在当今中国的女作家群中，王安忆的名字读者应该是非常熟悉的，她是文坛上最具魅力、最有影响的作家之一。
　　在全国第七届作家代表大会上，新当选为中国作协副主席的王安忆，于2006年11月15日返沪时在机场接受记者采访中表示，作代会选择她担任这一职务，是对上海作家的信任，至于她自己，“能做的就是不放弃写作，不放弃手中的笔”。在北京期间，即在她当选为中国作协副主席时，她就说：“坚持写作仍是我的第一生活，因为这是我比较胜任的工作，假如没有写作，我这个人大概没什么可值得注意的。”敏锐的记者很快发现，这番话与五年前她被推举为上海市作协主席时所说“几乎一模一样”。确实，五年过去了，“官位”升级了，荣誉也多了（继2000年获茅盾文学奖后，2005年王安忆又获鲁迅文学奖），王安忆还是王安忆。我想在她看来，主席、副主席之类对她并不重要，对她来说，或用她自己的话说，这不过是“略略开放了我的生活”，只是在文学道路上“和大家相互携手在一起”。这就是王安忆。熟悉王安忆的人都知道，这是王安忆的肺腑之言。
　　
　　站在茅盾文学奖领奖台上
　　王安忆的《长恨歌》荣获第五届茅盾文学奖。给她颁奖后她题词：“多年来，文学界一直厚爱于我，深深感谢！王安忆”。
　　
　　2000年11月11日，在浙江乌镇——茅盾先生的故乡，第五届茅盾文学奖颁奖大会之后，有记者问获奖者王安忆：“面对如此复杂的生活，一个作家怎样做才能更深刻呢？”
　　王安忆忽闪着眼睛，从容地说：“当代生话千变万化，给作家提供了丰富的写作资料。但问题在于，知识分子(包括作家)中不少人忽略了自己精神生活。不过如果你的理性充分，你才能和别人不一样。”
　　王安忆在90年代先后推出的几个中篇和长篇，几乎无一不引起文坛的关注。她的《叔叔的故事》不但促人透视当代知识分子的魂魄，而且让人领教了一种全新的叙事方式；她的《文工团》和《我爱比尔》，再次显示了她对以往历史和当下世界的思考；她的《长恨歌》则是她对上海近现代都市史的诠释。世纪末时她出版了《妹头》和《富萍》，把目光和笔锋转向了社会的地基和微粒，如她自己所言：“作品随着自己的成长而日渐成熟。”她的创作不断地激发出评论界的探究热情，但其快速的变化革新却总是让习惯于寻求固定风格分门别类的人捉摸不透。王安忆毋庸置疑地是文坛上的一道言说不尽的风景。
　　
　　“时间将变得隆重”
　　在进入新世纪的时候，王安忆说：“时间将变得隆重。”为什么？她说，“太阳走着永恒的轨道，无人知道什么是始，什么是末，因为有了人，有了历史，才有了时间。”“在我的时间表上，这界线正划在中年，这多少给人告一段落的怅然，但也给人重新开始的一些振奋。在迎接新世纪的当口，时间将变得隆重。”她在一篇文章最后写道：“这一瞬也将以恒常的速度过去，余下的还是我们的有终点的生命，因其有终，才须我们立下好好度过的决心。”
　　1954年出生于南京的王安忆，1955年随母亲茹志鹃到上海，1970年赴安徽插队落户，1972年考入徐州地区文工团，1978年调回上海。她自1976年开始文学创作，从发表第一篇散文至今，已创作发表出版小说《雨，沙沙沙》《本次列车终点》《小鲍庄》《小刘庄》《海上繁华梦》《叔叔的故事》《六九届初中生》《黄河故道人》《流水三十章》《纪实与虚构》《米尼》《长恨歌》等短、中、长篇小说400多万字，她的代表作有《金灿灿的落叶》《命运交响曲》《流逝》等。1986年开始，王安忆推出“三恋”：《荒山之恋》《小城之恋》《锦绣谷之恋》；接着又写出探讨家庭伦理的《逐鹿中街》，以性爱为主题的《岗上的世纪》等以及若干散文、文学理论。1989年35岁的她被选为上海作家协会副主席，跻身于一级作家行列。《流逝》《小鲍庄》《本次列车终点》《谁是未来的中队长》等曾一度获全国短篇小说奖，二度获全国中篇小说奖。作品被译为英、法、荷、德、日、捷、韩等文本。
　　
　　
　　缘何踏上文学之路
　　已故的著名女作家、王安忆的母亲茹志鹃，曾向我谈起过这个问题。茹志鹃生前接受我采访时曾经坦诚地回答：“我没有想要把安忆培养成作家。我倒曾希望安忆长大以后做个医生，靠一技之长安分地治病救人。平心而论，经历了过去那么多风风雨雨，真不愿意让孩子们再去涉足是是非非的文学艺术。”
　　但有一点可以肯定，王安忆小时候就喜欢写作。小学二年级时第一次看图作文，别的小朋友三言两语就写完了，可她一节课还写不够，小脑子里展开了想象的翅膀，放学后她继续留下来写，一下子就用去了半本作文簿。从此，她用白纸订了个小本子，她把心里想的，嘴里要说的话都写到小本子上，后来写儿歌、写日记……
　　王安忆各门功课都不错。“文革”动乱开始了，重点中学也不能上了。不久，妈妈茹志鹃小心翼翼地包藏了十多年的秘密，被无情的造反派贴的大字报揭开在孩子们的面前，他们的父亲王啸平曾经戴过“右派”帽子。姐姐安诺为此大哭起来，安忆也哭红了眼睛，感到害怕。那时节，全家人惶惶不安。此情此景后来在王安忆的小说《墙基》里作过生动的刻画，超过当时成年人的想象。
　　正是求学时代的少女王安忆却没有学校可上了，这时多么的苦痛啊。姐姐安诺找到了办法，从同学处偷偷地借来了不少外国小说，有《牛虻》《安娜·卡列尼娜》《贵族之家》《罗亭》等等，大家秘密地轮流着看，有时候一本书只能在安忆家停留一个夜晚，于是姐妹俩便躲在小屋里通宵达旦地将一本书囫囵吞枣“吃”下去。
　　王安诺、王安忆姐妹在那个不让人读书的年代里，却读了不少中外名著，这对没有学历的王安忆后来能成为作家，而且是创作丰盈的著名作家，应该感谢那些文学名著的赐予。倔强的王安忆硬是通过拼命地阅读，把这段空白的学历给补上了。现在她成了复旦大学中文系教授，还带着研究生呢！
　　
　　
　　父母在她身上的影响
　　王安忆开始创作的初期，妈妈茹志鹃还看看她写的初稿提提意见，后来王安忆去北京文学讲习所(后改名为鲁迅文学院——作者注)学习时，把她写的《幻影》寄给母亲看。妈妈看了以后，回信时详尽地提了意见。但吃饭时茹志鹃和丈夫王啸平聊起了这篇作品，她爸爸也没说妻子的意见不对，只是说“你不要管她，让她自己去摸索，去走路！”王啸平的“你不要管她”之说，使茹志鹃猛醒：是的，提这些意见为什么呢？无非是要她照我的意见写，要把她纳入我的思路的轨道上来创作，这有利吗？想到这里，茹志鹃深感老伴的意见是对的，“让她自己去摸索，去走路。”当时茹志鹃立即追了一封信去，收回前信的意见，要她按自己的想法去改。
　　“让她自己去摸索，去走路”，这恐怕和王安忆在创作上较快形成自己的一种表现方式有很大关系。在她的成长道路上，如果要说父母有点作用的话，恐怕这种方法让安忆得益匪浅。茹志鹃曾说：“我对安忆也没有刻意培养，主要靠她自己。在她幼时，我每天抄一首我欣赏的宋词贴在床头教她吟诵，为她讲解，这是一种乐趣，至于能起多大的作用就难说了。”现在看来，这是一种很好的文学启蒙和熏陶。
　　
　　“我的时间大多在家里度过”
　　王安忆成名以后，记者采访她时，问起她社会活动以及如何安排写作时间，她说：“我比较喜欢一个人工作，是个偏爱孤独和安静的人。我家里只有爱人和我两个人，没有孩子。其他亲人不住在一起。我生活的大部分时间在家里度过，平时爱看书、看电影，最多的时候是看电视。”“别人把我的生活想得太神秘了，我过的其实就是普通劳动者的生活。有一次我在机场碰到一个工作人员，他认出我是王安忆后，就羡慕地问我你现在哪个国家，我告诉他在中国，在上海，而且一直在上海。”
　　
　　当王安忆同记者谈到文学评奖时，她说：“我个人赞成评奖。写畅销书的人，他们的作品能在市场上有很好的回报；而搞纯文学创作的就只能靠获奖来得到肯定，进而推动书的销售，这能起到平衡的作用。你总不能让人家的书既卖不出去，又得不到奖吧。至于评奖，无论大小，没有一个绝对公正，总会因为这样或那样的原因妥协而产生折中的结果，我觉得获奖总是很开心，没有获奖也不难过。”
　　“近来您正在写什么作品？”记者直率地问她，并请她谈谈自己创作的体会。
　　王安忆沉思了一会，说道：“最近正在写一个长篇，大约十万多字，以江南小镇为背景，写两个女孩子的生活与成长。”她还说：“我常管现在的上海叫‘草根期’。上海在我的嗅觉中始终是混杂着多种气味的综合体：油烟气、菜香气、油酱气，还有个气，就像上海弄堂里常有的那种，我是闻着这种气味长大的。所以在写作时，还可以依稀闻到它。衡山路的确很浮华，可是更多的时候我是在平凡温馨的狭窄的家里。”
　　
　　Writing is Her Life
　　By Zu Dingyuan
　　Wang Anyi stands out as a distinguished female novelist in China’s literary landscape. In fact, she is one of the most influential writers in today’s China. At the recent seventh national writers’ congress, she was elected deputy chairman of the national writers’ association. Upon her arrival in Shanghai on November 15, 2006, she commented at the airport that her election at the congress meant the trust put in all the writers in Shanghai and that she would continue to write. Actually it was what she had said five years before when she was elected chairman of Shanghai Writers’ Association. Though she won the Maodun Literary Award in 2000 and the Luxun Literary Award in 2005, she is still her previous self though she is an important person in the writers’ organization. The only change is that the honors “have slightly opened my life more to the outside world”.
　　
　　Born in 1954 in Nanjing, Wang Anyi moved to Shanghai with her mother one year later. In 1970, the sixteen-year-old girl was sent to live and work in a production team as a farmer in Anhui province. In 1972, she was employed by the Xuzhou Singing and Dancing Troupe. In 1978, she came back to Shanghai. Her creative writing started in 1976.
　　Some people regard her family influence as an important factor in Wang’s writing career, for her mother was a writer of national renown. In fact, however, the mother discouraged the daughter, citing writing could be politically dangerous. But Wang Anyi was gifted. Even in the grades, she was good at writing compositions. She just couldn’t stop jotting down her thoughts and feelings in her notebooks.
　　The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) shattered the formal education of Wang Anyi and her sister, but they were able to read banned books secretly circulated among their friends. It was during this period that Wang Anyi was exposed to theworld-class literary masterpieces, which paved her way to becoming a writer later.
　　Over the thirty years, she has published short stories, novellas, novels and essays, many of which have won her national honors and been translated into foreign languages. What makes her stand out is her exploration into the minds of her characters. She observes that writing a good plot is not so difficult since life provides a wealth of plots, but a writer should look into the soul. Wang points out that an adequate mind sets a writer apart from her peers.
　　Her independence as a prolific writer comes from her tireless probe into the grassroots life in the past and the present. In the earlier days of her writing, her parents were asked to comment on her stories. She remembers sending them a short story she had written at a special creative writing course she was taking in Beijing. Her mother commented carefully on the story and sent the long commentary to her. The father advised the mother not to do so, saying “you should let her take her own way.” The mother agreed and sent another letter immediately, asking her daughter to disregard her opinion. The parents believed that they should step back and let their daughter decide where to go and how to proceed as a writer.
　　This “hands-off” policy played a significant part in Wang Anyi’s growth as a writer. Since the 1990s, her works have explored the hearts and souls of her characters, probed the past and the present of this world. Her novel Everlasting Regret relates the history of Shanghai as a modern metropolis. Towards the end of the 20th century, she published two books that looked into the bottom strata of the society. Her innovative narrations have inspired critics to look into her works for sources of her unexpectedly changing directions.
　　After establishing herself as a writer of national renown, she still spends most of her time at home, writing, reading, and watching television. She is married but have no children. Once she was recognized by a fan at the airport and asked where she now lived. Wang replied she was in Shanghai, China, and had been in Shanghai all the time.
　　While commenting on literature awards, Wang Anyi remarked that literature awards were justifiable and necessary for serious literary works. Some writers create popular fictions and get fast rewards from market. For those dedicated to writing serious things, literature awards enable them to survive and devote to their careers. She knows that there has never been absolute fairness in awards decisions. There might be some compromises here and there. She is happy when she gets an award, and she is not sad when she gets none. Award or no award, she will always keep writing. Awards are not her life. Writing is.
　　(Translated by David)