文学的自觉与作家的责任——《张居正》创作谈

与现实小说相比,历史小说更能体现作家创作上的自觉,因为历史小说要兼顾历史与小说两个方面,其作者首先应该是史学家,然后才是小说家.因此,"写什么"对历史小说的创作尤其重要.要想弄清两千多年来中国历代皇权统治或日国务活动家的基本特征,应该着重关注两个系列的人物,一是帝王系列,二是宰相系列.选择张居正作为研究和塑造的对象,是基于三个考虑:(1)他是典型的"士"的代表;(2)他所领导施行的"万历新政",比之商鞅、王安石推行的改革要成功得多;(3)明代的国家体制对后世影响非常之大.张居正的悲剧,不仅仅具有封建性,更具有民族性;不仅仅具有政治性.更具有文化性.张居正应是历史中的人物,更应是文学中的典型.

Bring History Back to Life:On the Creation of the Historic Novel ZHANG Juzheng

Compared with novels associated with realities,historic novels reflect much of the choice in the novelist's creation,for historic novels have to deal with both the history and the literature.The author should first of all a historian,and then a writer,so "what to write" is more important in writing a historic novel.To find out the essence of the imperial power or the states men in the past 2000 years China,one must focus on figures in two series: one is the emperors,and the other is the prime ministers.My choice of Zhang Juzheng in my literary creation lies in three aspects: he was a typical representative of the feudal scholars;"Wanli New Deal" led by him was more successful than the reform carried out by Shangyang and Wang Anshi;and the state political mechanism had a much more powerful influence on late times.The tragedy of Zhang Juzheng was not only a feudal one,but with national,political and cultural meaning.Zhang Juzheng was a historical figure,and more a figure of literature.