解密为何能畅销全球作家麦家对话翻译家米欧敏(4)

Mai Jia and his two translators talked in depth about the book, about Chinese culture, about the author's own interpretation, about the translation. What they said could be too long a text for this dialogue if translated verbatim. For the sake of space,we regretfully present as follows a much abbreviated version of what Mai Jia said at the forum.

China is a great and profound image.If it were just a shadowy and cold existence, you wouldn't take interest. But our culture is profound. People like Professor Olivia Milburn and Professor Christopher Payne have had profound knowledge of China. What they learned made them fall in love with China. I feel that this should make Chinese people feel proud. They help spread Chinese culture and introduce China to the world.

Because of the movies and television series adapted from my books, I have to live with the espionage novelist label. But if you consider my novels as espionage books, you could be deeply disappointed. My books have nothing to do with guns, killings and sex, essential components of espionage fiction. In February 2018 I was asked in Paris by a reader this question: why do you start the book with so many pages about the Rong family in 1876 whereas the hero appears in the story as late as in 1966. My answer was simple: I didn't intend to write an espionage novel; espionage happens to be the hero's occupation.

I am neither China's Dan Brown nor China's John le Carré. I think translators are partly to blame for this misunderstanding. If you translate more Chinese novels,readers in other countries can understand more about China and about novels by Chinese writers. Thank you for translating my novels and we Chinese feel are not just gardeners who work to make a seed germinate, grow and me, the translators gave rebirth to my book. It is no exaggeration to say that the translators are the parents of the book.

Frankly, my novels don't badmouth Chinese and don't go out of my way to appeal to western readers. This objectivity and fairness win their respect.

I dread and hate to hear other people say that my books are all about don't write espionage novels. Espionage does play a part. Deciphering a code looks like a consistent theme in Decoded, In the Dark, Sound of the Wind, but the hardest code to break is the inner world of human beings and their fates.

The 17 rejections in 11 years changed me and changed the novel. It made the book better and enriched. The vicissitudes have happened in my life and those that touch my soul fi nd their way into my novels. Fleeting impressions or something that makes me laugh and feel happy don't necessarily present themselves into my works. These fl imsy moments make me forget myself. But some major changes in life, some important solitary moments, events and things that sadden me and allow me to see the fundamentals of this world can easily make deep inroads into my books. Pains from adult life can be possibly deadened as you are an adult you are equipped with a capability to handle pains. But pains carried over from childhood wouldn't go away so easily. As a child, you vaguely understand yourself and the world. And you have hardly anyone to conf i de in and you can't easily set yourself free from negative thoughts. These pains go deep into your bones and become part of your heart and soul. For an adult, pains from childhood may deprive him of the right to feel happy all his life. What was lost in childhood can't be retrieved all one's life. For a novelist, however, such pains are valuable assets. In the fi nal analysis, a writer needs such solitude and pains to write good books.

诺贝尔文学奖得主奈保尔对话麦家（2014年）。Mai Jia in a conversation with Nobel Laureate in Literature VS Naipaul at a cultural event in Hangzhou in August 2014

I believe a book with the heartbeat of the human beings is valuable. Literature does not deliver sensual pleasures and satisfactions. Literature sheds light into your heart and makes your heart beat with the whole humanity.

I have had a love-hate relationship with literature for over 30 years. I have different heroes and icons in different periods of my life. Some writers may have fallen out of favor with me, but I retain some special places for them in my heart because they kept my company when I was learning to write. Nowadays, I read a lot about history, philosophy and some academic subjects, and literature is no more than one third of the books that interest me. I have been rereading The Castle by Frank Kafka and A Lover's Discourse: Fragments by Roland Barthes.

Jorge Luis Borges was and is my hero.He played a central role in my writing Decoded. Because of Borges, I dared to make Rong Jinzhen as the hero of my novel. Most people thought spies appear largely in pulp fiction and literature doesn't write about them. Then The Garden of Forking Paths opened my eyes. If a master can put a spy in a story, why can't I write about a spy?The revelation gave me courage. Borges was the man who opened my eyes.

Writing a novel takes a long time and you can't remain unchanged. Take Decoded for example. I spent 11 years making it. A novel I am writing has already taken me four and half a year. Sometimes you are insane. Sometimes you behave like a you are a devil. Sometimes you curse viciously and violently toward a potted plant. My wife understands what I am saying now. When writing goes smoothly, I will kiss her impulsively. When I get stuck,I could take it out on her by stamping on her shadow. A writer is abnormal while writing. I always advise girls not to marry a writer. A writer is far from being normal in everyday life.

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