Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 607 Chapter 606: Carrying the moral responsibility with a strong shoulder and writing articles with a skillful hand

"Minghua, I think you are becoming more and more fond of writing stories about small people in real life." This was the first sentence Song Tangtang said to Fang Minghua after reading the entire novel and looking up.

“Haha, Lili said the same thing. Writing grand epic narratives is certainly popular, but I think these stories about small people have more social significance. They are easily overlooked in this era of drastic changes, and it is worth speaking up for them,” Fang Minghua explained.

"What you said makes sense. As a writer, you must have a sense of responsibility and mission, shouldering the moral responsibility and writing articles with your skillful hands. That's how Minghua is. It would be even better if your novel could be adapted into a movie." Song Tangtang said.

“Let’s talk about it after it’s published.”

By the end of July, the novel was finally completed.

It turns out that this movie also has some problems, such as: the vague narration of the story creates an "alternative kind of obscurity"; the storyline is incomplete, the plot is too brief, and many things are not explained clearly or sufficiently, resulting in the audience not being able to understand it clearly.

However, in Fang Minghua's novel, some problems no longer exist. The length of 70,000 words is enough for the author to tell each story calmly.

Narrative ambiguity is itself a common narrative technique in novels. Works such as "Kong Yiji" written by Lu Xun and "Ulysses" written by British writer Joyce both use this technique.

Also, there is a criticism among ordinary movie fans: the ending of this movie is not a happy ending like "The Piano in a Factory", but an open ending.

But in fiction, this is also one of the advantages.

After Fang Minghua finished the first draft, he revised it carefully again before printing it out and driving to Yanhe magazine to give it to Bai Miao.

Bai Miao was very happy to see Fang Minghua coming to submit his work.

"Minghua, you are really a timely help. I was worried that there would not be a suitable article in the editor-in-chief's recommended column in the next issue of Yanhe."

Fang Minghua was a little surprised when he heard this.

"No way? Apart from anything else, there are so many writers who have signed contracts with great writers, but not a single one of their articles caught your eye?"

"No." Bai Miao smiled bitterly. "This month, none of the contracted writers sent us their works. I even called a few of them. People like Yu Hua, Mo Yan, Su Tong, Liu Zhenyun, etc. who often submit their works to us all said that they have focused their energy on novels in the past two years and have reduced their writing of short and medium-length novels."

Fang Minghua nodded after hearing this.

This is indeed the case. After entering the 1990s, the writing experience and skills of these young and middle-aged writers became more mature, and they began to write novels one after another.

Historically, the novels of the 1990s were longer and of higher quality than those of the 1980s.

"Minghua, the position of editor-in-chief is becoming increasingly difficult and stressful. I almost don't want to do it anymore." Bai Miao sighed again.

Fang Minghua was naturally deeply touched, but he smiled and patted Bai Miao on the shoulder, saying in a joking tone: "Comrade Bai Miao, you've done a good job. Keep up the good work. We are all optimistic about you!"

"Okay, then you have to support me! How about at least one article a month?"

"You want to tire me to death? I'm not inferior to Pingwa."

The two chatted and laughed for a while before Fang Minghua handed the manuscript to Bai Miao.

"Take your time to look at it. I'll go back first."

"Why are you in such a hurry? Sit down and chat for a while and have some tea." Bai Miao warmly invited him to stay.

Fang Minghua glanced at Bai Miao and saw that he was drinking labor protection tea. He smiled and declined: "Forget it, I have something else to do when I go back. Let's talk another day."

"Okay, I'll read the novel you wrote first." Two days later, Bai Miao called Fang Minghua and said that the novel was very well written and would be published in the next issue's "Editor's Recommendation" column.

"Minghua, your novel is a typical comedy novel, but also has a touch of magical realism. It reminds me of "The Donkey Gets Water" that you published ten years ago, but the technique is much more mature."

"Thanks for the compliment."

"Hey, Minghua, I noticed that your novels have recently started to focus on the little people in real life. Will you continue to write in the future?"

"Will do."

In mid-August, this novella was published in the new issue of "Yanhe" magazine in the column recommended by the editor.

Editor-in-chief Bai Miao also commented: This is the second novel written by writer Minghua that focuses on reality.

The author's exaggerated concern for the cruel reality and miserable life of the marginalized people in society is permeated with the concrete split of body and spirit of the little people in traditional reality who are worn down by gray experiences, as well as individualized human care.

This is a novel about a small person who is seriously unbalanced in character and psychology under heavy pressure and lacks worries. The tone also outlines a cry of grief and indignation against the cruel society and miserable life.

Once the novel was published, it attracted the attention of readers and the literary world. Soon, critic Lei Da commented on the novel:
"Hello! Mr. Tree" has a strong literary metaphor. In this film, we can see the shadows of Mr. K in Kafka's "The Castle" and Cosimo in Calvino's "The Baron in the Trees".

In the former, Mr. K took the initiative to approach a system, spent all his efforts and ultimately failed; in the latter, it seemed like a continuation of this failure. "The Baron in the Trees" tells the story of an attitude of completely breaking with ugly civilization and institutionalization, and an experiment on how to survive proudly after the break.

Mr. Tree in "Hello! Mr. Tree" can be understood as Mr. K who lives in a tree. He tries hard to integrate into the real life of the countryside and join the mainstream of young people in villages and towns, but he can only climb back to the tree after setbacks to obtain a refuge and protection.

"I heard that Minghua's last short story, The Weaving Girl, has been adapted into a movie script by a very young director and is currently being filmed. It is expected to be released by the end of the year. I hope this novel will also be adapted by a director for the big screen. I think it will be very exciting. But who can make a movie that is realistic yet absurd, plain yet magical, and a comedy with tragedy in it? To be frank, it seems that no one has made it yet."

When Fang Minghua saw this article published in "Literary Review", his family was traveling in Dalian.

I had already discussed with my wife in advance that before Song Tangtang went to Yinchuan to participate in the filming of "A Chinese Odyssey", I would take the children out for a walk during the summer vacation.

They chose Dalian and flew directly here with their children.

In the early 1990s, Dalian was still very prosperous, with trams on Dongguan Street, bustling Tianjin Street, Friendship City, and Fujiazhuang’s beach.
The children had a lot of fun.

In his spare time, Fang Minghua bought a copy of "Literary Review" from a street newspaper and read the article above.

I sighed in my heart: "Fuck, this radar is really good at talking, it's like firing a map cannon.

But if you think about it, it does make sense.

The movie "Hello! Mr. Tree" belongs to the works of the sixth generation of film directors.

The sixth generation directors like Wang Xiaoshuai, Wang Quanan, Lu Chuan, Guan Hu, and Lou Ye have not yet started to release their debut films.

It seems that the leading figure Jia Zhangke has not yet been admitted to the Yenching Film Academy?
Fang Minghua is right.

At this time, Jia Zhangke was still a senior high school student and should not have been a repeater.

Unfortunately, I still failed the exam this year.

(End of this chapter)