The literary era since 1979

Chapter 345 Who is in favor and who is against (two in one)

Humanities Society, parking lot.

When the Citroen passed by, Zhu Wei quickly locked his bicycle, then moved closer and took the initiative to say hello:

"Teacher Fang, you're back!"

"Yes, I just returned to Beijing yesterday."

Fangyan got out of the car and started chatting with him.

"How is Wang Shuo's manuscript going?"

"Okay, it's been revised. Just like Shi Tiesheng's "Football", it will be published in the second issue of "People's Literature"."

"He didn't cause any trouble to you and Sister Xiaoman, did he?"

"No, Sister Xiaoman said he was a shrewd man who treated people differently according to their taste."

Zhu Wei said: "I happen to be very talented in literary creation, the kind of person who can understand everything at a glance, but unfortunately I don't have much passion for literature."

Fang Yan said: "If he had a little more passion for literature, it wouldn't have taken him so long to resume his writing career."

Zhu Wei gave a thumbs up and said, "You are brilliant! What you said is exactly the same as what Editor-in-Chief Wang said."

"The sample issue of this issue hasn't come out yet, right?"

He climbed up the stairs while speaking in dialect.

Zhu Wei said, "No, Editor-in-Chief Wang and his team said that they would wait for you to return from northern Shaanxi before discussing the final arrangement of the second issue."

I went straight to the editorial office. At this time, the office was empty and deserted, with only a few people sitting at the desks.

"Iwako!"

Chen Xiaoman was surprised to see Fangyan, and then she and Wang Fu and others rushed forward, with surprise written all over their faces.

"We have been looking forward to seeing you come back."

"What happened?"

Fangyan was stunned. This was too exaggerated!
Chen Xiaoman smiled and said, "You are in it without realizing it. Of course it is root-seeking literature!"

"Editor-in-Chief Wang has already said that if Director Fang returns to the editorial office, notify him immediately."

Wang Fu asked Zhu Wei to invite Wang Meng immediately.

Fang Yan looked around and felt that every pair of eyes was staring at him as if he were staring at a glittering treasure.

Upon asking, I learned that I had caused such a big stir in northern Shaanxi that the entire literary world was in an uproar, and almost all literary magazines and newspapers from all over the country were alarmed. They were all closely following the "root-seeking literature" and were afraid that they would miss out on this hot meal.

As the leader of national literary journals, People's Literature naturally cannot lag behind and must stay at the forefront.

In just a short while, Wang Meng, Zhou Ming, Liu Jianqing, Wang Chaoyin, Lu Shuyou and others all came to the office. The originally deserted atmosphere became lively in an instant. At least two out of three sentences were about "root-seeking literature".

"In this issue's literary theory section, we will add a few manuscripts that explore 'root-seeking literature.'"

Wang Meng smiled and said, "How about you, the originator of this proposal, write a theoretical article for People's Literature?"

"I have prepared this a long time ago." Fang Yan took out a stack of manuscripts from his briefcase.

"Good! Good!"

Wang Meng flipped through it a few times, smiled with satisfaction, and handed the manuscript to Liu Jianqing and others for circulation.

Zhou Ming's tone was filled with regret. "It's good, but it would be even better if there were novels about root-seeking literature."

As soon as these words were spoken, all eyes turned to Fang Yan, greedy and expectant, with green gleams in their eyes like hungry wolves.

"Also."

Fang Yan noticed that Wang Meng and the others were delighted, and added, "But this novel was not written by me."

"Who?!"

"Zhong Acheng."

"Who is Zhong Acheng?"

Everyone was shocked and suspicious, whispering to each other, discussing the identity of Zhong Acheng, but no one recognized him.

"He is the editor of the World Map..."

Fang Yan introduced Zhong Acheng while taking out the manuscript from his bag, "This is his first work."

Wang Meng took a closer look and saw the word "Chess King". He blurted out, "Chess? Go?"

Fang Yan said: "Of course it is chess. It describes the chess culture in our Chinese tradition."

It was just a short story, and it didn't take too long to read it from beginning to end. The manuscript was circulated among everyone.

Although it seems bland at first glance, but when you savor it carefully, the taste is really unforgettable and has a long-lasting aftertaste.

After watching it, Zhu Wei was stunned, just like the feeling when he saw Mr. Fang's work, and he didn't know how to evaluate it.

For example, "Malice" completely overturned my understanding of the techniques and structures of novels, such as the use of personal pronouns and narrative traps at that time.

This article "The Chess King" once again refreshes our understanding of literature and touches upon the blind spots of knowledge!

It is worthy of being called "root-seeking literature", it is simply unfathomable!

There were quite a few people who shared the same feeling. They all looked at Wang Meng and he praised him profusely:
“The writing is concise yet not simplistic. It’s rare, really rare, for a first novel to be written so condensedly!”

"Especially in the use of verbs, I found that he is a person who uses verbs very well."

Chen Xiaoman added, "For example, in this sentence, 'I hung the snake up, peeled off the skin, did not wash it, put it on the chopping board, used a bamboo knife to cut the meat, but did not cut it, put it in a large bowl, put it in a large pot, and added water to the bottom of the pot'. In this paragraph, the words 'hang, peel, wash, put, cut, cut, put, put, add' are used. You should know that in the Chinese language system, there are not many single-word verbs."

Wang Fu nodded and agreed: "That's right, and there are many such sentences!"

“What a talent!”

Wang Meng sighed, and everyone present agreed with him.

"Not only is the writing concise, but the style is also extremely simple. This style is also unique in the current literary world and is unparalleled."

Dialect looks left and right.

Everyone knows that most writers at this time have a long and complicated "translation tone" in their works to a greater or lesser extent.

Because the literary world had just revived at that time, few of the young generation of writers had received specialized training, or even had no foundation. Basically, just like Yu Hua learning from Kawabata Yasunari, they borrowed techniques and word creation from foreign literature, and were inevitably influenced by the translation tone in the translated text.

“The Chess King is an innovation both in conception and narrative.”

Fangyan proposed to publish this novel as the front-page article of the second issue of People's Literature in early April.

Lu Shuyou said: "The manuscript is a good one, but should we revise it a little more?"

Zhou Ming looked at his confidant, "Change? How?"

Lu Shuyou said: "This article "The Chess King" is somewhat similar to "The Story of Chess."

Once reminded, Wang Meng, Liu Jianqing and others suddenly felt that "The Chess King" and "The Story of Chess" cannot be said to be exactly the same, but at least they are extremely similar. One is about international chess, and the other is about Chinese chess. In one story, Dr. B was mentally persecuted by the Gestapo and locked in a small dark room without windows, and in the other story, Wang Yisheng went to the countryside to work in a production team and endured hunger in the countryside.

The most important thing is the ending.

One article is about Dr. B, an amateur chess player, defeating the world champion in a round-robin tournament, and the other article is about Wang Yisheng, who defeated 9 participating players and an old chess king who had been in seclusion for many years in a round-robin tournament among 8 people. It has to be said that the stories are exactly the same.

"So this article 'The Chess King' is considered a plagiarism of Zweig?"

Yu Deli's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Of course not!"

Lu Shuyou shook his head. “The two novels are completely different in concept, content, and form, but the plots are similar.”

"The Eastern and Western chess culture and the life insights from chess are also completely unrelated."

Fang Yan's eyes narrowed into a slit. Under the sharp gaze, Yu Deli smiled awkwardly and said, "I accidentally said something wrong, Director Fang, please don't be offended."

Lu Shuyou smoothed things over, "What I mean is, why don't we let Zhong Acheng take a look at how Zweig wrote it and think about how to make The Chess King better? Although The Chess King is already very well written, it is the first work after all, and it is obviously not as good as Zweig's."

"I agree that Zhong Acheng cannot compare to Zweig."

Fangyan changed the subject, "But if you must compare The Chess King and The Story of Chess, everyone has their own opinion."

Zhou Ming asked: "Does Director Fang think that The Chess King is better than The Story of Chess?"

"I didn't say that. They both have their merits."

Fangyan made a decisive analysis, "I can only say that in terms of conception, The Story of Chess is pessimistic and depressing, while The King of Chess is optimistic and positive. In terms of narrative, The King of Chess is more concise than The Story of Chess..."

"Finally, culturally, Eastern chess is more popular and resonates with the masses than Western chess."

Looking left and right, "This is also the root of root-seeking literature. Does the 'root' we are looking for have to be found in the West?"

"Director Fang, that's not what I meant. I just wanted to learn from Zweig and make "The Chess King" more in line with the mainstream of world literature," Lu Shuyou explained.

"If our domestic novels continue to imitate Western novels, then Chinese literature will always be second-rate and will never become distinctive first-rate." Fang Yan cried, "And Western literature may not necessarily be liked by the masses."

Yu Deli curled his lips and muttered quietly, "The music is too high-brow, how can ordinary people understand it?"

Lu Shuyou glared at him and quickly said:

"But Director Fang, Zweig is a pinnacle of world literature. You can't deny that, right?"

“I don’t deny this, but literary revival must not only have peaks, but also plateaus.”

Fang Yan said: "Compared to the peak, I think the plateau is more important."

Zhou Ming asked: "Why did Lord Fang say that?"

“The plateau is a universal height, while the peak is a lonely height.”

Fang Yan said: "Let's talk about the history of Chinese poetry. In the early Tang Dynasty, great poets such as Li Bai and Du Fu appeared. It was indeed a bold stroke. After the middle Tang Dynasty, groups of poets appeared. Their poetry level was very high in the entire literary history. It can be said that the middle Tang Dynasty was the plateau of poetry."

Then he smiled faintly, "I think any peak stands on a plateau, like Mount Everest in the Himalayas, which is also built on a plateau. So, as the appreciation level of the people improves and there is a plateau of literature and art, sooner or later there will be a peak above the general height."

"Clap clap clap."

In the crowd, Chen Xiaoman, Zhu Wei and others applauded, and the applause became more and more frequent and louder.

"In my opinion, The Chess King is good like this."

Wang Meng finally decided not to refer to "The Story of Chess" and to publish it directly in this issue.

Lu Shuyou was about to speak, but was stopped by Zhou Ming, "Let the people judge who is right and who is wrong."

…………

Time flies, and by April, three days had passed since the official release of People's Literature.

At this time, it was just daybreak and a long queue of more than 200 people had already formed in front of the only Xinhua Bookstore in Haiyan.

In order to get book tickets, some people brought stools and sat outside the bookstore's door in the evening of the previous day. They sat in an orderly row and spent the long night talking about "Root-Seeking Literature". Some people also read the latest issue of "People's Literature" all night long.

“Are there any good novels in this issue?”

"I think the best part is "Stewardess". One is a tough veteran and the other is a gentle and virtuous stewardess. The only flaw is the ending, which is not perfect at all."

"Don't lovers always get married?"

"No, the stewardess unfortunately died in a plane crash."

"It's a bit like Under the Hawthorn Tree. In one, a man chases a woman and the man dies. In the other, a woman chases a man and the woman dies. It really is the true essence of Mr. Fang. It's so tragic. I, a grown man, almost cried after reading it."

"Of course not. The editor in charge of this manuscript is Mr. Fang!"

"No wonder!!"

"Hey, there is another manuscript that Teacher Fang is also responsible for. It is called, called "The Chess King". This novel is really mysterious."

"That's right, it's not pretentious at all, the meaning is profound and the words are simple. This is the first time I've seen a novel written like this!"

Amidst the discussions, a group of people who had lined up in the early hours of the morning gradually arrived at the end of the line.

Yu Hua is one of them.

Ever since "The Seventh Night" successfully shocked the literary world, he has been transferred from the hospital to the cultural center as he wished, and he no longer has to go to work on time.

But it was also from the time Teacher Fang recommended Kafka's novels that I became deeply fascinated by Kafka and could hardly extricate myself.

Although I found myself late, I still held on to my luck and stood in the long queue, thinking that I still had a chance to get a book ticket.

These days, you need a book ticket to buy books at Xinhua Bookstore, and the bookstore issues a limited number of book tickets every day.

When the sun rose, the team of more than 300 people was divided into two camps: those who had no sleep and those who had sleep.

The people in the front camp sat on stools all night. These people who had not slept all night felt that they were stable and the book tickets were easy to get.

So, they discussed with each other about who and what books they wanted to buy, and when it came to dialect novels, the one they talked about the most was "Malice".

"It would be great if I could have Mr. Fang's The Ring, then I wouldn't have to follow the serialization."

"That's right, Science Fiction World only publishes one issue a month, and every time it breaks down at the crucial point, it's so infuriating!"

"Don't say that. If The Ring was really published, there would be more than just these few people lining up to grab book tickets today."

"Then the bookstore must issue a hundred book tickets every day, right?"

"One hundred is not enough? Two hundred at least!"

There was a lot of chatter and noise, and the sound spread from the front of the team to the end.

The most important issue for those in the back is how many book tickets will be issued?
As the conversation went on, rumors began to spread. First, the person sitting on the stool in front claimed that there would be no more than 50 book tickets.

Instantly, there was a rebuttal from those standing in line, with the person in the middle of the line saying that 100 book tickets would be issued.

As a result, those standing outside the top 100 were unhappy and threatened that the number would exceed 300.

In this way, the number of book tickets was increased layer by layer, and finally someone shouted that 500 book tickets would be issued.

No one, including Yu Hua, agreed that unless "The Ring" was officially published, there would be no need for so many book tickets.

Otherwise, those who are waiting in line will look stupid and ridiculous.

At exactly 7 o'clock in the morning, the door of Xinhua Bookstore slowly opened, making an unpleasant creaking sound.

A staff member walked out the door and shouted arrogantly, "There are only fifty book tickets. Those who are at the back of the line, please go back!"

Yu Hua stood where he was, with his right hand still holding the five-dollar bill in his pocket. He looked with a depressed mood as the people at the front of the line walked in one by one with smiles on their faces to receive their book tickets. The others either left in disappointment or complained, and some even cursed.

"I got it! I finally bought Malice!"

"If only I had played one less round of cards, it wouldn't be fifty-one."

"Forget it, I'll continue arranging it tomorrow. Today I'll just deal with The Chess King."

"........."

Seeing the People's Literature in the man's hand, Yu Hua's mind became active and he strolled leisurely to the cultural center.

Even though I was three hours late, I was still the first one to arrive at work. I couldn't help but feel happy that I had come to the right place!

Then he flipped through the pile of magazines again and again, and found the second issue of "People's Literature", and quickly came to "The Chess King".

After reading it, my first feeling was jealousy. Damn, when did such an awesome person appear among my peers!

When I looked at the editor-in-chief again, it turned out to be Fangyan. I felt relieved all of a sudden. It was not surprising at all!

How could the horse selected by Mr. Fang, the Bole, not be a good horse?
After all, he was a good horse, and a thousand-mile horse! No, a thousand-mile horse among thousands of horses!
(End of this chapter)