Deep in Memory | 记忆深处

Mr. Su Delu's In the Depths of Memory, a collection of 512 essays totaling over 300,000 words, is not a work of grand historical narration. Instead, it is a delicate tracing of the life journey of a "man in his seventies," each line imbued with sincerity and the quiet strength accumulated over decades.

From a young student at Beijing Gucheng Middle School, to an artillery observer stationed in Guoyang Town, Shanxi; from a skilled fitter on the shop floor of Shougang, to a veteran technician who continued to cultivate expertise even after being laid off-Mr. Su's life path is a vivid microcosm of an entire generation of ordinary people striving forward. His writing contains no ornate rhetoric, yet through plain, unadorned language he restores the lived realities of a distinctive era: the youthful passion of joining the army in 1970, the focus and precision of commissioning Shougang's equipment in 1986, the perseverance of teaching himself English and earning the Senior Fitter certification after unemployment, and even the moment he saved his company 100,000 yuan by overhauling an American crawler crane. These details reveal a worker's reverence for his craft and his enduring enthusiasm for life.

What moves the reader most is the authenticity of his words. He does not shy away from life's fluctuations-the hardship of losing his job at fifty, the isolation and longing brought by the pandemic-yet he chooses to write more about resilience: breaking through language barriers through a decade of self-learning, leading teams to overcome mechanical challenges, and eventually, in retirement, recording his life in prose. This vitality, this ability to "turn toward the light even in low valleys," allows his 300,000-word memoir to transcend personal storytelling and become a powerful testament to persistence and passion.

苏德路先生的《记忆深处》，512篇随笔、30万字的体量，并非宏大叙事的铺陈，而是一位“七旬的老人”对自己人生轨迹的细腻描摹，字里行间满是岁月沉淀的真诚与力量。

从北京古城中学的少年，到山西崞阳镇的测观兵，再到首钢车间里的钳工，直至下岗后仍深耕工程领域的从业者，苏先生的人生脉络，恰是一代普通人奋斗史的缩影。书中没有华丽辞藻，却用朴素的文字还原了特殊年代的生活切片：1970年入伍时的热血、1986年调试首钢设备的专注、下岗后自学英文考取高级钳工资质的坚韧，甚至大修美国履带吊车为单位省10万元的细节，都让读者看到一位劳动者对职业的敬畏与对生活的热忱。

最动人的，是文字里的“真”。他不回避人生的起伏——50岁下岗的困境、疫情期间亲情隔离的怅惘，却更愿书写困境中的突围：十年自学突破语言壁垒，带领团队攻克机械难题，最终在退休后以随笔记录人生。这份“于低谷处向阳”的生命力，让30万字的回忆超越了个人叙事，成为对“坚守”与“热爱”最生动的诠释。