在大陸文壇早已聲名遠播的上海著名女作家程乃珊,于1991年3月去香港定居,在這之前她已在香港客居了一年多。
程乃珊在上海有個溫馨的家。丈夫嚴爾純堪稱模范丈夫,女兒天真可愛,聰慧過人,可是乃珊還是告別了上海這個令人羨慕的溫馨小家庭去了香港。如今這個三口之家天各一方,分居三地:丈夫留守上海,女兒飛越重洋去美國留學,而她則在香港孤身拼搏,有時只好在香港和上海兩地往返走動……
對香港情有獨鐘
有人說程乃珊出生在香港,因而與香港有緣。這話又對又不對:她的出生地在上海,倒是兩歲時曾隨著父母去了香港,在香港爺爺那里度過了她金色的童年,一直讀完小學四年級才跟父母親回到上海。
漫漫的八年香港生活,在程乃珊幼小的心田里埋下了深厚的感情。因而當了作家的這些年來,在她的散文里經常寫到她對香港的依戀,特別是對她的母校——香港中學附屬小學的思念。因而她在上海時積極參與了和校友們發起成立的上海香島中學校友會。
一個人幼年的記憶總是十分美好的,因此程乃珊對香港情有獨鐘。
是的,乃珊的祖父程慕灝老先生一直居住在香港,這位著名的銀行家16歲時背著一個小包裹,只身從浙江桐鄉的鄉間小道到十里洋場上海灘謀生,他憑著自己的勤奮、才智和毅力奮力拼搏,當他的小孫女乃珊呱呱墜地時,他已是上海乃至全國金融界的巨子之一。不久,他的事業發展到了香港,這位富有傳奇色彩的中國金融界的前輩、原中國銀行總行常務董事、香港中國銀行原總經理,便長期在香港金融界服務,直到晚年仍擔任著香港中國銀行顧問。
1993年3月,上海文藝出版社出版了程乃珊的長篇小說《金融家》,作品描寫了一個民族金融家的人生之路和他那個豪門望族的喜怒哀樂。小說中的主人公祝景臣一貧如洗闖入上海灘,歷經坎坷終于成為銀行界顯赫的巨頭……很顯然,這部小說是以她祖父的一生拼搏為背景的。《金融家》是程乃珊原先計劃創作的三部曲中的第一部。程乃珊因為有祖父在香港這層關系,才有步程老先生的后塵要去香港謀求更大發展的愿望。因而她毅然告別上海幸福溫馨的家和安定舒適的生活,放棄了上海專業作家的待遇,只身去香港定居。
在她當年即將赴港時,乃珊曾對來訪的記者說:“我祖父的一生是一部歷史,也是一部多卷集的長篇小說。我一直在搜集、記錄他的傳記資料,想好好地寫出來。”但遺憾的是,就在程乃珊來到她久已向往的香港,來到她深深地為之敬愛的老祖父身邊不久,這位94歲的老人,卻安詳、滿足地撒手人寰,離他的孫女乃珊而去了……
當作家一半由家庭造就
程乃珊走上文學道路看起來很偶然,其實這和她的家庭大有關系。她從小愛讀文藝小說,這是受到父母親的影響所致。她的父母親都是20世紀40年代的名牌大學畢業生,有很好的文學、音樂和外語造詣,乃珊從小便受到良好的文化和藝術熏陶。尤其是乃珊的媽媽,雖然身為大家閨秀,卻不是飽食終日的貴婦人,她十分喜愛文學、音樂,是個道道地地的知識型婦女。當年她從上海圣約翰大學畢業后沒找職業,在家里讀書也寫小說。母親把第一篇小說投寄給當年上海的一家文學刊物,編輯認為小說基礎較好,作些修改后就可以發表,但當她把稿子修改后第二次寄給編輯部時,因戰爭爆發刊物禁辦,這篇小說稿從此就杳無音訊。
乃珊的媽媽酷愛文學卻無緣奔向文學之路,結果走進了“藍屋”,當起了“少奶奶”。但無論在文學創作事業上還是在平時的服裝打扮修飾上,媽媽都是女兒乃珊信得過的“參謀”,她常常當著媽媽的面對朋友們說:“母親既是我的老師,又是我的朋友,我們母女間沒有代溝!”
程乃珊步入文壇,她十分感謝《上海文學》編輯部,十分感謝老作家、編輯李楚城和費禮文的鼓勵和幫助。假如程乃珊的第一篇小說寄出后,一月、二月、三月都沒有音訊,試想一個初學寫作者的心情會怎么樣呢?也許今天的文壇上就不會有程乃珊,更談不上今天她在香港的寫作和繼續發展了。是的,一個初學寫作者寫出了比較有質量的第一篇作品能夠發表與否,往往決定著一個人的道路、命運和未來。
自從程乃珊發表了第一篇小說之后,就有一些文學雜志的編輯上門約稿了,同時有不少讀者寫信給她,跟她商討創作問題,同她談讀后感……一篇小說,把程乃珊引向了社會,引進了千百個讀者的心中。從此,她感覺到自己肩上責任重大,寫作的責任感和使命感增強了。于是,程乃珊就寫出了第二篇、第三篇……
程乃珊在偶然的機遇里,找到了一個終身可依托的事業,這就是文學創作之路。她說:“我愛文學創作,我不把它作為一種成才的途徑,而是作為一種享受,一種寄托:我把生活本身看得比事業更重。”
她在上海作家協會當專業作家的五六年里(1991年前),已創作了40多個短篇小說,10多個中篇小說和《女兒經》《金融家》等三部長篇小說和許多散文,約200萬字。
緊張寫作跨越港滬兩地
程乃珊去香港已16年了,她在這十多年時間里,在香港這塊充滿競爭的土地上,在緊張的上班下班途中,不論乘輪渡還是乘汽車,總是不斷地觀察,不斷地構思,思索創作題材。
她為香港多家報刊寫專欄文章,近幾年還應上海、海南、北京等幾家報刊約稿,寫了許多有關香港的精彩文章在內地發表。尤其是《文匯報》“筆會”上連續登載的《滬港雙城記》專欄散文,在讀者中頗有影響,上海文藝出版社現已出版了這部散文專著。這些年,程乃珊的寫作跨越香港和上海,她的心也牽掛兩地。
程乃珊清楚知道,她在文學事業上的成就,是與丈夫嚴爾純對自己的理解、支持分不開的。老嚴紡織學院畢業后當了中學物理教師,他愛好體育也愛好文學、音樂,但當妻子程乃珊寫小說出名后,老嚴就把家庭的一切事情全部承擔下來。長得像鐵塔一樣結實的嚴爾純,常攤開雙手,裝出無可奈何的樣子,卻又風趣地對朋友們說:“乃珊寫小說出名了,我是高興的。讓她像小鳥一樣去飛吧!她一走,雖然給我添了不少事,但我心里還是很高興的!”
就是程乃珊在家時,老嚴也自告奮勇地當起妻子的“秘書”。每天收信、回信和報章雜志收發等等,全由他代替夫人去做。妻子的作品寫出后他是第一個讀者;妻子的作品發表了,讀者的反映、意見以及報刊上的評論,老嚴都給她搜集整理,及時反饋給妻子。
別看老嚴是運動員,身材魁偉,像個勇猛壯士,可做起事來倒像大姑娘般纖細。有人同他開玩笑,說他那副寬寬的肩膀、壯實的身軀是上帝為了呵護程乃珊而給他創造的。此時,憨厚的嚴爾純便看著美麗的妻子和大家一起哈哈大笑……
程乃珊的中篇小說《藍屋》的原型,就有丈夫嚴爾純家的影子,當然也有程乃珊娘家的影子。現在她的父母親還住在上海南京西路一幢英國式的公寓里。這幢房屋就是程乃珊筆下“藍屋”的模特原型。
程乃珊在談到《藍屋》這篇小說構思時曾說:“無數歷史事實證明,無論是一個人還是一個民族,乃至一個國家,一味依賴昔日的余光而不致力于今天的創造,就必然會失敗。”
Writer and Her Hong Kong Complex
Cheng Naishan made her name known as a Shanghai-based creative writer across China in the 1980s when the country awoke again to its literary ambition and new writers began mushrooming shortly after the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). In March, 1991, Cheng Naishan immigrated to Hong Kong after she stayed there for a year.
Cheng has a sweet home, but her family is scattered in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and the United States. Her husband Yan Erchun stays back in Shanghai. Her daughter grew up in Shanghai and now lives in the United States. Cheng lives in Hong Kong and frequently comes back to Shanghai. Nowadays Cheng shuttles between Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Cheng Naishan owes her Hong Kong complex to her childhood experiences in that city where she lived with her grandfather Cheng Muhao for eight years. She went to Hong Kong at 2 and came back to Shanghai with her parents after she had finished her fourth year at a primary school in Hong Kong. The legendary life of her grandfather is a rags to riches story. At 16 he left home in Tongxiang, Zhejiang Province and went to Shanghai. His property was merely a few personal belongs in a small bag. He worked with his all might. By the year Cheng Naishan was born, he had already been a successful banker of national renown. He acted as a senior advisor for Bank of China (Hong Kong) in his twilight years.
Cheng Naishan tells her grandfather’s life story in her novel named The Financier published in March 1993. The novel was supposed to be the first of a trilogy she wanted to write. That’s partly why she decided to migrate to Hong Kong. But unfortunately her grandfather passed at 94 shortly after her migration to the city.
Although it looks as if Cheng Naishan became a writer by chance, her writer’s career started as if predestined. She was greatly influenced by her parents, both college graduates in the 1940s. They took keen interests in literature and music and had working knowledge of foreign languages. Cheng Naishan read a great deal at home. She contributed a short story to Shanghai Literature, a monthly literary magazine in Shanghai, and editors there responded warmly to the story and came into contact with her pretty soon. Years later she still feels gratitude to the editors there. She can’t imagine what would have happened to her dream of becoming a writer if they had not contacted her within a month after receiving her contribution.
She soon became a full-time writer and signed up with the Shanghai Writers’Association. Over a period of 6 years before she moved to Hong Kong in 1991, the Shanghai-based writer amazingly produced over 40 short stories, a dozen novellas, and three novels as well as many essays.
Her life in Hong Kong is marked with a tight work schedule. She is a columnist for a few Hong Kong newspapers. In recent years, she has been writing for several newspapers in Shanghai, Beijing and Hainan with a focus on Hong Kong. Her essays about Hong Kong and Shanghai have been serialized in a literary magazine of a Shanghai-based newspaper. They have caused a stir among readers and will soon be published as a collection.
(Translated by David)