1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 350 Jiang Xian's Writing Plan

"Weiguo, come back and help me bring two packs of cigarettes from the capital."

"Ah."

"I'll give you the money and the ticket."

"No, no, the ticket to Xi'an can't be used in Beijing."

Surrounded by his relatives and friends, Lu Yao boarded a train to the capital. After a while, the whistle sounded and the train started slowly. Lu Yao stuck his head out of the window and waved to his relatives and friends.

As they slowly disappeared from his sight, Lu Yao sat back in his seat. When he thought about the gifts he would have to bring back for his relatives and friends, he couldn't help but worry about money.

"Oh, it would be great if I could make money as quickly as Jiang Xian."

Lu Yao sighed, thinking of Jiang Xian and the mission of his trip, and he took out a copy of their "Yanhe" magazine from his bag.

Published above are literary reviews of "The Last Hun" written by several Shaanxi writers and critics.

As a work that Yanhe has put a lot of effort into, "The Last Hun" has caused a long-lasting and violent shock in the Shaanxi literary world since its publication.

Lu Yao can definitely say that "The Huns" is the most discussed and heatedly discussed novel in Shaanxi's cultural circles during this period.

Following Yan Gang, a star in the criticism circle, Li Xing, known as the "grindstone of contemporary literature", also published a literary review of "The Xiongnu" in this issue of "Yanhe".

Who is Li Xing?

In later generations, Yan Gang said:

"Li Xing once said that Jia Pingwa is a mountain. In fact, Li Xing is also a mountain."

This shows how highly he thinks of Li Xing, the literary critic who came from Huaili.

Li Xing commented on Jiang Xian:

"With a pen full of affection, it sketches the background of the Xiongnu and Shaanxi civilization."

The entire review focuses on a poem called "Seven Strokes" that Jiang Xian often mentions in the book:
"Traveling thousands of miles, for a hundred days, the mountains and rivers have no end, the mountains are barren and steep, the water is fierce and the tigers and wolves are howling, in April, the catkins are dense, the mountain flowers are not gorgeous, the strong winds rise and it is impossible to distinguish between dusk and day, so I draw a line on the myriad of purple and red.

Cave dwellings and thatched houses do not require bricks and wood to cover the earth. They are difficult to penetrate in the summer sun and are more likely to leak in rainy days. The walls are built with earth blocks and oil lamps flow on the walls to hide the stench of horse manure and cow urine. Therefore, the carved beams and painted buildings are omitted.

The sand dunes outside the Great Wall are full of Tatars and Hui people, who look like pigs and dogs, but have the temperament of horses and cows. They always talk about football, so how can they talk about etiquette? The saints’ teachings here are omitted. Therefore, etiquette, righteousness, integrity and shame are all crossed out.

"Seven Strokes" is a quatrain left by Master Lianchi, an eminent monk in the late Ming Dynasty.

Li Xing praised it as: a fairy poem scattered in the world.

This poem "Seven Strokes" depicts the Loess Plateau, which was once home to ethnic minorities such as the Xiongnu, Qiang, and Xianbei, from seven aspects: natural environment, living environment, clothing, daily diet, men's career, women's appearance, and level of civilization.

The last sentence is particularly wonderful.

"The saint's sermon was missed here."

"Therefore, propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame are all crossed out."

The "propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame" that were "crossed out" in "Seven Strokes" are nothing more than the "ethics" that have constrained the Chinese people for thousands of years.

The kind of overly strict moral codes, like mandatory kneeling and so on.

And "the sage omitted this point in his teachings" coincides with Li Xing's point of view.

Stand in the perspective of history and overlook this land.

Whenever Chinese civilization, which is based on agricultural culture, reaches a crossroads and is unable to continue, the hooves of nomadic peoples' horses will cross the Great Wall and roar in, thus giving the stagnant civilization new "Hu and Jie blood".

This is probably the whole secret why the ancient Chinese nation did not disappear on the road of history like several other ancient civilizations in the world.

"."

Lu Yao continued to flip through this issue of Yanhe. Li Xing's review was followed by Jia Pingwa's review:
".Brother Jiang Xian's "The Last Hun" has achieved great success. I will write the word "Hun" on my T-shirt and bring my congratulations wherever I go."

You all know about T-shirts, right?
It's just a round-neck shirt with a few trendy words written on the white shirt.

This thing quickly became popular in China in the 80s.

What was written most at that time were just some popular slogans with a rebellious and sarcastic attitude.

Especially after Wang Shuo appeared, the most popular and numerous sentences were those from his novels.

Like, "Don't bother me, I'm upset."

"I'm a gangster, who am I afraid of?"

“Follow your feelings.”

"I eat the apple and you eat the skin."

“Making money is exhausting.”

“It’s hard to have no money.”

Lu Yao thought about the scene and saw a big “Huns” written on the T-shirt Jia Pingwa was wearing.

If he walks out onto the street, won't he be arrested?
After Jia Pingwa, there are Lu Yao's comments.

Lu Yao naturally also gave high praise to this novel.

At the end of the review, he said:

"Jiang Xian is a big mystery, a big unknown."

After sleeping all night on the train, Lu Yao was woken up at dawn the next day. He stood up and stretched. At nine o'clock in the morning, he heard the broadcast on the train.

“Passengers, the journey of the train is limited, but the mileage of the revolution is unlimited.

Let us contribute our strength to accelerate the socialist modernization drive in different positions!
Passengers, the final stop, Beijing Station, is coming soon. Please get off the train in order after it stops. "

He packed his luggage and got off the bus. It was the season of yellow sand filling the sky in Beijing again. Lu Yao first went to No. 166 Contemporary Magazine in Chaoyang and visited the editor-in-chief Qin Zhaoyang.

In a sense, Qin Zhaoyang was kind to him and Lu Yao was very grateful to him.

In the office, I chatted with Qin Zhaoyang for a while, and two comrades from the Writers Association happened to come over.

"Comrade Zhaoyang, we just had a meeting at the Writers Association, and the personnel for this year's 'Iowa International Writing Program' have been decided."

Qin Zhaoyang poured them a glass of water. "Decided? Who?"

"Comrade Ru Zhijuan, a female writer from Shanghai."

The other person took a sip of water and said, "I won the National Excellent Short Story Award in 79 and 80 for "The Wrong Story Edited" and "The Path on the Grassland"."

"Oh, Comrade Zhijuan, she is a good writer. She can portray characters' psychology in a very delicate and vivid way, especially her portrayal of women," said Qin Zhaoyang.

Of course Lu Yao also knew Ru Zhijuan.

"I have read her article 'Lily', which is very touching. Her novel was published in our magazine 'Yanhe'."

"Is it?"

Qin Zhaoyang was surprised. He didn't expect that Ru Zhijuan had such a connection with "Yanhe".

"Yanhe had an extraordinary performance in the founding period of the Republic's literature. It is a magazine that has accumulated a good reputation over a long period of time, and even now, it can always produce some very good works.

I think the novel by Jiang Xian that you released a few months ago is very good. If it was published before the Mao Dun Literature Prize was announced, I think it would have a good chance of competing for the Mao Dun Literature Prize."

Lu Yao thought about it and realized that it was just as Qin Zhaoyang said.

"The Last Hun" is just what the left-leaning audiences like, and there is a great hope that it will replace "Furong Town" and become Jiang Xian's award-winning work.

"However, one of the eligibility criteria for the Mao Dun Literature Prize is to have created a complete work. The Last Hun is not yet complete, with only the first volume," Lu Yao said.

"Li Zicheng" was nominated for the Mao Dun Literature Prize because everyone believes that it is a complete novel.

No one expected that Yao Xueying would later start writing the third, fourth, and fifth parts.
Even writers find it difficult to imagine how long the story will be.

Even Yao Xueying, honorary vice chairman of the China Writers Association and former chairman of the HUB Provincial Writers Association and Federation of Literary and Art Circles, is like this.

Well, I didn’t see any reporter popping out to say that you, Yao Xueying, were misleading consumers. I spent hundreds of dollars to buy two copies of "Li Zicheng", but your novel is not finished yet, and you are trying to trick me into buying a few more copies before I can finish reading it, which is infringing on consumers' right to know, blah blah.

If you repeat this over and over again, your sin will be even more serious.

His first work, "Morning in Shanghai", was published in "Harvest" as early as 1958. It was delayed for 20 years until the third work "Morning in Shanghai" was published in "Harvest" in 1979.

Readers who read the first part in Harvest in 1958 must have condemned Harvest and Zhou Erfu to death.

I bought "Harvest" 20 years ago before I finally finished reading this novel.

It's so fucking misleading to us consumers!

"Is Ru Zhijuan the only writer?" Qin Zhaoyang asked.

"No, there's another one." "Who?"

The Writers Association comrade chuckled and said, "It's the one you just mentioned."

"Jiang Xian?"

Qin Zhaoyang and Lu Yao blurted out at the same time.

Qin Zhaoyang was delighted. "That's great. A young writer like Jiang Xian has this opportunity to go out and exchange ideas. It will be very helpful for his future creations."

Lu Yao's eyes went dark.

What the hell?
Jiang Xian is going to participate in the "International Writing Program".

What about the second volume of "The Last Hun"? !

"Mr. Qin, I'll take my leave first."

Lu Yao got up in a hurry.

Qin Zhaoyang was still puzzled.

"Lu Yao, won't you sit for a while?"

"No, Mr. Qin, I have something urgent to do!"

Lu Yao put on his coat and went to the Beijing Film Studio first. When he found out that Jiang Xian was not there, he went to No. 15 Hufang Road. He knocked on the door for a long time but couldn't find anyone. Finally, he ran around the capital for almost a circle and arrived at Jiang Xian's house.

"Hey, Comrade Lu Yao? Why are you here? Why are you still out of breath?"

"Ugh."

Lu Yao sighed. When he really met Jiang Xian, he didn't know how to bring up the subject.

After all, he is a bit of an i-person.

"It's very windy outside, let's go inside." Jiang Xian said, "Where have you been? You're almost like a terracotta warrior."

"."

Only then did Lu Yao realize that his nose and mouth were full of sand, and his whole body was covered with dust.

Jiang Xian patted him on the back and poured him a glass of water.

"You are here for the second volume of The Last Hun, right?"

Seeing that Jiang Xian had brought it up on his own initiative, Lu Yao was also happy.

"Yes, how is your writing of the second volume going?"

"I haven't written it yet." Jiang Xian chuckled.

"You haven't written it yet?"

Lu Yao scratched his head, "So you don't plan to write anymore?"

"Of course I have to write, but in the short term, I don't have any idea of ​​completing this novel," Jiang Xian said frankly.

"I heard you were going to Iowa?"

"You know it all?"

"I just heard from Qin Zhaoyang that you and Ru Zhijuan are going to participate this year."

"I don't know about Ru Zhijuan, but I did receive an invitation." Jiang Xian smiled and told her about how he received the invitation from Nie Hualing and the twists and turns that followed.

Lu Yao thought for a moment and said, "Then you will have even less time to write "The Huns" next time."

"Well, 'The Huns' is on my list, but I probably won't start writing it within the next three years. I'll wait until I have a good draft in mind."

“You haven’t written in the past three years?”

"Yes."

"."

An idea suddenly appeared in Lu Yao's mind:

As we all know, the rule for selecting the Mao Dun Literature Prize is that the works of the winning writers of the previous session will not be included in the selection scope of the next Mao Dun Literature Prize.

In other words, a writer can win a second Mao Dun Literature Prize, but cannot win it two times in a row.

If Jiang Xian completes the novel "The Last Hun" now, this novel is doomed to miss the Mao Dun Literature Prize.

But if Jiang Xian sticks to the time of the third Mao Dun Literature Prize selection, he can complete the novel "The Last Hun" before then.

Then there is a high possibility that he will win the Mao Dun Literature Prize again with this novel.

Writers are human beings too.

Some novels are written just to win awards.

For example, "Bell and Drum Tower" by Jiang Xian's old lover "Liu Xinwu" was written for the Mao Dun Literature Prize. However, because "October" only agreed to publish it twice across the year, it affected Liu Xinwu's participation in the Mao Dun Literature Prize selection. He hurriedly changed his publishing house and gave the novel to "Contemporary".

The quality of the novel "The Last Hun" makes it a definite favorite for the Mao Dun Literature Prize.

So Lu Yao couldn't help but think: Jiang Xian was unwilling to publish the second volume because he was preparing in advance for competing for the third Mao Dun Literature Prize.

If that were the case.

There's nothing wrong with that.

No one can blame anything.

Jiang Xian had no idea that Lu Yao was doing reading comprehension here.

He doesn't care.

There is absolutely no rush to finish this novel.

He is ambitious.

His writing ability has improved a lot in recent years. He would rather not publish the second volume of this novel unless he can develop it into a level that he considers perfect.

Give an inappropriate example.

Although it took many years before Jiangnan released "Long Wu", its reputation was quite good.

As soon as "Dragon Five" was published, it became the target of public criticism.

As a writer, I cannot ruin my reputation.

Those who write online articles all understand this principle.

After chatting for a while, Jiang Xian took Lu Yao to have dinner at his home. After a while, they started drinking wine. Lu Yao gradually opened up and told him his guesses.

Jiang Xian was stunned for a moment and couldn't help laughing.

"you misunderstood."

"You know, I am ambitious and want to write this novel into an epic. Yang Zuoxin experienced the period before liberation, and the biggest and most representative thing in Shaanxi was the revolution.

Then what Yang'an Township had to experience was the major event in Shaanxi after liberation:
Open instead.

This is why I am reluctant to start writing the second volume of this novel.

History is about examining the past from the perspective of future generations.

The reform and opening up has only just begun, and we will have to wait and see how it progresses.

If I start writing now, relying on the laws of development of things, and write something illusory and imaginary, then this novel will lose its charm. "

Lu Yao listened to Jiang Xian's explanation.

I felt ashamed.

pattern!

This is the layout!

Would a writer who can write such a series of masterpieces deliberately control his writing progress just for an award?
That's impossible.

He picked up the glass and drank it all.

He raised his head and looked at Jiang Xian again.

There was a hint of admiration in his eyes.

(End of this chapter)