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⼀個時代的浪 漫愛情符號
紐時⽂摘
⼀個時代的浪 漫愛情符號
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悼 瓊瑤
謝謝你在我們的⽣命中綻放過火花
⽣命⼒的表徵
謝洦
不曉得為什麼瓊瑤輕⽣的消息, 讓我難過得說不出話來, 我只讀過她的”幾度夕 陽紅”, 她其他的作品我只”知道”書名, 卻不是很瞭解這些書在說些什麼故事, 窗
外, 煙雨濛濛, 還珠格格, 等等等等, 我也很少讀皇冠雜誌.
我並不是瓊瑤迷, 但我卻很欣賞她認真過⽇⼦的態度, 坦⽩說, 她的⼩説都繞著 男女感情説故事, 好像⽤同樣的材料蒸煮炸炒卻能做出味道獨特的各類菜⾊出 來, 男女情愛是千古奇案, 沒有興趣探索的, 會說男歡女愛就是這麽個回事, 有興 趣”感受”的, 卻能寫出令⼈落淚, 令⼈癡迷, 令⼈⼼悸的情節, 瓊瑤替我們 般⼈
去感受愛情, 去談我們不敢談的談情說愛, 然後⽤最不牽強的⽂字回頭説給我們 聽, 對我們男⼦漢⼤丈夫來說, 她是風花雪⽉, 菟絲爬藤, 但她’正⾯與感情對決”
的執著, 格 格地爬, 字 字地寫, 那種強烈的⽣命⼒, 若是上了戰場, 敵⼈
必定聞風喪膽, 棄⼦繳械.
她輕輕地挑了 個⽇⼦, 個時間, 就這麼翩然地走, 何嚐不是 種⽣命⼒的強 烈呈現, 我好久沒有寫過”翩”這個字, 瓊瑤的走, 提醒我們”翩”這個字是有兩隻
翅膀的, 美麗的象形⽂字, 在瓊瑤的⽂章裏被舞弄得妙筆⽣花, 不說她說的故事, 光說她的⽤字遣詞起承轉合明說隱喻, 她的⽂字在歷史的時空裏也儼然是 ⾴ ⽂學專⾴.
謝謝你, 瓊瑤, 謝謝你在我們的⽣命中綻放過火花.
⾔情⼩說作家瓊瑤上週三在台灣新北市的家中去世，享年86
歲。她曾出版過多部華語世界最暢銷的⼩說，並幫助塑造了幾代 ⼈的浪漫愛情觀。
她的兒⼦陳中維和兒媳何琇瓊在瓊瑤的Facebook⾴⾯上宣布她 的死亡系⾃殺。瓊瑤 直在倡導有尊嚴的死亡權。
「死亡是每個⼈必經之路，」她在去世當天的Facebook帖⽂中 寫道。「我不想聽天由命，不想慢慢枯萎凋零，我想為這最後的 ⼤事『作主』。」
瓊瑤的⾸部作品《窗外》於1963年出版，是⼀部半⾃傳⼩說，
講述了⼀名⾼中⽣與她的國⽂老師之間註定失敗的愛情故事，作 品獲得了巨⼤成功。她後來出版了60多部⼩說和短篇⼩說集。
她的許多作品被改編成電影和電視劇。
在瓊瑤的⼩說中，愛情超越 切，為了愛情，放棄家庭、事業、 社會地位，甚⾄ 毫不誇張地說 放棄肢體，都是值得的。 「你只不過是失了 條腿，」她的1973年⼩說《 簾幽夢》中的 ⼈物說了這樣 句名⾔。「她為你割捨掉愛情。」
她的故事情節往往跌宕起伏⽽⼜複雜，充滿各種曲折的愛情：悲 喜交集、單戀，痴情，怨恨和悲劇。她的⼩說包括《⼼有千千 結》（1972年）和《幾度夕陽紅》（1964年）。
她還以將愛情故事與中國古代⽂學元素相結合⽽聞名。「我們樂 於認為我們的詩詞是從學校和長輩那裡學來得。事實上，我們很 多⼈都是從瓊瑤那裡學來的，」在台灣長⼤的杜克⼤學漢學家周 成蔭在接受採訪時說。「我覺得，某種程度上說，我是因為她才 成為詩詞教授。」
她的風格非常獨特，以⾄於過分多愁善感的⾔論可能會被評論 「你太瓊瑤了！」在台灣海峽兩岸，許多女性都有「瓊瑤式的名 字」，它們與她筆下女性⾓⾊的名字相似，通常包含「夢」 「雨」「雲」等字。
她經常描寫年輕⼈反抗家庭和社會規範的故事。正因如此，她的 ⼩說在1987年國⺠黨政府解除戒嚴令之前的台灣廣受歡迎，⼜在 ⽂⾰結束後上世紀八九⼗年代的中國⼤陸流⾏。
在20世紀80年代，她開始在⼩說中討論社會問題，如《失火的 天堂》（1984年）講述了⼀個被繼⽗虐待並性侵的孤女的故 事。但這些⼩說很少受到關注。後來，她將更多的精⼒放在了電 影和電視製作上。
「瓊瑤寫夢幻的愛情⼩說，被知識分⼦批評為違背現實。當她處 理家暴與性侵，⼜因社會尚未準備好⾯對這麼沉重的議題，使得 此書未獲重視，」國立台灣師範⼤學⽂學教授林芳玫在 Facebook上寫道。她的博⼠論⽂是關於瓊瑤⼩說的。
由瓊瑤作品改編的許多電影和電視劇都轟動 時，並讓林青霞、 趙薇和范冰冰等中國和台灣的著名演員有了早期的曝光機會。她 是其中許多電影和電視劇的製片⼈和編劇。
瓊瑤是最早進入中國龐⼤影視市場的台灣製片⼈之 。1998 年，由她編劇並擔任製片⼈的浪漫電視喜劇《還珠格格》成為中 國收視率最⾼的電視劇。在接下來的20年裡，該劇多次重播， 到2018年仍⾼居收視率榜⾸。《還珠格格》講述了兩對情侶在 清朝宮廷裡的故事，有⼈將其與美國熱⾨情景喜劇《六⼈⾏》相 提並論。
瓊瑤原名陳喆，於1938年4⽉20⽇ ⽇本入侵中國數⽉後 出⽣於四川省成都市。1949年中國內戰結束時，她隨家⼈逃到 台灣。她的⽗親陳致平在⼤學教授中國⽂學，⺟親袁⾏恕亦在中 學教授中國⽂學。「瓊瑤」這個筆名的意思是美⽟，來⾃⼀⾸中 國古詩。
18歲時，還在上⾼中的瓊瑤愛上了比她⼤25歲的國⽂老師。⽗⺟ 強迫她結束這段感情。更令他們失望的是，她沒能考上⼤學，這 讓她的前途⼀片黯淡。
20歲時，她嫁給了同樣有志於成為作家的⾺森慶。兩年後，他 們有了⼀個兒⼦。
根據她1989年⾸次出版的回憶錄《我的故事》，兒⼦19個⽉⼤
的時候，她把他送到託兒所，這樣她就可以在早上寫作。出版了 幾部⼩說後，她可以買得起冰箱了，這樣她每週只需要買⼀次 菜，就有了更多時間來寫作。
當她的寫作事業蒸蒸⽇上時，她的婚姻破裂了。根據她的回憶 錄，丈夫嫉妒她的成功。在她26歲那年，兩⼈離婚了。
之後，她與她的編輯兼出版⼈平鑫濤發⽣了婚外情。已婚的平鑫 濤有三個孩⼦。她在回憶錄中寫道，她感到無比內疚，多次試圖 分⼿，但他堅持不同意。經過長達八年的激烈離婚訴訟之後，他 於1979年與她結婚。
她在回憶錄中寫道，許多讀者問她所寫的愛情在現實⽣活中是否 存在，還會問，「那些驚天動地的愛，不是你的杜撰嗎？」
「每個⼈有每個⼈⾃⼰的⼈⽣，」她寫道。「我只是很奇怪，為 什麼我⽣命裡的愛，會來得如此強烈？如此震撼？⽽且如此戲劇 化？」
⽂學教授林芳玫寫道：「書寫愛情是瓊瑤的事業。信仰愛情則是 她的志業。」
兩⼈的婚姻 直持續到平鑫濤於2019年92歲去世。除了兒⼦， 她的遺屬還包括幾個孫女。
當平鑫濤中風卧床失去知覺時，瓊瑤和他的孩⼦們就是否繼續給 他使⽤⽣命維持系統發⽣了爭吵。去世前⼀週，瓊瑤在
Facebook上寫道：「⽣命的最後⼀裡路，不應該是這樣『無 助、凄慘』的！」
在帖⼦中，她回顧了⾃⼰和平鑫濤的⽣活：「很坦⽩的承認： 『我多麼多麼的想你！』好的你，壞的你！」
「你，已然歸去，」她寫道，「我，不如歸去。」
⼀周後，她在Facebook上發帖，說⾃⼰是火花，已經盡⼒燃燒 過。「如今，當火焰將熄之前，」她寫道，「我選擇這種⽅式， 翩然歸去。」
Chiung Yao, Top Romance Novelist in Chinese-Speaking World, Dies at 86
Writing from Taiwan, she shaped her readers’ idea of romantic love with a raft of best sellers, many adapted for the screen. Newborns were named after her characters.
Chiung Yao, a romance writer who published best-selling novels in the Chinese-speaking world and who helped shape the idea of romantic love there for generations, died on Wednesday at her home in New Taipei City, Taiwan. She was 86.
Her son, Chen Weizhong, and her daughter-in-law, Jessie Ho, announced on her Facebook page that her death was a suicide. She had been advocating for the right to a dignified death.
“Death is a journey everyone must take,” Chiung Yao wrote in a Facebook post on the day she died. “I don’t want to leave it to fate or wither away slowly. I want to take control of this final chapter.”
Her first book, “Outside the Window,” the semiautobiographical story of a doomed love affair between a high school student and her Chinese literature teacher, was published in 1963 and achieved great success. She went on to publish more than 60 novels and short-story collections. Many of her works were adapted into films and television series.
In Chiung Yao’s novels, love transcends everything else. It’s worth giving up one’s family, career, social status, even — literally — one’s limbs. “You only lost one of your legs,” a character in her 1973 novel “Fantasies Behind the Pearly Curtain” says. “What she lost was her love.”
Chiung Yao’s plots are often dramatic and intricate, filled with twists and turns of love in all its shades: bittersweet, unrequited, obsessive, resentful and tragic. Among her novels’ titles are “The Heart Has a Million Knots” (1972) and “Several Degrees of Sunset Red” (1964).
Chiung Yao was known for mixing her love stories with elements of ancient Chinese literature. “We would love to think that we all learned our poetry from school, from our elders. But in truth, a lot of us learned them from Chiung Yao,” Eileen Chow, a Sinologist at Duke University who grew
up in Taiwan, said in an interview. “I feel like I’m a poetry professor in some ways because of her.”
Her style was so distinct that people’s overly sentimental remarks could draw comments like “You’re so Chiung Yao!”
On both sides of the Taiwan Strait, many women bear “Chiung Yao names” — given names that are similar to those of her female characters and usually have Chinese characters such as “dream,” “rain” and “cloud.”
She often wrote of young people rebelling against their families and social norms. That’s one reason her novels were popular in Taiwan before the nationalist government
lifted martial law in 1987, and in mainland China in 1980s and the ’90s after the country emerged from the Cultural Revolution.
Chiung Yao started addressing social issues in the 1980s, in novels like “Paradise on Fire” (1984), the story of an orphaned girl who is abused and sexually assaulted by her stepfather. But those novels received little attention. She later focused more on film and TV production.
“While Chiung Yao was criticized by intellectuals for her dreamy, romanticized novels as being divorced from reality, her attempts to tackle domestic violence and sexual assault were met with indifference from a society unprepared to confront such heavy topics,” Fang-mei Lin, a literature professor at National Taiwan Normal University, posted on Facebook. “As a result, these works were largely overlooked.” (She wrote her doctoral dissertation on Chiung Yao’s novels.)
Many of the films and TV series adapted from Chiung Yao’s work were blockbusters, giving wide, early exposure to celebrated actors in both China and Taiwan, including Brigitte Lin, Zhao Wei and Fan Bingbing. She was the producer and screenwriter of many of them.
Chiung Yao was one of the first Taiwanese producers to tap into China’s enormous film and TV market. “My Fair Princess,” a 1998 romantic comedy TV series that she wrote and produced, became the most viewed series in China. It was rerun many times in the next 20 years and still topped
the ratings in 2018. The series, the story of two couples set in the imperial Qing court, has been compared to the American sitcom “Friends.”
Chiung Yao was born Chen Che in Chengdu, in Sichuan Province, on April 20, 1938, months after Japan invaded China. Her family fled to Taiwan at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. Her father, Chen Zhiping, taught Chinese literature at universities, and her mother, Yuan Xinru, taught the same subject at a middle school. Chiung Yao’s pen name, meaning beautiful jade, came from an ancient Chinese poem.
At 18, while in high school, Chiung Yao fell in love with her Chinese literature teacher, who was 25 years her senior. Her parents forced her to end the relationship. To their further disappointment, she failed her college entrance examination, which seemingly doomed her future.
When she was 20, she married Ma Senqing, a fellow aspiring writer. They had a son two years later.
When her son was 19 months old, Chiung Yao sent him to a nursery so that she could write in the morning, according to her memoir, “My Stories” (1989). After publishing a few novels, she was able to afford a refrigerator, enabling her to buy groceries only once a week and thus giving her more time to write.
As her career was taking off, her marriage was falling apart; her husband was jealous of her success, she wrote. They divorced when she was 26.
She then became entangled in an affair with her editor and publisher, Ping Hsin-tao, who was married and had three children. Feeling immense guilt, she tried to break it off many times, she wrote, but he resisted. After acrimonious divorce proceedings that lasted eight years, he married her in 1979.
Chiung Yao recalled in her memoir that many of her readers had asked whether the love she wrote about existed in real life: “Aren’t those earth-shattering romances just your fabrications?”
“Everyone has their own life experiences,” she said. “What puzzles me is why the love in my life comes so intensely, so powerfully and so dramatically.”
Ms. Lin, the literature professor, wrote: “Writing about love was Chiung Yao’s career. But believing in love was her lifelong mission.”
Chiung Yao and Mr. Ping remained married until he died at 92 in 2019. In addition to her son, she is survived by granddaughters.
While Mr. Ping lay unconscious in bed after having a stroke, Chiung Yao and his children had a falling-out over whether to keep him on life support. In a Facebook post a week
before her death, Chiung Yao wrote, “The final stretch of life should not be filled with such helplessness and misery!”
In the post, she reflected on her life with Mr. Ping: “I honestly admit, ‘How deeply, deeply I miss you!’ The good you, and the bad you!”
“You have already departed,” she wrote, “Perhaps I should follow.”
A week later, in a Facebook post, she referred to herself as a spark and said that she had done her best to burn brightly. “Now, as the flame is about to fade,” she wrote, “I choose to depart gracefully in this way.”
Li Yuan writes The New New World column, which focuses on China’s growing influence on the world by examining its businesses, politics and society. More about Li Yuan