Without Words in 1998. Revolving around the life of the female writer Wu Wei, it tells the story of the marriages of the protagonist and other generations of women in her family. It depicts the ups and downs of various people’s lives in the midst of social turmoil and is an invaluable record and retrospection of the vicissitudes that China has been through throughout the 20th century. The novel has manifested a clear stance on anti-gender discrimination by condemning male domination as the source of the sufferings brought to both mothers and daughters. Men’s evil doings are ruthlessly criticized. The stories of the three generations of women, Ye Lianzi, Wu Wei and Chanyue have shown that the author is a staunch ally of the female gender. In the final part of the novel, the author rested the hope of redressing the issue of gender inequality on the younger generation. Apart from taking a clear gender stance, this novel has a strong moral sense. It despises cunning and sophistication while extolling sincerity and innocence.

With its artistic use of language, ingenious design of plot, complex and life-like character portrayal in vast settings, this novel is like a grand symphony. Movement after movement, it makes impact on the reader’s minds, questions their soul and provokes them to think.

作家简介

Author Profile

张洁，女，原籍辽宁抚顺。美国文学艺术院荣誉院士，国际笔会中国分会会员，中国作协第四、五、六届全委会委员、第七届名誉委员。

著有长篇小说《沉重的翅膀》《只有一个太阳》《无字》，小说、散文、随笔集《爱，是不能忘记的》《方舟》《祖母绿》《张洁文集》（4 卷）、《中国当代作家选集》《国际文学大奖得主自选文库》《世界上最疼我的那个人去了》等 10多部，游记文学集《域外游记》《一个中国女人在欧洲》等。 她的小说《无字》获第二届老舍文学奖、北京市第三届文学艺术奖、《小说选刊》2001—2002 年优秀长篇小说奖、第六届国家图书奖、第二届女性文学奖、第六届茅盾文学奖。

Zhang Jie was born in 1937 in Beijing, to a family originally from Fushun in Liaoning province. Currently she is an honorary member of the American Academy of Literature and Art and a member of the International PEN, Chinese Branch. In addition, she served as a committee member or honorary committee member in Chinese Writers Association for several terms. 

Her oeuvre includes the novels Leaden Wings, Only One Sun and Without Words; collections of short stories and essays such as Love Must Not Be Forgotten, The Ark, Emerald, Gone is the Person Who Loved Me Most, Oversea Travels and A Chinese Woman in Europe. Her works have won a number of important literary awards such as the renowned Mao Dun Literature Prize.

中文概要

Synopsis

女作家吴为，为写这部小说差不多准备了一辈子，可就在要动手写的时候，她疯了。

大学毕业的时候，吴为像无数年轻人一样，迷恋北京，经历了一次不成功的婚姻，有了一个婚生女禅月，也有了一个私生女枫丹。吴为因私生女而饱受丈夫的打骂，被人叫作“破鞋”。吴为在“五七”干校结识了尚未“解放”的副部长胡秉宸。待他们都调回北京后，才正式交往起来。世家子弟胡秉宸，又在革命的血与火中几经历练，能干、有魄力，在政治上也有操守，是“五百年才出一个”的人才。他的婚姻本不和谐，却维持着“模范家庭”的名号。然而这并不妨碍他另找女人，而且他的方针是“想办法让她们主动”。在胡秉宸多次示爱之下，吴为果然“主动”地给他写了一封信，她想要一个明确的答案。而胡秉宸几经考虑，竟把这封信交给了他的妻子白帆，并与同是老革命的白帆一道，联名写了一封让吴为一年都缓不过气来的信。

吴为在极度压抑中开始写作。她终于成了作家，也才从感情上把胡秉宸放下。胡秉宸在报纸上一看到署名吴为的小说，吴为便在他心中不断升值。胡秉宸派人给吴为送来纸条，吴为又奋不顾身地向他奔去。这时部党组的佟大雷也努力接近吴为并表达爱意，但吴为始终不为所动。吴为得了一个文学大奖之后，胡秉宸对吴为的感情日益上升。在检点一生的迷茫中，胡秉宸终于有了向吴为走去、并向诸多理论交代的理由。吴为无法抗拒胡秉宸的魅力。他们有了第一个吻。这个吻，让胡秉宸神魂颠倒，他好像回到了初恋，像当年搞地下工作那样满怀激情地热恋起来。这时，胡秉宸却在仕途大战中败下阵来。吴为却说：“我爱的是你，不是你的地位。”想到这一来胡秉宸的仕途没有了指望，反倒高兴起来。

吴为生于 1937 年，卢沟桥的枪声一响，父亲顾秋水就抛下她们母女，随着东北军旧部抗日去了。母亲叶莲子历尽千辛万苦才把她拉扯大，苦难把她们铸成了不可分割的一个人。叶莲子激烈反对吴为的恋爱，但吴为不听。叶莲子仍得为节省每一分钱而操劳，操持着苦难的日子，甚至去卖过血。而吴为并没有将稿费用来贴补她们那个穷得丁当乱响的三女之家。她把稿费都花在了胡秉宸身上。女儿禅月觉得，别看妈妈蹦来蹦去，换了一个男人又一个男人，实质上还是别人的奴隶。姥姥和妈妈都是男人的奴隶，那些男人剥削着她们的精神、肉体、感情。她可不愿意像她们一样。

白帆质问丈夫的出轨行为。胡秉宸平静地认了账，而且反击白帆说，你不也曾经乱搞过男女关系吗？于是，白帆怒而威胁说要去找党组织。胡秉宸连忙跪下求饶。气头上的白帆，打了胡秉宸六个耳光。胡秉宸大面积心肌梗死，进了医院抢救室。这让他的政治对手暗暗欢喜，也让有关部门在艰难的人事平衡上大松一口气。

病情好转的胡秉宸火急火燎地让吴为到医院去，吴为只好冒险而去，不想听到的最为重要的话却只是“想你”二字。其间白帆驾到，对吴为大打出手。吴为只希望胡秉宸说一句“是我让她来的”，但胡秉宸竟一句也不敢说。白帆发动了一个由 38 位夫人组成的“白帆婚姻保卫团”，为捍卫白帆而战。当胡秉宸得知吴为一个孤身女人为保卫他而迎战白帆身后的一大帮人时，不禁心烦意乱。由于白帆把他逼得没了退路了，他于是正式起诉，和白帆离婚。这最终的孤注一掷，又感动了吴为。然而在法院审理过程中，使吴为受到极大伤害的是胡秉宸几副面具同时摆在眼前，反差之大，令吴为感到触目惊心。他居然在白帆手中保留了一份与她联手写下的那封撇清自己的信，这成为打击吴为最有力的一发炮弹；而白帆在欢庆胡秉宸给她的私生子问题“平反”之时，更不知胡秉宸还有送交中央某领导的一纸诉状，让她永世不得翻身。目睹这些工于心计的不道德行为，吴为对胡秉宸的爱渐渐褪了颜色。说到婚期，吴为说：“我们不结婚，同居行不行？”胡秉宸破口就骂：“难怪人家说你是个坏女人，你不是在耍弄我吗？……”吴为很想对他说：如果你现在还是部长，如果你还年富力强，如果没有那么些人整你而且至今还在等着看你的笑话，我会毫不犹豫地对你说：我不愿意嫁给你！可是，吴为什么都懒得说了。她累了。

为登记结婚，吴为去向母亲叶莲子要户口本，只说了一句“妈，我要去结婚了”，然后就抱着叶莲子哭起来。吴为至死对含辛茹苦把她拉扯大的叶莲子满怀愧疚，不能自拔。尽管胡秉宸多次向吴为控诉白帆对他的残酷折磨，但一旦和吴为结了婚，白帆就成了一个战败者，胡秉宸难免不又想起前妻的种种好处。而他又是个喜欢迁怒于人的人，自然就把吴为当作了始作俑者来煎熬。而他们婚前对吴为曾十分友善的胡秉宸的女儿芙蓉，却成了他们多次口角的导火索。毕竟吴为是从她母亲手里夺走他父亲的女人。吴为要写作，还要挣钱养家。胡秉宸从不把自己的工资给她，她却得给他提供高档次的生活，还要供女儿禅月上大学。一次，吴为陪胡秉宸住院治病，胡秉宸也没向吴为打个招呼，就把他们房子的钥匙交给了芙蓉和她的情人。而吴为让保姆回去给胡秉宸熬鸡汤，他们二人正在床上，被保姆撞了个正着，从此芙蓉对吴为就势不两立了。婚后的胡秉宸，并未得到过他所期待的女性的缠绵。吴为在床上的表现越来越让胡秉宸难以尽欢。胡秉宸不明白，他壮烈牺牲、费尽周折弄到手的，却是白帆老年时代一个相似的拷贝。婚后不久的一次口角中，胡秉宸就出其不意地说：“你知道人家说你什么？说你是个烂女人，都说我和你这种拆烂污的女人结婚是上了你的当。可我怎么就鬼迷心窍地和你结了婚。”这让吴为伤心无比。尽管法律上胡秉宸不能同时拥有两个妻子，但在实际生活中，他却游刃于两个妻子之间。与吴为的结合，已被他重新定位于对自己几十年修炼以及他那个阶层的背叛。吴为感到心痛如绞。胡秉宸多次要求离婚，而吴为就是不同意。胡秉宸就在决定和吴为离婚前，他还物尽其用地让吴为将他那部巨著，在电脑上打字成文。而对于这部巨著，吴为很不以为然，在她看来，那不过是许多研究者已然发表的论文汇集，并无新意。而胡秉宸却很当回事儿，他要吴为把它带到国外，利用吴为那个洋女婿、禅

月丈夫把它出版出来。吴为看到他的自私行为，就把存稿子的软盘掰碎，扔进了飞机上供呕吐用的纸袋，然后她不停地笑着。后来，吴为终于同意离婚了。那天，他们不吵了，和美得就像恋爱时光。这场从吴为 33 岁开始的恋爱，轰轰烈烈，此时吴为已经 60 岁了。

而离婚后不到一个月，胡秉宸又与白帆复了婚。然而，与吴为共同生活了 10 年之后，胡秉宸对白帆也已不完全适应，他重又游刃于这两个女人之间。

叶莲子忌日那天，胡秉宸又来了。吴为看着他，却像看见了早已把她们母女抛弃的顾秋水，不禁脱口叫道：“爸爸。”然后，她就很平和、很从容地过渡到什么都不会说、谁也不认识的状态。———她被送进了精神病院。

某年某月某日，吴为死了。人们整理她的遗物，却没有找到一个亲友的电话或地址，凡与文字有关的东西都没找到。她断然拒绝了这个世界最后的垂怜或饶恕。

Wu Wei had spent almost her entire life preparing to write this novel, but when she was about to set her pen to paper, she lost her mind.

Like many young Chinese from her generation, she was attracted to the magic city Beijing on graduation from university. An unsuccessful marriage has left her with a legitimate daughter named Chanyue and an illegitimate one named Fengdan. Having a child like Feng Dan caused her to be constantly abused by her husband and slurred by her neighbors. Wu Wei met a high official by the name of Hu Bingchen in one of the May Seventh Cadres Schools, a kind of institution that was more like a labor camp for intellectuals, set up in the 1960s.

When Hu regained his freedom and reputation, both of them moved to Beijing and their relationship formally began. Born to a reputed family and emerged from the ordeal test of revolution, Hu seemed to be extremely capable, courageous and upright in the political arena. He was even regarded as a rare talent that appeared only once every five hundred years. Hu’s marriage was not a harmonious one, but he somehow managed to give the public an impression that he and his wife were a perfect match. In spite of being married, Hu still wanted to seek extramarital relationships with other women and his way of doing so was to have women come to him of their own accord. After being seduced by Hu on many occasions, Wu Wei wrote her first love letter to him, asking Hu to make clear his intentions in plain terms. However, Hu, after turning this matter over in his mind, went so far as to pass this letter to his wife, Bai Fan, who had also been a scheming old hand in revolution. Together this couple wrote a letter that made Wu Wei’s life miserable for almost an entire year.

In dire depression, Wu Wei started writing and finally succeeded in becoming a writer. Writing had helped her to release herself from the emotional tangle with Hu. On seeing Wu Wei’s novels and her name on newspapers, Hu’s admiration for her started to increase and had a slip of paper sent to her. Blinded by love, Wu Wei hurled herself to Hu like a moth flying to a burning candle. Meanwhile, another high official by the name of Tong Dalei, a colleague of Hu, also tried very hard to win Wu Wei’s love but what he got from her was only a cold shoulder.

When Wu Wei won a very important literary award, Hu could no longer repress his feelings for her. While examining his confused life in the past and backed by senses regained, he came to Wu Wei at long last. They fell in desperate love and had their first kiss. In a transport of joy, Hu felt as if he was reliving his first love, which was just as exciting as doing underground work before liberation. Though successfully winning her love, Hu met a major setback in his political career. In comforting him, Wu Wei said,” I love who you are, not your position.” Wu Wei truly meant what she said. On thinking that Hu’s official career was hopeless, she was feeling somewhat happier in spite of herself.

Wu Wei was born in 1937, when the first shot of Sino-Japanese war was fired at Marco Polo Bridge in Beijing. In a time of national calamity, her father left his family behind and went with the former Chinese Northeast Army to fight the invaders. Having gone through untold sufferings, Wu Wei’s mother Ye Zilian managed to bring her up. Hardship had made this mother and daughter inseparable. Ye Zilian had been strongly against her daughter’s love, but to no avail.

Life had been hard for Ye Zilian as always. In order to scratch up a little money to keep life going, Ye even went as far as to sell her own blood. However, the now successful writer Wu Wei spent all her money in pleasing Hu, leaving not a penny to her mother and daughters. Her daughter Chanyue thought that her mother, in essence, was no better than a slave, despite her effort in seeking love from one man and another. And in this regard her grandmother was no exception. Men had taken advantage of their spirit, body and emotions. She, however, was determined not to be like them.

When confronted by his wife Bai Fan with his unfaithful conduct, Hu peacefully accepted everything. But he shamelessly retorted,” Haven’t you done this sort of thing before?” Irritated, Bai Fan threatened to expose his misconduct to the Communist Party leaders. At her words, the helpless Hu fell to his knees immediately. Still raging with anger, Bai slapped him in the face six times, which sent him to the hospital emergency room because of a sudden strike of myocardial infarction. Ironically, Hu’s political opponent felt quite relieved on hearing his misfortune and it also saved the efforts of relevant parties in making a difficult choice for striking balance in the personnel deployment.

Barely having recovered from his disease, Hu could not wait to send for Wu Wei, who, in spite of personal risks, did show up in the hospital. Unexpectedly, the most important words she heard from Hu’s mouth was” I miss you.” At that moment, Bai Fan broke in. Burning with anger, she threw a punch at Wu Wei. Having acquired equilibrium, Wu Wei hoped Hu would put in a word for her and explain to Bai Fan that it was he who sent for her. However, Hu turned out to be a speechless coward.

In preparing to defend her marriage, Bai Fan had summoned allies, consisting of 38 housewives. When Hu had learnt that Wu Wei was completely on her own in her confrontation with Bai Fan, he started to have pity for her. Finally, with no turning back, he decided to launch a lawsuit and divorce Bai Fan. Wu Wei was deeply moved by what Hu had done. However, in the court Hu put up several contrasting faces, which disillusioned Wu Wei and brought her great pain. Hu even left a copy of the letter he wrote with Bai Fan in the latter’s hand, claiming that he was totally innocent. This letter proved to be nothing less than Wu Wei’s undoing.

While Bai Fan was rejoicing in her success, she did not know that Hu had sent a letter of complaint against her to a leader of the central government, which stripped her of all her chances of regaining any sort of reputation. Wu Wei’s love for Hu had gradually faded after witnessing Hu’s scheming and immoral conduct again and again. When Hu talked to Wu Wei about setting a date for their marriage, Wu Wei replied, “Can’t we just live together, without getting married?” Infuriated, Hu threw a string of insults at Wu Wei, “Now I can see why people said you are a bad woman. Aren’t you making a fool of me?”

Wu Wei wanted to say to him that she would make it crystal clear that she didn’t want to marry him if he was still a government minister, young and without political opponents waiting to see his downfall, but she didn’t utter a word. She was tired.

In the end, Wu Wei consented to marrying Hu. So she went to her mother for household register that was needed in acquiring official marriage certificate. Seeing her mother, she said but one sentence, “I love you mom.” Then she burst into tears in her mother’s arms. Wu Wei had been tortured by a sense of guilt for not being able to repay the love of her mother, who had gone through so many hardships in bringing her up. 

Although at times Hu had revealed to Wu Wei that Bai Fan had been treating him harshly, he started to feel pity for Bai Fan once he married Wu Wei, now that Bai Fan had turned out to be a loser. Thinking about the virtues of his ex-wife and the time they used to have, Hu began to blame the collapse of his previous marriage on Wu Wei.

Furong, Hu’s daughter, who used to be on very good terms with Wu Wei before their marriage, now became a trigger for their quarrellings. After all, Wu Wei was the one that robbed her mother of her father. Wu Wei was busy writing and making money to support her new family. Hu never shared his wages with her, but she had to help Hu to maintain a luxurious lifestyle. Besides, Wu Wei had a college daughter to support. One day when Hu was in hospital, accompanied by Wu Wei, he gave the keys of his house to his daughter Furong and her lover, without telling Wu Wei about it. Without prior knowledge, Wu Wei sent a servant home to make chicken soup for Hu and the servant happened to find Furong and her lover, making out in bed. From then on, Furong regarded Wu Wei as her mortal enemy.

When Hu found he could not get what he desired from Wu Wei both in and out of bed, he started to feel, for all his efforts, what he had now was nothing better than a copy of his ex-wife. In a quarrel between them not long after their marriage, Hu burst out sharply, “You know what? People said you are a slut and that I must have fallen victim to your schemes to marry such an unworthy woman like you. What a fool I have been.” Hu’s words shattered Wu Wei’s heart.

Although Hu cannot have two lawful wives, in actuality he did not break away from either of them. Hu regarded his marriage with Wu Wei as a betrayal to his past life and his class. Deep in her heart, Wu Wei was deeply tortured.

Hu demanded a divorce many times but Wu Wei never consented. Right before Hu decide to divorce Wu Wei, he still thought of making the most out of his marriage by asking Wu Wei to type up his “so called” masterpiece on the computer. In Wu Wei’s mind, his work was nothing more than a compilation of papers published by other researchers and did not amount to much. However, Hu took his work very seriously and wanted to have it published abroad with the help of Wu Wei’s American son-in-law.

While onboard a plane and thinking about how selfish Hu was, Wu Wei broke the floppy disk with Hu’s work on it into pieces and threw it into a trash bag. Having done that, she started laughing by herself. Finally, Wu Wei agreed to put an end to their marriage. On that day when Wu Wei gave her consent, they did not quarrel anymore and even felt as if they had gone back to the time of their courtship.

Wu Wei fell in love with Hu when she was 33 years old and now she was over 60. Barely a month elapsed after the divorce when Hu remarried his ex-wife Bai Fan. However, having lived together with Wu Wei for ten years, he was not used to living with Bai Fan anymore. Once again, it was like he was having two women at the same time.

On an anniversary of Wu Wei’s mother’s death, Hu came to visit her again. Looking into his eyes, Wu Wei thought she had seen her father who had deserted both her mother and herself years ago. Involuntarily, she murmured, “father.” Then peacefully, her mind sunk into oblivion, saying nothing and knowing no one. She was committed to a mental hospital.

On an unknown day, Wu Wei died. While sorting out her belongings, people could neither find a phone number nor an address of any friend or relative, not even a single slip of paper with any writing on it. Emphatically, she denied pity and forgiveness from this mortal world.