Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 257 256 "Beat Generation" Poets

It was already the end of August. According to the IWP project arrangement, this visit was divided into two places. One was heading east, taking a flight to New York and Washington.

The other is to go west, to San Francisco and Los Angeles on the west coast of the United States, and each person can choose a route.

Yi Shu and Zhang Ling chose to go to New York, while Fang Minghua and Zhang Xianliang went to Los Angeles.

In fact, it doesn't matter where Fang Minghua goes, but Zhang Xianliang wanted to go to Los Angeles, and he even asked Fang Minghua to go.

"Minghua, come with me to Hollywood to see if it's really like the legend." Zhang Xianliang said his purpose.

"Okay." Fang Minghua agreed readily.

Zhang Xianliang wants to go to Hollywood, which is a good thing.

In the future, he will establish the Beipu Film and Television City in Northwest Town, and it would be nice to see the world.

Emily came to the hotel as usual in the evening and was very happy to hear that Fang Minghua was going to Los Angeles.

After the girl left, Zhang Xianliang said with a smile: "Minghua, this girl seems to be interested in you."

"What did you write?" Fang Minghua asked curiously.

The girl is very enthusiastic.

"A lot, thank you."

"It will be kept secret for now. I will show it to you after I finish writing it." The girl looked mysterious.

What's more, Song Tangtang is waiting for him in Xijing.

Emily chatted for a while and then left. She said that she would also write a novel when she went back - this was an assignment assigned by the summer school.

"your home?"

Fang Minghua agreed.

Fang Minghua took the note written by the girl.

"The summer school program ends in one week, and I will go back home then to register at the university. I have been invited to visit our Palm Springs. I dare say, our place is more beautiful than Iowa!"

However, they are all people who met by chance, and I will return to China soon.

Fang Minghua could tell that Emily did mean that.

"Welcome to Los Angeles, welcome to my home."

"This is my home phone number. If you get to Los Angeles, please call me."

Oh, the girl said it, but Fang Minghua didn't know that Palm Springs is not far from Los Angeles.

I can't let myself be dazzled in this colorful world.

"You forgot, my home is in Palm Springs, only a two-hour drive from Los Angeles."

On September 9, Zhang Minghua and his party of six left Iowa City by plane for San Francisco. They were accompanied by a writer from India, Pakistan, and Argentina, and a man named Wilson from the IWP.

I stayed in San Francisco for five days. In addition to visiting the famous Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts, the most important thing was to visit City Lights, the famous landmark bookstore in San Francisco, and have a chat with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the founder and poet of City Lights. An exchange.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti is a famous American poet, publisher, and one of the central figures of the "Beat Generation" movement. "The Beat Generation" comes from the novel "The Sun Also Rises" written by the American writer Hemingway. It describes the generation of young people after World War II as the lost generation or the Beat Generation.

But it was this group of young people who were considered hopeless who in later years produced various elites such as Elvis Presley, Bill Gates, Jobs, Hawking, Jackson, Jonas, Martin Luther King, etc. who laid the foundation for the future of the United States. person.

This reminded Fang Minghua that in later generations in China, the "post-90s" generation was called the Beat Generation.

City Lights was opened by Lawrence Ferlinghetti in 1953 and is known as the base camp of the "Beat Generation" and a signpost of "Rebel Culture".

In the 70s, a passionate era in America, a lot of bookstore work was done in secret. Even under the surveillance of the FBI, they are still trying to find a way out from the mainstream culture. In the early 80s, City Lights weathered a difficult economic crisis.

Nowadays, the U.S. economy has experienced a strong rebound and the economy has recovered. The "City Lights" bookstore has also prospered and has become a holy place for avant-garde literature, where you can find all kinds of wonderful but unpopular out-of-print works.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti gave a warm welcome to the members of the IWP Writers’ School Group.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti is almost 70 this year. He is wearing a T-shirt, jeans and a beard. He looks very energetic. He is at the door of the bookstore and warmly hugs every writer who comes in.

When it was Fang Minghua's turn, he opened his arms and said, "Welcome, friends from the East. The article "Contemporary Avant-garde Literary Thoughts and Future Prospects" you wrote is very interesting."

"Mr. Ferlinghetti, have you read that article?" Fang Minghua was very surprised.

Before going abroad, he asked Li Li to translate that article into English. He brought it to the United States to speak at an IWP lecture. Later, it was temporarily changed to lecture on ancient Chinese poetry, so it was not used.

Later, when Emily came to summer school to study writing, he lent it to the girl for her reference. He had never disclosed it to the public, so how could it have spread to San Francisco, thousands of miles away?

Seeing Fang Minghua's surprised look, Lawrence Ferlinghetti explained: "There is a professor at the University of Iowa who is a friend of mine. He was giving lectures at the school's summer school this year. It happened that a girl had read the article you wrote. The teacher who recommended her was my friend.”

That's it!

Fang Minghua remembered that Emily said this on the way to see the covered bridge that day, but Fang Minghua didn't pay much attention.

"Thank you. I have also read your collection of poems "Coney Island of the Soul." Fang Minghua replied.

It was Ferlinghetti's turn to be surprised: "Have you seen the poem I wrote?"

"Yes."

Ferlinghetti was very happy: "I never thought that my poems could spread to the distant eastern countries."

Fang Minghua felt sorry after hearing this.

He did read it, but that was before this era, and there is no Chinese translation of this poetry collection in China.

Just treat it as a beautiful misunderstanding.

After Ferlinghetti welcomed them, he took them to visit this famous bookstore.

The bookstore is relatively large, but it does not seem to pursue a spacious "consumption space". Instead, it tries to provide as many books as possible to readers.

Fang Minghua and others walked through the rows of bookshelves, which could barely accommodate two people passing by.

A narrow staircase leads to the basement. The books inside are dazzling: scandal reports, anarchism, class struggle...

The first floor is devoted to literary books, where you can find the latest developments in avant-garde literature, many of which are published by "City Lights" publishing house.

Fang Minghua flipped through it, and there were some from Europe, America, Latin America, and even India, but there was a lack of ones from China.

Also, the so-called “avant-garde literature” started not long ago in China.

"Mr. Fang." Ferlinghetti, who was following him, said, "Looking at the article you wrote, avant-garde novels are now becoming popular in your country. I heard that you are also the editor-in-chief of the magazine. You can select some outstanding Bring the novel to our country, and our City Light Publishing House can be responsible for publishing the English version!"

This can be!

(End of this chapter)