Young Bai Xianyong
Bai Xianyong's father, Bai Chongxi, is a senior general of China Kuomintang. In his life, there are too many things worth telling and remembering. As an adult, Bai Xianyong began to record his father's dribs and drabs in his works, which was a memory of a special historical period and a memorial to his father.
Bai Chongxi, known as "Little Zhuge", was one of the representatives of the warlords of the New Guangxi in the Republic of China. In Bai Xianyong's words, his life is probably "the two don't interact." Although he followed Mr. Jiang to Taiwan Province Province, it did not represent his political position in Bai Chongxi's mind. He went to Taiwan Province Province only to be true to his beliefs.
Bai Xianyong, the eighth son of a family, was born in Guilin, Guangxi in July 1937+0 1. His childhood was a wandering period, which also had a great influence on Bai Xianyong's later creation.
At the earliest, Bai Xianyong lived in Guilin. He witnessed "Guilin's landscape is the best in the world", so he had "Guilin Complex". In his mind, seven years in Guilin is the best childhood picture in his memory.
Bai Xianyong lived in Guilin almost from birth. It was not until 1944 that Gui Xiang retreated that Bai Xianyong left Guilin with his parents and went to Chongqing, Shanghai and Nanjing successively. Chongqing's youth is an indelible memory of Bai Xianyong's life. If Guilin Complex represents Bai Xianyong's childhood, then Bashu Complex represents Bai Xianyong's boyhood.
When Bai Xianyong was seven years old, he suffered from tuberculosis. He can't go to school like other brothers and sisters in his family, so he has to study at home alone. He has been in Chongqing for three years, and whenever he walks on the road, he will see many bomb shelters. These are all traces of the pain caused by the war, and they have strengthened Bai Xianyong's love for the great rivers and mountains of the motherland.
This emotion is reflected in Bai Xianyong's later works. He wrote down his feelings in the book, described his love for the nation and the motherland, and his lingering homesickness.
1948, Bai Xianyong's family moved to Hongkong, and then went to Taiwan Province Province on 1952. Based on his love for the beautiful scenery of the motherland, Bai Xianyong's first choice for the college entrance examination was water conservancy project, but the following year he found that his interest did not match, so he transferred to the Department of Foreign Literature of National Taiwan University.
Since then, Bai Xianyong has devoted himself to his own creative path and has published many novels. It was not until 1962, after his mother died, that he finished his filial piety and prepared to study in the United States. But no one expected that father Bai Chongxi's farewell would be the last time father and son met. 1966 65438+On February 2nd, Bai Chongxi died, and father and son were separated forever.
Many years later, when Bai Xianyong talked about his father, he talked about the past and his sexual orientation. He said that his father always knew his sexual orientation, but he didn't strongly oppose it. On the contrary, he showed respect.
Sexual orientation and father and son
1983, Bai Xianyong published the novel Evil Children, which focused on a special group-gay group. Li Qing, the hero of the book, was exiled by his family and school because of his sexual orientation. A series of events in the park reflected the living conditions of this group in Taiwan Province Province at that time. As an author, Bai Xianyong is also a member of this group.
In a later interview, Bai Xianyong expressed his psychological world euphemistically in the face of the host's question. The host asked his father, Bai Chongxi, how would he react if he saw the evil son? Bai Xianyong responded gently to the host. He said he would be surprised to think of his father, but he knew his sexual orientation.
Strictly speaking, Evil Son is not Bai Xianyong's first work about this group. Before that, he wrote something about homosexuality. Perhaps it is because of parents' intuition about their children, or perhaps it is the foreshadowing of previous works. Bai Xianyong said that parents know their sexual orientation, but both parents choose not to poke, maintain good interaction with each other, and will not mention it, just like they don't know, and understand each other.
For his father Bai Chongxi, Bai Xianyong is grateful. This gratitude is my father's respect for myself. Bai Chongxi's attitude towards him made him full of confidence in his future life, instead of becoming a shrinking violet.
Bai Xianyong got the chance to walk in college with excellent results, but he finally chose to flop again because of his personal preference, and his father never blamed him too much. Perhaps this is the father's respect and unconditional trust in his son, even if it seems absurd to outsiders.
After Bai Xianyong made a small achievement in the literary world, his father Bai Chongxi read some of his works, but he never only looked at his character, because he respected knowledge and culture, and very much agreed with and supported his son's work in cultural creation. In addition, several schools have been built in Bai Chongxi, with the aim of giving more children books to read.
Bai Xianyong talked about his father's respect for culture and felt great. Bai Chongxi gave silently, expecting nothing in return, but he cared so much about culture because of his unfortunate childhood experience.
Bai Xianyong said that his father's childhood was not happy and his family was poor, which was not enough to support the whole family to study, so the whole family supported him to go to school together. At that time, people were ignorant, rural customs were ignorant, and they didn't realize the importance of learning.
A relative of Bai Chongxi once said that apprentices are useful and let him remember them all his life. Therefore, when Bai Chongxi has the ability, he wants to give back to his hometown and help more children change their destiny through learning.
The relationship between Bai Xianyong and Bai Chongxi is so harmonious that Bai Chongxi can respect Bai Xianyong's sexual orientation, which may have a lot to do with his childhood. Bai Chongxi, a young man, is well-informed and has a broad mind through constant experience. Perhaps for him, Bai Xianyong's sexual orientation will not affect his love for his motherland and hometown, nor will it affect the deep affection between father and son.
Bai Xianyong lived up to Bai Chongxi's expectations. Bai Chongxi's full support and respect for culture was realized by his son Bai Xianyong. Bai Xianyong's different sexual orientation may bring some controversy, but it can't affect his Excellence. He naturally has the spirit of a scholar's book in his bones.