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铁凝丨《永远有多远》

推荐理由

《永远有多远》塑造了一个普通北京女性白大省的形象。白大省自小就被胡同里的老人评价为“仁义”，长大后依然傻里傻气保持着凡事总是忘我地为别人着想的特点。白大省周围的亲戚、恋人，把她当作一个可以满足自己需求的工具，利用她的“仁义”来达到各自的目的。白大省尽管天生善良，富于怜悯之心，但她也是一个有血有肉的生命，她有自己的激情和渴望，因此，她一次次忘我地成全他人，却换不来别人的真情，那么她得到的只是失落。作品一方面在感念白大省的良善品格中缅怀传统的仁义精神，另一方面又对白大省不能捍卫自己合理权益的行为表现出深深的遗憾；而对周围人贪婪榨取白大省的恶劣行为，更表现出强烈的不满。小说不仅从道德和权益两方面审视白大省的生命状态，还深入书写白大省内心欲望，写她渴望成为一个富有性魅力的女性。小说的另一个人物坏女孩西单小六妩媚迷人、反抗社会规范，表面上看与白大省是完全相反的人物形象，但实质上却是白大省内心渴望的女性模型。

《永远有多远》人物形象塑造立体深入，作品主题涉及女性道德、欲望、权益多方面，在白大省这个形象塑造中还投射了作家对北京文化的深层思考。

Reviews

How Long Is Forever describes Bai Daxing, an ordinary Beijing woman. From her childhood, she is considered as benevolent by the aged people living in hutongs. This characteristic does not change even after she grows up. She is simple-minded and always gives priority to other people’s interests. Her relatives and her lovers all treat her as a tool to achieve their own goals. They all take advantage of her “benevolence”. Although she is born kind and has a big, generous heart, she is also human, with her own passion and desires. Therefore when she repeatedly helps other people at her own sacrifice and receives no true love in return, she becomes more and more disappointed.

This story, on one hand, recalls the traditional value of benevolence by showing gratitude to Daxing’s kind nature; on the other hand, it shows a deep sympathy for her not being able to protect herself against those who wish to exploit her. The author expresses her strong resentment against the selfishness of the people surrounding Dasheng. The story not only examines Daxing’s life from the perspective of morality and self-interest, it also probes into her inner desire and longing to become a charming woman. Another character in this story is the “bad girl” Xidan Xiaoliu. She is beautiful and sexy. She always tries to fight against social norms, which makes her, at the first glance, the total opposite of Bai Daxing. However, in reality, she is exactly the model that Daxing aspires to become.

How Long Is Forever creates several colorful characters and it covers a variety of themes such as female morality, desire, and rights. What underlies the image and story of Bai Daxing is the author’s profound reflection on Beijing’s local culture. 

作家简介

Author Profile

铁凝，女，1957年生于北京，祖籍河北。

铁凝1975年于保定高中毕业后到河北博野农村插队，1979年回保定，在保定地区文联《花山》编辑部任小说编辑。铁凝曾为河北省作家协会主席，中国作家协会副主席，2006年至今担任中国作家协会主席。

铁凝1975年开始发表文学作品，主要著作有长篇小说《玫瑰门》《大浴女》《笨花》等，中、短篇小说《哦，香雪》《第十二夜》《没有钮扣的红衬衫》《对面》《永远有多远》等100余篇、部，以及散文、随笔等共400余万字，结集出版小说、散文集50余种。1996年出版5卷本《铁凝文集》，2007年人民文学出版社出版9卷本《铁凝作品系列》。

《哦，香雪》和《六月的话题》分别获1982年和1984年的全国优秀短篇小说奖，《没有纽扣的红衬衫》获全国优秀中篇小说奖（1983—1984）。根据《没有纽扣的红衬衫》改编的电影《红衣少女》获1985年中国电影"金鸡奖""百花奖"，《麦秸垛》获1986—1987年《中篇小说选刊》优秀作品奖，散文集《女人的白夜》获中国首届鲁迅文学奖（1995－1996）。中篇小说《永远有多远》获第二届"鲁迅文学奖"（1997-2000）和首届"老舍文学奖"。艺术随笔集《遥远的完美》2005年获中国第二届冰心散文奖。

Tie Ning, originally from Hebei province, was born in Beijing in 1957. She was sent to a rural village named Boye in Hebei province after her graduation from Baoding High School in 1975. She returned to Baoding in 1979 and became a novel editor for Huashan (literally “Bloom Mountain”), a magazine run by the Baoding branch of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. Tie Ning was the chairperson of the Hebei Provincial Writers Association, the vice-chairperson of the China Writers Association, and she became the chairperson of the China Writers Association in 2006.

Tie Ning began to publish works in 1975. Her main works include novels such as Rose Door, The Bathing Women, and Stupid Flower; more than 100 short stories, including Ah, Xiangxue, Twelfth Night, The Red Shirt without Buttons, The Opposite Side,  and How Long Is Forever. Her prose and essays total more than 4 million words with more than 50 different collections of stories and prose. A five-volume Collected Works of Tie Ning was published in 1996 and a nine-volume Collected Works of Tie Ning was published in 2007 by People’s Literature Publisher.

Ah, Xiangxue and The Topic of June respectively won the National Excellent Short Stories Award in 1982 and 1984. The Red Shirt without Buttons won the National Excellent Novella Award (1983-1984). Adapted from this novella, the movie The Girl in Red won the Golden Rooster Award and the Hundred Flowers Award in 1985. Her novella, Haystacks, received an award for 1986-87 Selected Novellas. Her prose collection Women’s White Night won the National Outstanding Prose Award at the 1st Lu Xun Literature Prize (1995-1996). Her novella How Long Is Forever won the National Excellent Novella Award at the 2nd Lu Xun Literature Prize (1997-2000) and the first Lao She Literature Prize. Her essays collection Distant Perfect won the 2nd Bingxin Prose Award in 2005. 

中文概要

Synopsis

白大省是我的表妹。她从小生活在京城的胡同里，与众多女孩相比：她是单纯的，傻气中透着可爱，与人无争！70年代初期，当她七八岁的时候，就被胡同里的老人评价为仁义。她一直照顾着姥姥，可是姥姥却偏心她的弟弟白大鸣，但是白大省却无怨无悔。白大省十岁时爱上了来邻居家养病的歌舞团演员赵叔叔，但她在赵叔叔面前却紧张懦弱，不敢像其他女孩那样与赵叔叔一起扮演喜儿与大春的角色。然而赵大安并没有注意她，因为他迷上了胡同里的坏女孩：西单小六。西单小六和白大省截然不同，她美貌性感，荒唐开放，喜欢与男人混。生活在胡同里的男人都被她的美貌吸引，甚至于为她打架。其实，内心中白大省渴望自己能够成为西单小六这种富有魅力的女人。

白大省长大之后仍然傻里傻气，纯洁正派，待人一腔真情。大学四年级，白大省开始了真正的恋爱。这时姥姥去世，父母带着弟弟白大鸣到新分得的两居室单元房去住，驸马胡同这两间房就留给了白大省。男朋友郭宏是白大省的同学，他外表英俊、工于心计，和白大省交朋友是想确定了恋爱关系以便毕业后能留在北京。白大省把伺候郭宏当成最大的乐事。郭宏家的人来北京她是全陪，管吃管住还管掏钱买东西。可是临近毕业时，郭宏又结识了一个日本女留学生，他想随了那日本学生到日本去的，于是就离开了白大省。

白大省毕业后分配到凯伦饭店工作。不久，白大省开始了她的又一次恋爱。对方名叫关朋羽，凯伦饭店客房部的。他是一种天生喜欢居家过日子的男人。然而，表妹小玢的出现改变了原本一切。她住进白大省的家，吃白大省的、用白大省的，白大省不和她计较。可是最后，她却把关朋羽抢走并做了他的新娘。

在白大省最失落的时候，夏欣走进了她的生活。他，连稳定的工作都没有，连养活自己都还费点劲，却整天坐在白大省家中吃吃喝喝，当他体会到白大省的爱意时，却对白大省挑鼻子挑眼的。那可怜的白大省竟还执迷不悟地说：我可以改啊我可以改！但夏欣还是离开了。

这时，驸马胡同拆迁，白大省的两间旧房至少能换一套三居室的单元房。弟弟、弟媳妇就想与她换房，白大省数落一番弟弟后又十分自责，然后主动找弟弟、弟媳要求换房。

婚姻失败的郭宏在北京无处落脚，就带着两岁的女儿来找白大省。郭宏说我要和你结婚，而且你不能拒绝我，我知道你也不会拒绝我。说完他就跪在了白大省眼前，有点像恳求，又有点像威胁。白大省知道他对自己并没有爱，只是在利用自己的忠厚而已，但是郭宏女儿遗落的小手绢去触动了白大省的柔情，白大省决定要和郭宏结婚。我怎么规劝她都没有用。

白大省就是这样仁义得没心没肺、不可救药，就为了她的不可救药，我永远恨她，也永远爱她。就为了这恨和爱，即使北京的胡同都已拆平，我也永远会是北京一名忠实的观众。

啊，永远有多远啊。

Bai Daxing is my cousin. She grew up in hutongs in the capital city. Compared with most other girls, she is pure, sometimes simple-minded, but adorable, and peaceful with other people. In the early 1970s when she was only seven or eight years old, she was considered benevolent by aged people living in the hutongs. It was always she who was taking care of her grandma, and although her grandma was actually partial to her younger brother Bai Daming, she never complained. When she was 10 years old, Bai Daxing fell in love with an actor of the Song and Dance Troupe, Mr. Zhao, who was sick and was being taken care of by her neighbor at the time. However, she was always nervous and cowardly when she was in front of Mr. Zhao. She did not dare to do what many other girls did with him—play the roles of Xi’er and Dachun. 

Unfortunately, Zhao Da’an failed to notice her existence because he was fascinated with the bad girl of the hutong—Xidan Xiaoliu, who was completely different from Daxing. Xiaoliu was pretty, sexy, casual with sex, and enjoyed hanging out with men. All men living in this hutong were crazy about her beauty. They even fought for her. Deep in her heart, Daxing Bai actually aspired to grow to be a charming woman like Xidan Xiaoliu.

Bai Daxing remained simple-minded as an adult. She was pure, innocent, and sincere. In her fourth year of university, she began a serious romance. Her grandma had just passed away and her parents moved in with her younger brother Bai Daming to a new, allocated apartment with two bedrooms. So, the house with two rooms on the Fuma hutong was then left to Daxing. Her boyfriend, Guo Hong, was her classmate. He was handsome in countenance but cunning and crafty. He pursued Bai Daxing because he needed a stable relationship with her so that he could acquire the qualification to stay in Beijing after graduation. Daxing’s greatest joy was to take care of Guo Hong. When his family members came to Beijing, she accompanied them throughout their whole journey, taking care of their accommodation, meals, and shopping bills. However, when graduation was approaching, Guo Hong met an international student from Japan. He wanted to go to Japan with that Japanese student, so he left Daxing.

Daxing was assigned to the Karen Hotel after graduation. Soon enough, her second love began. His name was Guan Pengyu and he worked in the housekeeping department of the Karen Hotel. He was the sort of man born to enjoy family life. However, the appearance of Xiaofen, Bai’s cousin, changed everything. She dwelled in Daxing’s house, lived off her, and took advantage of her. Daxing was generous to all that. However, in the end, she stole away Guan Pengyu and finally became his bride.

In her most miserable days, Xia Xin walked into her life. Without any stable job, he could barely even maintain himself. He lived in her house, ate her food, and used her money. When he noticed her affection, he started picking at her over everything! Poor Daxing still did not wake up. She said, “I can, I can get rid of my bad habits.” However, in the end, Xia Xin still left her.

The Fuma hutong then underwent demolition. The market value of her old house of two rooms was then worth at least an apartment with 3 bedrooms. Her younger brother and his wife wanted to exchange their apartment with her house. Daxing reproached her brother, but soon felt sorry. She paid them a visit in person and proposed to exchange her house with them.

Guo Hong came back to Beijing after his failed marriage. He had nowhere to live. So he took his two-year-old daughter and came to look for Daxing. Guo Hong said, “I want to marry you. You cannot refuse me, and I know that you won’t refuse me.” Following his words he knelt down in front of her, with a pleading yet somehow threatening look on his face. Daxing knew that he did not love her and simply wanted to take advantage of her kindness. However, the little handkerchief dropped by Guo’s daughter touched the softest part of her heart. Daxing decided to marry Guo Hong no matter how hard I tried to dissuade her.

Daxing is such a benevolent woman, stupidly and hopelessly benevolent. It is because of this benevolence that I will forever hate and love her. For the sake of this love and hatred, I would forever be an audience of Beijing, even if all hutongs may be demolished away one day.

Ah, how long is forever?