Back to 80: My literary life

Chapter 106 105 Realistic themes? Modern theme? (Please order first, please follow up)

The question now is what to write?

This needs to be considered carefully.

Fang Minghua carefully analyzed the six novels that won the Mao Dun Award. Except for "Li Zicheng", which is a historical novel, and "The East" can be attributed to military themes, the other four novels are all realistic.

This is inevitable.

From the founding of the People's Republic of China to the present (early 80s) for more than thirty years, writers' creations have mainly focused on realist themes, especially long novels. For example, avant-garde novels began to emerge after the reform and opening up, and they are basically short and medium-sized novels. It is still a new thing, otherwise the article "The Sun Also Rises" would not have caused such a big controversy.

In fact, most of the subsequent Mao Dun Award-winning works also have realistic themes.

Further analysis shows that the contents described in these six novels all span a wide time span, ranging from ten years to several decades, describing the magnificent scenes of social change from different angles.

According to this idea, if you want to win the award, you must focus on realistic themes, and the time span is relatively large.

It turns out that those novels that won the Mao Dun Award, such as Zhang Jie's "Heavy Wings" and Mo Yan's "Frog", are not Time and Space Porters. In fact, Fang Minghua had never read them before traveling through time.

I remember when I was in college, there was a popular saying in the literary circle:

"If you want to be a high-quality literary youth, you must know: French literature is the most suitable, German literature is fully valued, and there are very few good works in Japan (works by Haruki Haruki and others cannot be considered high-quality literature) Qingfayan, that is a reading book for middle-level literary youth.) There is no literature in Korea, but you can read modern Chinese, but do not take the initiative to contact contemporary works.
  After I reached middle age, I came out of those so-called circles and read novels and TV series such as "The Ordinary World" and "White Deer Plain" and it felt quite good.

There are also two TV series that have high ratings on Douban, "Enter Guandong" and "Mansion Gate". Fang Minghua has watched both of them, including the original works.

Although I didn’t win the Mao Dun Award at the time, maybe it would be fine if I used it to revise it?
  It doesn’t matter if you don’t remember some specific details. As long as you know the general plot, character settings, and especially the portrayal of the protagonists, after years of practice, Fang Minghua feels that he is confident in writing it.

It doesn’t have to be exactly the same as the original.

Which one specifically?

Fang Minghua fell in love with "Crossing Guandong".

The novel takes the story of Zhu Kaishan, his wife and their three sons from Zhangqiu, Shandong Province as their adventures in Guandong as the main line, and creates portraits of civilian heroes represented by Zhu Kaishan, Zhu Chuanwu, etc. Fang Minghua also admired Li Youbin's performance as Zhu Kaishan.

The whole novel is full of a wild flavor. Compared with "The Gate of the Great House", which tells the legendary story of the medical family in Yanjing, it is more about struggle and conspiracy.

It's the former, which looks better.

There is also a practical reason. Dad Fang Changhe is from the Northeast!

I heard that the ancestors of the Fang family came from Lu Province.

Now that he had decided, Fang Minghua started to prepare and needed information. He was not familiar with the customs and customs of the White Mountains and Black Waters in the Northeast, including the historical background, which he did not know very well.

But it doesn't matter, ask dad and get first-hand information.

Of course, this is not enough. Although there is no Du Niang, there are books to check. The magazine does not have so much information. You can go to Western University and Qin Normal University to find it. You can even go to the provincial library to check historical facts that are not open to the public. As long as you take Author's card can be used without any hindrance.

There’s no rush anyway, it’s enough to write a long novel in one year.

But he didn't expect that just after New Year's Day, he would receive an invitation from Harvest magazine, asking him to write an avant-garde novel.

This morning, as soon as he went to work, Zhang Baofu brought him a letter.

When I opened it, it turned out to be a handwritten letter from Xiao Dai, deputy editor-in-chief of Harvest, in which he said that he greatly admired "The Sun Also Rises" and "The Donkey Gets Water" published in "Yenjing Literature" magazine. Such a work with novel subject matter and unique writing techniques.

At the same time, I also agree with some of the views he wrote in his article "The Past, Present and Domestic Development History of Stream of Consciousness Novel", so I hope he can write another similar avant-garde work.

Fang Minghua didn't expect that "Harvest" would actually ask for a manuscript!

Since time traveling, apart from Xijing, he has been familiar with several magazines in Yanjing. He has been to Yanjing several times, but has never been to Shanghai. "Harvest" is also one of the four famous celebrities in our literary world today. More importantly, his editor-in-chief is the Taishan Beidou Palladium in the literary world!

"Harvest" was founded by Palladium and Jin Yi in the 1950s. After decades of ups and downs, it has become one of the top serious literary magazines in the domestic literary world.

Palladium invested a lot of effort into this magazine. He served as editor-in-chief from its inception and resigned from many positions in his later years. However, he remained the editor-in-chief of "Harvest" until his death, holding the title for life!
  But why did "Harvest" ask me for a manuscript? Does it have to be a avant-garde novel?

When Fang Minghua thought about it carefully, it was not difficult to understand.

"Contemporary" in the north and "Harvest" in the south are two serious publication giants in the domestic literary world, but their styles are different.

"Literature recording China" is the realism insistence of "Contemporary".

Let the works speak for themselves, feel China's confusion and pain, be able to personally witness China's efforts and persistence, and faithfully record China's setbacks and progress.

But "Harvest" is different. It relies on Shencheng, a modern Chinese city that embraces all rivers and is full of vitality, to continue the blood of the May Fourth New Culture, adhere to the independent character of literature, and "give your heart to the readers."

Known as "a shorthand version of contemporary Chinese literature."

Fang Minghua remembers that in the mid-to-late 1980s, "Harvest" had a special issue on avant-garde literature for two consecutive years. So it is not surprising that editors-in-chief are now interested in avant-garde works.

How to do?
  Do you want to produce original realist works or respond to the invitation from the editorial board of Harvest and write avant-garde novels?
  I'm a little confused.

However, after careful consideration, Fang Minghua decided to follow his own path.

That copper medal is really enviable.

So I was going to write a reply to Xiao Dai, explaining that I was now preparing to write a realistic work and declined the invitation for the time being.

But before the letter was written, something happened that changed Fang Minghua's mind.

Just after going to work at noon that day, Fang Minghua took a copy of the submission and didn't read it carefully when he heard Bai Miao opposite him take the phone and shout a few words to him: "Xiao Fang, your phone number."

There are four people in an office, and there is only one phone. The landline is located closest to Bai Miao, so he became a voluntary call answerer.

Fang Minghua took the microphone, and Zhao Hongjun's voice came from inside: "Minghua, we got the color TV tickets, when will you come to pick them up? It's best to hurry up, Minsheng Department Store has purchased a batch of "Haiyan" 14-inch TVs, the latest model, Very popular!”

"Really? Then I'll come right away!"

Fang Minghua hung up the phone, went to the office next door to ask for leave from Li Tianfang, then went downstairs and left the unit on his bicycle, heading towards the provincial capital.

It turns out that since the rise of television, this thing has immediately become a good thing. The fifth aunt's family on the first floor of Tongzilou bought a black and white TV and it became the treasure of Tongzilou.

My mother also liked to go there and watch it, but there were too many people and there was no place to go, so she thought about buying one at home?
  Our family can still afford it at four or five hundred yuan.

Fang Minghua immediately objected when he heard it, why buy black and white?
  Wouldn't a color TV be better?
  It’s only about a thousand yuan, I’ll pay for it, and I’ll get the color TV tickets!

So I called Zhao Hongjun, who worked at the Planning Commission, and asked him to help get a TV ticket.

This is a piece of cake for Zhao Hongjun, who is in charge of plan approval. No, I called within two days.

He entered the Xincheng compound with his work permit and found Zhao Hongjun at the Planning Commission building. The other party handed a color TV ticket to Fang Minghua and asked with concern: "Do you want tickets for the refrigerator and washing machine? I'll get you two, too."

"I want it. The problem is that the space at home is small and there is no place to put the refrigerator. The washing machine is affordable, but there is only one faucet on the first floor. How can I use it?" Fang Minghua said with a smile.

"The conditions of the Tongzi Building are indeed poor." Zhao Hongjun nodded after hearing this, then suddenly remembered something and lowered his voice: "Our unit is preparing to raise funds to build a family building, and I have also been given a quota. Do you want it? I'll pass it on to you."

　Thanks to 8 Experts, oh oh, it’s me and others for voting, and thanks to Hua Hongzheng Hexiang for the reward.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)