The literary era since 1979

The news that Fangyan won the Pulitzer Prize for History was still widely circulated even two days later.

Whether it was the literature and art sections of mainstream newspapers such as the People's Daily and Guangming Daily, or large-scale national literature and art newspapers such as the Literary Gazette and Literature Daily, or even radio and television stations, they all vied to report and comment on it, and specially sent reporters to block the door for exclusive interviews.

The earlier "May 19" shameful moment for the Chinese national football team seemed to have been forgotten in the corners.

The Chinese national football team was happy, but the dialect was a headache. In addition to the interviews one after another, they had to face countless phone calls every day.

I have one at home and in the office, and they're always ringing.

Those who called to congratulate included close friends like Zhang Guangnian, Wan Jiabao, and Wang Zengqi, as well as some old leaders and comrades from the Writers Association, the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and cultural departments who were completely unknown to the author. After all, the Pulitzer Prize for History is a great event in the literary world.

Renwen Press naturally would not miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and immediately prepared to reprint and release "Guns, Viruses, and Steel".

"Hahaha, it turns out that the one who is close to the water gets the moon first!"

Wang Meng patted Fang Yan on the shoulder and said, "Yanzi, this time you have made a great contribution to our literary and art circles and our publishing house!"

"Don't say that." Fangyan smiled.

"You, you are being modest again."

Wang Meng took the initiative to speak: "When is the award ceremony? No matter how long the leave is, I will approve it now!"

Fangyan spread his hands and said regretfully that the Pulitzer Prize ceremony had already ended and there was no need to go to the United States to receive the award.

Wang Meng kindly consoled her, "It's a bit regrettable, but no matter what, winning the award is a great thing in itself."

Fang Yan nodded, "But speaking of asking for leave, hehe, I really hope you can show some mercy and approve a note for me."

"Where are you planning to go this time?" Wang Meng was very curious.

Fangyan told the truth that the premiere of "Once Upon a Time in China" would be held in July. At that time, he would accompany Gong Xing and the crew of Shanghai Film Studio to Hong Kong to cooperate with the publicity and take this opportunity to complete the task that the Film Bureau had strongly entrusted to him.

"Is it about co-producing a movie with Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers?"

Wang Meng knew it well and said, "Comrades Fang Yu and Jin Xian have already talked to me about it before."

"Then please take a look at this note..."

Fangyan smiled.

“I approve!”

Wang Meng said seriously: "The prosperity of movies is also part of the prosperity of literature and art. As long as movies are made, novels and original scripts must be adapted. Therefore, the more prosperous the movie is, the more prosperous the literature will be. Conversely, if literature is not prosperous, it will be difficult for movies to prosper!"

Fangyan readily agreed, but then touched his nose apologetically:
"But I seem to have promised you at the beginning of the year that I would travel less this year and stay in the editorial office more..."

"This time, that time."

Wang Meng raised his hand and said that under his leadership, People's Literature has regained its reputation and brand in the literary world.

The previous problems of insufficient submissions and few good manuscripts have now been almost solved. Instead, there is a situation of oversupply. If it were not for the purpose of publishing People's Literature to discover new talents and promote young writers, these manuscripts submitted by new writers would be treated as waste.

At this time, there were too many famous writers closely associated with People's Literature, and the space was already insufficient. With this in mind, too many authors might not be a good thing. It was really a happy trouble...

Fang Yan couldn't help but laugh and said, "I think, can we make better use of this resource?"

"for example?"

Wang Meng said with interest.

"For example, we can have a 'double headline' to enhance the quality of the novels published in People's Literature."

Fang Yan said: "For example, the style of the headlines of each issue should not only be different, but also contrasting. Just like when you talked about your future prospects at the beginning of the year, you hoped that People's Literature could mobilize the possibilities of various types of creation and show the diversity of literature..."

“These sound like good ideas!”

Wang Meng appreciated it very much and said: "The greater the change in style, the more it can reflect the difference in literary possibilities. However, this is a great test of the level of manuscript collection and editing, just like a restaurant should not only cook well in individual dishes, but also have a good combination of dishes as a whole, that is really good."

"With this kind of side dish technique, each issue of People's Literature can create new highlights, allowing many novels to quickly become the focus of social attention after publication, just like "The Tilted Football Field" which targets the May 19 Incident."

Fangyan grinned and chuckled.

"And the 'Theme Without Variations' that you dug out, the two manuscripts can be published in two issues."

Wang Meng said, "In addition, there is one more thing. I hope you can lead the editorial staff to do it before you leave for Hong Kong."

After asking Fangyan, I found out that according to his idea, he was going to emulate the West Lake Conference and, in the name of the editorial department of People's Literature, invite dozens of the most active young writers from all over the country to hold a national symposium in Yenching.

Wang Meng said: "Whether it is avant-garde literature like Ma Yuan and Yu Hua, or unique youth literature like Liu Sola and Xu Xing, whether it is the much-watched root-seeking school like Ah Cheng and Zheng Yi, or emerging writers like Ke Yunlu and Zhou Meisen who have deeply cultivated their respective literary fields, as long as they are the most cutting-edge young writers in the literary world today, we will invite all of them if we can."

"This is a big project."

Fangyan raised his eyebrows, very surprised.

"Yes, it is another huge literary conference after the West Lake Conference of People's Literature!"

Wang Meng vowed, "I plan to use this conference to make People's Literature the standard-bearer of the new wave of novels." Then he turned around and said, "Yanzi, what do you think?"

Fang Yan pondered for a while, "If this is the case, this Yanjing Conference must be one of the important events in the history of contemporary Chinese literature."

Wang Meng nodded and said, "It's just like the 'West Lake Conference' that we co-hosted with Harvest last year, except that this time the Yenching Conference will be hosted solely by People's Literature. In this way, I think it will surely stir up a great wave of thought and excitement in the literary world, right?"

Fangyan did not agree immediately, but carefully asked about the specific details of the meeting, such as the time, place, and number of people.

“I plan to schedule it in the second half of the year, just like the West Lake Conference.”

Wang Meng asked him to draw up a charter plan before going to Hong Kong, and then organize and prepare it properly after returning from Hong Kong.

"Yes, Editor-in-Chief!"

Fangyan responded. After all, he was just a humble public instrument, holding the fruits of others' careful consideration. (End of this chapter)