Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 670 Chapter 669 The Lady of the Camellias Opera

It was already nine o'clock in the evening when we arrived in Nevento.

Danevento is a small town. Li Li said that the population is less than 60,000, which is less than the population of a township in the mainland. It takes only ten minutes to walk from the train station to the hotel where Li Li lives.

The hotel is not big, and the typical Gothic building looks very quaint. Fang Minghua checked in and stayed in the room next to Li Li's.

After sitting on the train for more than two hours, they were tired and went back to their rooms to rest.

After taking a shower, Fang Minghua saw the phone on the bedside table. He tried it and found that it could make an international long-distance call, so he called home.

The person who answered the phone was Song Tangtang.

The first sentence is: "Minghua, have you seen Lili?"

"Yes, she returned to Rome to wait for me." Fang Minghua recounted how Li Li went to pick her up at the airport, and how they spent the day together, including encountering Jiang Wen and the others along the way.

"Okay, then you two can go together and take care of each other. You can also accompany her to go around. She's been alone abroad for many years and it's quite lonely. Hey, you're just accompanying her to go around. Don't have any other ideas, okay?" Song Tangtang gave a final reminder.

"I know, she's your cousin, how dare I think about it?" Fang Minghua replied unhappily.

"Humph, I know what you men are thinking? Sisters or something like that, huh!"

"Oh my God, Tangtang, when did you become so open-minded?" Fang Minghua asked in a surprised tone.

"There are video halls everywhere now, showing all kinds of crap movies, and the government doesn't care at all." Song Tangtang muttered on the other end of the phone, "Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. I'm going to Shanghai the day after tomorrow to attend the building's opening ceremony. If you have any questions, just call me."

"Okay, be careful on the road. How are the two kids?" Fang Minghua asked again.

"It's good. Ruirui heard that her aunt and you are in Italy, so she clamored to go and visit."

"During this year's winter vacation or next year's summer vacation, we can take our children abroad to see the world. It's much easier to go abroad now than before."

"We'll talk about it later. It depends on whether I have time. I don't want to chat with you anymore. Where does Lili live? I want to chat with her."

"She lives next door to me. I'll go over and ask her to call you."

"Ok."

Fang Minghua hung up the phone and knocked on Li Li's room next door. After Li Li opened the door in her pajamas, Fang Minghua explained his purpose.

Li Li happily picked up the phone and started chatting with her cousin. Fang Minghua certainly wouldn't stand there stupidly and went back to her room.

Women also have secrets that men don't know.

The next morning, the two of them each ordered a latte and a croissant in the hotel restaurant. After the simple meal, they went to the City Hall to report to the Strega Literary Award Jury and said that they were invited.

The staff enthusiastically sent invitations to the two of them, which allowed them to enter the ceremony.

The award ceremony was held at St. Mark's Theater at 8 o'clock in the evening. Since they had no plans during the day, the two decided to go sightseeing in the city.

Although the city of Benevento is small and not very famous, it still has many tourist attractions.

The Roman Theatre, the Arch of Trajan, the Castello di Rettori, the Basilica of St. Bartholomew, and the medieval Cathedral of Benevento.
Li Li changed her clothes today. She was no longer wearing the cool outfit from yesterday. Instead, she wore a T-shirt and a light yellow floral skirt, looking like a girl next door.

The two of them strolled along the street. There were relatively few vehicles and the town seemed very quiet.

"Brother-in-law, let's go to the Benevento Conservatory of Music. I heard it's very famous." Li Li suggested.

"Sure, there's nothing to do anyway," Fang Minghua said. The Benevento Conservatory of Music is located in the city's famous Simone Palace from the early 18th century.

Fang Minghua originally thought that it was vacation and there were not many students in the school. But when they walked into the ancient Roman-style school gate, they found that there were quite a few people in the school. Their age and clothing were not just students. Many of them looked like tourists, carrying travel bags.

Li Li saw a poster in an advertising column not far from the school gate.

"Brother-in-law, the opera 'La Traviata' is being performed in the school auditorium!" Li Li said to Fang Minghua, pointing at the poster.

It was written in Italian, which Fang Minghua couldn't understand.

"You want to see?"

"Uh-huh."

"Then let's go and take a look." Fang Minghua said.

Li Li asked passers-by, and the two soon arrived at the school auditorium, where the college students rehearsed their own performances, which were open to the public and sold tickets.

The two entered the auditorium. It was not big and there were not many people watching the performance. They found an empty seat and sat down quietly.

The performance is already going on stage.

"La Traviata" is the last part of the "Popular Trilogy" by Italian opera master Verdi (the other two are "Rigoletto" and "Il Trovatore"). It is adapted from the novel of the same name by French writer Alexandre Dumas fils and is also one of the best-selling classics in the history of world opera.

Fang Minghua had never seen this opera before she came to the Times. The students on stage were also performing in Italian, which was a little difficult to understand.

But Li Li watched with great interest.

"Brother-in-law, I've seen this opera performed by the Royal Opera House team at Covent Garden in London in the UK. Although the performance of these students is a little immature compared to the Royal Opera House team, I think it's very sincere. In the novel, the heroine Margaret is actually a young girl."

Fang Minghua took a closer look at the protagonist on the stage who was wearing a white evening dress. She was indeed very young and beautiful.

"I like this opera and this novel very much!" Li Li whispered again.

The corners of Fang Minghua's mouth twitched.

I don't understand the opera, so I don't dare to comment on it, but I can't understand the novel "La Traviata".
Whether in terms of plot setting or character creation, if it were placed in later generations, it would definitely be the routine of romance novels.

The domineering president falls in love with Cinderella, and here the wealthy aristocrat falls in love with a prostitute.

However, the novel is still very well written, especially the portrayal of the protagonist Margaret, who is beautiful, smart and kind. Although she has fallen into prostitution, she still maintains a pure and noble heart.

But Fang Minghua always felt that there was a feeling that "I smoke, drink, have tattoos, and go clubbing, but I'm a good girl."

It is said that "The Lady of the Camellias" was the first classic of Western literature to be introduced to China during the late Qing Dynasty in the late 19th century.

After the translation was published, it had a great impact on the Chinese literary world, and the traditional love novels of talented scholars and beautiful women were quickly eliminated. Chinese novelists, under the direct or indirect influence or imitation of The Lady of the Camellias, wrote many love novels with new meanings and new structures.

"Oh, Margaret is so miserable. Every time I see this, I feel sad for her." Li Li sighed softly.

Fang Minghua glanced at the stage and saw the heroine, dressed in white, lying sickly on the big bed in the center of the stage, looking like she was about to die.

"As for novels, you are a literary person and you know that the more tragic a story is, the more touching it is." He whispered comfortingly.

"Yes, brother-in-law, you promised me something." Li Li suddenly remembered something:
"You promised me that after you finished writing In the Name of People, you would write a warm, healing and poetic book. I have one more request now: no tragedy!"

(End of this chapter)