1980 My Literary Era.

Chapter 637 Unreliable Italian
The next day, Lin Weimin received a letter from the United States, written to him by Richard Yates.

In the past two years, the Guowen Society has successively introduced several works of Richard Yates. Thanks to Lin Weimin's strong promotion, these works have achieved good sales in China.

Although it is not considered a bestseller, it does not take much effort to sell 15 to [-] copies a year. The most sold book is "Revolutionary Road". As Richard Yates' most famous work, the accumulated sales of this novel It has sold more than [-] copies.

Also because of the continuous sales of his works, the reputation of Richard Yates has gradually become well-known to the Chinese literary circles and readers. They know that on the other side of the ocean, there is a great writer who defined the "Age of Anxiety" in the United States.

In the letter, Richard Yates and Lin Weimin talked about his recent situation.

His tuberculosis became more serious, and he was admitted to the hospital twice in the past six months. He had difficulty breathing, coughing and wheezing constantly, and had to use an oxygen mask to breathe.

But even so, he did not quit smoking and drinking.

The loneliness and loss he wrote all his life, coupled with the changes in his family, have already made his heart full of holes. Only these two things can anesthetize his heart and let him continue to write.

"Lin, I don't think I will die soon. Recently, I am sorting out all my creations in my life. It is a pity to say that I have written novels for decades, and countless famous writers in the literary world have praised me highly, but not only have my novels sold Dismal, even the awards are pitiful.

Whenever I think about it, I always feel intense pain.I have a request, and I hope you can help me publish a collection of essays including all my works in my life. I will collect and organize the manuscripts of these works and mail them to you.

If it is not possible to publish, then take these manuscripts as my last gift to you! "

After reading Richard Yates' letter, which was like his last words, Lin Weimin was a little moved. On the one hand, it was because of his recent deterioration, and on the other hand, it was also because of his trust in himself.

Of course, part of this trust is also due to Lin Weimin's efforts to introduce and promote his works in the past three years.

Compared with the cold reception he received in the United States, the recognition and welcome Richard Yates felt in China warmed his broken heart.

Richard Yates' request was not a difficult matter for Lin Weimin. In private, the two had some friendship; in public, his works sold well, at least he didn't lose money, and his anthology might sell better. The Guowen Society is not at a disadvantage either.

Immediately, Lin Weimin wrote back to Richard Yates, first concerned about his health, comforted him, and then agreed to publish the anthology, asking him to mail the manuscript as soon as possible.

A few days later, Lin Weimin received a call from Albert from Italy, talking about the [-]th and [-]th list of the Strega Literary Award.

In June, the Strega Literary Award announced the top five finalists for the final competition, which means that seven of the twelve shortlisted works were eliminated.

Lin Weimin's "Burning" was eliminated among the seven works, "Anyway, Life is Beautiful" was successfully promoted.

Twelve into five, there is also a saying in the Strega Literary Award. These five shortlisted works have already won the Strega Youth Award. The jury for this award consists of 60 middle schools from Italy and overseas. Composed of 600 students.

Lin Weimin, who had already received the news from Bertolucci, was not surprised. He just thought of those fancy talent shows in later generations, and they had to be played by Italians!

Ten days had passed since the announcement of the [-]-in-[-] list, and Albert Mondadori finally remembered to call Lin Weimin.

When Lin Weimin asked him why he didn't notify himself when he was shortlisted last time, Albert gave the answer that he was too happy the day the shortlist came out, drank too much, and forgot about it.

Lin Weimin opened his mouth, and finally had nothing to say, but he just kept in mind that it would be unreliable not to deal with this guy.

The reason why Albert thought of calling Lin Weimin was because he wanted to remind Lin Weimin to apply for a passport and visa.

If it weren't for this, Albert probably wouldn't be able to think of contacting Lin Weimin.

Albert is an unreliable person, but after all, he is a professional editor who has been in the Italian literary circle for a long time. He specially analyzed the competitors for this award for Lin Weimin.

Finally, he said: "In fact, it is a good thing that "Burning" was rejected this time. Otherwise, when the two works are shortlisted, the votes will inevitably be divided. Now only one work is shortlisted in the final list, and the number of votes for "Burning" should be A lot of that goes to Life Is Beautiful Anyway, increasing your chances of winning."

Two days later, the invitation letter issued by the Organizing Committee of the Strega Literary Prize was sent to Lin Weimin through the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the visa was processed quickly.

A few days later, in the first week of July, the results of the Strega Literary Prize will be announced, and Lin Weimin will leave for Italy.

The afternoon before, Tao Huimin went to Hongdu Clothing Company. This time, she went to Italy to participate in the awards ceremony. Although she might not win the award, she had to prepare her outfit. Before that, she took Lin Weimin to Hongdu Clothing Company to order a set of high-end suits. .

After taking the suit back and trying it on, it fits very well and is not inferior to the luxury ready-to-wear that Lin Weimin bought abroad.

Early the next morning, Lin Weimin flew to Rome, Italy, accompanied by staff from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture.

The two ministries and commissions attach great importance to the Strega Literary Award this time. After all, it is a first-line literary award in the European literary world. In addition, when Lin Weimin won the Goncourt Literary Award five years ago, the Chinese and French cultural circles were in the forefront. This time, the ministry sent two comrades to escort Lin Weimin to Italy.

It was already evening when the plane landed, and the bus from the Chinese embassy in Italy came to pick up Lin Weimin. The embassy had already arranged the hotel where Lin Weimin stayed during his stay in Italy.

Albert, who had agreed to pick him up before departure, was nowhere to be seen. He didn't know what he was going to do again. Lin Weimin would not be so stupid as to wait for him, so he went straight to the hotel.

After resting for one night, Lin Weimin contacted the Organizing Committee of the Strega Literary Award through the embassy to discuss matters related to attending the award ceremony.

After communicating with the organizing committee, Albert's call finally came.

"Lin, my friend, I'm so sorry. My car broke down and I didn't bother to pick you up. Just now the organizing committee called me and said you've arrived in Italy."

Lin Weimin didn't know how sincere Albert's apology was, and he didn't want to care about it. Anyway, he had lost confidence in this guy.

The awarding ceremony of the Strega Literary Award will be held tomorrow morning. The two had a brief conversation. No.216 in this work.

After receiving this news, Lin Weimin felt even more at ease with tomorrow's award ceremony.

Then he called Bertolucci again, telling him that he was in Italy, and the two made an appointment to find time to get together after the awards ceremony.

After spending the night in the hotel, the next morning, Lin Weimin tidied up, had breakfast, got into the car waiting for the embassy, ​​followed by several staff members, and officially set off.

The Strega Literary Prize is held in the Villa Julia Museum in Rome. The cultural relics displayed here are the cultural heritage left by the Etruscans who established urban civilization in the Apennines in the 8th and 6th centuries BC.

When Lin Weimin arrived at the venue, closed management had been implemented here. With the invitation letter, Lin Weimin and several accompanying staff members successfully entered the museum.

Today's Villa Julia Museum is filled with posters of the Strega Literary Award. These posters have one thing in common, they all have "witch" elements.

"Strega-strega" in Italian means witch, so the Strega Literary Award is also known as the "Witch Award". Over the years, posters have been related to witches riding brooms.

The award ceremony style of the Strega Literary Award is completely different from that in China. A rostrum is set up in the venue of the museum, surrounded by a red warning tape.

There was more than half an hour before the awards ceremony started, and the podium was already full of people. Lin Weimin first found Albert, who came today on behalf of Mondadori Publishing House.

Albert led Lin Weimin to several judges and greeted them, the relationship seemed unusually familiar.

Not only the judges, but even people from other publishing houses seem to have a good relationship with Albert.

The judges are quite old, and the editorial department is mainly composed of people in their 50s and [-]s, and there are very few young people. Lin Weimin seemed a little awkward standing among them.

Albert said in Lin Weimin's ear: "Lin, do you know? If you win the award, you will break the record for the youngest winner of the Strega Literary Award."

Lin Weimin was slightly surprised. He is 32 years old this year, so he is not considered young by any means, yet he can still be named the youngest winner?
He asked Albert a bit, and then he realized that there were no younger finalists than him in the history of the Strega Literary Award, but unfortunately none of them won the award in the end.

The award-winning writers of the Strega Literary Prize are almost monopolized by the five major publishing houses in Italy all year round. Whether it is the judges or the editors, they are all the same group of people. The only difference is the award-winning writers every year. Among these writers, young There are very few opportunities for people to stand out.

The Strega Literary Award has a rule that after a writer wins the award, he is not allowed to win the award consecutively within three years.

In addition to the many judges of the Strega Literary Prize and editors of various publishing houses, the guests attending the award ceremony today include previous winners and finalists of the Strega Literary Prize, many writers, critics, Media journalists and cultural officials of the Italian government.

More than 200 people gathered in the Villa Julia Museum, surrounded by the rostrum inside a circle of red warning tape, and the staff of Italian TV 3 are setting up cameras on the outside. Today's award ceremony will be covered by TV 3 live.

Like a courtesan, Albert led Lin Weimin through the crowd with ease, completely different from the previous unreliable ones.

Lin Weimin no longer remembers how many people he greeted, anyway, he didn't remember a single name.

"Hi Lin!"

Lin Weimin was patted on the shoulder, and he turned his head to see that it was Roger Strauss.

"Roger, why are you here?" Lin Weimin hugged him in surprise.

"The Strega Award is such an important thing, of course I want to come and see it, I heard that you are the hottest one this year!" Roger Strauss joked.

The two hadn't seen each other for three years, and just after exchanging a few words, the awards ceremony was about to begin, and Lin Weimin was invited to the rostrum.

The rostrum of the awards ceremony was not high, less than [-] centimeters, and it was not as majestic as when holding a conference in China.

On the stage with him were the other four writers whose works were shortlisted at the same time. Four of the five were destined to accompany them. The camera lens was facing everyone, and everyone had indifferent smiles on their faces, as if the winning ticket was in their hands. .

(End of this chapter)