The literary era since 1979

Chapter 322 Detective Dialect
Chengdu, editorial department of Science Fiction Literature and Art.

Since receiving Fang Yan's handwritten letter, Yang Xiao and others would always pay attention to the mailbox and phone from time to time when they go to work every day.

"Hasn't Teacher Fang sent me a letter yet?"

"I haven't even made a single phone call. I don't know when Teacher Fang will come to Sichuan."

"It's no use waiting any longer. How about we write a letter to Teacher Fang?"

"I agree! I can't wait any longer. Every day is too painful. It feels like a year!"

"Instead of wasting time on this, it would be better to find a few more manuscripts that can be used. This issue of the journal cannot just publish Mr. Fang's novel. We should at least find three or five more."

"........."

As everyone was talking, Yao Haijun turned his back to them and quietly flipped through a magazine.

More and more people noticed his abnormality. "Navy, what are you looking at?"

"October," Yao Haijun said excitedly, "This issue has two amazing articles."

Yang Xiao asked, "Which two?"

"One is Yu Hua's "The Seventh Night", a magical realist work, and the editor in charge is Mr. Fang."

Yao Haijun said: "Another one is Teacher Fang's new novel, called "Malice", a realistic mystery novel."

As soon as they heard about the mystery novel, everyone became very interested and flocked to read it.

"Like Death on the Nile?"

Yang Xiao frowned.

Up to now, there are not many foreign mystery novels and movies introduced into China, only Agatha Christie, Conan Doyle, Matsumoto Seicho, Morimura Seiichi and a few others. The most famous of them is "Death on the Nile" produced by Shanghai Film Translation Studio.

"Different."

Yao Haijun flipped through "October" and found two articles in the literary theory section that briefly discussed detective novels in dialect.

One article introduces the genres and characteristics of mystery novels from all over the world, and the other article introduces the commonly used rules and writing routines of mystery novels.

"I didn't expect that the tricks of detective novels are no less than those of science fiction." Yang Xiao couldn't help but sigh after taking a quick look.

Someone suddenly added: "But domestic mystery novels are much less popular than our science fiction literature."

"Big brother, please stop making fun of the second brother."

Yao Haijun said helplessly: "They are all in the same boat. They are popular overseas but declining in China. Perhaps the only difference is that our science fiction is on the decline. Now that Teacher Fang has fired the first shot, mystery novels will probably be on the rise soon."

"It's not just downhill, it's already at the bottom of the valley!"

Another person simply suggested: "Why don't we try to launch a mystery novel magazine, what do you think?"

Yao Haijun said, "You are crazy! Our editorial department specializes in science fiction, how can we switch to writing mystery novels?"

"But...but..."

Seeing everyone hesitating, Yang Xiao felt helpless.

Years later, the cultural department issued the "Notice on the Implementation of Self-Financing of Periodical Publishing", which stipulated that except for provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government, literary and art periodicals published by cities and counties were not allowed to be subsidized by administrative and institutional funds.

This was equivalent to cutting off the last bit of funding for Science Fiction Literature and Art, forcing the editorial department to raise funds on its own and be responsible for its own profits and losses.

Looking around, he stepped out to smooth things over: "Let's put this aside for now. The most urgent thing is to patiently wait for Teacher Fang to come to Chengdu."

Everyone agreed with this and planned to pay close attention to all news and information related to Teacher Fang.

In the few days since the publication of Malice, readers, writers, editors, literary critics, etc. across the country have discussed the book in various ways from their own perspectives.

For example, journals such as "Literary Research" and "Southern Literary Circle" studied the unique narrative techniques of "Malice" from the perspective of literary theory.

"Writing in dialect has developed new narrative strategies, with frequently changing narrative perspectives and scattered and complex narrative structures." "It's like shuffling playing cards, completely disrupting the neat and orderly structural pattern of the plot, but still maintaining clear and meticulous logic, as if smiling and playfully showing you the messy bottom cards in his hand, making the spatial position of time sequence and movement unclear and difficult to distinguish true from false."

"..."

"It subverts the traditional narrative mode. There is no doubt that this will be a highlight of contemporary literature!"

For example, newspapers such as "Literature Newspaper" and "Art Newspaper".

He not only values ​​the genre of popular literature, detective fiction, but also the combination of detective fiction and realism. He wrote at length, "Malice is a breakthrough in narrative structure in form, an investigation of social humanity in content, and a combination of avant-garde experimentation and realism, and a combination of pragmatism and fantasy in subject matter. It is obviously a rare masterpiece."

Readers, more often than not, just read for fun and find detective novels particularly refreshing.

There were even some people who just wanted to watch the fun and jokingly called Fangyan a "famous detective" and suggested that he help the police solve the case!
The Dandelions in Xicheng, the Bell and Drum Tower in Dongcheng, the Grassland in Chaoyang, the Maple Leaf in Haidian, and the library-run newspapers in various districts of Yanjing all carried serial reports. The majority of subscribers to the newspapers came from the public security bureaus and police stations in each jurisdiction.

The same also includes the Municipal Public Security Bureau. The police officers are quite interested in suspenseful crime detective novels such as "Malice".

"This forensic doctor Qin Ming's autopsy report is very professional!"

"I think the forensic team really plays a big role in helping us solve cases."

"..."

“Is the motive for murder so important?”

"Of course it's important. If we listen to Li Feiyu's one-sided words, then Han Li's good reputation will be ruined!"

"When we crack down and sentence people, we also have to be careful. If we catch the wrong people, the consequences will be disastrous."

"It would be great if we had someone like Fang Yan who is good at solving cases in our bureau, so we can meet our monthly targets."

Everyone was talking at once, and one of the policewomen noticed Haiyan, who was silent, and asked, "Haiyan, what are you thinking about?"

"After reading Malice, he wanted to write a police crime novel."

"Hehe, that's absolutely true."

Seeing his colleague answering for him, Haiyan smiled.

The policewoman was very interested: "What are you going to write?"

Haiyan said: "I plan to write about the experience of plainclothes police officers being sent to Tiananmen Square to work undercover."

"Okay!"

The male colleague patted him on the shoulder and said, "Haiyan, I'm optimistic about you. Look, the name 'Fangyan' has a 'Yan' in it, and the male protagonist of his novel, 'Fangyan', has a 'Yan' in it. Your name 'Haiyan' also has a 'Yan' in it. You might be destined to write police novels."

The policewoman picked up the aluminum lunch box and said, "Okay, okay, stop talking nonsense. It's time to eat. Let's go to the cafeteria and line up."

Haiyan waved his hand, said he would go home for lunch, packed up his things, and slowly returned to Dongsi Street.

Turning around, I saw Renwen Publishing House across the street from my house. I was thinking whether I should submit my novel to People's Literature or October, after all, the editorial department of October uses dialect!

At the same time, a grand welcome ceremony was being held in the cafeteria of Renwenshe.

Wang Meng led the applause, warmly welcoming Fang Yan, Zhu Wei and other young forces who were seconded to People's Literature.

The loud applause almost blew the ceiling off.

In his inaugural speech, Fangyan did not make an impassioned speech, but repeatedly emphasized that he was just a writer and that he had to rely on everyone to edit the publication. His low-key attitude was beyond everyone's expectations.

But everyone took these words as humble words.

Not to mention that during the years that Fang Yan served as editor of October, he brought the annual sales of October to 500 million copies and established a solid position in many literary fields such as love, military, magical realism, etc. The teachers behind him alone are enough to make the entire editorial department have to look up to him.

The first editor-in-chief of "People's Literature" was Shen Yanbing!

The previous editor-in-chief of "People's Literature" was Zhang Guangnian!

So, will Fang Xiaojiang be the future editor-in-chief of People’s Literature?
(End of this chapter)