1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 323 Guan Moye Returns Home

The letter begins by expressing respect for Jiang Xian, and then talks about his feelings after reading Red Sorghum. Finally, he writes with deep emotion:
"I am the son of a farmer, so I have a deep affection for corn, soybeans, sweet potatoes, millet, and sorghum, especially sorghum. When I was a child, my family was poor and I had five brothers and sisters. We often ate steamed bread made of sorghum flour.

After a long time, the stomach will feel bloated and uncomfortable, and excretion will be blocked.

Once, I couldn't stand it anymore, so I took four sorghum flour steamed buns and exchanged them with my neighbor for two cornmeal cakes. I was grateful to him for five years, until I graduated from elementary school.

Now that I think about it, the reason I love sorghum is because it fills people up.

People hate sorghum because it causes constipation.

The land of Gaomi is fertile, and one of its characteristics is the abundant production of red sorghum.

It is a great honor that Gaomi’s red sorghum has met you, the Muse of poetry, and has been endowed with a divine glow.

As a farmer's son, I am grateful to red sorghum for nourishing my life.

As a minor poet, I am grateful for the novel Red Sorghum for its guidance, advocacy and contribution to Gaomi literature.

If you have the honor, please come to Gaomi as a guest and we will certainly welcome you.

In addition, if you have the honor, we would be very happy to see you talk about Gaomi in your article and talk about your fate with Gaomi. Of course, this is my personal selfish idea, please don’t blame me. "

After writing the letter, Zhang Shijia rode his bicycle directly to the post office to mail it. At the same time, he ordered 300 copies of People's Literature from his comrades there, specifying that he wanted the 1982th issue of 6.

"Aristocratic family!"

On the way back, Zhang Shijia was stopped by someone. He turned around and saw that it was his childhood friend Guan Moye.

"Why are you back?" Zhang Shijia looked at Guan Moye, who was wearing olive green Dacron, with surprise.

"I'm home to visit my family. Come, have a smoke."

Guan Moye chatted with him for a few casual words and then handed him a cigarette with a filter.

He said excitedly: "Shijia, when I come back this time, I have a novel that I must show you!"

Zhang Shijia's eyes lit up, "What a coincidence, Lao Guan, I also have a novel that I must show you!"

Zhang Shijia took a step ahead of Guan Moye and took out the article "Red Sorghum" published in the sixth issue of "People's Literature" in 1982.

What Guan Moye was going to take out was a manuscript written on red-lined manuscript paper, "Transparent Carrot".

Let’s go back a little in time.

Baoding.

The Baoding at this time is not the Baoding that repairs roads every day.

Xiongan’s millennium plan has not yet been born, and today the city is as ordinary as every other northern city.

Looking around, there are gray buildings and industrial dust everywhere. The streets are very wide and densely packed with telephone poles and wires.

A few pedestrians rode bicycles through the alley.

The old alleys are lined with old houses that have gone through many vicissitudes of life, silently witnessing the vicissitudes of the history of the old city of Baoding.

What is extraordinary is that there stands a very imposing building on Dongfeng Middle Road, a hotel more than ten stories high with the words "Yanzhao" written on it.

This is the most upscale hotel in Baoding: Yanzhao Hotel.

It was once a hotel for receiving foreign guests and was also the tallest building in Hebei at that time.

A work discussion session was held here today.

Guan Moye, wearing a dark green military uniform, found his seat and sat down.

Last year, he just published a short story "Rainy Spring Night", which tells the story of a newly married young woman missing her husband who was a soldier on an island on a rainy spring night.

This novel was published in the literary bimonthly "Lian Chi" in Baoding, Hebei. It not only brought him a sum of royalties, but also enabled him to be promoted in the army.

A lot of joy followed, and this man from Shandong felt for the first time that "my destiny is in my own hands", and he had a lot of arrogant ideas for a while.

The topic of this symposium was the literary work "Battle Net" written by a military writer.

Guan Moye changed his usual gentle temperament and made a lot of sharp criticisms. He thought that the writing style of "Battle Net" was rough and not detailed and refined enough. It can be said that the biggest flaw of "Battle Net" was its rough language.

The writer of "Battle Net" was a little embarrassed and directly brought up "The Garland under the Mountain".

"Comrade Guan Moye, military literature pursues concise language and quickly creates a picture for readers. Lian Jiangxian's novel "The Wreath Under the Mountain" does this. Can you say that "The Wreath Under the Mountain" is not a good novel? Isn't such text enough to impress readers?"

Coincidentally, the editor of the novel "The Garland under the Mountain", Zhang Shouren of "October", also attended the meeting today.

At this time, the writer quoted "The Garland under the Mountain" in front of Zhang Shouren, and his words seemed very weighty and powerful.

However, Guan Moye still maintained the same tone as before.

"I don't think The Wreath at the Foot of the Mountain is a very good novel. It is a novel that is not up to standard among Jiang Xian's works."

This is really a shocking statement.

You should know that the novel "The Garland under the Mountain" has received a lot of flowers and praises since its publication.

Many people regard this novel as a decisive breakthrough in military novels.

Even before it was published, it was rated as the best contemporary military literature novel by the literary community.

But Guan Moye actually said at this time that this was a novel of Jiang Xian's that was not up to standard.

This voice that goes against the mainstream is truly shocking.

Many people looked at Zhang Shouren, waiting for his reaction.

Zhang Shouren was the oldest person in today's meeting. He sat in the center of the group like a calm older brother. He just smoked in silence and listened to Guan Moye's words.

Some other writers couldn't stand what they heard and slammed the table.

"Guan Moye, 'The Wreath under the Mountain' is widely acknowledged as a good work that touches the hearts of the people. How come your work is not good?"

Although the other party's words were harsh, Guan Moye still maintained his position.

“The Garland under the Mountain is not a good novel. I even think it is not a novel at all. It is more like a movie storyboard than a novel.”

"The quality of this novel is probably similar to the heroic model materials I wrote in the army."

These words are really harsh.

In Guan Moye's eyes, the nationally famous novel was just a piece of heroic model material.

Everyone present could no longer bear to listen or watch, and they stood up for Jiang Xian and Zhang Shouren to poke Guan Moye in the back and criticize this ignorant young man.

"You are nitpicking. The Wreath Under the Mountain is a groundbreaking contribution to the creation of military themes. Although it has some artistic roughness and the design of the character relationships is overly dramatic, its realism can completely cover up these shortcomings."

"Don't you think about it? If it were a movie storyboard, if it were heroic model material, would the heroic images of Liang Sanxi, Jin Kailai, and Zhao Mengsheng still be able to move the millions of ordinary people?"

"The novel "Wreath" has a grand structure, the characters' fates fluctuate greatly, the conflicts created are tense and sharp, and the characters' personalities and the story evolve naturally. The novel is very readable and is definitely not what you call a model of hero." "Some of our comrades are still too ambitious and incompetent. They obviously haven't written many words, but they look down on this and that all day long. They are impatient and not down-to-earth. How can they create good works that are close to the proletariat?"

"."

Guan Moye pursed his lips, stopped arguing fiercely, and did not speak again.

But anyone could see that this kid was not convinced, and did not agree with other people's opinions. He still had a strong spirit of not wanting to admit defeat.

After the discussion, Guan Moye returned to the army, and the first thought in his mind was to write something, something better than "The Wreath under the Mountain".

He was a man who wrote very quickly and isolated himself from the world. It took him about two months to write a novella called "Transparent Carrot".

This story happened when he was twelve years old.

At that time, he was still living in his hometown, Gaomi County, Shandong Province. Living conditions were very poor, so he also had to help his parents make money.

While working at a water conservancy construction site, he stole a carrot from the production team because he was extremely hungry. After being escorted to the construction site, a PD meeting was held specifically for him. After returning home, he was severely beaten by his father.

After Guan Moye finished writing this article, he read it several times and felt very proud of it.

At the end of the novel, when the protagonist Hei Hai faces the captain's questioning, his "confused eyes were filled with tears", then "clear as water", then "full of fear", and finally "two lines of tears flowed from Hei Hai's eyes".

This feeling was a childhood memory for Guan Moye, and it also brought back the grievances he felt when others attacked him at the last discussion.

Therefore, the image of the protagonist is honest and dull, and he suffers from bullying.

In addition, the text of the novel has a bit of avant-garde magical color.

Jiang Xian is recognized as one of the domestic writers with the deepest understanding of Western modernist writing.

It is in this way that Guan Moye wants to prove that his narrative method is no less inferior to Jiang Xian's, and his understanding of Western modernism is no more superficial than Jiang Xian's.

After completing the novel, Guan Moye did not submit it to any magazine immediately.

After he finishes his work, he likes to show it to his friends and colleagues before submitting it to a magazine.

It happened that his vacation leave to visit his family was approved, so Guan Moye returned to his hometown with "Transparent Carrot", a novel set in his hometown Gaomi.

This is how he met Zhang Shijia.

Guan Moye first took the People's Literature from Zhang Shijia and glanced at it. "What other good works are there?"

“Red Sorghum.”

Zhang Shijia said excitedly, "Oh, what a good work, very well written. I just ordered 300 copies from the post office and plan to send them to the cultural centers in various communes."

"Really? Let me take a look first."

Guan Moye had been in seclusion for such a long time, devoting himself to his own creation and not paying attention to what new good works came out in the literary world.

Hearing Zhang Shijia's recommendation, he flipped through "People's Literature" and took a quick glance, and saw two prominent signatures: Jiang Xian.

"Another work by Jiang Xian?"

"Yes, this time he is writing about our Gaomi." Zhang Shijia said excitedly.

"Is it written in high density?"

Guan Moye felt incredible.

He returned home, tidied up his things, and then read the entire novel "Red Sorghum" in silence.

After reading it, an indescribable complex emotion appeared in Guan Moye's heart.

Those conversations full of rural flavor are vivid and naked, full of wild power.

Guan Moye wrote "Transparent Carrot", the background of which was his most familiar hometown. He was adept at writing stories about this place.

But after reading Red Sorghum, he sadly discovered that his writing about his most familiar hometown was not as good as Jiang Xian's.

This is undoubtedly the most ironic.

He was determined to prove that he was no worse than Jiang Xian, so he wrote the novel "Transparent Carrot".

But Guan Moye didn't understand why Jiang Xian chose his hometown as the background of his novel.

Thus a contrast emerged that could no longer be concealed by excuses.

It is also about the land of Gaomi, and is also written with a magical touch.

Guan Moye could feel it clearly.

The article I wrote, "Transparent Carrot", seems like an immature elementary school student's exercise.

The "Red Sorghum" written by Jiang Xian is completely the work of a seasoned master.

This reminded Guan Moye of the shock he felt when he first read "The Chess King" many years ago.

At that time, he was deeply shocked by those words and imagined that the writer Jiang Xian must be a demon Taoist in a long gown and a mandarin jacket.

In fact, Jiang Xian is just the same age as him.

After Guan Moye had been practicing writing for several years, he began to feel that he had talent and ability in literature, and even felt that he could rival that writer of the same age.

A stark contrast was placed before him.

The facts were also laid out before Guan Moye.

He was still unable to match Jiang Xian, and there was a huge gap between him and Jiang Xian.

At least within three years, Guan Moye would definitely not be able to reach his level and realm.

"How about it, have you read the novel?" Childhood friend Zhang Shijia came to visit again and chatted with Guan Moye about "Red Sorghum".

"Looked."

A trace of bitterness flashed across Guan Moye's face, and he said, "It is indeed a good novel, very well written."

By now, the arrogance and unwillingness to accept the situation at the discussion meeting have been put away.

Even when Zhang Shijia asked him what novel he was going to show him that day, Guan Moye was vague and did not dare to bring up his article "Transparent Carrot" or even mention it.

Guan Moye felt the feelings of all the writers in the army after the publication of "The Wreath":

In the field that I am most familiar with, I cannot write better than someone who does not belong to this field.

This is definitely enough to put every writer who calls himself a writer to shame.

(Guan Moye’s disdainful comments on “The Wreath under the Mountain” at the discussion meeting are true.

Guan Moye himself talked about this in the program.

And when he said this, Li Cunbao, the original author of "The Wreath", was sitting next to him.)
(End of this chapter)