1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 340 "Commander Jiang!"

In these days of reform, all state-owned units have to find their own way out.

The Great Hall is also busy integrating with the market. It is open to the public and charges admission fees. Taking photos inside is also charged.

Two photo spots have been specially set up in front of the huge Chinese painting "Such a Beautiful Countryside" hanging in the auditorium.

It’s no wonder that by the 90s, the Great Hall not only saved money for the country, but also generated a lot of economic benefits for the country.

Of course, the Great Hall is definitely not open to the public today.

Jiang Xian showed the staff at the door his letter of introduction and certificate and was immediately allowed in.

When I thought about how I had saved two cents on the ticket, my steps became lighter.

"Jiang Xian!"

As soon as he entered the hall, he saw Wang Fu waving at him.

"Teacher Wang, you're here really early."

Wang Fu smiled and said, "I was afraid that something might happen on the way and I would be delayed, so I came here early in the morning."

Wang Fu was very excited the whole night yesterday. When he thought about the award ceremony the next day, he was so excited that he couldn't sleep in bed.

"By the way, let me introduce you."

Wang Fu pointed to the old man he had just talked to, “This is Comrade Yao Xueying, the author of Li Zicheng.

Teacher Yao, this is Jiang Xian."

"I've wanted to meet you for a long time." Yao Xueying and Jiang Xian shook hands.

"Nice to meet you." Jiang Xian said politely.

It is no exaggeration to say that Yao Xueying is famous all over the world.

Almost everyone who grew up in the 70s knows Yao Xueying and "Li Zicheng".

At that time, there was only eight model operas left in the country, and in addition to the eight model operas, there were also two novels.

One of them is "Golden Avenue".

Another book is "Li Zicheng".

When Yao Xueying was writing "Li Zicheng", even he himself reminded him to "protect it".

Finally, Yao Xueying was transferred to a safe and secret place, where he devoted himself to his creation for several years before finally completing this magnificent masterpiece.

However, some people in later generations always complained that "Li Zicheng" was the worst one among those who won the Mao Dun Literature Prize.

This is not an argument, just a brief explanation.

Yao Xueying won the award this time for the second volume of "Li Zicheng".

But later, he wrote three more volumes, intending to write "Li Zicheng" into a total of five volumes.

In the 90s, Yao Xueying unfortunately suffered from cerebral atrophy and could only write a few hundred words a day.

In the end, he died of illness before finishing the fourth and fifth volumes.

His family helped Yao Xueying to compile the final manuscript.

The original five volumes were reorganized into four volumes, which resulted in this historical novel of more than two million words.

But after all, it is an unfinished work, so it is inevitable that the novel feels anticlimactic when read.

Moreover, the novel was written over a period of nearly fifty years, so it is normal that there are inconsistencies between the beginning and the end.

In addition, every novel has its own limitations of the times. Some of the views in "Li Zicheng" are certainly outdated in the eyes of later generations.

However, it cannot be denied that at that time, in 1982, "Li Zicheng" is definitely a classic deeply loved by readers.

After all, it caters to the needs of this era.

To use a more trendy term, this novel is a "hot seller".

Therefore, since this novel won the Mao Dun Literature Prize, you cannot say that the judges did not consider its literary quality.

Thoughts are changing too fast.

In this era, readers think that reading "Li Zicheng" is very normal and that peasant uprisings should be like this.

"I've seen your film Lychee."

Yao Xueying said to Jiang Xian, "I heard from Comrade Ba Jin that it took you only a few days to write this novel?"

"I write quickly. I actually prepare for several months before writing."

"That's fast enough."

Yao Xueying admired him very much: "When writing historical novels, the most important thing is to be rigorous. You have to verify every detail and not make any mistakes.

I can’t say that your article “Lychee” is completely error-free, but there are very few obvious errors, which are basically invisible, indicating that you wrote it very rigorously.

The fact that you can accomplish this in such a short period of time shows that you have a deep and solid foundation.”

Others don’t understand the difficulties of writing historical novels, but Yao Xueying does.

He would be more shocked than others at Jiang Xian's ability to write historical novels.

"Let's talk about Tang history when we have time."

"Tang history? Oh, okay."

Jiang Xian agreed readily.

At worst, I can just chat with Yao Xueying about the wildest history of the Tang Dynasty.

Whether it is "Six Emperors Pill" Tang Zhongzong, or "Six Emperors Play" Empress Xiao.

Can talk about anything.

As they were talking, the award ceremony began.

The first Mao Dun Literature Prize exhausted the China Writers Association.

The many guests present were like a galaxy of stars.

There are leaders of relevant ministries such as culture, propaganda, and press and publication, chairmen of local writers' associations, heads of well-known domestic publishing units and literary journals, journalists from important mouthpiece-level print media, and well-known writers, editors, and literary critics.
Jiang Xian couldn't help but greet everyone as he walked into the venue. He knew too many of these editors and writers from all over the country.

Most of the students who were in the Institute of Literature and Art at that time came, including Jiang Zilong, Kong Jiesheng, Jiang Zilong, Ye Xin, Qu Xiaowei, and Wang Anyi.
Unfortunately, Jia Dashan didn't come.

Jiang Xian understood very well that Jia Dashan was tired of this kind of scene.

Chen Shixu didn't come either.

I heard that he has basically given up writing now.

Jiang Xian also remembered that the last time he received a letter from Chen Shixu, he said, "Rather than being a writer, I want to be a good father now."

He was not sure whether the novel "Copper Coin Street" brought about a spiritual change in Chen Shixu.

Jiang Xian also knows too many editors from all over the country.

There are two young editors, Zhang Dening and Liu Heng, as well as publication managers such as Li Xiaolin and Wang Meng.

"Comrade Jiang Xian is really popular." Yao Xueying and Wang Fu sighed.

"You might not know that."

Wang Fu smiled and said, "Someone gave Comrade Jiang Xian a nickname, Mr. Sanduo, and the "more" here means he has many friends."

The conference began soon, and according to convention, Ba Jin, the chairman of the Writers Association and the chairman of the selection committee, spoke first.

Ba Jin, speaking with a thick Sichuan accent, first paid tribute to Mr. Mao. His words were so heartfelt that many writers present had tears in their eyes.

These people have all received guidance or protection from Mao Gong to a greater or lesser extent, and regard him as a giant in their own literary creation path.

Then it was time for the award ceremony, and the winning writers stood on the podium and lined up.

Jiang Xian and Yao Xueying were already familiar with each other. They nodded to each other and stood together.

The other four award-winning writers, Zhou Keqin, Wei Wei, Mo Yingfeng and Li Guowen, lined up around the two.

Among the six, Yao Xueying is a literary veteran in his seventies, and Wei Wei is also in his sixties.

The remaining Zhou, Mo, and Li were all in their forties or fifties, or at least in their forties. Only Jiang Xian, a young man who was not even thirty years old, stood out among them.

"He's won an award at such a young age. How should we old writers address him when we see him in the future? We can't call him teacher."

"Isn't this easy to do? In the chess world, there is a man called Hu Ronghua, who is very good at chess at a young age. Old chess players all call him Commander Hu. Can't our literary world follow suit? Just call him Jiang Xian Commander Jiang!"

"Commander Jiang? Hey? That's a good idea!"

The veteran writers in the audience were shouting and gave Jiang Xian a new nickname.

The judges sitting on the podium were also talking in low voices.

"Old comrades are shining, middle-aged writers are the backbone, and young people are catching up. The development of our literary world is really thriving!"

"Yes, what a great situation! Our literature has not been interrupted. Not only do we have old comrades forging ahead, but we also have young and vigorous forces taking over the banner of literature."

Wei Junyi and Kong Luosun were talking to each other.

Guang Weiran listened to what the two said and nodded slightly.

I remember that when Mao Gong was alive, he emphasized more than once the importance of novels, and that writers must write a substantial novel.

But Guang Weiran has to admit that domestic novels are still in a period of recovery and are still in a relatively depressed state overall.

After all, only six years had passed, and six years is far from enough time to produce a novel.

For most writers, it would take at least ten years to write a novel that can be called "epic", and it would take them a lot of effort to finish it.

Therefore, several of the winning works of this year's Mao Dun Literature Prize still have some problems to a certain extent.

"Xu Mao and His Daughters" is suspected of being a plot that serves the theme and is a deliberate tragedy.

"East" is lacking in both writing style and narrative, and it is inevitable to feel that it is an extended version of Wei Wei's report "Who is the Most Lovely Person" when reading it.

The peasant uprising in "Li Zicheng" is a fictional history.

Thinking of this, Guang Weiran felt a little sorry for Jiang Xian. In his opinion, many of Jiang Xian's novels had the chance to win this year's Mao Dun Literature Prize.

Take the novel "Rice" for example. In terms of stream-of-consciousness writing, it is obviously much better than "Spring in Winter", which also makes extensive use of stream-of-consciousness and montage techniques.

What's more, in today's literary circles, "Rice" is recognized as the pioneering work of "Eastern stream-of-consciousness novels".

Unfortunately, because it is not a realistic literary work, "Rice" did not even make the shortlist.

Guang Weiran couldn't help feeling a little confused.

Is our Mao Dun Literature Prize intended to select the best novels, or is it just a "self-contained" effort?
Of course, he also understood that the Mao Dun Literature Prize was precious and could not be given to Jiang Xian alone.

The reading class had no choice but to decide whether "Rice" was shortlisted.

But in the final review stage, when selecting 18 winning works from 6 shortlisted works, Jiang Xian's shortlisted work "Xu Sanguan Selling Blood" was greatly rejected.

Guang Weiran still remembers the scene of the final review.

These 15 judges had a heated discussion on Jiang Xian's "Xu Sanguan Selling Blood".

The judges of the Mao Dun Literature Prize are all well-known figures in the literary world, such as Ba Jin, Ding Ling, and Feng Mu. It is impossible for anyone to force others to submit by relying on their official titles and seniority.

Guang Weiran is very clear about the literary quality of "Xu Sanguan Selling Blood".

Because this novel was published by their People's Literature and was given special treatment at the time:
"The entire publication contains only one novel."

This is the first time since the founding of People's Literature.

This is also the recognition of this novel by People's Literature.

However, the novel "Xu Sanguan Selling Blood" was opposed by some left-leaning literary scholars during the final review process.

They rejected the novel from the Mao Dun Literature Prize on the grounds that the novel revealed the "humble and dark side" of human nature.

This made Guang Weiran very puzzled.

Is this a novel selection?
Or is it the left’s struggle for discourse power and authority?

Shouldn't the works be judged purely from a literary perspective, but from a cultural and social livelihood perspective?

Guang Weiran felt uncomfortable, but he could only accept the result.

At least Jiang Xian's "Furong Town" won this award.

But sometimes Guang Weiran wondered if "Furong Town", "Xu Sanguan Selling Blood" and "Rice" were not written by the same author.

Then wouldn’t these two novels that were rejected by the Mao Dun Literature Prize be buried?

Then these writers who deserve awards will soon become unknown?

Besides this, Guang Weiran also didn’t quite understand why “Furong Town” didn’t get the first place ranking.

The reason given by the leftist He Jingzhi was that the novel had too few words, the fewest among all the winning works.

But it is wrong to use the number of words to judge the quality of a novel.

Isn't this cheating?

Writing has always been a mental activity. If it is true as He Jingzhi said, that novels with few words are not good, then in the future writers should turn writing into a physical activity, and compete to see who can write more words.

Thinking of this, Guang Weiran pinched his eyebrows.

As he gets older, coupled with these visible and invisible disputes, Guang Weiran is really exhausted both physically and mentally.

Otherwise, he would not have been so determined to resign from the position of editor-in-chief of People's Literature and submitted his resignation again and again.

This means he is really tired.

It is also his silent anger.

The thought flashed through his mind, and Guang Weiran looked back at the stage, his eyes involuntarily focused on Jiang Xian.

There is no doubt that the future belongs to him, to this young man.

Today's Mao Dun Literature Prize refuses to "bias" towards pure literature.

But Jiang Xian is still young, and Guang Weiran believes that youth is his opportunity and his greatest asset.

On the podium, the judges read out the reasons for each work's winning.

"Furong Town" depicts the ups and downs of life through pictures of customs and folkways, and uses the fate of the characters to depict the changes in life in the town."

"As a work with profound ideological connotations and high artistic value, Furong Town reveals the true face of people's lives in a specific period and shows the brilliance and greatness of human nature."

Ba Jin smiled and handed the Mao Dun Literature Prize certificate and medal to Jiang Xian.

And there’s a bonus!

Unlike previous national awards for outstanding short stories and novellas, the Mao Dun Literature Prize comes with a prize.

The source of the bonus is naturally the 250,000 yuan in royalties donated by Mr. Mao before his death.

Each winner will receive a prize of 3000 yuan.

Don't underestimate 3000 yuan.

In this era when the per capita income is about 60 yuan, 3000 yuan is almost the income of a worker without eating or drinking for four or five years. It is definitely a huge sum of money.

The writers on the stage were also very happy.

Not everyone is like Jiang Xian, who writes novels as if it were a game, producing one every few months and earning thousands of dollars.

Even some well-known writers need one or two years to earn so much in royalties.

Everyone was smiling, but Jiang Xian was the calmest.

"Look at the young man, how calm he is."

"You are neither arrogant nor impatient. You are worthy of being Commander Jiang. You deserve the title of Commander."

"3000 yuan. If you give it to me, I can take it home. My wife will treat me like the emperor when she sees me in the future."

"Commander Jiang has some wisdom in not being happy with things or sad with himself."

"."

Feng Jicai rolled his eyes so much that they almost rolled up to the sky.

(End of this chapter)