MCLC: storytelling queen Fang Fang

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: storytelling queen Fang Fang
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Source: China Daily (10/15/13):
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2013-10/15/content_17032819.htm

Storytelling queen
By Sun Ye 

Author Fang Fang says she is full of story ideas but does not have enough
time to write. And she tells Sun Ye she has been pleasantly surprised by
the great attention paid to her latest novel.

Round eyes, an impish nose and small cherry lips give Fang Fang the look
of a quick-witted, animated storyteller. And, she is. The 58-year-old
best-selling author says she realized she had the gift of storytelling
since childhood. "If you had asked my classmates then 'Who will grow up to
be a writer?', they would have said it's me."

"They nicknamed me queen of storytelling."

Her friends and colleagues would bribe her with fruits and snacks in
exchange for her stories. "One of my college friends would follow me
around each day asking, 'What's next?'"

Her latest novel is Tu Ziqiang's Personal Sad Story released by the
Beijing October Publishing House of Art and Literature. The book of
suspense, which offers insights into the mind, is clearly written, with
drawing narration - her signature style. It is a success, as predicted.
But it nevertheless surprised the author herself with the discussions it
attracted.

"I didn't expect it to create such a wave," she says.

The story of Tu Ziqiang follows a young man's college days and his first
menial jobs. Although he holds a college education, his efforts never
translate into anything meaningful, mostly owing to his poor, rural
upbringing. Tu eventually kills himself.

"He has to die. In my earlier draft, he brought his ailing mother to
death's door, too," Fang says. "I see no way out for the kid. If he
doesn't die, he can only turn terribly vicious."

The tragedy of that obscure young man sets the country mourning about the
current time, which offers the younger generation limited opportunities.

"It's Fang Fang's writing at its most powerful, and it's so simply
written," says Han Jingqun, chief of the publishing house who oversaw the
book.

"I haven't been this touched in years, to the extent that I almost shed
manly tears.

"Only a reflective, conscientious writer could develop stories that
resonate not only with the young, but with almost anyone."

Fang was inspired by her years of observing and sponsoring rural dropout
students.

The winner of Lu Xun Literary Award has a repertoire of literature that
portrays the underclass. Such stories made her a champion of the New
Realism school (since the 1980s), where the sordid and ground bits of life
make their ways into some of her most celebrated works, like Landscape and
Feng Shui.

Born into a family of engineers, Fang had spent four years in mid-1970s as
a porter "without knowing whether one could finally get out of this life".

"That's the first university I went to. It totally changed my
understanding of the group. I wasn't taking note, I was one of them," she
says.

She went to the prestigious Wuhan University afterwards, winning
recognition for her talent early and opportunities to work as a
professional writer and editor ever since.

She also writes about the plights of the country's intellectuals. "But
compared with the bottom rung who have to fight for basic food and board,
their life is not that hard."

"It's what us Hubei writers do, we are always more concerned with the ills
of the society," says Fang, who is also chief of the Hubei Writers
Association.

These days, Fang has turned to historical documents. "I read to
reconstruct Wuhan as it was 100 years ago," she says.

She has completed several books, both fiction and documentary on the
city's past.

"I have a studio set in my head, down to every corner and ornament of the
city. And I see my characters go through life in that setting as if in a
film."

For that matter, she has so many story ideas from heaps of historical
records. "You cannot count with two hands the things I want to write," the
author says.

But her fans will not get to read those stories on her mind soon enough,
even though she has always been a fast and inspired writer.

"Now, I deliberately slow down to fine tune the writing, otherwise I write
almost too fast on a spur."

Besides, she's busy promoting literature in her role as chief of the
writers association, setting up lecture series and seminars for the
province.

"I have never been short of story ideas. What I need is time," she says.