(C to E) 作家，首先得是一個講真話的人

All comments appreciated.

作家，首先得是一個講真話的人
http://qnsx.cyol.com/gb/qnsx/2005-10/20/content_79384.htm

　 由此，我們更加覺得這位世紀老人講真話的真誠與珍貴。巴金說過，他這一輩子為讀者而寫，為讀者而活。也正因為這樣，這位世紀老人才能被讀者們尊為世紀的良知，知識分子的良心。
　 可反觀如今文壇。當越來越多的「作家」們，頂著作家的桂冠，一味的取媚於金錢，獻媚於炒作，寫下無以計數連自己也不相信的假話文學，廢話文章的時候，我們上哪兒去找「講真話」的文化人呢？
　 缺乏了講真話的勇氣，忘卻了寫真話的能力之後的文學，就這麼淪入了無恥當道，惡俗為美的歧途，一整個作家群體都被囿於「原創力缺乏」的籠中，筆下的文字不是蒼白如同「有錢就有一切」的另一種讀本，就是激情的如「從枕頭寫到拳頭再寫到浴缸」的刺激，沒有向外的張力，沒有對人生意義的追求，沒有宇宙真相的追尋，有的是對社會惡俗的迎合，有的是包裝、炒作、造假的醜陋。
　 對於一個人來說，講不講真話也許只是他個人道德問題，可對於一個用自己筆下的作品來影響讀者，感動大眾的作家來說，講不講真話卻是社會道德問題。換言之，當一個國家，一個民族的作家都不敢講真話，不會講真話的時候，這個國家和民族就不會有「真人」活在這世上，這個國家和民族也就不會有誠信的社會道德存在。
We therefore appreciate more of the sincerity and rarity of the truth-speaking of the elder of the century. Ba Jin said that all his life he wrote for the readers and lived for the readers. Because of that he is respected by the readers as the conscience of the century, of the educated.

In comparison, more and more so called writers nowadays, with a 「writer」 label at their back, bow before money and cater to unfaithful reporting. When they are manufacturing countless pretending literatures and nonsense articles, where can we turn to look for truth-speaking writers?

Lacking the courage to speak the truth, losing the capability to write the truth, literature will thus fall to where effrontery dominates and where the vulgar is acclaimed. The whole writers group will be imprisoned in the cage of 「creativity insufficiency」. What they can write is either a spiritless version of 「money is everything」, or only sensual stimulus of violence and sex. There will be no inner strength, no pursuit of meaning of life, no seeking of universal truth. What they promote is catering to the evil and vulgar, what they represent is the ugliness of wrapping-up and faking and unfaithful writing.

To an indivudual person, speaking the truth or not is just a matter of his own morality. Yet to a writer whose works will influence and inspire the public, speaking the truth becomes an issue of social morality.  In other words, when the writers of a nation, of a people do not dare to, or do not know how to speak the truth,  this nation or people does not have a 「true person」 in its society, and it will not have a truthful and trustworthy social morality.

You're too right. Telling the truth of the author is showing  her or his resposibilities to the readers, that is the most important as well..

Yes. An author must be a truthful man first!

I have tried to revise the English text without frequently referencing to the Chinese original. While the new version reads more fluent, some of the reversibility of the previous English to Chinese is lost. Hope it doesn't ruin haoone's effort to work out a concise and faithful translation.

the following is a draft and can be subject to further revisions. suggestions and critiques are welcome anytime.



An author must be a truthful man first

We therefore appreciate more about the autohr's sincerity and rarity that he insists on speaking of the truth. A letter man who has lived for nearly a century of years, Ba Jin confesses recently that he was writing and living only for his readers. In return, his redears has regarded him as the conscience of all the educated Chinese over the past century.

In a stark contrast, today's literary circle is full of such authors who have sold their professionalism to the desire for wealth and to the devil of commercial tricks, making abundance of junk writings that are faulty and senseless. When professional writers have lost their professionalism, a truth-telling author will become a rarity.

Without the courage to speak and write the truth, literature will deteriorate to such a status where effrontery and vulgarity dominate. The whole writer's circle literally can be imprisoned with an author's creativity locked away. What they can produce from this imprisonment are stories as distasteful and obscene as 「money is everything」 or "pillow, fist, and bathtub". Few literary works are offered that inspire inner strength, pursuit of life's true meaning, and universal truth seeking. By writing unfaithfully and unconsciously to produce such ugly things as commercials and fakes, they have promoted catering to the evil and vulgar.

While speaking of the truth is a personal issue to a non writer, it becomes a matter of social morality for authors who influence and inspire the public with their writings. Thus, if no authors in a nation dare to, or know to, speak of the truth, there will be none in the society who will tell the public about the truth. We therefore will not have a truthful and trustworthy social morality.

I enjoy reading a different approach. It is inspiring and adds ammunition to my arsenal. Thanks for the trying. Wish for more participation.

Actually, not only the author should tell the truth, if every people try to tell the truths as much as he or she can , the world will be filled with more trusties.

in addition to vocabulary, composition is another important factor to think about when we "write." that is, a translation needs be an essay by itself, easy and enjoyable to read and faithful to the thoughts of the original author. in the end, it is to be read by those who speak only the target language, isn't it?