王蒙，男，1934年10月生于北京。河北南皮人，祖籍河北沧州。原中国文化部部长、中国作家协会名誉副主席。王蒙的名字是父亲的朋友何其芳根据法国小说《茶花女》中的主人公阿芒所建议的。1953年，王蒙创作了第一部长篇小说《青春万岁》。代表作有《青春万岁》《组织部来了个年轻人》《活动变人形》等。2014年出版文集45卷。长篇小说《这边风景》获第九届茅盾文学奖。有多部作品被翻译成英、法、德、意、俄等多种语言，并在海外出版。

　　王蒙的作品充满理想主义精神，他将理想主义的追求写进小说，呈现出理想主义的主题。他很擅长“意识流”写法，注重书写人物的内心活动，写人物的感觉、联想、独白，又能写人物的理性思考和判断。王蒙乐于接受、学习新鲜事物，“活到老学到老”是他的一种人生态度。他自学过英语、德语、俄语、法语、日语、波斯语。王蒙一直保有乐观积极的生活态度，还说愿意做个“阳光男孩”。

　　《青春万岁》是王蒙早期现实主义小说的代表作。小说描写了1952年北京一女子中学一群高三学生的学习和生活，她们天真热情，积极向上，也有缺点，但始终互相帮助，共同成长。小说歌颂了她们美好如歌的青春和乐于探索的品质，也有对朦胧爱情的描写。《组织部来了个年轻人》写的是青年人林震在新工作中遭受挫折，却敢于反对官僚主义作风并不断成长的故事。小说通过对比，塑造了林震、刘世吾、韩常新三个主要人物，并肯定了林震理想崇高、积极向上的品质。《活动变人形》被誉为“审父杰作”。小说以访问学者倪藻出国，寻访父亲倪吾诚的故友为开端，回叙了倪吾诚的一生。倪吾诚出过国，自认为文明，追求精神恋爱、生活质量，回国后妄图用他所理解的西式文明去改造他那有着根深蒂固的传统的家庭。然而他的妻子很务实，省钱买煤球，不同于倪吾诚买玩具——“活动变人形”。小说着重描写了人物的心理，呈现“意识流”式的结构。《这边风景》以王蒙丰富的新疆经历为素材，以饱满的热情写了特定历史背景下多民族共同生活、积极向上的故事，壮美的风景和勤劳的人民互相辉映。王蒙对人、对爱、对生活投入的诚挚希望和深切关注，使其历经岁月而愈发珍贵。

　　2017年，王蒙新的作品集《女神》出版。这是王蒙又一部关注中国女性命运并通过她们探索历史与人性奥秘的力作。晚年的王蒙仍然保持积极向上的生活态度，佳作不断。

　　王蒙

　　Wang Meng

　　Wang Meng is a male writer from China. Born October 1934 in Beijing, Wang is originally from Nanpi, Hebei province, though his ancestral hometown is Cangzhou. Wang is a former Minister of Culture of China, and Honorary Vice President of Chinese Writers Association. Wang Meng’s given name was suggested by family friend and poet He Qifang, and is based on the character Armand from the French novel La Dame aux Camélias. In 1953, Wang Meng wrote his first novel Forever Young. His representative works includeForever Young, A New Arrival at the Organization Department and Activity Changes Human Form. In 2014, a 45-volume of his collected works was published. His novel Scenery On This Side was awarded the 9th Mao Dun Literature Prize. Many of his works have been translated into English, French, German, Italian and Russian.

　　Idealism features prominently in Wang Meng’s works. Wang specializes in stream of consciousness writing which focuses on the innermost thoughts of his characters. Wang Meng is a lifelong learner, having taught himself English, German, Russian, French, Japanese and Polish. Wang Meng has always maintained a positive attitude towards life, and said he would like to be a "sunshine boy".

　　Wang Meng’s early realistic novel Forever Young depicts the coming of age of a group of students at a girls’ school in Beijing in 1952. The novel is a tribute to the beauty of youth, exploration and love. A New Arrival at the Organization Department is about the setbacks faced by the young primary school teacher Lin Zhen when opposing the bureaucracy at his new job. In drawing a comparison between his situation with that of the two other main characters, the story affirms the positive qualities of Lin’s idealism. Activity Changes Human Form has been praised as a “master work”. The novel describes the experiences of visiting scholar Ni Zao and his father's old friend Ni Wucheng who has just come back from abroad and attempts to transform his deeply conservative family with his understanding of Western culture. The novel focuses on the characters’ mentalities and presents them in a stream-of-consciousness structure. Scenery On This Side uses Wang Meng's rich experience in Xinjiang as its source material to tell uplifting stories of people from different ethnic groups living together in a specific historical context. The magnificent scenery and the hard-working spirit of the people feature prominently.

　　In 2017, Wang Meng's new collection Goddess was published. Like many other of Wang’s works, it is concerned about the fate of Chinese women and their exploration of the mysteries of history and human nature. Wang Meng still continues to produce outstanding works well into his senior years.