1980 My Literary Era.

Chapter 225 The Man Who Leads "Contemporary" to a Higher Level

If someone looks back at the content of the first issue of "Contemporary" in 1983 from a retrospective perspective a few years later, there is a high probability that they will use words such as "fighting of gods" to describe it.

He Yunlu's "New Star" and Ma Yuan's "The Temptation of Gangdese" are amazing, but the later development of the two is a little lacking in stamina.

The few remaining authors in this issue performed equally well and became more stable in the future development, becoming hall-level figures in China's contemporary literary world.

Yu Hua was the author discovered by Lin Weimin. At the beginning, he couldn't even publish his works. Now, more than a year later, he managed to publish two novellas in the top literary journal "Contemporary" at the same time.

The two works "Going Away" and "The Noon Where the Northwest Wind Whistles" are very characteristic of his early works.

His two works are similar to those of Ma Yuan, and both belong to the avant-garde of this era. His works focus on showing the experimental nature of text, the game, and various reversals of the narrative logic of the novel, and the techniques are more inclined to movies. The montage technique in creation.

But unlike Ma Yuan, Yu Hua maintained a certain degree of restraint in the narrative structure, and did not go to extremes, which made his novels more content-oriented.

At the same time, when he writes, he puts more emphasis on the description of consciousness, thinking and psychology. He has an absolutely objective and calm narrative, and he does not shy away from describing bloody violence.

This writing technique has formed his unique style, which is unforgettable.

If it is said that He Yunlu's "New Star" is to some extent stained with the light of reform literature, Ma Yuan's "LS River Goddess" and "The Temptation of Gangdis" are better than the novelty of the narrative.

Then Yu Hua's success is more due to his unique and calm style. Some readers used the word "mature" to describe Yu Hua's creative style in their letters. Lin Weimin deeply agrees with this.

Xie Mingqing from the front building teased Lin Weimin after reading these two works by Yu Hua, saying that any editor can produce any author.

Lin Weimin hardly has a specific style to speak of in his creations. If he were to classify them hard, he would probably be stable.

He seldom has a slanted sword, but he can always write something that catches people's eyes.

And Yu Hua, brought out by him, is now gradually approaching in this direction.

For an author, this is a sign of maturity in creation.

Therefore, many readers and critics place high hopes on Yu Hua, who think that he is a writer who may surpass Lin Weimin in a few years.

Among all the authors in the first issue, Mo Yan’s works were rated the worst. This is not because his works are not good enough, but because the impression he made on readers was too amazing, which directly caused Mo Yan’s Two of his works, "Folk Music" and "The Transparent Carrot", have somehow become what some discerning readers call "mediocre works".

"Mediocre work" also comes from the evaluation of letters from readers.

Mo Yan is now working in the army, and the style of his works is basically in the direction of Wei Guangzheng.

Lin Weimin talked with Mo Yan when he was in the military hostel. Unlike the "darkness" in his later works, Mo Yan now believes in the truth, the good, the good and the beautiful.

He believes that "goodness" can transform human beings, and "goodness" is the soul of beauty, so the spark of "beauty" can be created.

Any literary creation, once it falls into the stereotype of praising the truth, the good, the good and the beautiful, it cannot avoid the disadvantages of patterning.

A murderer has a hundred ways to kill, but only one way to save.

But despite being evaluated as "realistic techniques, Europeanized language, and single plot", the beautiful vision for society and life revealed in Ke Moyan's novels still makes most readers feel refreshed.

Lin Weimin doesn't think Mo Yan's works are much worse than other people's works. If he has to find a problem, he can only blame this "main theme" creative style that is not pleasing.

Among all the authors and works in the first issue, Cheng Zhongshi's "Kang's Small Courtyard" and "Early Summer" are somewhat out of place.

Perhaps because of his deep experience in rural life for many years, Cheng Zhongshi's works can always see the collision of personal value choices, thoughts, feelings, and moral concepts during the period of rural transformation.

This style is very similar to that of Lu Yao, who has become famous and belongs to Shaanxi.

The good thing about Cheng Zhongshi is that he spares no effort to structure the novel's structure and layout, character images, and changes in thoughts and feelings, sometimes even to the point of cumbersomeness.

These detailed descriptions are very skillful, and are also very popular with those middle-aged readers who are mature in thinking.

It was also appreciated by Meng Wanfu, who is well-known in domestic literary criticism circles, and specially wrote an article "Songs of Solemn and Deep Hope in the Fields——Comment on the Novella <Early Summer>". The creative ability in "Early Summer".

At the same time, Meng Wanfu also praised at the end of the comment, "The first issue of "Contemporary" in 1983 brought a fresh force to the Chinese literary world, and a hundred flowers bloomed and competed for beauty."

Everyone is not familiar with Meng Wanfu, but many of his students should know him. His name is Jia Pingwa.

As Meng Wanfu commented, in this issue of journals, there are masterpieces of reform literature such as "New Star", extreme avant-garde literature such as Ma Yuan, and Yu Hua, whose mature style has been entrusted to him. Authors with high expectations include Mo Yan, who extols truth, goodness and beauty in a fresh style, and Cheng Zhongshi, who is orthodox and comes from the countryside...

This issue fully demonstrates "Contemporary"'s support and encouragement to various creative styles in the domestic literary world. It not only received rave reviews from readers, but also sparked great discussions among critics and writers.

Due to the buzz in the past few years has created a certain vacuum in the literary world, so in recent years the literary world has not only seen a blowout in the amount of creation, but also a flourishing of creative styles.

There is a buzzword nowadays, called "not a novel".

What context is it used in?
An author took a manuscript to the editorial department to submit it. The editors read it with presbyopic glasses, frowning tightly, with a bit of regret in their tone.

"You, this is not a novel!"

It's not a novel, it just doesn't conform to the reading habits of the older generation of editors, and even the classification of the works has been changed for you.

Among the works published in this issue of "Contemporary", if judged according to the standard of "not fiction", the works of Ma Yuan and Yu Hua are all listed here, and the style of their works happens to be avant-garde.

"Literary creation has just been liberated from a great shadow, and we don't want it to fall into another shadow.

Now the new generation of author friends are no longer satisfied with the single narrative form of novels, and have begun to pursue multiple narratives and multiple possibilities.

Colleagues in the editorial department agreed that we should face up to the new changes, new requirements, and new directions of literary creation in the new era.

This issue of "Contemporary" was born under such background..."

Right now, Lin Weimin is leaning over the desk and taking the lead in writing. To sum it up in two words is - bragging.

The first issue of "Contemporary" was published in 1983, and it aroused huge repercussions across the country, and thus received a lot of comments and attention from the media.

"Literary News" was founded on September 1949, 9, on the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and is a newspaper sponsored by the National Association for Literature and Art.

The successive editors-in-chief are all cultural masters, literary masters and outstanding literary theorists. It can be said that the literary and artistic situation in New China is closely related to "Literary News".

Many great men have given important instructions to the work of "Literary News" during their lifetimes.

The response to the first issue of "Contemporary" in 1983 attracted the attention of "Literary News", and specially sent an invitation to the editorial department of "Contemporary", asking the editorial department to talk about the drafting of the first issue of this time. behind the scenes.

Two old comrades, Meng Weizai and Tan Chaoyang, handed over this matter to Lin Weimin, under the pretense that they should not take the credit of Lin Weimin.

The first issue in the spring of 83 was indeed Lin Weimin's idea, and they were right to say so.

Lin Weimin spent the whole morning writing and writing, and finally finished the manuscript.

Liu Yin walked over with a tea mug in her hand, blew on the tea foam floating on the water, and said, "Weimin is really a leader now, look at this manuscript, it's almost as good as the conference speech gone."

Rong Shihui then joked: "Editor Lin has made a lot of contributions in hosting this issue. You can't hide your achievements. Otherwise, how can the leader see it?"

Lin Weimin put the cap on his pen, stood up and stretched his shoulders.

"Old comrades, it's heartbreaking to complain too much."

Rong Shihui smiled and said, "I'm fine as an old comrade. Xiao Liu is only in his 30s. Isn't your word 'old' inappropriate?"

Liu Yin cooperated and stared at Lin Weimin.

Lin Weimin gave Rong Shihui a thumbs up, "If you want to be able to speak, you have to be skilled."

The first issue of "Contemporary" in 1983 has withstood the test of readers after more than 20 days after its listing, and has been widely praised by many critics and media. high hopes.

Coupled with the approach of the Spring Festival, the atmosphere in the editorial department is joyful and peaceful.

Several people chatted and chatted about the sales of the first issue.

Since the publication of "Contemporary" in 79, the sales volume has been rising steadily.

After Lin Weimin joined in the past two years, the growth rate of sales has been even stronger. Now the overall sales volume can be stabilized at more than 90 million copies. Whenever a work with excellent reputation is published in a certain issue, the sales volume can easily exceed one million.

And the issue that published the popular works of "Life" and "My Distant Qingping Bay" can even achieve a single issue sales of one million or hundreds of thousands.

Therefore, out of confidence in the quality of the works published in the first issue, the editorial department set a very bold number on the printing run of this issue-100 million copies.

The first issue has not been on the market for a month now, but the demand for reprints from bookstores and post offices around the world has been raised one after another. According to calculations, the first printed 100 million copies should be sold out within a few days. The subsequent imprinting of numbers has become a problem for the editorial department to consider.

Liu Yin sighed and said: "If this trend continues, why do you feel that 150 million copies can't stop it?"

Yao Shuzhi is sorting out the manuscripts, and she puts a thick stack of manuscripts in the corner of the desk, "Did the issue that landed on Yao's "Life" almost break 150 million copies in the end?"

"No, just reached 140 million copies. I dare not print any more. If it is really unsalable by tens of thousands of copies, it will not be enough to compensate."

Zhu Changsheng said: "I don't think it's a problem to reach 150 million copies in this issue. Didn't you notice it? Now that everyone is sitting together, if we don't talk about our first issue this time, we feel that we can't keep up with the trend. It seems to be a trend."

Yao Shuzhi nodded and said: "Really. There are many literature lovers among the college students in my sister's school. She came back and told me that the first issue of this time has been liked by a lot of students. There are not only reasons for the content, but also more important reasons."

Zhu Changsheng asked, "What's the reason?"

"Probably those college students think that our "Contemporary" is tolerant and inclusive, which fits their image of a widely influential literary publication. By the way, here is a letter from a reader, I will read it for you ..."

Yao Shuzhi took out a letter from a pile of letters from readers in the corner of her desk, and everyone couldn't help but be a little curious in their eyes.

"...Your measures to innovate this time require great courage, and here I would like to praise you without hesitation.

"Contemporary" plays an important role in the Chinese literary world. As long as a novel can be published in "Contemporary", it will attract widespread attention.

Just like authors in the United States are proud of being able to publish their novels in "The New Yorker", more and more classmates and friends around me have also begun to feel this way. The authors who can publish novels in "Contemporary" are all The darling of literature.

......"

"The New Yorker", a symbol of American cultural circles.

In 1975, John Leonard said of The New Yorker: "Educated Americans grow up with this weekly magazine."

To put it in a layman's terms, reading "The New Yorker" is a symbol of American elite culture.

Now that China has just opened its arms to the world, being able to mention "The New Yorker" in a letter, at least in terms of knowledge, kills most Chinese people in seconds.

The letter Yao Shuzhi read was from a student of Yanda University, and the whole article was full of praise for "Contemporary"'s bold move this time.

"Listening to young people's praise for us is really pleasant." Yao Shuzhi finished reading the letter with a smile on her face.

Rong Shihui suddenly looked at Lin Weimin, "Weimin, this is what you mean by influence, right?"

Lin Weimin was standing by the window with his back to everyone.

"good."

Everyone looked at Lin Weimin standing by the window, and couldn't help flashing scenes in their minds.

At the beginning, in the conference room, the leaders persuaded the leaders to return the manuscripts to the writers;
Working tirelessly for thousands of kilometers to collect manuscripts;
It took more than a month to complete the proofreading, typesetting and binding design of "Contemporary Books"...

At this moment, many colleagues in the editorial department understood why the agency and the editorial department chose Lin Weimin as the deputy editor.

Because he is the one who can lead "Contemporary" to a higher level!
　First update.The second update is around 11:5, and the third update is around [-]:[-] pm.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)