The literary era since 1979

Chapter 288: Yu Hua is Obsessed

In the early morning, sparrows chirped non-stop in the tree in front of October Literature and Art Publishing House.

Suddenly, there was a roar of a motorcycle, which scared the sparrows away.

Fangyan got off the car and returned to the editorial office of "October" after a long absence. Our young man is back!
"Master!"

When Sui Lijun shouted the first word, Tian Zengxiang, Yan Ming, Zhang Shouren and others all ran over.

From the way Fangyan looked at them, it was obvious that the news of his secondment to People's Literature had not spread in the publishing house.

"Yanzi, I heard that the National Book Award has a trophy."

Tian Zengxiang rubbed his hands together and said, "Take it out quickly so we can open our eyes."

"There's no way I could possibly carry this thing with me."

Fangyan teased, "I did bring you some souvenirs and gifts. I wonder if you are interested?"

"Of course!"

Everyone immediately forgot about the trophy and turned their attention to the gifts, which were barrels of biscuits and chocolates.

"Yanzi, this must have cost you a lot of money!"

Tian Zengxiang's eyes widened and he swallowed his saliva.

"It won't cost much, so just take it."

Fangyan smiled faintly and then took out stacks of manuscript paper from his bag.

It is full of works by writers who participated in the international writing program. In addition to Ru Zhijuan's "Mother and Daughter Traveling to America" ​​and Wang Anyi's "Junior High School Class of 69", there are also works from Poland, East Germany, West Germany, Bulgaria and other countries.

"hiss!"

Tian Zengxiang and others took a breath.

Zhang Shouren was both excited and agitated, "There are also people from Hong Kong?!"

Fang Yan said: "I originally met a writer from Taiwan, but because I thought it was too sensitive, I didn't want him."

"Understand, understand!"

Tian Zengxiang smiled and said, "Yanzi, what about yours? Is your award-winning "Saving Private Ryan"...?"

"Of course, good things should be kept within the family."

Fangyan took out the Chinese version of the manuscript and handed it over.

Everyone was overjoyed. Zhang Shouren said excitedly, "That's great. We can have a world literature theme for the latest issue!"

Yan Ming said: "Not bad, not bad, and we can also launch a series of manuscripts for the 'International Writing Project of the Year'."

You say something, I say something.

Soon, everyone present surrounded Fangyan and bombarded him with all kinds of questions, ranging from what he had seen and heard in the United States to the trends and directions of world literature, and concepts such as "literary modernization" and "commercialized literature" were thrown out one after another.

"In other words, magical realism is also popular abroad?" Zhang Shouren and Yan Ming looked at each other in surprise.

"After all, Marquez won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his magical realism and One Hundred Years of Solitude."

Tian Zengxiang sighed.

“It’s not entirely because of the Nobel Prize in Literature.”

Fangyan smiled and said, "It is that One Hundred Years of Solitude has set an example for the literature of third world countries. Using national culture, national emotions, and national skills to create national works of art can also break the monopoly of Western literature."

"That's true."

Zhang Shouren nodded in agreement, saying that the most popular genres in the current literary world are ethnic and regional literature and magical realism.

Fang Xiaojiang made great contributions to the popularity of these two literary trends.

"Magical realism has not been affected by 'spiritual pollution'?" Fangyan was surprised.

"No, it's mainly because science fiction is in danger of extinction."

Tian Zengxiang said with a wry smile that several journals that published science fiction novels had been ordered to cease publication, and this was just the beginning.

Fangyan frowned, feeling that something was wrong.

"It doesn't matter if science fiction is completely dead, it's just a niche literature." An editor in the crowd said thankfully, "As long as it doesn't affect other mainstream literature."

Seeing that they looked as if it had nothing to do with him, Fang Yan sighed silently.

After a while of chatting, Tian Zengxiang said, "Speaking of magical realism, Yanzi, someone has specially written a magical realism novel and specifically asked you to comment on it."

Fangyan asked, "Who is it?"

"I wonder if you still remember 'Yu Hua'?"

Tian Zengxiang reminded: "It's the author of "Woodpecker" that you recommended."

Fangyan was inevitably surprised, "You said he wrote a magical realist novel? Wow, he's making rapid progress!"

"That's right. From traditional realism to magical realism, the leap is too big."

Tian Zengxiang opened the drawer and handed over the manuscript.

Fangyan took a closer look and saw that the title was "The Seventh Night", which was very similar to Yu Hua's "The Seventh Day" in his previous life.

The same creative technique of magical realism is used to create the two worlds of life and death that exist simultaneously and are in opposition to each other. The ghost of the protagonist wanders between life and death, observing life from the perspective of death, thus making the human world appear as clearly as a reflection in the water. He flipped through the book casually, "Old Tian, ​​what do you think?"

“It’s like mixing Kawabata Yasunari’s death technique with magical realism, but it’s obviously not integrated well.”

Tian Zengxiang said bluntly: "Maybe it's the first time I've done this and I don't have enough experience, but no matter what, the fusion is very awkward and ugly, which completely exposes the roughness of my writing style."

There are both praise and criticism, and then the advantages are reviewed: "Bloody and violent, cold and harsh. Although it is a heavy imitation, it already has the flavor of Kawabata Yasunari. Given time, it may not be impossible to write a death work like Kawabata Yasunari."

"In my opinion, he's a little obsessed."

Fang Yan pondered and said, "If you don't turn back, it will be dangerous."

“This is also the drawback of blindly imitating and learning from foreign modern and contemporary literature.”

Zhang Shouren shook his head helplessly.

The serious literature and pure literature of the 80s were basically influenced by Western literature, from Zweig to Hemingway, to Kafka, from Saul Bellow to Robbe-Grillet, Heinrich Böll, to Marquez, Juan Rulfo...

The result is that there are now two lines in the entire literary world. One is total Westernization, which means learning and imitating Western literature and completely rebuilding Chinese literature.

The other is to take one's own cultural traditions as the foundation, make use of the past for the present, make use of foreign things for China, carry out critical inheritance, and make comprehensive innovations.

There is even a conservative Confucian revival faction, which advocates a new national studies based on Confucianism.

This voice is very small and will not cause any waves for the time being.

"I'm going to Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai."

Fang Yan took the opportunity of going south with the crew of "Dream of Red Mansions" to cast and asked Yu Hua to meet him.

General Fang must teach him a good lesson!
Top up the intensity!

…………

At the same time, the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Gong Xing sat by the window, reading Fangyan's letter over and over again, muttering:

"Don't come back yet! Don't come back yet!"

"It's fine if you don't come back, but you can't even bear to write a letter!"

Just at this moment, a crisp car bell sounded from downstairs.

All of a sudden, it caught Gong Xing's attention.

Looking down through the window, the postman in a green uniform parked his car and called out, "Gong-Le-Hi! There's a letter for you!"

"I'm in the house!"

Gong Xing replied loudly, "I'll be right down," and then ran out of the room.

Hearing the trivial footsteps, Gong's mother, Gong Ying and others all looked over, but the figure had already disappeared at the door.

Gong's mother asked, "Do you think your sister is acting strange recently?"

Gong Ying nodded, "Mom, I suspect she has a boyfriend, but I haven't found any evidence."

Gong's mother raised an eyebrow, "You think so too!"

The mother and daughter were exchanging clues with each other, and then they saw Gong Xing running back to the room in a hurry.

"Xiaoxiang, who sent the letter?"

"a friend."

"Are you secretly dating someone without telling us?"

"Mom, what are you talking about? I don't understand!"

"Hey, you kid..."

"boom!"

Gong Xing closed the door and saw the familiar handwriting on the envelope. He smiled at first, then frowned:
"It took you so long to send it. If the letter is not well written, I will show you how I will punish you!"

As he spoke, he couldn't wait to open the envelope, and attached to the letter was a box of tapes by Chen Baiqiong.

When Gong Xing saw the words “I Just Like You”, his anger immediately subsided and he couldn’t wait to put the tape into the recorder.

Then, a love song by Chen Baiqiong slowly floated out:

"The sadness cannot be dispelled, and the depression cannot be dispelled."

“Why is my heart so empty…”

"Understand that it is wrong to lose everything in love,"

"Why do I like you?"

"Love is a burden, loving each other is like suffering, my heart is now filled with bitter tears."

"The old love is like a drunkenness. I am afraid to pursue it now, but I just want to see you."

While immersed in the singing, Gong Xing saw Fang Yan wrote in the letter that he would come to Shanghai soon, and he was overjoyed and said:
"Oh, he's back home! And he's coming to Shanghai!"

"Xiaoxiang, who wants to come to Shanghai? Is it your boyfriend?"

Outside the house, Gong's mother and Gong Ying were putting their ears to the door and they thought of the same thing: their cabbages had been eaten!
Which pig is so bold?
(End of this chapter)