文筆．譯筆．畫筆─鍾梅音在南洋

鍾梅音畫「天堂之鳥」(余令恬女士提供)

《華文文學》2015年第2期（2015年4月），頁50-57。

作家鍾梅音 （1922-1984）出生於北平，1948年隨夫婿余伯祺 （1917-2013）先生定居台灣，從事散文、小說、兒童文學寫作，並主編《婦友月刊》、主持電視節目「藝文夜談」。其遊記文學《海天遊蹤》獲「嘉新文藝創作獎」，自1966年出版，至今至少再版17次，以其親身環遊世界的經歷，增廣了讀者對世界風土與人文的視野與知識。

過去關於鍾梅音的研究，主要有幾種傾向，或是「作家群」式的研究，將她與同時代從大陸遷居台灣的女作家相提並論，推崇為1950年代的優秀女作家。或是強調她的遊記散文和異鄉書寫，探討她的旅行經驗和散文題材。

本文則集中探討她旅居泰國 （1969年5月-1971年7月）和新加坡 （1971年8月-1977年7月）時的創作、翻譯和繪畫藝術活動，兼及其他有關南洋的書寫，希望提供學界更全面的理解。

研究發現：旅居南洋8年多，是鍾梅音創作生涯的擴充與豐收期。在心靈上尋得宗教信仰，延續以往的生活散文寫作，認同及稱美南洋風土人情，筆者喻之為「吾鄉主義」式的書寫。她積極學習外語，繼而從事翻譯工作，譯筆流暢典麗。幼年時萌生的繪畫興趣，在追隨新加坡畫家陳文希 （1906-1991）學畫之後，得到實踐，形塑了個人中西合璧的藝術風格。

Writing, Translation, and Painting: Zhong Mei Yin in Southeast Asia

in Taiwan Hong Kong and Overseas Chinese Literature , 2015(2), pp. 50-57, April 2015

Writer Zhong Mei Yin (1922-1984) was born in Beijing, and has settled down in Taiwan with her husband Yu Bo Qi since 1948. She has been writing novels and children’s literature, and she is also the editor of the “Monthly Women Magazine” as well as the host of television program “Yi Wen Ye Tan”. Her travel literature “Hai Tian You Zong” that was first published in 1966 and was reprinted at least 17 times, has also received a literary creation award namely “Jia Xin Wen Yi Chuang Zuo Jiang”. This travel literature was a record of her personal travel experiences around the world and has broadened the readers’ horizons and knowledge.

Existing research on Zhong Mei Yin has been focusing on a few aspects, either categorizing her into a Writers Group that consists of several female writers who relocated from Mainland China to Taiwan during the same period of time and honoring her as an outstanding female writer in the 1950s, or placing emphasis on her travel literature and writing on a foreign land to discuss her travel experiences and essay topics.

On the contrary, this paper focuses on the literary creations, translation and painting activities during the period where she stayed in Thailand (May 1969 – July 1971) and Singapore (August 1971 – July 1977), together with her other writings on Nanyang, to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the writer in the academics.

Research results suggest that the 8 years where Zhong Mei Yin stayed in Nanyang was a period of extension and attainment in her creative career. Not only did she found a religion, she also commended and identified with the local conditions of Nanyang. She actively learned foreign languages and engaged in translation work in which she has excelled in. Her interest in painting that she developed since young, finally got into practice after she followed Singapore painter Chen Wen Xi, shaping her individual art style of combining the East and West forms.