1980 My Literary Era.

Chapter 849: When can I win a prize?

Roberto Bernini's non-standard Chinese pronunciation spread throughout the United States and even many Western countries through television signals, making Lin Weimin's name, together with "Life is Beautiful," become the world's favorite in the days after the Oscars. Popular words in many news reports from various countries.

On the night of the Oscars, some media took a photo of Roberto Benigni standing on the back of a chair with his arms spread out. It also became the cover of major American media reports the next day.

At the same time, "Spielberg's wry smile" also became a bit of a joke as it spread throughout this awards ceremony.

As we all know, Spielberg bought the rights to "Life is Beautiful, No Matter What" back then, but due to the influence of some radical Jewish groups, he did not adapt the novel and instead filmed a film by Australian novelist Thomas Ken Neely's novel "Schindler's List".

"Schindler's List" also swept the Oscars that year, so when it comes down to it, Spielberg is not blind.

It just happened that he and Roberto Benigni attended this Oscar ceremony at the same time. When arranging seats for this stunt, the organizing committee specially arranged him and Roberto Benigni together.

Judging from the aftermath, the organizing committee’s purpose was indeed achieved and it achieved miraculous results.

The slightly bumpy adaptation experience of "Life is Beautiful" has become even more legendary thanks to the joint appearance of two talented directors, Roberto Benigni and Spielberg.

For one week in a row, news about the Oscars and "Life is Beautiful" has become a hot topic in the United States and many English-speaking countries, boosting the sales of the original novel to see a significant increase.

When the news spread back to China, it also aroused heated discussions.

In the first half of last year, Lin Weimin went to the United States to receive a Pulitzer Prize, which brought an opportunity to ease the tense Sino-American relations. In July, senior American officials visited China, and subsequently the relations between the two countries gradually warmed up.

By this year, relations had basically returned to normal, and the news that "Life is Beautiful" won four consecutive Oscars naturally became the focus of many official media reports.

Although this film is all foreign from the director to the actors, it does not hinder the closeness of the Chinese people to it. This is a film adapted from Lin Weimin's novel.

After "Farewell My Concubine", another film adapted from Lin Weimin's work won the Oscar.

Moreover, this time "Life Is Beautiful" has far better results than "Farewell, My Concubine", winning four awards in a row, almost equal to "The Last Emperor" which swept the Oscars that year.

Many domestic film practitioners talked about this topic. In addition to admiration, countless ordinary people also lamented the impressive achievements of the adaptation of Lin Weimin's works.

The vitality of entertainment news is always short-lived. The news that "Life is Beautiful" swept the Academy Awards lasted only a few days and passed away.

Lin Weimin has long been unfazed by this wave of reports, and still lives a life of two o'clock and one line every day.

On the afternoon of April 4, he was holding a meeting with a roomful of people.

Zhao Xin hurried into the conference room and whispered in his ear: "Wang Xiaobo passed away."

Lin Weimin glanced at Zhao Xin unexpectedly and asked, "When did it happen?"

"Early this morning. It was said to be a heart problem. No one was at home and he was only discovered in the morning. He called from his brother and wanted to invite you to attend the memorial service. The memorial service will be at the Babaoshan Funeral Home the day after tomorrow."

Suppressing the heaviness in his heart, Lin Weimin nodded, "I understand."

After Zhao Xin finished telling the news, he left the conference room. Lin Weimin continued to hold the meeting for everyone, but he was a little distracted.

After finishing the meeting in a daze, he returned to the office and sat down, and then he sighed.

In total, Wang Xiaobo has been writing full-time for six or seven years. As far as Lin Weimin knows, he has spent most of the past few years at home and immersed himself in writing.

I spend most of my time in front of the computer every day, and I also like to drink. Over time, I develop physical problems.

Lin Weimin had met Wang Xiaobo several times before. Seeing that he looked bad, he also advised him to adjust his work and rest and control his writing intensity. Unfortunately...

Two days later, Lin Weimin came to Babaoshan Funeral Home early in the morning.

When future generations talk about Babaoshan, many people's first reaction will always be to think of the deaths and funerals of many leaders.

Lin Weimin came to Hall No. [-]. Not many people came to express their condolences to Wang Xiaobo. They were mainly his relatives and friends during his lifetime. Except for Lin Weimin, almost no one from the literary world came. This was very consistent with Wang Xiaobo's lifestyle during his lifetime.

This time and space is due to Lin Weimin, and many of his works have been published, such as "Secret Biography of the Tang Dynasty", "Golden Age", "Silver Age", "Dark Iron Age", etc. However, Wang Xiaobo was tired of all kinds of social situations during his lifetime, and he was not good at getting along with others. He did not join a literary association or hang out in social circles, so although he had been writing full-time for many years, he never had many friends in the literary world.

Lin Weimin chatted with Wang Xiaobo's brother for a few words, and then he learned that when Wang Xiaobo passed away, his wife Li Yinhe was working as an exchange scholar in the UK. He had no one at home, and his illness came on suddenly, and he was not discovered until the morning.

After hearing what happened, Lin Weimin was helpless. This sudden situation was indeed unpredictable.

All I can say is, this is fate!
After the memorial service, Lin Weimin discussed with Wang Xiaobo's brother whether to publish a new obituary in the newspaper.

Wang Xiaobo is a writer, and unlike later generations whose works were ignored until his death, he is somewhat famous in the domestic literary circle. Although he has never been popular among mainstream literary audiences due to the style of his works, In the eyes of readers who like his writing, Wang Xiaobo is a talented novelist who has been buried.

Readers should know this news.

After obtaining the consent of Wang Xiaobo's brother, Wang Xiaobo's obituary was published in the current issue of "Guo Wen Bao".

Wang Xiaobo's unexpected death did not cause any waves in the literary world, but it caused quite a reaction among readers.

After the obituary in the "Guowen Bao" was published, many loyal readers of Wang Xiaobo wrote to the editorial office to express their condolences.

A few days later, Lin Weimin heard that Li Yinhe had returned from abroad, so he made a special trip to visit her and Wang Xiaobo's home.The main purpose of Lin Weimin's visit this time was to seek Li Yinhe's opinion and see if she agreed with the Chinese Literature Society publishing Wang Xiaobo's collected works.

"I have always believed that Xiaobo should have a place in contemporary literature. Now that he has passed away suddenly, it is a loss for the literary world and readers. So I think it is necessary to sort out his works and let more readers See his talent."

Publishing anthologies is a kind of recognition for writers. Many writers' anthologies are published after their death, and many writers' anthologies are published during their lifetime. However, publishing an anthology during one's lifetime must achieve certain achievements to convince the public. of.

After listening to Lin Weimin's thoughts, Li Yinhe felt a little relieved despite his sadness.

My husband, Wang Xiaobo, loved writing during his lifetime. In the past few years when he was writing full-time, he hardly stopped writing for a day.

Publishing an anthology is in any case a recognition of her husband's literary achievements. How could she, as a wife, disagree?
With Li Yinhe's consent, Lin Weimin returned to the club and handed over the task of "Collected Works of Wang Xiaobo".

During lunch, Yu Hua sat next to Lin Weimin.

"Teacher Lin, have you heard?"

"What did you hear?" Lin Weimin asked while eating normally.

"This year's Yan Bing Literature Award is difficult to deliver again!" Yu Hua said with a gossipy face.

Lin Weimin rarely pays attention to the news of the Literary and Art Association now. He paid attention to the Yanbing Literary Award when he submitted his works. From October 95 to now, this award has been held for more than a year. It is not until spring. It was time to announce it at this time, but something unexpected happened again.

He asked calmly: "What's the reason this time?"

A look of pride appeared on Yu Hua's face, "You can hear this news from me..."

Seeing that he still wanted to sell Guan Zilin to eat for the people, he ignored him.

After feeling bored, Yu Hua had no choice but to continue speaking: "Let me tell you, this time our Chinese Literature Society won a big victory! Didn't we select 30 works to enter the competition stage during the reading class selection last year? Our Chinese Literature Society There are also 10 works shortlisted, and let me tell you, this time the awards are said to have selected 4 works, all of which are from our Chinese Literature Society!"

Works published by Guowenshe occupy all the winning places for this year’s Yanbing Literature Award?
That's good news.

Lin Weimin asked: "You said that the award is difficult to deliver, is this the reason?"

"Yes! Think about it, there are only a few places for one award, and they are all taken up by our Chinese literary society. How can the jury explain to publishing institutions and cultural units across the country?
When it was first launched, everyone submitted works they were confident about, but now that the awards have been announced, it has become a one-man show for our Chinese literary society. How should the jury explain? "

Listening to Yu Hua's words, Lin Weimin's mouth curved into a smile, which was indeed interesting.

Over the years, he and the Literary and Art Association have fallen in love and fought each other, and their relationship has never been broken. Seeing them in pain, Teacher Lin is still very happy.

Looking at Lin Weimin's expression, Yu Hua knew that he was flattering again this time.

"Let them go." Lin Weimin said casually.

Anyway, the quality of the Chinese Literature Society's works is not something that the jury can take away if they want. If they really go too far, Lin Weimin wouldn't mind starting the "People's Literature Award" again.

The People's Literature Award is a literary award sponsored by the Chinese Literature Society in 1986. The scope of the awards is limited to works published by the Chinese Literature Society or published in its publications.But this literary award has never been held since the first one in 86.

The main reason for the suspension of the People's Literature Award is that the list of winners of the first People's Literature Award highly overlapped with the list of winners of the first and second Yanbing Literature Awards.

The People's Literature Award is an award made by the Chinese Literature Society, but the award results have been criticized for having a high overlap rate with the Yanbing Literature Award, which is really dumbfounding.

But this award result also shows that the Chinese Literature Society is qualified and capable to organize a large-scale literary awards event.

"Teacher Lin, I think our club can have its own awards?"

Yu Hua was like a roundworm in Lin Weimin's stomach.

Lin Weimin glanced at him and asked, "What are you doing with awards?"

"Everyone is doing it! Look at "Everyone" and "East China Sea". They are all literary magazines that offer awards. I think with the strength of our Chinese Literature Society, there is absolutely no problem in setting up an award. They can easily crush them. Yanbing Literature Award..."

Lin Weimin interrupted Yu Hua's bold statement, "That's nonsense. The Yan Bing Literature Award was established according to Mr. Yan Bing's last wish. Although we don't want to deal with it, we must respect it."

Yu Hua immediately corrected his position, "You are right."

He said this, but what he was thinking in his heart was: Leaders really like to talk twice and mean what they mean.

The reason why Yu Hua said that just now had his own purpose.

When the slander failed, he became worried again.

He claims to have learned the essence of Lin Weimin's literary creation, but he has not won any decent awards in so many years.If the Chinese Literature Society organizes its own awards, he might have a chance.

Multiple opportunities mean one more possibility.

Alas, I can win a prize sometime!
(End of this chapter)