1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 393 "[8 years old] [First time out]?"

Chapter 393 "【Eighteen years old】+【First time out】=?"

This literary giant is also a madman.

He entered Tsinghua University at the age of 19. He had full marks in English and first place in Chinese, but his math score was not high. Luo Jialun, the then president of Tsinghua University, made an exception and admitted him to Tsinghua University with the evaluation of "excellent Chinese and full marks in English".

As soon as he entered Tsinghua University, he boasted that he would "sweep through the Tsinghua University Library", and then he actually read all the literary books in the Tsinghua Library. This foundation also made him achieve a high level of literary attainments.

He is Qian Zhongshu.

He is an excellent writer in both Chinese and English. It is hard to find such a genius in the literary world.

Such people are very rare.

In Su Chen's opinion, looking at the writers in the contemporary literary world, most of them are good at either writing or translation, and they all have a limp in one leg. There are very few who are proficient in both.

It should be noted that proficiency in English does not mean proficiency in translation.

For example, Zhang Ailing’s foreign language proficiency reached the point where she could directly read English science books. She was also the first Chinese translator of Hemingway’s most famous work, The Old Man and the Sea.

But the translation level of this book "The Old Man and the Sea" is not very good. It has received mixed reviews over the years, and the translation flaws and deviations in minor details in the book cannot be avoided.

It can be seen that being proficient in English and having a good level of translation are two completely different things.

Although Su Chen has not seen Jiang Xian's Chinese translation yet, he has seen the quality of the English manuscript of the novel, and he intuitively believes that the quality of Jiang Xian's Chinese translation will definitely not be too bad.

What's more, no translation by others can be as accurate as the one made by the author himself.

"That couldn't be better." Su Chen said with a smile.

Jiang Xian asked again: "How long will you two stay in the capital?"

"About two or three days." Su Chen said, "Our Huacheng is so far away from the capital. It's not easy for us to come here once, and there are many people who want to meet us."

"Okay, then come to my house to get the manuscript when you leave." Jiang Xian said.

"Manuscript?"

Su Chen was confused again. "What manuscript?"

"The Chinese translation of the novel." Jiang Xian said, "Didn't we agree that I would translate it myself?"

"What?"

Su Chen's face was full of disbelief. "You can finish the translation in two or three days?"

"Let me try."

"."

Su Chen was speechless.

He has also been engaged in translation work for many years and knows very well that translation is not much easier than writing.

It may take at least a week to write a novel.

It only takes Jiang Xian two or three days to translate it?
"You can translate two novels in just two or three days?" Su Chen still couldn't believe it.

"That's definitely not enough." Jiang Xian shook his head.

Su Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

As expected, two or three days would only be enough to translate a small part. If the translation is to be handed in in such a short time, the speed would be too terrifying.

Just as Su Chen began to feel that everything was making sense.

Then Jiang Xian explained:
“I only translated one novel. The novel, The Drifter, was originally written by me in Chinese. I can give you the Chinese manuscript directly later.

As for The Hunger Games, it was written in English. I will translate it for you in the next two days."

Hiss.

Su Chen took a breath of cold air.

have to.

All the guesses were wrong.

Jiang Xian wanted to translate all of it and give it to him in such a short time.

this speed
Su Chen had heard that some people could write very quickly and could finish a novel of tens of thousands of words in just a few days.

It is quite rare to find a translation that is particularly fast.

After sitting for a while, Su Chen and Feng Xiaoshuang stood up to say goodbye to Jiang Xian, and then parted ways with Zhang Jie at the entrance of the alley.

The two got on the bus, and on the way back to the guesthouse, Feng Xiaoshuang couldn't help but ask Su Chen who was sitting next to him.

"Editor-in-chief, can Jiang Xian really finish the translation in such a short time? Can anyone really translate so quickly?"

Su Chen did not answer her immediately, but asked Feng Xiaoshuang an unrelated question.

"Have you read Faust?"

"I've read a little bit." Feng Xiaoshuang said, "It's too obscure and difficult to understand. It's hard to read."

"Faust" is Goethe's representative work, a poetic drama of more than 10,000 lines. It is hailed as a "masterpiece among masterpieces" along with "The Iliad", Dante's "Divine Comedy" and Shakespeare's "Hamlet".

"Whose translation did you read?"

"I do not remember."

"The most popular translation on the market is the one made by Qian Chunqi and Dong Wenqiao two years ago. But before that, there was another earlier translation by Guo Kaizhen."

"Guo Kaizhen?"

Of course Feng Xiaoshuang knew this name.

The former Minister of Culture, although this name has been rarely mentioned in recent years, people mention the name Guo Moruo more often, one of the builders of the palace of literary discourse, the star that Feng Xiaoshuang once looked up to in her childhood.

"Faust is difficult and obscure, which is the consensus of the literary world. However, Guo Kaizhen only spent one summer vacation to translate the first part, and even the retranslation took only a few days. When it came to the more difficult second part, it only took him about a month.

The most famous thing about his translations is his elegance, and the second is his speed, which is jaw-droppingly fast.

Feng Xiaoshuang listened to Su Chen's story quietly, and was also shocked.

Although Su Chen did not say it explicitly, he really wanted to compare Jiang Xian's translation talent with that of Guo Kaizhen, also known as Comrade Guo Moruo.

This is undoubtedly a very high evaluation.

Even though Jiang Xian's attainments in translation may not be as good as Guo Moruo's and he cannot be compared with him, it is at least certain that he has the potential. After all, Jiang Xian is still so young.

With anticipation, Su Chen and Feng Xiaoshuang stayed in Beijing for three days, wandered around, and on the third day they came to Jiang Xian's house again. After greeting them, Jiang Xian directly pushed the Chinese translations of "Drifter" and "The Hunger Games" in their faces.

“The translation is really finished!”

Even though he was mentally prepared, Su Chen couldn't help but exclaim in surprise when he saw the thing being stuffed into his hands.

"Lao Su, take a look and see if the translation is okay?" Jiang Xian said.

Su Chen first opened the manuscript of "The Drifter" and quickly browsed through it, then opened the manuscript of "The Hunger Games". After reading it, he was full of admiration.

"It flows smoothly. Although I didn't read it carefully, I could hardly find any grammatical errors in the few passages I read, and there was no place that didn't read smoothly. How could you achieve such a level in such a short time?"

"I had already typed out the ideas in my mind when I was writing, and now translating is just pouring out what's in my mind again."

Jiang Xian gave an explanation and said, "There is a second part of The Hunger Games. It's too late now. I'll send it to you later."

"Okay." Su Chen put away the translation manuscript and asked Jiang Xian, "Do you have any new manuscripts recently? During the time you were in the United States, domestic magazines basically didn't see any new works of yours. Why don't we take this opportunity to let Huacheng publish a few of your old and new works at once?"

"."

Jiang Xian was speechless.

"You, Huacheng, are too greedy. I have already given you the translation manuscript, but you are still not satisfied and want to ask for my manuscript."

Su Chen chuckled twice.

"After all, these two articles are not considered first releases."

Su Chen certainly admitted that both "The Drifter" and "The Hunger Games" were excellent, but deep down he felt that both novels were lacking in quality.

The "almost" here has nothing to do with the content of the novel.

Rather, it involves the background of the novel.

The Drifter is better.

Although the background of "The Hunger Games" is a fictional country, it can be seen that this is a world mixed with North American culture and is completely foreign.

Compared with these non-local literary works, Huacheng wants a local literary work that can have a huge impact.

Only by launching such literary works can Huacheng continue to gain a firm foothold in the literary world and maintain its literary status as one of the “Four Great Huadan”.

"You may not know that a very interesting novel was published in "XZ Literature" not long ago. It's called "LS River Goddess." Su Chen said.

"LS River Goddess?"

"It's a novel published by a journalist named Ma Yuan. The content is very simple, it's about 13 people from the literary and art circles having a picnic and playing by the LS River on a summer holiday. However, his writing style of this novel is very interesting and unique. The narrative method is more important than the story itself, which strengthens the environmental atmosphere and downplays the plot." Su Chen said.

"Ma Yuan."

Jiang Xian was not unfamiliar with the name Ma Yuan.

In Jin Yong's novels, there are terms such as East Evil, West Poison, South Emperor, North Beggar, and Central God of War.

In later generations, some people with a keen eye on things also gave the literary world a ranking, namely "Eastern Evil" Yu Hua, "West Poison" Ma Yuan, "Southern Emperor" Su Tong, "Northern Beggar" Hong Feng, and "Central Divine Power" Ge Fei.

The Ma Yuan who wrote "LS River Goddess" that Su Chen mentioned is the Ma Yuan who was named "West Poison".

Well, the title “West Poison” is really apt.

He was initially given this title because Ma Yuan lived in XZ for many years and his novels are full of the mysticism of Tibetan culture.

Anyone who has watched "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and "The Return of the Condor Heroes" knows that Ouyang Feng, the Western Poison, went crazy because he practiced the Nine Yin Scriptures in reverse.

马原
Alas, I won’t comment on this, as there are so many different opinions.

“Because of Ma Yuan’s article, there is a new wave of enthusiasm in our domestic literary circles. Authors no longer emphasize the story, but focus on the text, freely moving through the maze of narrative.

As you know, we at Huacheng have always appreciated works with a more "Western" style. You have been abroad for a while and have been exposed to a lot of foreign literature. In addition, the style of your previous works has been very varied."

The meaning of Su Chen's words was very clear. He simply wanted Jiang Xian to come up with a new type of novel in the style of "LS River Goddess".

This is understandable.

The novel "Huacheng" has always been committed to promoting literary works from Hong Kong, Taiwan and abroad, as well as the latest literary and artistic trends.

Ma Yuan set off a new literary trend, and Huacheng, a literary magazine known for its "gracefulness", naturally did not want to lag behind.

The writer Jiang Xian is well-known for his passion for innovation and change in his creative works.

Looking back at the six years since Jiang Xian entered the literary world, from his debut work "The Chess King" to his winning of the Mao Dun Literature Prize, it can be said that in just six years, Jiang Xian has leapt from an unknown person to the number one young writer in China.

This title of the first person is well deserved.

With the honors that Jiang Xian has received today, it can be said that he is unrivaled among the young writers in the current domestic literary world.

The reason why Jiang Xian was able to rise so quickly is inseparable from the literary trends he initiated and promoted.

When reflective literature was popular, Jiang Xian wrote "Furong Town". When stream-of-consciousness novels appeared, Jiang Xian wrote "Rice". There were also root-seeking novels such as "Red Sorghum" and new novels such as "Xu Sanguan Selling Blood".
In short, in the literary world, most other writers stick to one style until death, but Jiang Xian is the only one who constantly seeks innovation and change, and his works cover almost all areas of literary thought.

So when Su Chen wanted to commission a new type of novel in the style of "LS River Goddess" for Huacheng, he felt that Jiang Xian was the best candidate for the commission.

No matter from which perspective, Jiang Xian is the most suitable candidate for commissioned article.

Listening to Su Chen's words, Jiang Xian was also constantly thinking.

LS River Goddess. Ma Yuan
This type of novel is the avant-garde novel that is often mentioned in later generations.

Writers of avant-garde novels are the most radical group of people in the literary world and can be described as a group of extreme "rebels".

These people do not pay attention to or even give up the content of the novel, but instead attach great importance to the form of the novel.

They subvert traditional literary structures.

Even if this behavior is suspected of being an overreaction, it is completely ignored.

This type of novel can enable the creator to gain linguistic pleasure and win the reader's attention through the techniques of language carnival and form carnival.

But later I gradually discovered that while novels bring pleasure to language, they also pay a heavy price in the loss of textual meaning.

Therefore, in the history of literature, avant-garde novels did give people a refreshing feeling when they first appeared.

But as time goes by, sensory stimulation is short-lived after all.

Most avant-garde literature eventually took other paths or even left the literary track. Only a small number of writers survived, and eventually avant-garde literature became a unique flower in literature.

But it is undeniable that the great works of avant-garde literature must be the best among these wonders, and their literary value is worth reading and appreciating again and again.

Listening to Su Chen's request for an article, Jiang Xian couldn't help but feel a little moved by avant-garde novels.

Given his status, he is now free to write whatever he wants.

But it’s just like playing a game and having to get all the achievements.

Jiang Xian really doesn't want to miss out on the field of avant-garde novels.

Moreover, the literary trend of avant-garde novels can be said to be relatively short-lived.

This type of novel is published at the perfect time.

If you publish it after this point, it will seem a bit outdated.

In addition, not long ago, a new "synthetic sequence" appeared in Jiang Xian's mind after a long absence.

Just like the one in "The Garland under the Mountain", this is another synthesis sequence with selectable synthesis direction.

Synthesis allows you to select the type of synthesis sequence.

“Scar literature, reflective literature, and reform literature.”

From this long list of options, Jiang Xian made his choice.