1980 My Literary Era.

Chapter 639

The awarding of the Stregaard Literary Prize is very different from the Goncourt Literary Prize. The French people are very enthusiastic and seem to respect literature very much. When the award was presented, the Touron restaurant in Paris was surrounded by enthusiastic readers and citizens.

When Lin Weimin stood on the balcony on the second floor of the restaurant, he was like a crowned prince, enjoying the cheers and support of thousands of readers.

In contrast, the day of the Strega Literary Award was more like a party, without so many enthusiastic readers, the ceremony organization was simple and casual, and the atmosphere was relaxed and happy.

Especially the dinner party on the open-air lawn at night gave Lin Weimin a sense of sight when eating a feast.

When it comes to the atmosphere during the award presentation, he prefers the Goncourt Literature Prize; if he talks about the banquet after the award presentation, he still prefers the Strega Literary Prize.

The flowery day was over, and Lin Weimin was exhausted when he returned to the hotel, and fell into a deep sleep before washing up.

The next day, Lin Weimin had two more interviews. Yesterday's interviews were mainly with newspapers and TV media, and today's interviews were with two magazines, one of which was "Prospect" controlled by Mondadori Publishing House, and the other was an Italian magazine. The famous literary review magazine "Literary Criticism".

Two interviews took up the morning, followed by a reader meeting in the afternoon.

The evening was free time. Lin Weimin wanted to visit the night scene of Rome accompanied by an interpreter, but Roger Strauss invited him out for dinner.

Going to the Three Treasures Hall for nothing, the United States and Italy are separated by more than half the world, but he ran over to present the Strega Literary Award, and of course he was still running for Lin Weimin's works.

So far, his FSG Publishing House has published three novels by Lin Weimin, "Hunting", "The Wind" and "In any case, Life is Beautiful". Among them, "The Hunting" and "In any case, "Life is Beautiful" has achieved good results.

In the past two years, it has been entrenched in the middle of the "New York Times" bestseller list, which is a bit of a long-lasting trend.

In order to promote these novels, Roger Strauss deliberately publicized several heavyweight literary review magazines such as "Pages", "New York Review of Books", and "The Writer", which can be described as painstaking.

After the book reviews in several magazines were published, Roger Strauss sent a special mail to Lin Weimin.

Of course, Lin Weimin knew the purpose of Roger Strauss doing this. After the work is done, there must be something to sell.

This is also where Roger Strauss has the confidence to discuss follow-up cooperation. The Random House family has a big business, and he definitely does not have such an attitude of admiration.

Roger Strauss chatted with Lin Weimin about the weather and today's award ceremony for a while, then got straight to the point and proposed to continue publishing Lin Weimin's works in the past two years.

The hits of "Hunting" and "Anyway, Life Is Beautiful" gave him a taste of the sweetness of working with Lin Weimin.

Unlike ordinary pure literature writers, Lin Weimin's works are always unexpectedly popular. When cooperating with him, I don't worry about losing money or losing money at all.

Coupled with the random house as a competitor, Roger Strauss' posture is very low.

As the work of a non-native writer, "The Hunt" won the National Book Critics Association Award for the second time. Roger Strauss contributed a lot. Anyway, it is cooperation with anyone.

They really put their best effort into their works, which is better than Random House.

However, in the past two years, Lin Weimin has only published "Not One Less" and "The Story of Promotion". The stories of the two novels are very Chinese. All are imported.

Roger Strauss quickly gave the answer, "None less!"

Lin Weimin was a little surprised. The story of "No One Less" is very Chinese and very rural. "Roger, although it is a good thing that the novel is published in the United States, do you think American readers will like this kind of work?"

Roger Strauss replied confidently, "Lin, you still don't understand your reputation in the American literary circles and literature lovers."

He continued with a smug face: "I have known the stories of "No One Can Be Less" and "The Story of the Promotion", and "The Story of the Promotion" is indeed too Chinese. It involves ideological issues, which we Americans can easily understand Difficult. Not one less, which is a novel you wrote for Project Hope, right?"

Lin Weimin nodded, "That's right."

"I heard that Project Hope has established more than 1000 rural primary schools in China, allowing children in poor areas to go to school for free?"

Lin Weimin nodded again.

With the name "Project Hope" deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the China Youth Education Development Foundation has not worried about donations for a long time.

In the past two years, the Hope Project has developed rapidly. Four to five hundred Hope Primary Schools will be built every year, and more than 1300 Hope Primary Schools have been built in total.

"Lin, you don't even know what a great thing you have done!" Roger Strauss praised.

Lin Weimin understood what he meant, and asked, "Roger, you mean you want to use this as a publicity stunt to introduce "Not One Less"."

"That's right. How about 'the world's largest donation to support education', 'the two-time National Book Critics Association Award winner donated tens of millions of dollars to the establishment', 'benefiting more than one million out-of-school children'? How about such slogans? Provocative, isn't it?" asked Roger Strauss.

Lin Weimin didn't think that Roger Strauss used the reputation of Project Hope to publicize. After all, these things were done by him, without any falsehood.

"Are you sure the Americans will buy it?"

Roger Strauss shook his head, "You, you still don't understand the 'hypocrisy' of Americans, but we are very 'careful' about this world."

Roger Strauss said that his country was not soft-spoken at all, and Lin Weimin couldn't help laughing.

Well, Roger Strauss' perspective on the issue is indeed very tricky. To put it simply, he has captured the mentality of the common people in the United States to "watch the fun".

Coupled with the gimmick of "charity", it is indeed likely to attract a group of readers who are interested in the two issues of "education" and "charity".

Since Roger Strauss had already thought out the direction and strategy of the propaganda, Lin Weimin naturally had no reason to disagree.

Having got his approval, Roger Strauss happily clinked a glass with him.

"Lin, I have something to tell you." After drinking two glasses of wine, Roger Strauss put on a complaining expression.

"what happened?"

"Why didn't Zun Long play "Farewell My Concubine"?"

Ok?
Lin Weimin looked surprised, "You still care about this matter?"

"It's not just me? Book fans all over the United States are concerned about this matter!" Roger Strauss looked serious.

Michael Phillips was not an investor in vain. After returning to the United States, he used his contacts to expose to the media the news that "Farewell My Concubine" was about to be filmed.

This information immediately attracted the attention of some American media, and then triggered a response among the readership.

Counting it, "Farewell My Concubine" has been published in the United States for nearly ten years, and its sales volume has exceeded 700 million copies. The reader base is no less than that of many well-known world classics.

In 89, the "Farewell My Concubine" drama was moved to the Broadway stage, which caused a sensation among American readers and drama audiences. Up to now, it has accumulated more than 160 million audiences, and the box office is as high as 1.3 million.

When "Untouchable" and "The Kite Runner" were discontinued one after another, and they could only rely on selling copyrights to occasionally earn a million dollars, "Farewell My Concubine" supported a large part of Lin Weimin's overseas income.

Of course, a bigger part comes from "The Phantom of the Opera". This opera has been on Broadway for less than four years, and its box office has exceeded 2.9 million dollars.

As the largest investor in this opera, Lin Weimin has the most lucrative income, earning more than 2000 million yuan almost every year.

Roger Strauss continued: "Jun Lung is very suitable for the role of Cheng Dieyi. Why did you use an actor from Xiangjiang in this movie?"

"There are mainly two considerations. One is that Zunlong's facial lines are too tough and not soft enough. The second is that Zunlong put forward too many conditions, which annoyed investors."

"Annoyed the investors?" Roger Strauss didn't expect the casting of "Farewell My Concubine" to have this kind of role, "It's so detailed."

Gossip is indeed a human nature, so Lin Weimin told all the moths about Zunlong's manager.

After hearing this, Roger Strauss said with a smile: "This Miss Chen really looks like a Hollywood star manager. It's a pity that Zun Long is actually very suitable for the role of Cheng Dieyi."

"Come on, how many Chinese actors do you Americans know? Now I say that "The Kite Runner" is going to be made into a movie, I'm afraid you will also say that Zunlong is suitable?"

Roger Strauss was a little unhappy, "Lin, you can't tarnish a book fan's love for characters."

Lin Weimin was speechless, "Okay, I apologize!"

After dinner, Lin Weimin returned to the hotel to rest.

On the third day in Italy, he still has to attend two reader meetings, which are of a signing nature.

Because of news media reports, the Strega Prize for Literature has become the most concerned thing for Italian literature lovers these days. Lin Weimin, the winner who broke many records, also makes these literature lovers very interested. Readers who already liked Lin Weimin's works made the reader meeting in these two days crowded and lively.

Lin Weimin's shoulders were sore when he signed, his hands were numb, and the smile on his face was extremely stiff in the end.

After a busy day, he finally had a rest at night, and Lin Weimin still had to go to the appointment.

Before the Strega Literary Award, he had made an appointment with Bertolucci to get together after coming to Italy. Finally, there was some time tonight, and Bertolucci specially arranged a party.

Bertolucci's home is located in the Prati district of Rome, a well-known wealthy area in Rome. It has a typical Roman architectural style. The villa is surrounded by walls to form a private residence. The trees and shrubs in the courtyard are high and low, dotted with green grass. and fountains.

Bertolucci is good at defeating investors, but he is not stingy with himself.

The climate in Italy in July is pleasant, with the highest temperature during the day at no more than 7 degrees and only 25 degrees at night.

The party was also held outside on the lawn. Lin Weimin was dragged in front of many guests by Bertolucci as soon as he arrived here.

"Gentlemen and ladies, let us welcome my good friend, Mr. Lin Weimin, a newcomer to the Stregar Prize for Literature, and one of the screenwriters of "The Last Emperor"!"

The guests who were gathering on the lawn gave bursts of applause, and whistled unscrupulously. It didn't feel like seeing a writer but a beautiful woman.

Among the guests who whistled the loudest, Lin Weimin noticed a little bald man with curly hair at a glance.

(End of this chapter)