1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 343 "The Great River Novel"

"Hey, did you hear that?"

"What's wrong?"

“The lyrics of the March have been restored!”

"real or fake?"

At the Xi'an Film Studio, several grown men gathered together, talking about how the lyrics of "March" had finally been restored.

There has been a strange phenomenon for a long time:
When singing a march, there is only music but no lyrics. It can only be played but not sung.

A literary editor at the Xi'an Film Studio sighed, "Ah, Tian Han, I used to see him at that time, No. 64 Wangfu Street, the original address of the Writers Association.

The literary editors were all filled with righteous indignation and felt indignant about the humiliation that had occurred that year.

At this time, a middle-aged man wearing a round-neck solid-color pullover, loose army green pants, and round-toed black cloth shoes stood up, picked up the thermos, and took a cup of hot water.

His name is Reed.

Born in Beijing, but grew up in Xi'an.

He has farmed, worked as a worker, and worked as a cook. Later, he changed his career to become a scenery painter and artist. He has a very rich life experience.

Now I have been transferred to the Xi'an Film Studio and have been working as a screenwriter for four or five years, but I have yet to write a good script.

"Master screenwriter, how is the script going?" someone asked him.

"It's a difficult birth." Lu Wei said indifferently.

Some time ago, the factory manager Wu Tianming called him to his office and asked him what he wanted to do.

Lu Wei was also confused at that time.

When he heard that the factory was undergoing reforms, he wondered if the factory director had discovered that he was just idling around and waiting to die every day.

In a hurry, he slapped his thigh and said casually:
"Director, I want to write a script based on western themes!"

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Wu Tianming directly threw him 1000 yuan and asked him to use it to create.

Reed was stunned.

The next second, her eyes were filled with tears, and she wished she could sacrifice her life to repay Wu Tianming for his appreciation.

From that day on, Lu Wei was determined to write a thrilling western-themed script for Wu Tianming.

Unfortunately, there is still no clue.

At this moment, he held the pen and sat at the table for a long time, but he didn't produce a single word and instead felt full of shit.

"Old Zhou, are there any new magazines?"

"New magazine? I only have the latest issue of Yanhe."

"Okay, give it to me."

Lu Wei held the copy of "Yanhe" and went straight to the toilet.

He unbuckled his belt, took off his trousers, lit a cigarette, and when everything was in place, he let out a long sigh and pulled out the copy of Yanhe, the first issue of 1983, from under his armpit.

"The last Hun?"

Lu Wei looked carefully at the catalog and found that there were no other works except this novel.

Is this a special issue?!

Lu Wei was shocked. As a provincial magazine published by the SX Provincial Writers Association, Yanhe was very popular among readers in Shaanxi.

This was the first time that Lu Wei had seen a special issue being published for a novel.

He immediately turned to the first page and saw two words behind the title of the novel, The Last Hun:
—— Jiang Xian.

Lu Wei just felt that his brain was clear and everything started to make sense.

"Comrade Jiang Xian's novel."

"That's definitely worth a special issue."

Some time ago, the news that Jiang Xian won the Mao Dun Literature Prize for his novel "Furong Town" spread all over the country, and naturally also reached Xi'an and the Xi'an Film Studio.

This is the first year that this award has been held.

But through such a large-scale and high-profile coverage by the media, Lu Wei could more or less appreciate the value and influence of the Mao Dun Literature Prize, which is absolutely unprecedented in the literary world.

Then every award-winning writer can be said to be the hottest figure in the current literary world, and is qualified to be among the top few people in the literary world.

So Lu Wei didn't find it strange at all that Jiang Xian's novel received such treatment as "Yanhe".

I don’t even think it’s an honor for Jiang Xian, but rather an honor for the Shaanxi Writers Association’s publication "Yanhe".

"It should be Jiang Xian's new novel."

As if to express the importance the Yanhe editorial department attached to this novel, an editor's note of three or four hundred words was written below the title of the novel.

The editorial department of "Yanhe" rarely has the habit of writing "Editor's Note", so Lu Wei read it out of curiosity.

The general idea is that last year Marquez won the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature. The magical realism literature that has been popular all over the world has entered the field of vision of domestic readers and attracted the attention of readers and writers.

Based on the magical realism literature, Jiang Xian proposed the concept of "root-seeking literature". After "Red Sorghum", he lived in northern Shaanxi for several months and dedicated this novel, a magnificent epic, to the northern Shaanxi plateau.

The novel narrates major historical events such as the Red Revolution and the Green Revolution that took place on the Shaanxi-Gansu Plateau in the past century. It creates typical characters from different eras such as Yang Zuoxin, Yang Anxiang, and Heidaotou. At the same time, it shows a passion for exploring the major events and cultural phenomena that took place on the Shaanxi-Gansu Plateau to the bottom of things.

When seeing the name "The Last Hun", the first thing Lu Wei felt was the remoteness of ethnic minorities and what came to his mind was the vast and desolate Northwest.

However, looking at the editor’s introduction, this seems like a “big river” novel.

The "River" novel is a form of French literature, also known as the "River Novel", which refers specifically to a long novel with multiple volumes and historical significance.

Some Japanese royal stories, such as "John Christopher", "The Forsyte Saga" or "A Tale of Two Cities", "Ball of Fat", "War and Peace", "Quiet Flows the Don" and "North and South in Turmoil" are very representative and are all typical "river novels".

Lu Wei reads a lot and is well aware that river novels are very rare in Chinese fiction writing.

This is also a strange phenomenon.

China is such a vast country, but there has always been a huge gap in the "River Novels" genre. On the contrary, some small countries are very fond of writing "River Novels".

With some curiosity, Lu Wei fell into the novel "The Last Hun".

Half an hour later, Lu Wei came out of the toilet with trembling legs, holding the wall of the toilet with one hand and covering his butt with the other.

"It's so shocking!"

It is not uncommon to be shocked by the beautiful writing style.

It is rare to be shocked by the sophistication and even wisdom of a person who has a deep understanding of the world, but it is not surprising after all.

After all, without such insight into worldly affairs and familiarity with history, how could one easily venture into the “Dahe” style of writing? What shocked Lu Wei the most was that the focus of this novel was actually a minor writer!

What is a petty literati?
Although he is well-read and well-read, he does not have the obsession to hold a high position in government and help the country.

They will not end up like Liu Yong and Su Manshu, who were trapped in their own webs and fell into the quagmire of the world of prostitution.

Nor can I completely break free from the shackles of the world and count the sounds of fishing flutes on the waves.

There is no destiny to meet a good mentor and make a living.

There is no sweet talk or unorthodox tricks.

These people are constantly caught in multiple gaps.

Although fortunately I can still make a living and enjoy myself, it is obviously difficult for me to be noticed by any great masterpiece.

Therefore, the small literati are lonely and even speechless in the landscape of Chinese artistic creation.

Not to mention novels, even most Chinese folk tales always like to focus on kings and nobles.

Even in stories about ordinary people, the protagonists are mostly young masters and daughters from wealthy mansions.

This makes it easier to use the nobility to set off the "great river" of history.

At the very least, even if the protagonist is an extremely ordinary grassroots, he should at least be gifted or have great ambitions, and use a youthful and inspirational way to show the changes of the times from grassroots to riches.

The useless scholar and Zhuge Liang, who came out of Longzhong and met a wise master, had the same talents but different hearts and destinies.

The scholar who is content with poverty and happy with his simple life and the talented scholars whose talents move the world but whose fate is as fragile as paper have the same talents and fates, the same hearts and different minds.

How can such a person have a story?

How can it be worthy of a grand epic?
However, Jiang Xian spent a lot of space writing about the character of a minor writer: Yang Zuoxin.

With trembling legs, Lu Wei almost crawled back to the office, sat on the chair, and couldn't wait to continue reading.

Yang Zuoxin is a descendant of the Huns.

He came from a poor family and had attended eight years of new school. He was well-informed and had a good memory. He was tall, had a fair complexion, deep eyes and a handsome appearance.

His first heroic act in his life was saving Black Head from a group of robbers when he was 15 years old.

The gambler Hei Datou was kidnapped by a group of robbers. Because they did not receive the ransom within the deadline, they intended to kill him. At this critical moment, Yang Zuoxin, a young boy who passed by, came up with an idea that satisfied the robber leader and was praised by the hostage Hei Datou, and saved Hei Datou's life from the ghost-headed knife.

Yang Zuoxin's second heroic act was after the cooperation between our army and the Guo army broke down in 27. His mentor Mr. Du was beaten all over his body and tied up at the north gate of Fushe City as bait. The or -year-old Yang Zuoxin risked being arrested and beheaded to say his final goodbye to Mr. Du.

Yang Zuoxin's third heroic act was when the bandit leader Hei Datou was murdered in Danzhou City by a special envoy of the Guo army. Under the cover of Hei Datou's wife Hei Bai, he killed the bait in the incident and used that head to replace Hei Datou's head hanging on the city gate tower.

Yang Zuoxin's fourth heroic act was killing his evil brother-in-law, Baldy.

The bald man's first crime was to force his wife to become a prostitute three days after their marriage, and secondly, he brought the county security team to arrest Yang Zuoxin, who was evading the Guo army's wanted order. Although Yang Zuoxin managed to escape, his father died as a result.

Yang Zuoxin's final act was to commit suicide by hitting his head against a wall in prison.

Jiang Xian wrote about his death and the sadness of the incident so vividly that it could be seen through the paper.

There had been some friction between the Central Army and the Shaanxi-Gansu Army.

As a liaison between the Central Army and the Shaanxi-Gansu Army, Yang Zuoxin was arrested on the pretext of something and thrown into a prison in the border area.

Yang Zuoxin guessed the real reason for his imprisonment: his imprisonment would help integrate the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia R Army with the Central R Army.

So he settled down in prison and waited for the situation to improve.

Unexpectedly, the Hei Bai family tried every possible means to break into the prison and rescue Yang Zuoxin. So on the day of the prison break, Yang Zuoxin, who was less than 30 years old, chose to commit suicide by hitting his head against the wall, using his death to express his immense loyalty to our party.

In fact, this matter is very complicated. To put it simply, hearing that Yang Zuoxin died by hitting his head against a wall may not seem tragic, but rather a bit ridiculous, because this matter also involves a ghost.

The ghost caused a lot of trouble in his life. Four years after his death, his ashes were dug out and scattered.

Well, these are all written in the original book.

In short, with Yang Zuoxin's mixed-race handsome appearance and his qualifications as a "talented man from northern Shaanxi" as praised by his father, he is enough to be a candidate for general or literary talent.

However, Jiang Xian did not write Yang Zuoxin as a tall, handsome and rich man.

He was just a small scholar who was eager to carry on the unique knowledge of the ancient sages and bring peace to the world for all generations.

Like most petty literati.

This little writer hardly created any brilliant achievements, and even his heart never built up a grand blueprint for his aspirations. He died hastily in his prime, ended his life hastily, died miserably, and was buried in confusion.

Yang Zuoxin's story ended, and Lu Wei continued reading, because Yang Zuoxin was only a part of the novel, just a small piece of the clues left by the Huns.

Seeing that Yang Anxiang was going to be sent to a nursery, Lu Wei became excited.

They are certainly familiar with the nursery, which is jokingly called the "aristocratic school" by the common people. Both the movie "Cradle on Horseback" and the TV series "Lily of the Cliff" have portrayed the school brilliantly.

[
(End of Volume 1)]
"."

Luwei threw the cigarette butt to the ground.

"Melon skin!"

This feels so uncomfortable.

Lu Wei is very excited about the scene. He is at a stage where he is very excited about the new ideas for Yang'an Township and is full of expectations for it.

Click.

It just broke off in an instant.

"When can we see the next volume?"

He slammed the journal on the table, cursing.

It was already dark by this time. It took me almost a whole day just to read this novel, or to say, just the second volume of this novel.

Lu Wei lit another cigarette.

He is now in the stage of emptiness and loss after finishing a novel.

"Damn, how can it be written so well?"

Lu Wei was really puzzled. He remembered that Jiang Xian was clearly a native of Beijing.

How to write about the land of Shaanxi, this barren soil where "the saints' preaching is missed".

What he wrote is more understandable than that of someone who grew up in Shaanxi!
Zhou Libo's "Storm" has a very good sentence:
"Comparing goods will lead to throwing them away; comparing people will lead to death!"

He only lived for a few months and wrote a novel like this.

He has lived for decades and still can't hold back a western script.

(Lu Wei, screenwriter of Farewell My Concubine)
(End of this chapter)