The literary era since 1979

Chapter 323 Editorial Department Story
At the welcome banquet, Fangyan took the opportunity of toasting to get to know the people in the humanities society one by one and become familiar with them.

Apart from old acquaintances such as Wang Chaoyin and Liu Jianqing, the focus was on the editorial department under his management.

"I'm Lu Shuyou, deputy director of the editorial department."

"Director Lu, please take care of me in the future. The work of the editorial department will inevitably require your advice."

"Director Fang is so polite. We should take care of each other!"

"cheers."

Fangyan raised his glass and toasted the old comrade who was in his 50s. He had a head full of white hair with a few black hairs. He was wearing a black Zhongshan suit and a pair of reading glasses in his chest pocket. In front of himself, who was dressed in a suit and tie, he inevitably looked a little old-fashioned.

Standing next to him was Yu Deli, who was also the deputy director of the editorial department. He wore gold-rimmed glasses, had his hair combed back, and a scarf around his neck. He was obviously imitating Zhang Mingmin's outfit during this year's Spring Festival Gala. There was a hint of shrewdness in his smile that was hard to conceal.

"Director Fang, I, Yu Deli, would like to toast you as well!"

"Thank you."

Fangyan drank the wine in one gulp, "From now on, the work of the editorial department will rely more on you two..."

After all this talk, the bottom line is that the goal is to make People's Literature a success in both terms of trends and annual sales.

“I think there is absolutely no problem as long as People’s Literature stays on the right literary path.”

Lu Shuyou and Yu Deli exchanged glances.

Fangyan smiled without saying anything, thinking of Wang Meng's prior reminder that these two were the unwavering "Western literary school" in the editorial department.

"If Director Fang wants to know about the editorial department's current literary direction, you can..."

Lu Shuyou invited him to join the discussion after dinner.

Basically during the lunch break, people in the editorial department often get together to discuss the hottest topics in the current literary world.

His own "Malice" was inevitably discussed.

"Then I'll listen carefully."

Fangyan plans to use this opportunity to observe and get to know his colleagues in the editorial department.

The literary discussion will be held in the editorial office.

Everyone sat at their desks, and the person presiding over the agenda stood in the long and narrow aisle.

"Mr. Fang skillfully uses the alternating narrative method of first-person and third-person in Malice, through Li Feiyu's self-narration, Fang Yan's observations, and the memory fragments of related characters, multiple perspectives, switching back and forth, the design is quite ingenious."

"There are also flashbacks, flashbacks and multiple reversals. These non-linear techniques of time and space should be borrowed from magical realism."

“I guess so. However, the narrative structure in Malice is different from that of Borges and others. When Borges tells a story, he is like a maze maker. In a maze of time that goes on and on, there is infinite confusion and uncertainty.”

"..."

"Yanzi's book is a revolutionary attempt in both the narrative and language paradigms of traditional novels!"

Hearing "Yan Zi", Fang Yan looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was his mentor's daughter-in-law, his sister-in-law, Chen Xiaoman.

The female comrades around her were all familiar faces. One of them was Zhang Guangnian’s apprentice, "Wang Xiaoping".

The other is a senior member of the editorial department, Wang Fu, who was in charge of the publication of The Great Qin Splitting.

"In this issue of October, not only does Malice use the magic realism technique, but there is also a more pure magic realism novel, The Seventh Night, which uses the underworld, reincarnation, and the rewards and punishments for good and evil. These Chinese elements of gods and demons are all used."

"Do you think that People's Literature will publish more works of magic realism in the future, like October?"

At this time, the young people in the editorial department were enthusiastic and the topics were never the same: Marquez, Wolfe, Camus, Proust, Joyce...

With high-spirited expressions and excited tones coming one after another, Zhu Wei retained a different opinion.

“Isn’t it a bad idea to just blindly learn from the West?”

"Not good? Then tell me, what's wrong with it?"

Seeing the young editor suddenly stand up, Fangyan, who was not far away, just watched and listened quietly to his questioning.

"Zhu Wei? Are you new here?"

"Yes, I was transferred from Huaxia Youth."

"Since you are an old editor, have you read Wolfe's To the Lighthouse?"

"No."

"Oh! Have you read her book "Waves"? " "I haven't heard of it either."

"No way? You're an editor, you don't even know who Wolfe is, do you?"

"I'm actually more concerned about the literary trends in our country, such as reflective literature, scar literature, and educated youth literature..."

Zhu Wei felt that in the eyes of everyone, he was like a country bumpkin who had broken into a big city, outdated, traditional, conservative, and old-fashioned!

Suddenly, Lu Shuyou's voice came from behind.

"Then you should read more and learn more in the future, and catch up with the editorial department as soon as possible. The publishing philosophy of People's Literature is different from that of Huaxia Youth, where you worked before."

Including Zhu Wei, everyone saw the three people from Fangyan coming towards them and greeted them with surprise and joy:

"Director Lu! Director Yu!"

"Director Fang!"

"Hello everyone."

Fangyan looked around and said, "We heard your discussion just now. It was a very good conversation. Let's continue."

The young editor who had just questioned Zhu Wei introduced himself as "Li Dongbao":
"Director Fang, I have a question, but I'm not sure if I should ask it."

"ask!"

"What are the manuscript selection criteria and publication philosophy of People's Literature?"

"Speaking of this, I want to hear everyone's opinion first."

He took a quick look at the dialect and did not express his opinion easily.

Li Dongbao, Yu Deli and Lu Shuyou looked at each other and took the lead and were the first to stand up and say:
"I think we should publish more avant-garde novels like The Seventh Night in the future. The novels should be Latin American magical realism, and the poems should be about the American Beat Generation..."

Fang Yan smiled and said, "What do you think of the reflective literature, educated youth literature, and scar literature that Zhu Wei mentioned just now?"

Li Dongbao said: "These are outdated. People's Literature should stop following the old rules and should be more avant-garde!"

"That's not right!"

Zhu Wei immediately retorted: "Magic realism was born earlier than the educated youth literature in China. If you insist that educated youth literature is outdated, then magical realism is even more of an 'antique'. Does it mean that just because it is from the West, it is not outdated at all?"

"Ahem, Xiao Zhu!"

Yu Deli coughed and said, "Don't forget that Marquez won the Nobel Prize for his magic realism. If our writers can also write masterpieces of magic realism like One Hundred Years of Solitude, they may not be unable to win the Nobel Prize in Literature."

"Director Yu, the Nobel Prize in Literature is just a Western award. The key is whether our people like it or not."

Chen Xiaoman said the words that Shen Yanbing had taught her about dialect before she died.

"Deli has good intentions. They hope that Chinese writers and literature can go global and integrate into the world. I can understand this feeling." Lu Shuyou said: "Only when Chinese literature keeps up with the trend of world literature can more people know about it. In my opinion, People's Literature should publish as little as possible of outdated literature such as scar literature and educated youth literature that are not suitable for the world..."

“What about reflective literature?”

Wang Fu stared at Fangyan who didn't say a word.

Yu Deli was dismissive, "Reflective literature should be published as little as possible. We have discussed this topic before."

"That was before. Now Director Fang is here."

Wang Fu said, "Director Fang's works, That Mountain, That Man, That Dog and Saving Private Ryan, have caused American and Japanese societies to reflect deeply. They have also won the Akutagawa Prize in Japan and the National Book Award in the United States. Although they are not as important as the Nobel Prize in Literature, they are still international awards." He then changed the subject, "According to what you two are saying, this kind of reflective literature is not outdated, right?"

The words seemed to be saying -

Teacher Fang is here! Qingtian is here!

Teacher Fang is here! People's Literature is at peace!
"This……"

Lu Shuyou and Yu Deli looked at each other, then turned their gaze to Fangyan.

Wang Fu, Zhu Wei and others also turned their heads, their eyes focused on General Fang who had been silent just now!

Chen Xiaoman asked: "Yanzi, what do you think?"

“I think to understand the development direction of contemporary Chinese literature, we must first understand the roots of literature.”

Fangyan looked around with a serious expression.

(End of this chapter)