1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 397: Follow the path of "Reader" and leave "Reader" with no way to go

The whole novel is not long, and it took Zhao Zhenkai about three or four hours to read it all.

But the feeling that "War Horse" brought to Zhao Zhenkai was incomparable.

Jiang Xian always maintains a low-key and profound tone in his narration, telling the story of such a man and a horse.

The most crucial thing is the novel's anti-war theme.

The view is high-level and to the point.

The moment a war begins, all those who are dragged into it become victims of the war.

This is also written in "War Horse".

Whether they are the British or the German army, Captain Nichols, Gunther and the Carl brothers, from the perspective of Joey the horse, these people are not vicious criminals.

They all shine with the light of humanity and have kindness and tenderness in their hearts.

But in the war, they had to endure everything that the war brought and paid a heavy price for it again and again, even their own lives.

Zhao Zhen opened and closed the manuscript, thinking over the contents of the novel. He closed the book and pondered for a long time. Suddenly, he raised his head, took out a page of manuscript paper with a pen, and quickly wrote a few lines, almost in one go.

Then he rushed out of the room with the manuscript paper, "Shao Fei, Shao Fei, I wrote a new poem."

Shao Fei and Hu Wu turned around at the same time and looked at Zhao Zhenkai who was looking excited.

"What poem?"

"I'll read it to you."

Zhao Zhenkai raised the manuscript in his hand and recited with full emotion:

"Wandering on the edge of darkness."

"The whistling of bullets shattered the tranquility of the night sky."

After listening to two sentences, Hu Wu felt a depressing and tense atmosphere of war.

Obviously, this is a poem criticizing war.

Hu Wu immediately thought that Zhao Zhenkai's new poem was most likely inspired by Jiang Xian's novel "War Horse".

After all, the theme of that novel is anti-war.

Zhao Zhenkai still recited this poem with passion.

Reading poetry, especially in front of a group of people, would probably be considered embarrassing in later generations, and people would think that the person reading poetry is just a pretentious person.

But in this literary and artistic age, no one thinks so.

Poetry reading is a very popular activity these days.

After poets wrote poems, they would recite them in person to others at poetry meetings.

We have to mention Chen Ai Ge here. He loves to participate in such activities frequently and is fully worthy of the title of "Little Prince of Poetry".

Zhao Zhenkai’s recitation level is average, but his voice is full of intonation and emotion.

“Ruins are silent ghosts.”

"The eyes are the shadow of fear."

"Home is the tears of time."

"The evil words of war carve scars on the earth."

"The moonlight is wiping away the bruises on the monument."

"Plant the shells into the ground."

"Waiting to grow a singing brass bell."

"Brother Zhao, this is so beautiful. This poem is so beautifully written." Hu Wu wiped the corners of his eyes.

This poem is in line with Zhao Zhenkai's previous style, with cold and profound language, yet one can still feel the deep emotions and thoughts in the poem.

"Plant the shells into the ground."

"Waiting to grow a singing brass bell."

Shao Fei repeated these two sentences, "Great, these two sentences are really well written."

Zhao Zhenkai smiled and said, "It's not that I wrote well, it's Jiang Xian who wrote well. The emotion and appeal of his novel are too strong."

Zhao Zhenkai was very clear that all his insights into this poem came from the novel "War Horse".

He was even a little impatient.

He couldn't wait to go to the United States, couldn't wait to establish Today, and couldn't wait to introduce the novel War Horse to the American people.

After Wang Meng announced Jiang Xian’s appointment at an internal meeting of People’s Literature, she took Jiang Xian and the editorial staff out for dinner at the Xinqiao Hotel.

This was also the first time that Jiang Xian appeared in public as the deputy editor-in-chief of People's Literature.

With Jiang Xian officially taking office, the complex situation within People's Literature became more clearly apparent to him.

The interior of any unit cannot be a solid block.

The same is true for People's Literature.

As we all know, there are two largest factions in the literary and artistic circles today:

The Xichun faction and the left-leaning faction.

The Xichun School is known for its excelle in literature, while the left wing has a strong official flavor.

The two sides have been engaged in a protracted debate over whether literary creation after the end of Buzz Buzz Buzz should truly expose and reflect the scars and realities of contemporary society and whether the mainstream literature of the "Seventeen Years" should be restored.

The magazine "People's Literature" is a literary journal with an absolutely superior status in the literary world.

There is no doubt that for the Xichun faction and the left-leaning faction, whoever owns People's Literature will gain the dominant position in public opinion in the literary world.

Therefore, "People's Literature" is definitely the place where the competition between the Xichun faction and the left-leaning faction is the most intense.

The internal contradictions of "People's Literature" can also be seen as the contradictions between Xichun and the left-leaning faction.

The fact that Jiang Xian was nominated by Wang Meng to be deputy editor-in-chief was quickly reported to the Chinese Writers Association, the governing body of People's Literature.

Several members of the Party Committee of the China Writers Association discussed the formal appointment of Jiang Xian.

A leading comrade who leans towards the left frowned and said:

"I don't think it's appropriate. Jiang Xian's style is similar to Wang Meng's. If he is appointed as deputy editor-in-chief, what about Wang Meng?"

Although he didn't finish his words, everyone else roughly understood his meaning.

Wang Meng's publishing style is unconventional, and the leadership team members of the Writers Association have long reached a consensus on this point.

In such a short time since he took office at People's Literature, he has already caused a lot of trouble.

A proposal will be made for contracting at each level and recruiting in groups.

Then it was proposed that a publication should offer correspondence courses and lectures.

In short, this kid is going to do something big, and everyone can see it.

But for those who lean to the left, the current style of People's Literature does not need to be changed.

In the past few years, with the momentum of the meetings above and the emergence of literary works such as the drama "If I Were Real", the film scripts "The Female Thief" and "Goethe and Immorality", the left-wing launched a general offensive against the Xichun faction.

The current situation is very favorable for the left-leaning faction, and the publishing style of "People's Literature" is exactly what they want. It can be said that the dominance of public opinion is almost in their hands.

And now, Wang Meng wants to change this situation, which is naturally something they cannot tolerate.

"Comrade Feng Mu criticized him once before, but I think he didn't listen at all." Another comrade said angrily.

Previously, Feng Mu had criticized two articles published by Wang Meng in People's Literature at a meeting of the China Writers Association, denouncing them as the literature of a "lost generation."

"I was shocked to see that some young people's thoughts could go to such an extent. It is worth noting."

In the eyes of the left-leaning Writers Association, it is not easy to check and balance a "thorny" person like Wang Meng.

If there were another Jiang Xian now, it would be difficult to maintain the current balance of the publication.

The Chinese Writers Association was quite dissatisfied with Jiang Xian's position as deputy editor-in-chief.

Jiang Xian is not a left-winger, nor is he a member of the Xichun faction. The Xichun faction is already in a tight situation, so there is naturally no need for them to speak up for such a fence-sitter.

Although Guang Weiran has withdrawn from People's Literature, he is still very concerned about the prospects of the magazine, and is also concerned about the path of the young man Jiang Xian.

Realizing that Jiang Xian had become the center of public opinion for the two major factions, he quickly called Wang Meng and asked him and Jiang Xian to come to the Writers Association to talk about their future ideas for the magazine "People's Literature" and the future work plans of Jiang Xian as the deputy editor-in-chief.

Wang Meng didn't dare to delay and quickly called Jiang Xian to go over together.

"People's Literature" is located in the courtyard of the Writers Association, not far away. However, on the way there, Jiang Xian still felt like the ministers of the old times going to Beijing to report on their work.

"What's wrong with your face?" Wang Meng pointed at Jiang Xian's face. There were obvious red marks on it, and several places were broken.

"My daughter caught it." Jiang Xian said with a smile.

Their little Majesty is now at the age where he is lively and loves to scratch things, and his nails have grown longer.

Jiang Xian, as a father, suffered a lot, but even though he was caught by his daughter, he only felt happy and didn't feel any pain at all.

As we were talking, we arrived at the place, a meeting room of the China Writers Association.

Jiang Xian followed Wang Meng and pushed the door open.

The so-called conference room is actually a relatively spacious room with various tables and chairs scattered around.

Comrade Zhou Yang was sitting on the east side, his back straight, seemingly arguing with the person opposite him.

Sitting opposite him was "Thunder Hand" Lin Mohan. The old man was half leaning on the armrest of the chair, his brows furrowed, and from time to time he raised his hand to adjust the black frame of his glasses.

There were also many people sitting together in groups of three or four.

Liu Baiyu sat alone in a corner near the door blocking the light, with his head down, smoking his pipe silently. There was a lot of thought between his brows, but he didn't say a word.

Guang Weiran was half leaning on a rattan chair, looking a little tired.

There was a small coffee table in the center, on which were scattered fruits and snacks.

As soon as Wang Meng and Jiang Xian entered the room, everyone's eyes immediately turned to them.

"Jiang Xian is here." Guang Weiran shouted.

"Mr. Guang."

Jiang Xian responded, and then greeted the bosses one by one, with mixed feelings.

Once upon a time, he was just a small character who had to look up to these big guys, but now he has become involved in their disputes.

But he soon felt at ease and sat down with his head held high in the seat that Guang Weiran had asked him to sit.

He had expected something like this to happen today, and he had made all preparations for today.

"Jiang Xian is a comrade with strong working ability."

Kong Luosun, who was familiar with Jiang Xian, said with a smile: "This can be seen in the construction of the Literature Museum. Now that the Literature Museum is about to be completed, this achievement is obvious to all. This credit is inseparable from the contribution of Comrade Jiang Xian."

There was a moment of silence in the conference room.

Lin Mohan slowly leaned back in his chair, then took off his glasses and wiped them with his shirt, his tone deep.

"I heard that Comrade Jiang Xian has taken on the position of deputy editor-in-chief of People's Literature. What will he be mainly responsible for in the future?"

"this."

Wang Meng paused and looked at Jiang Xian, "Let Comrade Jiang Xian speak for himself."

"Cough cough."

Jiang Xian coughed twice and glanced at the bigwigs in the conference room.

These people are either from the Xichun faction or lean to the left.

However, it is different from the conflict between the two factions that people usually understand.

The conflict between the orthodox and unorthodox sects is that the two factions are actually two separate groups. You are the disciple of Tongtian Jiaozhu, and I am the disciple of Yuanshi Tianzun. I have to use magic to fight you to the death, tit for tat, either black or white.

The ideological disputes among these literary giants in front of Jiang Xian, the so-called labels of the Xichun faction and the left-leaning faction, were actually simplified by the outside world to divide them into two groups in order to better understand and spread the debate between the two factions.

"After that, I worked at People's Literature, mainly responsible for the supplement of People's Literature." Jiang Xian said in a clear voice.

"supplement?"

Guang Weiran felt a little strange.

Previously, the supplement of People's Literature was Selected Fiction, but it was separated from People's Literature when Wang Meng took office, and was considered to be separated from People's Literature.

So what does the supplement of People's Literature that Jiang Xian mentioned refer to?

“People’s Digest.”

Jiang Xian said, "I discussed this with Editor-in-Chief Wang Meng and decided to publish a new supplement like this."

"People's Digest?"

Lin Mohan raised his glasses and looked at Jiang Xian in surprise, "Abstract publications?"

"Yes, Mr. Lin."

Jiang Xian nodded, "I was invited to the United States to participate in the 'International Writing Program'. After arriving in the United States, I found that Americans are very busy and few people have time to read so many magazines. Therefore, digest publications are very popular in the United States, especially a digest publication called 'Reader's Digest', which is almost popular all over the world. This publication excerpts or condenses articles and publishes them.

After returning from the United States, Comrade Wang Meng and I discussed that with the reform and opening up, our readers seemed to have developed reading habits similar to those in the United States, with less and less time for reading, but more and more interests in reading. We thought that we could try to establish such a supplement, and we tentatively named it "People's Digest."

"People's Digest?"

Zhou Yang nodded, "Well, this publication has a good name."

Lin Mohan, Liu Baiyu and others also nodded.

The atmosphere in the conference room, which was filled with tension just now, suddenly eased a lot because of Jiang Xian's words.

The main reason was that Jiang Xian said he wanted to run the "People's Digest".

This made several left-wing leaders who were more concerned about People's Literature breathe a sigh of relief.

You all heard it.

This guy volunteered to run the supplement.

This is what it means to voluntarily distance yourself from the power core of People's Literature.

For a moment, the gazes of several people looking at Jiang Xian softened a lot, becoming less fierce and more appreciative.

The one who was more anxious was Guang Weiran.

In his opinion, Jiang Xian's publication of People's Digest was a temporary way to avoid the spotlight.

Under the current circumstances, his choice to withdraw from the core power of People's Literature is a very unwise choice.

He sat up from the rattan chair and struck the jiang xian:
"Publishing a publication is no joke. We are all experienced people. We have all published publications before, some of which were successful and some failed. The digest you mentioned is successful in the United States. Will it be successful here?"

"Of course I can, Mr. Guang." Jiang Xian looked cheerful.

"What can you guarantee?" Guang Weiran lowered his voice.

"Oh, Mr. Guang, our People's Literature is not the first to try something new."

Jiang Xian said with great enthusiasm:
"In fact, we in China have already published a Reader's Digest, the one in Gansu, which has the same model as the one in the United States. It has been doing very well in recent years. Do you think they can make all the money?"

"Ah sneeze."

In Gansu, Cao Keji from the editorial department of Reader's Digest suddenly sneezed.

He turned his head and looked behind him.

Empty.

He felt inexplicably cold.

I felt uneasy.

(End of this chapter)