一......

Thank you for your mail and of course for your understanding of my novel!

As for my creation of Fang Xin, I created him simply because I still have some hope in the human goodness in this evil world, particularly regarding the evil side of the Chinese intellectuals-I’m not YET totally disillusioned with them. In real life you don’t find much goodness in these people. As in real life I loved and believed so much in some people whom I regarded as heroes but almost all of them disappointed me. I know I judge people more from an artistic point of view. And that’s why I can forgive someone in fiction but not in reality. Fang Xin is an artistic model. I hope more people could be like him. You don’t find more people like Fang Xin who really feels sorry for his mistakes and repents so much. . That’s the point. In other words, Fang Xin is the artistic realization of my idea of real hero in this society.

Is that a good explanation?

Don’t hesitate to write to me whenever you have any questions......

二

......谢谢你的来信,谢谢你如此认真地读我的小说《孽缘千里》，我愿意回答你的一切问题。

1 关于达夫的作品，我刻意读过，很可能受了他的影响。但我可能受劳伦斯的影响更大些。话又说回来，达夫也是喜欢劳伦斯的。

2 关于风景的真实：那些风景都是真的，是我亲历的（悉尼的风景采借自劳伦斯的《袋鼠》）。特别是德国和俄国的风光，对欧洲小城市的感觉，都是我自己才有的。