Literary Master 1978

It was just after the Chinese New Year, and Lin Chaoyang was very curious about who would think of calling him. When he answered the phone, he found out that it was Zhang Guangnian. The old comrade came up and praised "The Death of Van Gogh".

"Chaoyang, your writing style is becoming more and more distinct and diverse, especially among the younger generation of writers. It can be said to be unique.

It is a happy thing that our literary world can have a rising star like you..."

Zhang Guangnian said a lot of nice things, went around in circles for a long time, and finally asked Lin Chaoyang secretly whether he had received the letter from "Novel Selection".

"Novel Selection" has just been launched. The purpose of our literary association is to promote those excellent literary works to a wider range of readers. These novels of yours are all very outstanding..."

Lin Chaoyang then understood the purpose of his call, which turned out to be to sell himself.

After saying a few words of thanks and chatting for a while, he hung up the phone.

After hanging up the phone, Lin Chaoyang was a little confused. Zhang Guangnian was the head of the Literary Association and a leading figure in the literary world. Why should he be so good to him?

When he got home in the evening, he told Tao Yushu about this matter. After thinking about it for a while, she laughed.

"Let me test you. Do you know that there were two official selection systems in the Han Dynasty?"

Lin Chaoyang pondered and said, "You are talking about the recommendation and recruitment, right?"

The so-called recommendation means that local officials in charge can inspect and select talents in their jurisdiction at any time and recommend them to their superiors or the central government. After trial and assessment, they can be appointed as officials.

The so-called recruitment means that the emperor or local officials recruit people with prominent local reputations to serve as officials. The emperor's recruitment is called "recruitment" and the local officials' recruitment is called "recruitment". Together, they are called recruitment.

Both of them select and appoint officials. The difference is that the recommendation system is a bottom-up selection, while the recruitment system is a top-down selection.

But no matter which method is used, there is a core element - the person recommended or recruited must be wise or talented.

Under this selection system, the presence of talented people in the wild will undoubtedly put great pressure on the rulers, and they will easily be accused of being closed-minded and not careful in employing people.

After saying this, Lin Chaoyang understood what Tao Yushu wanted to say. He thought about it carefully and found that it made sense.

"But Lao Zhang is the head of the Literary Association after all..." Lin Chaoyang hesitated.

Tao Yushu said: "You are just in this mountain. Have you ever thought about this question? How famous are you in the domestic literary world now?"

"It should be quite big." Lin Chaoyang replied.

"It's not just should, it's big, and it's very big! Very big!" Tao Yushu emphasized.

"De Ning told me that when The Horse Herder and Little Shoes were published in Yanjing Literature and Art, the sales of their magazines increased significantly. The same is true when your other works are published in other publications.

The Little Shoes has been published for a year, and the sales volume is hundreds of thousands, right?

The Wreath under the Mountain has reached 3 million copies in less than a year, which can be said to be unprecedented.

What does this show? It shows that your appeal among readers is absolutely huge.

At least I think that among the young generation of writers in China, the influence of your works is unique.

You don't add Joining the Writers Association is like a fish bone stuck in the throat of the leaders of the Writers Association, making them feel stuck and in a dilemma.

It's not because there is anything wrong with whether you join the Writers Association or not, but the influence of public opinion brought about by it will torture them all the time. "

Tao Yushu's words made Lin Chaoyang dazed, and he asked: "If I don't join the Writers Association, will it have such a big impact?"

"Think about it, which writer friend you know around you has not joined the Writers Association?"

Lin Chaoyang thought about it, among the people he knew, Liu Xinwu and Wang Zengqi were not to mention the famous ones, even Chen Jiangong, who was still in school, joined the Writers Association.

Not only writers, but many editors have also joined the Writers Association in the past two years.

Since the resumption of work in 1978, the Writers Association has ushered in great development and absorbed a large number of new members. All writers who have written a little fame have been absorbed by the Writers Association at all levels.

It is indeed a very rare case that Lin Chaoyang, who is famous all over the country but has not yet joined the Writers Association.

"So, of course they hope you join the Literary Association as soon as possible, even if you do nothing." Tao Yushu concluded after analyzing.

She added: "I think he will find you if there is a chance."

"Then we'll talk about it when the time comes. Anyway, he didn't mention this topic today." Lin Chaoyang said casually.

A few days later, the New Year atmosphere had not yet dissipated. Li Tuo ran to the library to find Lin Chaoyang and said that he wanted to invite all his friends to get together before the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

He wanted to set the gathering place at Lin Chaoyang's home. The main reason was naturally that the Overseas Chinese Apartment was large and had good hardware conditions. In addition, Lin Chaoyang was a good cook. Lin Chaoyang happily agreed.

On the second Sunday of the first lunar month, in order to prepare for the gathering, Lin Chaoyang prepared food the night before.

Before nine o'clock in the morning, Li Tuo and Zheng Wanlong appeared at his house with two bottles of wine.

"Oh! You brought something with you?"

Li Tuo said with a smile: "It's Chinese New Year, how can I come empty-handed?"

He went into the kitchen and asked: "Preparing food so early?"

"Just preparing food. With so many of you coming, if I work hard at noon, I can only eat in the evening."

Lin Chaoyang said to Li Tuo while cleaning the hairtail in his hand.

Li Tuo looked at his skillful movements and gave him a thumbs up, "These few moves are really like a chef!"

After a while, Zhang Chengzhi came in with two pounds of pork and complained, "No matter whether it is before or after the New Year, it is too much trouble to buy some meat."

The meat in his hand was bought in the morning at the food department, and he waited in line for nearly an hour.

He greeted Lin Chaoyang's family, looked around the house, and said enviously, "Chaoyang's house is really luxurious!"

Li Tuo said, "That's right! The conditions of the ministry building in Baiwanzhuang are not as good as here, otherwise why is Chaoyang's creative efficiency so high? Living in such a big house and writing, how can he not write quickly?"

Zhang Chengzhi joked, "Is this the reason why he writes quickly?"

After joking for a while, Zhang Chengzhi wanted to go into the kitchen to help, but Lin Chaoyang walked out of the kitchen.

"Okay, everything is almost ready, just wait until noon to start."

After hearing what he said, several people sat down, and the fragrance of jasmine tea filled the living room, making people feel relaxed and happy.

Among the few people, Zhang Chengzhi had a relatively rich experience. In his early years, he was HWB, and later went to Inner Mongolia to work as an educated youth. In 1972, he was recommended to become a worker-peasant-soldier college student in Inner Mongolia, and studied archaeology in the history department of Yenching University.

After graduating in 1978, he was assigned to work in the archaeology group of the Chinese History Museum. In the same year, he was admitted to the Department of Ethnology of the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and is still studying now.

In 1978, his debut novel "Why the Rider Sings to His Mother" was published in the 10th issue of "People's Literature", which caused quite a stir, and won the first National Excellent Short Story Award the following year. He also met Li Tuo at the award ceremony of the National Excellent Short Story Award.

And he and Lin Chaoyang met at the housewarming party of Li Tuo's move.

Zhang Chengzhi talked about the novels he had been reading recently by Juan Rulfo, which confused Zheng Wanlong.

Juan Rulfo is a Mexican writer who became famous in the 1950s and was quite influential in Latin America, but he is a very rare name in China today.

His works have not yet been introduced to China. When Zhang Chengzhi talked about such writers, Li Tuo and Zheng Wanlong, two "Tubalu", naturally had no say.

Lin Chaoyang had seen an English version of "The Burning Plain" in the Yanda Library, which is Juan Rulfo's representative short story collection, so he could understand why Zhang Chengzhi liked Juan Rulfo.

Because there are several short stories in "The Burning Plain" that describe the peasant revolution in Mexico, and the novels all end with the tragic defeat of the peasant uprising army and the collapse of the revolutionary ideals.

Zhang Chengzhi has a complex about revolution in his heart, otherwise he would not have been a HWB back then.

Seeing Lin Chaoyang's thorough analysis of the novel, Zhang Chengzhi was delighted and regarded him as a confidant. He grabbed him and talked about Juan Rulfo and Gabriel García Márquez, the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Although Juan Rulfo is not as famous as Márquez worldwide, his influence on Latin American literature is huge. He influenced a generation of Latin American writers, including Márquez.

Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude was published in 1967. The first edition of 5,000 copies was sold out in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, within 15 days.

Several more editions were printed in a few months, but the supply still exceeded the demand. In three years, 500,000 copies were sold, and it quickly attracted the attention of European and American publishers.

In just a few months, nearly 20 translation and publishing contracts were signed, including many European and American countries such as Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Poland, and Hungary.

In the following years, this novel won literary awards in various countries. The Italian translation won the Chianciano Prize, the French translation won the French Best Foreign Work Award, and the American translation became one of the twelve outstanding works of the year.

In 1972, Marquez himself won the Gallegos Prize, the most important literary award in Latin America, for "One Hundred Years of Solitude". Ten years later, in 1982, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Although the Nobel Prize in Literature is not awarded for works, "One Hundred Years of Solitude" undoubtedly played an extremely important role in Marquez's winning of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Marquez became famous in China because after he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982, the literary magazine "Huacheng" translated his speech at the Nobel Prize ceremony.

"Huacheng" is one of the four famous domestic literary journals. It was the first time that a well-known Chinese literary magazine introduced the Nobel Prize winner to readers.

This operation of "Huacheng" made Marquez famous in China, and almost all literary lovers knew the name of this new Nobel Prize winner in Literature.

After that, some domestic publishers pirated Marquez's works and sold them in China without obtaining his authorization.

So much so that when Marquez visited China in 1990, he was furious when he saw the pirated books displayed in the bookstore and declared that his works would not be allowed to be published in China within 150 years.

Now it is 1981, Marquez has not won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and most domestic readers do not know him, and his works have not been pirated.

Zhang Chengzhi talked with Lin Chaoyang, and Li Tuo and Zheng Wanlong on the side could not join in the conversation. They felt a little uncomfortable, like two local dogs looking at golden retrievers.

You are good at English, you can read English novels.

Is it a big deal to know English?