Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 642: Misty Rain in Jiangnan

The weather in Xijing is getting colder day by day.

The mourning for Gu Cheng in the literary world soon came to an end. What everyone was interested in was the discussion on "humanistic spirit". Various opinions were debated with great enthusiasm. Not long ago, the annual meeting of the National Society of Literary and Art Theory was held at East China Normal University. About 200 writers, literary critics, and famous editors from all over the country came to discuss this issue.

The momentum is unprecedented in the past few years.

Shen Changwen, then editor-in-chief of Reading, was also invited to Shanghai to attend the discussion. He published six consecutive discussion drafts in Reading, specifically reporting on the content of the discussion.

The article on the ongoing discussion immediately caused a heated response after it was published in Reading. The impact of the discussion was thus pushed to the whole country and soon became a "media event". It was widely reprinted by domestic and foreign newspapers and magazines, and Japanese newspapers also reported on it.

Fang Minghua also received an invitation to attend the conference, but he declined on the grounds that he was not feeling well recently.

However, at the same time, an invitation letter from Nanjing Zhongshan Magazine aroused his interest.

The letter said that a "Realistic Literature Works Seminar" would be held in Nanjing in mid-November and Fang Minghua was invited to attend.

Zhao Benfu, then editor-in-chief of Zhongshan magazine, personally called Fang Minghua, hoping that he could attend and invite him to make a keynote speech.

Zhao Benfu is also a writer himself. He has written novels such as "The Swordsman and the Woman", "Chaotic World", and "Black Ants Blue Eyes", but what is more familiar to later generations is his short story "A World Without Thieves".

The copyright was bought by Feng Xiaogang and made into a movie of the same name, which received huge response. Of course, the novel has not been written yet.

"Chairman Fang, I read your book The Piano in a Factory and I like it very much. I am not only attracted by its writing style and narrative skills, but also by its characters and stories. It strongly reflects the current reality and is a rare realistic work. So I hope to attend this conference and discuss how to carry out realistic creation at this stage."

This is a good topic, much better than the empty chat among those people in Shencheng.

Fang Minghua accepted the invitation.

On November 11, Fang Minghua said goodbye to his family, carrying his travel bag and boarded a train to Nanjing.

The train is running on the plains of Jiangnan.

After driving for a day and a night, we were not far from Nanjing.

Although the current location is still north of the Yangtze River, Fang Minghua feels that he has arrived in the south of the Yangtze River.

It is early winter now. The land in the north is always gray, just like the color of the sky, but it is still green here, and it is drizzling outside the window, making everything look blurry.

Misty rain in the south of the Yangtze River.

Although it describes spring, it is still suitable for early winter.

The meeting was held at the Nanjing Hotel in Gulou District. It is said that the hotel was first built in the mid-1930s, then called the International Party Society, and was designed by the famous architect Mr. Yang Tingbao.

Fang Minghua got off at Nanjing Station and took a taxi directly there. The hotel was not tall, only three stories high, simple and elegant, and the name of the hotel was written by Guo Moruo.

Fang Minghua went to report to the conference organizing committee and stayed in a standard room. He went up to the second floor with the room key given by the conference organizing committee and found that there was already a man inside.

"Teacher Fang, Minghua!" The man was stunned when he saw him come in, then immediately greeted him with a smile.

It turned out to be Yu Hua.

"Yu Hua, what a coincidence? I didn't expect you to come to the meeting too." Fang Minghua greeted.

"Yeah, I didn't expect that. I heard that this seminar is mainly aimed at literary works that describe today's real society. I haven't written such a novel." Yu Hua said: "But since I was invited, I want to come and take a look."

"The work you wrote, 'To Live', which ends in the 1980s, can barely be counted," said Fang Minghua.

"Maybe. I've been writing novels for almost ten years, and this is the only one I want everyone to know about." Yu Hua said with a smile.

"To Live" has become a hit. Since Zhang Yimou won the Golden Lion Award in Venice, the novel "To Live" has immediately attracted the attention of domestic experts and readers.

Shengshi Books promptly launched promotional activities, held work seminars, reader meetings, and launched a large-scale book signing event. The book became an instant hit.

Listening to Song Tangtang's internal meeting at Shengshi Group, Su Bin told her that "To Live" sold 100,000 copies in just two months, setting a record.

"Honey, the sales speed of your book 'The Piano in a Factory' can't catch up with Yu Hua's book." Song Tangtang said with a smile.

There is no way. These days, the effect of winning a major foreign award is so strong that Fang Minghua feels inferior to him.

Of course, the book itself is well written.

"Hey, Yu Hua, have you bought the house?" Fang Minghua asked jokingly.

"I haven't bought it yet, but I've already found an apartment. It's in the Fangzhuang community you mentioned. It's a 90-square-meter apartment with three bedrooms and a living room. Chen Hong and I are very satisfied with it." Yu Hua's face was full of smiles.

Having my own home in Yanjing, this dream has finally come true.

"Minghua, thank you." Yu Hua's voice was full of gratitude.

"Why thank me? You wrote the book, and the royalties came from Shengshi Books. You don't need to thank me."

"Thank you for your guidance on my path of literary creation."

"Not to mention that you can still write this well without my guidance, Yu Hua, I'm here for a meeting today, not to listen to your flattery." Fang Minghua hurriedly stopped him.

Yu Hua chuckled and didn't say anything else.

"Minghua, I just ran into Wang Anyi." Yu Hua suddenly thought of something and said.

"Sister An Yi is also coming to the meeting? Where is Su Tong? Will he be there this time?" Fang Minghua asked again.

Yu Hua shook his head: "I didn't see his name on the roster at the registration office."

oh.
But yes.

Su Tong's writing style began to change from the avant-garde literature of the 1980s to the 1990s, gradually turning to new historical novels.

Works like the already published "Wives and Concubines" and the later "Rice" belong to this category.

There are also Chen Zhongshi's "White Deer Plain", Mo Yan's "Red Sorghum", Ye Zhaoyan's "The Story of the Jujube Tree", Liu Zhenyun's "Revisiting 1942" and "Hometown, the World's Yellow Flowers", which are all new historical novels.

Strictly speaking, "To Live" written by Yu Hua also belongs to this genre, but I didn't know that he was also invited to this meeting.

Is it because "To Live" is very popular now?

Of course, this is just Fang Minghua’s personal guess.

During dinner in the evening, Fang Minghua met Wang Anyi.

"Minghua, this symposium should have invited writers like you, I don't know why they called me here." Wang Anyi was a little helpless.

Wang Anyi has published significantly less works in the past two years. It is said that she is writing a long novel at home.

After listening to Wang Anyi's complaints, Yu Hua smiled and said, "Sister Anyi, I am still the same. Whether in the past or now, what I write has nothing to do with reality."

Wang Anyi glanced at him after hearing this and said, "Who made your book 'To Live' so popular recently? I'm really jealous of it."

(End of this chapter)