Romantic revolutionary feelings

Xu Guangyao’s thinking is still so clear, and the first battle he participated in is still fresh in his memory: “In the winter of 1938, there were still many days before the Lunar New Year. Ten days ago, in Xiguan, Suning County. I was a young soldier in the first company of the 120th Division Special Agent Regiment. I had just gotten up early in the morning and before I had fully woken up from my dream, the Japanese invaded me. I was so panicked. I was pulled into the line of fire. The heavy fog shrouded everything, which made the first battle I fought in a blur. I remember that in that battle, the sound of cannons was louder than the firecrackers during the Spring Festival. We lost one machine gun and two. A soldier was captured. "In fact, it was from that battle that was not considered a victory that Xu Guangyao went through the Anti-Japanese War, the Liberation War, and the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. There were no less than 100 battles, large and small, rolling through the smoke. , passing by the God of death, he also grew up from a small boy to a real warrior day by day, and in his heart, the idea that he wanted to express became stronger and stronger.

Xu Guangyao said: "I embarked on the path of literature because of the stimulation of life, coupled with my hatred of the enemy and my love for the people's fighting spirit. Of course, my interest in literature played an important role I have loved literature and reading old novels since I was a child. After I joined the revolution, I was browsing at my landlord’s house and found a Chinese middle school textbook. Memorize every article." This brings Xu Guangyao, who lives in a hail of bullets, closer and closer to literature. From 1942 to 1946, he passionately wrote reportages such as "You Are Not Allowed to Drink" and "The Fierce General Wang Feng". While using his brush strokes to directly and positively depict touching lives, Xu Guangyao also increasingly felt that reportage was far from satisfying his inner impulse: "Reportage cannot fully satisfy people artistically. It must truly express that era and use vivid To move people with my characters, I have to rely on the art form of novels, which allow me to add wings of imagination based on reality." So, the art form of novels naturally entered into his writing, one after another. Novels were published one after another: first, the first short story "Zhou Yuzhang", which reflected military training, and two years later, the novel "Plain Fire", which reflected the Anti-Japanese War, and then the novella "Little Soldier Zhang Ga"...

Xu Most of Guangyao's works reflect the Anti-Japanese War. He has strict requirements for his works. The most important thing is to respect history and reflect reality objectively and truly. History has also responded to Xu Guangyao's creative talent, giving him a keen insight into reality. "My artistic quality is poor and I have not received strict literary training. In 1947, I had the opportunity to be a student in the Literature Department of North China Lianda University. I was a transfer student and studied there for eight months. I learned some basic knowledge of literature and realized that literary works are mainly supported by characters. At the same time, I also vaguely felt that the "May Day sweeps" were used. I also had to shoulder the responsibility. So I paid attention and wrote down the battles and events I had experienced and some of the combat heroes I knew in a small notebook. When I wrote "Fire on the Plains", I wrote them down. The events and characters are sorted and summarized, and the framework of the novel emerges." Xu Guangyao said that most of the characters in his works have prototypes, which fully demonstrates the writer's ability to grasp reality and his superb artistic generalization ability.

After "Fire on the Plains" was written, it had a great impact. At the National Literary Congress, Zhou Yang mentioned this work twice. Ding Ling also believes that this work is only slightly different from "Days and Nights" by the popular Soviet writer Simonov at the time. The success of "Fire on the Plains" gave Xu Guangyao great self-confidence, but he did not avoid the flaws of this work. While he reflected on himself, he developed greater literary goals.

The eternal "Little Soldier Zhang Ga"

Gazi's influence does not end with the last century. There is a collector in Shijiazhuang who has a special liking for "Gazi". He specially collects information about "Xiao Bing Zhang Ga" and opened an exhibition hall. The impressive exhibition hall is filled with books, posters, paintings, etc. about Gazi. The collector talked endlessly about Xu Guangyao and Gazi, and they were deeply in love. Obviously, in many people's memories, they grew up with Gazi, who was a close friend in their childhood, a neighbor who could whisper and make mischief together. Gazi has completely moved from literary works into ordinary people and into people's hearts.

In the writer's own mind, Gazi's position is also supreme. "The literary image of Gazi is the expression of my entire life. In fact, he is my ideal character. He is exactly the opposite of my character. I am not satisfied with my character. I am dull, lack of interest, follow order, and partial. They are more conservative people. The type of people I admire and like the most are people like Gazi who dare to speak and act and are very creative. Writing about Gazi is actually writing about my ideals." Xu Guangyao wrote his own. The ideal also created a vivid and vivid character image that is indelible in Chinese anti-Japanese war literature. In Xu Guangyao's view, Gazi has actually become one with him and has become the other half of his life. Gazi accompanied him at the lowest point in his life and spent the most difficult years with him.