陆文夫:苏州高新区知音

陆文夫先生因病魔纠缠，好几次都到了接近生命的临界点，但每次都能坚强地“力挽危局”回过神来。而我们也仍然是一如既往认为他有着一种超凡的韧力，没有想过哪一天他真的会离去，所以每次去看他都会向他发出邀请：“等你身体好些再到高新区来，一站一站地走，一站一站地看，从运河、经山地再到太湖，三杯两盏淡酒，四五位同道好友，‘浴于沂，风乎舞雩，咏而归。’”他为这样的景象鼓舞并憧憬，说：“高新区很了不起，我也想定定心心地走一遍，等我身体稍微好些一定成行。”

说着话，他明亮的双眼放着光芒，卓然俊拔的神容再次灵动与飞扬起来，哪里像个病人?我们知道这是因为苏州高新区建设的气氛感染他了，是因为他那长久以来的高新区情结萦绕在他的心头。

2500个日夜创造一个新苏州

陆文夫先生是苏州高新区最早的朋友、最赤诚的知音。高新区开发建设始于上世纪80年代末，那时他的足迹已经一次次在简陋的办公楼、在黄尘滚滚的建设工地留下了。也许因为他独树一帜的“小巷文学”的缘故，人们把他看成是个地道的“老苏州”。不知什么原因，陆文夫对苏州高新区情有独钟，并对高新区的开发建设怀着巨大的热忱，他像个年轻人一样对新事物总是冲在前头，他在文学界最早使用电脑、最早上网、最早公开刊物的电子版，这回，又最早涌入高新区建设的洪流。

那时他的身体还很健康，他常常在新区地界上像视察自家的庭园、自家的工地、自家的农场一样，走来看去的。他仪表又不俗，文丝不乱的头发、眉骨分明的模样，常常引来建筑工人新奇的目光，一说是“陆文夫”，大家便知道了：“啊，就是陆苏州!”“陆苏州”是因为陆文夫的小说无不与苏州有缘，是读者给他的一个雅号，也是对他对苏州文化贡献的一种褒奖，平日里人们这么称呼他他并不太在意，可这句话从建筑工人嘴里说出来，他真是很高兴，之所以高兴并不在于知名度，而是仅这么一句话，就代表着新区建筑工人的素质，而这素质又何尝不是高新区人素质的集合?

默默地看着一日日长高的摩天楼、一天天延伸的道路，他总是很激动，每当看到新的项目完成，镜片后面的眼睛里常常激情满含，自言自语说：“了不起!什么时候我来做这里的荣誉公民吧!”

1994年那个仲春他又来到新区，那时新区城市建设雏形已成，他很感奋，掐指一算，6年多，恰是2500天；立刻又想到了苏州古城，这个古城已经经营了2500年，2500年与2500天，数字的巧合令他无比兴奋，于是脱口说出了两句经典的话语：“2500年风风雨雨造就了一个老苏州，2500个日日夜夜创造了一个新苏州。”

《苏州新区报》和创作基地

1996年元旦是个喜庆的日子，我们去陆文夫先生家，是想请他为《苏州新区报》题个词。陆先生笑着说：“我还要题词呀?”言下之意是：我与新区是自家人了，还拘这些礼节?话是这么说着，却一边已经在找自己的钢笔了。他坐在沙发上，两手磕在茶几上，想了一会，便沙沙沙写下：“新区日日新”。于是意味深长地交给我，在我们目光交接的瞬间，彼此心领神会，我知道，这简单的“日日新”其实出自商朝的开国君主成汤，是成汤刻在器皿上用来警戒自己的箴言，原话是“苟日新，日日新，又日新”。本义是指洗澡除去身体上的污垢，使身体焕然一新，引申义则是指精神上的弃旧图新。他对苏州新区的理想，不仅是实体建设上的日新一日，更是精神上的除旧布新。这句话，就做在《苏州新区报》1996年1月1日副刊的头条位置。

陆文夫既是苏州高新区的好朋友，所以在他看来一切有关高新区的文化活动便是他的分内事。1997年，中国作家协会枫桥文学创作基地挂牌，基地聘请他为顾问，前来参加揭牌仪式的中国作协党组副书记王巨才向他颁发了聘书。陆先生是中国作家协会的副主席，以全国作协副主席的身份来接受一个设立在乡镇的作家创作基地顾问的聘请，他非常愿意担任这一角色，参加了创作的“中国作协作家采风团”的采风和“《枫桥》首发式”等一系列活动。

他尤其关注基地作者的稿件，将它们拿到自己主编的《苏州杂志》发表，一次又一次，一些名不见经传的业余作者由此渐渐成长为作家，乃至后来苏州文坛都知道他对高新区的作者特别“偏心”，惹得其他市区的作者十分眼热。

有两年，因为种种原因枫桥创作基地不太有起色，他便代为受过。每次参加中国作协全委会，中国作协都问他：“你那个基地怎么样了?”他就打马虎眼：“工作还算是正常的……”可开完会回来他就电话找我了：“为枫桥基地我在北京吃批评，到了苏州我就找你了!”后来看见创作基地大力倡导文化复兴，他显得尤其高兴，说：“好好办!”

枫桥创作基地重整旗鼓，着手创办刊物《白马涧文化》。陆文夫既是基地顾问，当仁不让地当然也成了刊物的顾问。他说最欣赏的就是刊物的“文化性”，坚持数年，必有好处，这个好处既对人又对地方。并亲自为创刊号写了头条稿件《绿色的梦》。很奇怪一个七十好几岁的人，会写下这样的文字：“……那好像是梦，我曾经躺在那铺满春草的田岸上，看那油绿的麦苗在蓝天下闪光，在微风中起浪，听那云雀在云端里唧唧地歌唱……”读着这些文字，我们似乎回到了青春时代，而梦境中的陆文夫先生，何尝不是个青春少年?

《真山真水园中城》竟成绝响

2002年末苏州高新区区划调整，进入了二次创业，这使陆文夫分外振奋。高新区从52平方公里到258平方公里，这不仅仅是量态意义上的扩张，更重要的是因此拥有了苏州西部的真山真水!新一任领导决心用智慧和勤劳绣好“经济”、“文化”这幅“双面绣”，全面构架文化建设的理念与思路。就在这崭新的建设格局中，2003年8月高新区文联成立，陆文夫应邀担任高新区文联顾问，他在贺信中说：“……高新区进入二次创业阶段，这给作家、艺术家们提供了更为广阔的生活舞台，我们可以藉此有更多的机会贴近生活，参与生活，再现生活。……”

2004年春天，高新区宣传部策划编撰一套文化丛书《真山真水园中城》，陆文夫知道了，感慨万分地说：“苏州西部山地的文化资源不得了，好几朝皇去过呢!将来有朝一日能够将这些老祖宗留下的宝贝挖掘出来，利用起来，可就了不得了!”我们想请他为该丛书作序，但知道因为近年来他的身体每况愈下，几乎已经搁笔了。果然，给他去电话时，师母管老师说：“他正躺在床上呢!”我很担忧，便说：“我们隔天过来看他!”正说着，管老师忽然说：“唉，来了来了，他接电话了!”估计楼上楼下是同线电话吧，此刻已经是陆文夫在电话里气喘吁吁地说了：“我就是这个病。你说吧，什么事?”我便把要编撰《真山真水园中城》丛书的事说了：“本来很希望你能为这套书作个序，只是你身体这个样子，于心不忍。”他说：“我情况是不太好，已经不写东西了。”我的心一沉，知道他说的“情况不太好”就是肺气肿已经非常严重，记得年初他参加苏州小说研讨会，是苏童将他背上四层楼的，会议结束往下背时，到二楼他一口气接不上来，脸色憋得青紫，差点酿成大祸，那次把我吓得不轻；我也知道他的长篇小说《人之窝》，最后是趴在电脑上写完的，拿他自己的话说：“差点把老命送掉。”我是宁愿他从此不再写一个字，也希望他能多呆在我们身边一天!所以在那一刻，我已经打消了让他作序的念头，但陆文夫却说了：“高新区的文字我总归要写的。”我紧接着说：“那由我写个大致情况给你，然后由你修改，这样你不至于太累。”谁知话刚说完，他坚决地说：“不，我自己写!”

就这样，他让我立马将《真山真水园中城》的简介及丛书框架用E-mail发给他。我在附言中说：“……丛书9月份就要出版，《序》的时间下限我不定了，反正是越早越好……”

我发给他这个邮件是6月1日，6月12日他就将《序》从网上发给了我，开头写道：“苏州高新区可算是得天独厚，她坐落在众多的人文遗存与青山绿水之间，众星捧月，突显出了一座现代化的新城……”字里行间，无不充满自豪。发完邮件，同时又传真了一份签名文本。本来，他的签名我哪里都可以找来复制一个，但他执意说要专门签一个，这个签名通过传真机轻盈的运作声，缓缓送到了我的手里。

《真山真水园中城》出版时，陆文夫先生已经住进了医院，高新区党工委副书记孙瑛及宣传部长郦小萍我们一行三人为他送书，他接着氧气，侧身蜷在病床上，他无法多说什么，唯剩一双热辣辣的眼睛，望着摆在床头柜上的书，那一刻我们还对他说：“你一定要早点好起来，别忘了你还要到高新区一站一站走呢!……”然而谁能想到，如今他已经走到另一个世界去了!

他曾经说：我要到高新区定定心心走一遍；他曾经说：什么时候我来做这里的荣誉公民吧!但这仅仅是他留下了一个让我们永远只有盼望的结局。

A Writer's Heart in the High-Tech Zone

By Xu Zhuoren

Lu Wenfu (1927-2005) enjoyed a national reputation for his literary works about Suzhou. And he was nicknamed Lu Suzhou, a name for his nostalgia and masterful depiction of the past charms and life in the ancient city. We don't know why, but the writer took a great interest in the new town of Suzhou right at the beginning of its development. Probably his heart was young and he always yearend for the new and embraced the new. He was one of the writers on the mainland who first wrote stories on the personal computer, first surfed the Internet, and first distributed his works in electronic versions. When the construction was all the rage, he spent a lot of time visiting construction sites and offices.

Those days, he still enjoyed good health. He had handsome looks with none of his hair out of place, though he looked a little bit out of place on a construction site. When construction workers learned that he was the writer Lu Wenfu, they recognized the name and said, "So this man was Lu Suzhou!" Hearing the comment, the writer smiled proudly. He was not gloating over his widespread reputation but aware that he was seeing a group of high-quality workers who knew about his stories.

In 1994, the new zone had taken shape after six years of large-scale buildup. In a visit to the new town in the spring that year, he counted on his fingers and then found that the six years meant about 2,500 days and the figure happened to coincide with the age of Suzhou, which was 2,500 years old at that time. Lu was excited by the coincidence. He commented that 2,500 years created an old Suzhou and 2,500 days and nights had created a new Suzhou.

Lu Wenfu was a champion of the high-tech new town. One year, a celebrated Taiwan woman writer came to visit the new town of Suzhou. The writer later wrote a newspaper story accusing Suzhou of destroying its past in its all-out construction of the new town. Lu Wenfu was unhappy about the comment. Lu noted that she was not well informed about the history, life, and new changes in Suzhou and therefore she was irresponsible for making such a comment. He went on to say that people yearn to modernize their material world though their nostalgia for the past holds on forever.

Probably because his nostalgia was stronger than that of anyone else, Lu was clearly aware of the negative side of this nostalgia. That was probably why he had a profound understanding of what the new town meant to him and to the city he loved so deeply.

Lu Wenfu was more than a friend and a champion of the new town. He did all he could to promote cultural activities initiated by the new zone. He was vice president of China Writers' Association. In 1997, a writers' center was established in Suzhou. Lu acted as its advisor. Suzhou Literature, a literary monthly where Lu was editor-in-chief, went out of its way to publish stories created bywriters. Some of these writers from the new zone later became established. Knowing Lu's "partiality" to the new writers, writers in other areas were jealous of them.

In 2002, Suzhou New Town expanded its jurisdiction from the previous 52 square kilometers to 258 square kilometers, thus creating new opportunities for the new town to pay more attention to its cultural undertakings. Within the new town are hills and rivers much lauded in ancient literature. In the spring of 2004, the new town government sponsored a series of books on the cultural heritage and future.

Lu Wenfu was the ideal candidate to write a foreword for the series. But due to his poor health, he had stopped writing for some time. Early that year, he was carried onto the fourth floor to attend a seminar attended by local novelists. When he was being carried downstairs after the seminar he suddenly was unable to breathe and his face turned purple. That accident scared me. Knowing how seriously ill he was, I almost dismissed the idea of asking him to write the foreword. But after some hesitation, I called him. He was excited. I sent him an email briefing him on the series and the general plan on June 1st 2004. The foreword was faxed to me on June 12th, together with his autograph.

When the series came off the print, he was already hospitalized. We visited him. He curled up in bed, breathing with the assistance of oxygen. He was unable to speak. But his eyes brightened when he saw the new books on the bedside table. We said, "You must get well soonest. Don't forget that you promised to visit all the wonders one by one in the new zone."

But he did not come to visit us in the new town of Suzhou. The writer known for his passion and literary accomplishments for Suzhou died on July 9, 2005. We are left with an ending that he designed and we dreamed about. It didn't come true and never will.

(Translated by David)