1980 My Literary Era.

Chapter 603 The pinnacle of contemporary Chinese satirical novels

From the time he was studying at the Institute of Literature, Lin Weimin felt that Qu Xiaowei had something in him to prodigal.

Of course, Lin Weimin has read some of the remarks in the newspapers, and without mentioning his prophetic advantage, even if he knows a little bit of economic common sense, he would not dare to publicize such views.

Where is the deadliest part of the argument that buying is worse than renting?
Not counting inflation and currency devaluation!

The bank deposit interest rate is high now, but it was even higher in the past few years. The annual interest rate is 18%. Can you believe it after 30 years?
What now?The annualized interest rate of three-year long-term deposits is only 9%, and the current trend is that interest rates are falling every year.

However, as an emerging economy in China, housing prices have been rising is a general trend.

It is nonsense to say that buying is worse than renting, at least at this stage.

"You, stop listening to that kid's nonsense!"

Lin Weimin gave everyone an analysis of the house price, and then warned Yao Shuzhi earnestly.

Everyone expressed their belief in his remarks.

"No wonder you have been hoarding houses these years." Yao Shuzhi muttered.

"I really can't spend the manuscript fee, so I can't watch the money depreciate in the bank!"

Everyone felt teeth ache when they heard his words, so the manuscript fee is high, right?It's just your royalties, right?
A few days later, Zhang Yimou returned from Italy, causing another wave of media reports.

This time "Raise the Red Lantern" won an award in Venice, which is not as influential as it was in 87, and there is no need for Zhang Yimou to take the film around the world to participate in film festivals.

He returned to Yanjing for a few days of interviews, and asked Tong Zhonggui to visit Lin Weimin's home.

"The great director is here!" Lin Weimin teased Zhang Yimou with a smile.

Zhang Yimou smiled shyly, "Mr. Lin, please stop making fun of me."

"Golden Bear, Silver Lion, you deserve your name as a great director!" Lin Weimin said sincerely.

Zhang Yimou waved his hand, showing humility.

The novel "Wives and Concubines" was recommended by Lin Weimin to Zhang Yimou. Now that the film has won an award, Zhang Yimou must of course express his gratitude to Lin Weimin.

"You don't need to thank me. You and Xiaotong have achieved each other, and I am happy to see it." Lin Weimin said with a smile.

After saying his thanks, Zhang Yimou talked about his participation in the Venice Film Festival.

"Raise the Red Lantern" was in post-production at the end of last year. In fact, it had the opportunity to participate in the Berlin Film Festival in February and the Cannes Film Festival in May. However, Zhang Yimou waited for half a year to participate in the Venice Film Festival. Of course, there is a reason for this.

In 1988, Guo Feng invested in Hou Hsiao-hsien's "A City of Sadness", and the film was shortlisted for the Venice Film Festival that year. The chairman of the jury at that Venice Film Festival was the great domestic director Xie Jin.

After the opening of the film festival, Guo Feng and Hou Xiaoxian came to Venice to participate in the film festival.When Guo Feng saw Xie Jin complaining about his family and country, he made Xie Jin cry. Not surprisingly, "City of Sadness" won the Venice Golden Lion Award that year, becoming the first Chinese-language film to win this award.

Xie Jin felt that he owed Venice a favor, so Zhang Yimou participated in Venice this year with Raise the Red Lantern.

With the foundation laid by "Red Sorghum", Zhang Yimou has been honored as a guest of honor at major film festivals around the world.

It's a pity that he only won the Silver Lion Award this time, which is still a little bit of a meaning. Zhang Yimou didn't care much about it.

After several years of experience, he has developed a somewhat calm disposition.

During the more than half a year waiting to participate in Venice, he has not been idle, and has been tinkering with the next movie.

As a director, Zhang Yimou is a very hardworking person. Over the past year, he has collected the copyrights of several novels. In addition to thanking Lin Weimin for his help in recommending "Wives and Concubines", he also came here to ask Lin Weimin's opinion on several of his selected works.

Among the scripts that Zhang Yimou took out was Wang Shuo's "I Am Your Father". According to him, he bought it from Wang Shuo for 1 yuan.

"Don't think about "I Am Your Father". You will suffer too much when you shoot this kind of subject matter." Lin Weimin said, pointing to the script.

Lin Weimin also saw Liu Zhenyun's "Chicken Feather" in a pile of scripts, and this novel was published in "Contemporary".

"Are you going to make "Chicken Feather All Over the Place"?" Lin Weimin asked.

Zhang Yimou pondered and said: "It was originally planned to be filmed. We changed the background of the story from Yanjing to Chongqing. I also went there before the film festival, but I still didn't find the feeling. So now I am a little hesitant..."

He said that he found a copy of "Chinese Writer" from several scripts, and said: "Mr. Lin, there is a good novella in this issue of "Chinese Writer", which is very vivid. I think it has the potential to be adapted."

Lin Weimin flipped through the copy of "Chinese Writers", glanced at it, and said, "Is this the "Wanjia Litigation"?"

Zhang Yimou became happy when he heard the words, feeling like he had met a confidant, "I knew you would understand my thoughts!"

Lin Weimin said with a smile: "The content of "The Lawsuit of Ten Thousand Families" is good and the story contains many elements that can be expanded. Adapting a novel into a film requires not only high-quality novel content, but also room for adaptation."

Zhang Yimou nodded and said excitedly: "You are so right, I just like this advantage of this novel."

"Then let's make this one!"

"it is good."

Tong Zhonggui watched Zhang Yimou decide his next work under the influence of Lin Weimin's few words, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Teacher Lin's influence on Yimou is really too great!
After confirming the work to be shot, Zhang Yimou was eager to try it.

"Has the scriptwriter been decided?" Lin Weimin asked.

"Nope."

"Let me recommend someone to you, you know "Ben Ming Year", right?"

Zhang Yimou nodded, "I know, the film directed by Xie Fei has won awards abroad."

"The original book of "Benming Year" is called "Black Snow". It was written by Liu Heng. His script is good."

Let Mr. Lin say that the script is well written, and there is no need to doubt his creative ability. Zhang Yimou thought this way in his heart and said, "Okay, then I will contact him later."

In later generations, Liu Heng became Zhang Yimou's literary consultant. He was the screenwriter for his work "Ju Dou", but in this life, because of Lin Weimin, Zhang Yimou did not make "Code Named Jaguar" or "Ju Dou", so he had no intersection with Liu Heng.

Before Liu Heng recommended Han Zhuangzhuang to star in "Ben Ming Nian", this time Lin Weimin recommended him as the screenwriter of "Wan Jia Litigation", which can be regarded as repaying his favor.

Zhang Yimou and Tong Zhonggui stayed at Lin Weimin's house for more than two hours and left after lunch. Zhang Yimou was satisfied when he left.

I came to Teacher Lin's house once and solved the problem of another work.

"Yimou!" Tong Zhonggui called him.

"what happened?"

"Do you think..." Tong Zhonggui's tone was a little hesitant.

"Do you feel anything?" Zhang Yimou asked.

"Do you feel that you are a little dependent on Teacher Lin now?"

Tong Zhonggui was not trying to sow discord, but because he looked at the problem from the perspective of a third party other than Lin Weimin and Zhang Yimou, so he could clearly see Zhang Yimou's current mentality and the reasons for his series of actions.

Tong Zhonggui's words made Zhang Yimou stand on the spot in a daze.

He froze there for a while, and the images in his mind kept flashing through the contacts with Lin Weimin in the past few years, all of which were due to Lin Weimin's selfless help.

He couldn't help but said with a wry smile: "Ms. Lin really helped me a lot, and I developed this kind of dependence before I knew it."

Tong Zhonggui was also touched when he heard his words.

Indeed, as Zhang Yimou said, Mr. Lin has been of great help to him, supporting him in making films, finding investment, selecting scripts, selecting screenwriters, and the most important tasks in the film production process. Mr. Lin has helped him in all of them.

Whoever it is, shouldn't be able to refuse this kind of help, right?
Tong Zhonggui thought in this way, and felt that his words were a bit redundant, "Forget it, I am talking too much."

Zhang Yimou laughed and said, "What's so bad about being so dependent? Others can't rely on it if they want to!"

Tong Zhonggui nodded, which is quite correct.

The next day, the first thing Lin Weimin did at work was to sign the publishing contract of "The Story of Promotion".

It has been more than five months since "The Story of Promotion" was published in "Contemporary" in May, and the aftermath of the third Yanbing Literature Award was still unabated.

With the jewels of "The Robber Official" in front of it, and the award ceremony that just passed, it is self-evident that Lin Weimin released this novel at that time, so once the novel was published, it caused an uproar in the domestic literary circles.

Not to mention the various social phenomena and objects that Lin Weimin satirized in the novel, but from the work itself, the completion quality of "The Story of Promotion" is very high.

When people in later generations mention Chinese satirical novels, the first thing that comes to mind will always be the classic works of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, such as "Lao Can's Travels", "The Scholars", "20 Years of Weird Situation", and "Nie Haihua".

In modern times, there are also works by famous masters such as Mr. Lu Xun, Mr. Lao She, and Mr. Zhao Shuli.

But in the years of reform and opening up, satirical novels seem to have become lonely.

It’s not that there are no writers writing novels of this type. On the contrary, there are still some writers who insist on creating novels of this type, but there is a problem in their works in recent years.

The air of words is floating, and the pen has no hidden front.

This evaluation is also a common term used by many critics to comment on satire and condemn novels in the late Qing Dynasty. To put it simply, the writing is too straightforward, too exaggerated, not subtle enough, and lacks the tact and insight of literati.

This is also the most difficult problem to avoid when creating satirical and condemning novels.

If you want to expose, satirize, and condemn, you will inevitably be blunt and exaggerated.

Lin Weimin exposed and satirized many strange phenomena in this society in "The Story of Promotion", and was extremely naked when he wrote about the calculations and struggles among the characters.

But when dealing with these plots, it is very rational and objective, and does not involve personal emotions, which avoids the distortion of the plot in the novel to the greatest extent, and makes the atmosphere of the novel more real and peaceful.

Even if the characters in the story fight fiercely, it will not affect the reader's reading, let alone make the reader feel that the novel is exaggerated and untrue.

Radar, a well-known domestic literary critic, wrote an article in "Literary News" in July, praising "The Story of Promotion" as "the pinnacle of contemporary Chinese satirical novels".

Such high praise has shifted the focus of many people's attention on the novel "Story of the Promotion of Officials" from the "grievances in the literary world" to the novel itself, and also made many people truly realize the true value and significance of the novel "Story of Promotion to Officials".

(End of this chapter)