Backtracking to the Age of Literature and Art

Chapter 265 Is this your mental journey?

Famous writers have advantages, but naturally they also have disadvantages.

After the first part of "Fatal Identity" came out, some people began to sing bad news about Yu Dong.

Some of the critics who were defeated on the battlefield of "Westward" before shifted the battlefield to "Fatal Identity".

Some people say that Yu Dong is too greedy and wants to get involved in any subject matter. He used to engage in science fiction, but now he wants to engage in reasoning.But this mystery novel is obviously not what Yu Dong is good at, and the things he writes are more inclined to crappy psychological realism.

The so-called psychological realism is not often mentioned in China.This thing is originally a novelty in the history of literature, and it has been proposed in Germany and the United States in recent years.

As the name suggests, psychological realism is also realism, but this type of work focuses on psychological detection, character portrayal and environmental realism, and sometimes incorporates some symbolic and grotesque techniques.

……

"Editor Cao, it seems that even if we don't promote it, it will still be very lively."

In the office of Cao Yang, editor-in-chief of "Sprout", Zhao Changtian was holding a newspaper, and there was an article commenting on "Fatal Identity".

Regarding the promotion of "Fatal Identity", Cao Yang and Zhao Changtian had disagreements before.

Cao Yang thought that since he had obtained Yu Dong's manuscript, he naturally had to publicize it seriously.Doing a good job of publicity is not only beneficial to "Sprout", but also has an explanation for Dong.

But Zhao Changtian has a different opinion. He doesn't disagree with the propaganda, but he thinks that it should be low-key at the beginning.

After reading the manuscript of "Fatal Identity", Zhao Changtian discovered a problem. As a mystery novel, "Fatal Identity" uses too literary techniques. As the plot develops later, those literary expressions can serve those The thrilling plot brings stronger tension.

However, the first [-] to [-] words are not enough to hit the spotlight, and they are not attractive to readers.

So Zhao Changtian felt that if the publicity was too early, the effect would not be very good.It's better to wait until the second issue and the third issue come out. After the plot unfolds, the magazine will start vigorously promoting it. In this way, the best publicity effect can be achieved.

Serialization is a rally battle, and one should not care about momentary gains or losses.Only the final victory is the real victory.

Zhao Changtian's statement convinced Cao Yang, and in the end the magazine decided to keep a low profile and wait until the follow-up to start publicity.

However, they still underestimated Yu Dong's market influence. Without any publicity, this issue of "Sprout" was still a smash hit.

And "Fatal Identity" quickly became a hit.

Even critics from the literary world came to join in the fun and have a few words to say.

Cao Yang glanced at the newspaper in Zhao Changtian's hand, and said with a smile: "I remember this Lin Bai. Commentary articles are famous for being spicy. I haven't seen him say anything good about any writer. Before Yu Dong's "Xiang Xi" came out. At that time, he was the main force of criticism. At that time, he suffered from the scholars of Yan Normal University. This time, seeing the poor performance of the first issue of "Fatal Identity", he naturally jumped out to avenge the previous one. .”

"I know this, but there is one thing I don't understand. Why did he rely on psychological realism in "Fatal Identity"?" Zhao Changtian was puzzled.

"It's not difficult to understand. He thinks he is a famous literary critic, but now he wants to evaluate a popular novel, so he naturally feels that he has lost his identity. But it is not a big deal to label "Fatal Identity" as psychological realism. It's the same, he not only maintained his so-called noble status as a literary critic, but also pushed "Fatal Identity" into the pit."

Zhao Changtian nodded and said, "That's true. If you don't read the book and only read his review article, you probably think that "Fatal Identity" is a four-faced work written by a traditional writer who doesn't understand reasoning. Readers who like reasoning and readers who like traditional literature will not be right. This book makes a good impression."

"Don't worry about these things, it will be fine later." Cao Yang said confidently.

……

When Yu Dong heard the term psychological realism, he immediately thought of Joyce, because Joyce is a representative of the psychological realism school.

Unexpectedly, it was a coincidence that not long after I received Joyce's letter, I heard about psychological realism again.

But Yu Dong didn't care much about such comments.This Lin Bai's article has a big problem, either it is black for the sake of black, or its basic skills are not solid enough.

Many of his remarks violate the basic principles of literary criticism.

For example, the psychological realism mentioned this time. Obviously, his understanding of psychological realism is wrong. He probably thinks that psychological realism can be regarded as psychological realism if there are too many psychological descriptions and characterizations.

In fact, the core of psychological realism is still the author, and psychological realism pays attention to the stripping of the soul and external expression.

Of course, it’s also possible that Lin Bai didn’t know about it. He just wanted to put forward a literary theory that ordinary people don’t understand and talk about Yu Dong.

……

"What is this psychological realism?"

After seeing these comments, Yu Hua also ran to Yu Dong and asked what is psychological realism.

"Why are you paying attention to this?" Yu Dong asked him with a smile.

"I'm curious."

"Don't be curious, this kind of term is created by other people, and it has little effect on us."

Yu Hua shook her head and sighed, "Actually, sometimes it's quite boring. I don't even know what faction I write, so I have to ask someone to come over and remind me what they are."

"This is the difference in the division of labor. You are a writer who writes, and their critics analyze what you write. What you write is not important to you, but it is very important to them. Sometimes writers should not pay too much attention to what they write. If they pay too much attention, it is easy to find that what they write is not something, and then think about writing something that is something every day.”

Yu Hua originally wanted to light a cigarette, but after hearing Yu Dong's words, he put the cigarette back and said, "You're telling me a tongue twister here."

"Just tell me if that's what you mean." Yu Dong said with a smile.

"It's interesting, but it's almost interesting."

"What do you mean?" Yu Dong asked.

"Writers pay too much attention to these things, and they may not always think about writing something that is something, but may also think about writing something that is not something every day." Yu Hua said.

Yu Dong nodded with a smile, "That's right, but it sounds like this is your mental journey of engaging in avant-garde literature?"

"You..." Yu Hua nodded Yu Dong expertly, "I can't tell you, I'll go play with Feiyu."

……

A week before going to Yan Normal University, Yu Dong had to do something important first, he and Cheng Yanqiu were getting engaged.

According to the father-in-law and mother-in-law, the engagement process is actually very simple, all the relatives of the woman need to go to the man's house for a meal.

Before that, Yu Dong wanted to take Cheng Yanqiu to buy two new sets of clothes.

Speaking of buying clothes, Yu Dong remembered that he really didn't give Cheng Yanqiu anything, that is, he brought her a few CDs from the United States.

So Yu Dong wanted to buy more things for Cheng Yanqiu, but after going to the mall, instead of asking for more things, Cheng Yanqiu bought two sets of clothes for Yu Dong backhandedly.

When he came out of the shopping mall, Cheng Yanqiu still smiled: "Actually, I should buy clothes for you. Look at the two of us. In my house and in the dormitory, there are almost no more clothes in the two closets. As for you, no matter what season, it seems Just two or three sets of clothes. A black coat in spring and autumn, a white shirt in summer, and two woolen coats in winter. In the closet, there are not as many clothes as books."

"I'm afraid of trouble." Yu Dong smiled.

It is really troublesome to have too many clothes. After hanging there for a long time, you have to wash them again, and it really takes up space.

The wardrobe in his dormitory is full of books now, and there are more and more books, and there is almost no place to put them.There is a small cabinet by the wall, but the capacity is average, and there are not many books in it.

After all, the dormitory is such a small place, and it is not easy to put an extra cabinet. If there is another big bookcase to store books, there will be no place to set foot in his dormitory.

Sometimes he simply folded his clothes and put them in the corner of the bed to make room for his books.

Cheng Yanqiu looked at Yu Dong with a smile: "You also have times when you are afraid of trouble, so leave the clothes to me in the future, but you have to wash the dishes, maybe sometimes you have to cook, and my cooking skills are still improving , It will take a little time. If you want to mop the floor, you can also leave it to me, I am good at this."

"Also, I will definitely put my piano in the study in the future, not just the piano, but also..."

Cheng Yanqiu held Yu Dong's arm, looking forward to his future life. Yu Dong just listened like this. He never thought before that these trivial things could be so pleasant to his ears.

What really constitutes life will never be just music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, and hops, but firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and tea.

Life needs poetry, and more importantly, poetry can be found in the simplest life.

……

On the day of the engagement, Yu Dong wore the navy blue jacket Cheng Yanqiu bought for him, which looked quite modern.

There are not many relatives from the Cheng family. Grandpa Cheng Yanqiu is only her father's son, and the family is not prosperous.Her grandparents passed away a few years ago, and her aunt couldn't make it this time when she married out of town. Only her uncle's family came here.

There are ten people in total.

Cheng Yanqiu's grandparents went directly from Yanjing, and the rest of them, Yu Dong, arranged for a minibus to pick them up and go to Shanghai together.

They set off at dawn in time for lunch.

"Brother-in-law, is your house far from the Bund? Is the Oriental Pearl Tower finished?"

The person who asked this question was Cheng Yanqiu's cousin, a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy who is now in junior high school.When he set off in the morning, he hadn't woken up yet, and had been dozing off in a daze, and it was only now that he came to life.

Yu Dong replied with a smile: "My home is in a small town in the countryside, far away from the Bund. The Oriental Pearl Tower is almost built, but it hasn't started to be used yet. I'm in a rush today, so I can't take you shopping. I'll take you when I have time later." If you go to the Bund, the Oriental Pearl Tower should be put into operation soon."

"Oh fine."

Hearing that Yu Dong's family is in the country, this kid was a little disappointed. He was quite happy when he heard that he was going to Shanghai.He had heard that there was an Oriental Pearl Tower built in Shanghai before, and he had always wanted to see it.

But his question got the point across.

Cheng Yanqiu's uncle's family only found out about Cheng Yanqiu's date a few days ago. They only knew that Yu Dong was also a teacher, wrote novels and was from Shanghai, and didn't know much about other things.

At this time, my aunt asked: "Yu Yu, I heard from your aunt that you still write novels, how do you publish your novels?"

Before Yu Dong could answer, his little cousin said, "I know. For long stories, I'll go to the publishing house, and for short stories, I'll submit them to magazines."

The aunt gave her son a blank look, "You usually know how to read those villain books, learn more from your brother-in-law, and read some serious books."

"How do you know that my brother-in-law wrote a serious book?"

"You kid..."

Yu Dong said with a smile, "What Chen Tao said is similar. Long stories are usually found in publishing houses, and short stories are submitted to magazines. But there are exceptions. Sometimes long stories are also submitted to magazines."

"Brother-in-law, how much do you earn writing books?"

"Chen Tao—" the uncle scolded his son, and then said to Dong, "This kid has no rules, so he's a little less than you take care of."

Yu Dong waved his hand and said, "It's okay, it's okay, there's nothing I can't say about it. The income of writing books is okay, more than salary, but it's not fixed, sometimes more and sometimes less."

"Yeah, writing a book still has to be a side job, and it's not stable." The uncle nodded. "Before, there was a man in our factory who wrote novels. He made some money at first, so he quit his job directly. Later, he couldn't do it and wanted to come back. , but there is a radish and a hole in the unit, so it’s not easy to come back after leaving.” The uncle sighed.

Cheng Liye said with a smile: "Yu Dong won't resign. I asked him to teach in our school and he wouldn't do it. He just wants to stay in Jinyi."

"Brother-in-law, you don't understand this. Isn't Luoluo in Jinyi? Where can he go? But it's okay to be lower than your teaching level, otherwise my brother-in-law won't let you go to their school. By the way, you are Yan Normal University Those who have graduated should be fine. Speaking of which, the place where I used to go to school is not far from your school, and sometimes I come to your school after just walking around."

"Where did uncle study?"

"My name was Yanjing Institute of Technology at that time."

"That's not far, about ten miles."

Yanjing Institute of Technology is the current Yanjing University of Science and Technology, and the name was changed when Yu Dong was in school.

Their three siblings are all engaged in different industries. Cheng Yanqiu’s mother, Chen Yuqing, is the eldest in the family, and she studies music. The second sister, Chen Yuyan, is said to have studied Russian, and is now working as an interpreter. The third brother, Chen Yuyong, studies machinery, and is now working as a technical assistant in a machinery factory. factory manager.

At that time, it was not easy to have three college students in the family. Of course, the family conditions of the Chen family were very good, otherwise Chen Yuqing would not have studied music.

Chatting, time passed quickly, and at eleven o'clock, the car finally arrived at Yu Dong's house.

Cars couldn't get in the alley, so everyone had to get out of the car and walk, but Yu Dong's father had already been waiting by the side of the road, and he greeted them as soon as they got out of the car.

(End of this chapter)