1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 406 "When I Stand in Nietzsche's Perspective"

After writing the review, Li Tuo read it twice and felt satisfied.

The next morning, he could not wait to send the manuscript of "Going on a Long Journey at the Age of Eighteen" and his literary review to the editorial department of "Huacheng".

The journey was long, and when the letter arrived in Guangzhou, it was already June.

At the same time, the third issue of the bimonthly magazine "Huacheng" in 1984 was also published in June.

This issue of Huacheng published two novels by Jiang Xian, The Drifter and The Hunger Games, in the form of headlines and in most of the article.

You should know that the last time Jiang Xian published a work in China was last fall, which was a novel "The Last Hun" published in "Yanhe".

After that, he went abroad to study. Apart from the publication of his previously published works in the novel collections of several magazines, Jiang Xian had no new works published in China.

Jiang Xian, a writer who has always been very creative, has suddenly been silent for such a long time, and his readers have been waiting anxiously.

While waiting, expectations for Jiang Xian's next work are also increasing invisibly.

After all, you've been holding it in for so long, so there must have been something big going on that took so long.

The domestic debut of the two novels "Drifter" and "The Hunger Games" also made readers feel that their expectations were met. No, they were filled.

In the minds of readers, the name Jiang Xian is a guarantee of high-quality novels.

Since he started writing, every work he released has maintained an extremely high standard, earning him an excellent reputation.

After the publication of "Huacheng", readers were disappointed that Jiang Xian's new work was not the second half of "The Last Hun".

But the disappointment was soon forgotten.

Although both novels "The Drifter" and "The Hunger Games" are literary works with a Western style, their quality definitely lives up to readers' expectations of Jiang Xian!

"The Drifter" has a tense and touching plot. Through Fu Sanming's experience of drifting on the sea, it explores issues such as faith, survival and cruel human nature. There are two reversals at the end of the story, which makes people's scalp tingle.

The setting of "The Hunger Games" is very imaginative. The unexpected plot and rich symbolic imagery make the connotation of this work more profound and rich. While reading it, you feel as if you are following the protagonist on an adventure.

In the basically monotonous traditional literary context in China, the two novels instantly stimulated the taste buds of domestic readers as soon as they came out.

Reading these two novels, which are different from mainstream domestic literature, is an unprecedented fresh experience and an unparalleled reading feast.

The unpleasant feeling that the second volume of "The Last Hun" has not yet been published has also been forgotten by readers.

After reading, they recommended the two novels to their relatives and friends. More and more readers learned about the two novels, bought them eagerly, and competed to read them, and soon a hot trend was formed.

13, 27, 41
The surging enthusiasm of readers has brought about a dramatic increase in the sales of "Hua Cheng", which had been sluggish.

In less than a month, the third issue of Huacheng in 1984 once again broke the circulation record of more than 76 copies set at the beginning of its publication.

Even today, when literary journals are at their peak, this achievement would definitely allow Huacheng to rank among the top literary journals.

Su Chen of Huacheng concluded that the sales of this issue of the magazine should easily exceed one million.

One million!
When Su Chen said this number, he was shocked himself.

It used to be said that there was a "Jiang Xian phenomenon" in the literary world, and that as long as Jiang Xian's novels were published, they would definitely cause a huge sensation in society.

Before, Su Chen didn't take it seriously, but now he truly feels the power of this writer.

This is the appeal that Jiang Xian has among Chinese readers!
Of course, the hot sales of "Flower City" are also due to the excellent quality of the two novels "Drifter" and "The Hunger Games".

The following month, literary reviews of the two novels "Drifter" and "The Hunger Games" began to appear in major publications.

Relatively speaking, critics paid more attention to "Drifter", after all, science fiction is relatively unpopular in China.

In the magazine "Reading", Zhou Guoping, a scholar, writer, philosophy researcher, and the philosopher who has done the most in-depth research on Nietzsche in China, published a literary review entitled "Reading 'Drifter': The Island and the Tiger, a Nietzschean or Existentialist Interpretation".

Zhou Guoping said that last month many people around him began discussing the novel "The Drifter", and many people recommended him to read it.

However, he has never been interested in following trends, and subconsciously kept his distance from "The Drifter".

In the end, he was defeated by human nature.

Last month his company gave him a coupon, which was exactly enough to buy a copy of Huacheng magazine at a newspaper stand.

So he bought the third issue of "Huacheng" in 1984. After reading it all, he was quickly attracted by the story of "The Drifter".

As the saying goes, "There is nothing new under the sun." Initially, Zhou Guoping thought that the interesting part of this film was not much different from the famous novel "Robinson Crusoe" that many people have read.

However, the diverse backgrounds and the protagonists with multicultural characters felt novel to him, and the textbook writing style of the drifting part also gave him an excellent reading experience.

Moreover, the author obviously did a lot of preparation before writing, making the details of the novel extremely realistic.

"Jiang Xian even gave a detailed description of what tiger feces smells like!"

With writing reaching this level, how could he, as a reader, not feel as if he were there?

However, after reading the later parts, he, a scholar who spent all day with Nietzsche, was also attracted by the philosophical thinking brought out by Jiang Xian.

Chinese people have always loved atheism.

When Fu Sanming told the second story, Westerners might have to struggle between the two stories for a while.

But the fearless Chinese people can immediately accept the second story of fratricide and cannibalism.

He never expected that Jiang Xian would let readers think about such heavy topics as human nature and life in this novel.

“Nietzsche wrote in Beyond Good and Evil: If you fight a dragon too long, you become a dragon; if you stare too long into the abyss, the abyss will stare back at you.”

After using Nietzsche's philosophical analysis and highly evaluating the novel "The Drifter", Zhou Guoping recommended the novel "The Drifter" with this sentence at the end of the article:
"We need this story, not to hide our bestiality, but to have faith in our humanity."

This literary review published by Zhou Guoping in "Reading" soon caused an uproar among the intellectual community.

"Reading" is a publication sponsored by Sanlian Bookstore. It is one of the most beloved magazines among Chinese intellectuals and has a great influence.

As for Sanlian Bookstore, here is a brief introduction. Sanlian is the combination of "Life, Reading and New Knowledge". Before liberation, Life Bookstore, Reading Publishing House and New Knowledge Bookstore merged to form Sanlian Bookstore, which had a very special status in the domestic literary world. However, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Sanlian Bookstore was incorporated into People's Publishing House, and has not yet restored its independent structure. It only has an independent editorial department.

After Zhou Guoping's literary review was published, many readers of Reading wrote to the editorial department of Reading, discussing their views on the novel The Drifter, as well as their similarities and differences with Zhou Guoping, as well as some inspirations they received from Zhou Guoping.

"The ten-odd pages of truth are so heartbreaking. It's hard to describe the huge gap between the truth and the story I read. It takes a very strong heart to do this!"

“It’s hard to comment. This novel has so much to say and the writing is beautiful. I haven’t seen such a touching novel in a long time.”

Normally, there are not many letters from readers to Reading, so this small editorial office is unusually lively.

"Why are all the readers' opinions on the novels published by Huacheng sent to us?" Editor Wang Zhifeng said jokingly as he picked up the teacup and took a sip of water.

“But overall, readers have given The Drifter a very high rating!”

"Yeah yeah."

Another young female editor, Xiao Wei, said, "I also read the readers' letters and stayed up late last night to read the novel. It's too creepy. Jiang Xian must have a lot of imagination to come up with such a story."

“Creepy?” Wang Zhifeng waved his hand. “This idiom is too inappropriate to describe this novel. In my opinion, it should be said that this novel is incomprehensibly exquisite and thrilling, just like experiencing it in person.”

"Do you all think this novel is good?"

Another male editor, Lao Zhou, became interested. “Is there anyone who says this novel is bad? I have never seen a novel so good that no one disagrees.”

"Yes, why not?"

Wang Zhifeng smiled and said, "There is a reader who thinks Jiang Xian is a traitor."

"How to say?"

"This person thinks Jiang Xian portrayed Fu Sanming's family in a too negative light. After reading the entire novel, it seems that all the bad people are Chinese. This completely smears the image of the Chinese people."

"Isn't this bullshit?"

Lao Zhou was so angry that he laughed, "Is this what the novel is about? This is not just nitpicking, this is finding the problem outside the eggshell!"

"That's it."

"This kind of people let their butts guide their brains. They think that Gabriel García Márquez is a Colombian traitor, that Milan Kundera is a Czech traitor, and that Hesse is an Indian traitor. In short, they take things out of context, unravel the mystery, and then curse at them. They think they are bathed in the glory of the awakened and feel very proud."

"Hahaha."

"That makes sense."

The editors were all happy.

Wang Zhifeng chuckled at this time: "Don't say anything, he really has a very convincing argument."

"What?"

"This reader got an explanation from somewhere, saying that it was actually Fu Sanming's father who asked the housekeeper to blow up the ship in order to defraud insurance. As a result, Fu Sanming had no worries about food and clothing in the United States. So in the end, the reader said that Jiang Xian was smearing the image of the Chinese people."

"Pull it down."

The editors all sneered, and the young editor Xiao Yu was even more humorous.

"According to what he said, Jiang Xian should be praised!"

"How to say?"

The editors all looked towards him.

"You all forgot?"

The young editor smiled and explained:
"This ship belongs to the Japanese!"

"How can Fu Sanming's family commit insurance fraud?"

“This is the anti-Japanese war!”

Wang Zhifeng slapped his thigh.

Not good!

According to the time point written by Jiang Xian, the story probably took place before May 4th.

Fu Sanming and his family were on the Japanese cargo ship "Chimchum".

If what this reader said is true, it was really Fu Sanming's father who blew up the Japanese cargo ship.

Then how could this be Fu Sanming’s father’s insurance fraud?
This is Fu Sanming's family sacrificing their lives for their country!
"Hahaha, Xiao Yu, you have an amazing brain!"

"Yeah yeah."

"Cough cough."

The atmosphere in the editorial department was relaxed and pleasant for a while, and the editor-in-chief Lao Fan quickly coughed twice.

"Okay, okay, China and Japan are friendly now, let's not expose the scars of our friendly country like this."

"Didn't Huacheng publish two of Jiang Xian's novels this time? How was the response to the other novel, The Hunger Games?"

"You mean that thrilling science fiction novel?"

At this time, Chinese people still don’t understand what science fiction is. Most people call this type of novel thriller science fiction.

In today's China, thrilling science fiction novels are a genre that is disliked by many people when talking about them, but is privately very popular among readers.

Last year, Mr. Ye Yonglie, who wrote "100,000 Whys", was fiercely questioned by an article in their "Reading" magazine.

It is said that it is a poisonous cigarette that can make people numb just by smelling the smoke when they light it.

There is also a revolver that is converted into a micro laser pistol.

What the hell is this mess you wrote?

What if you write these and corrupt our children?
The old man also feels aggrieved.

He also has something to say.

My novels are all published by the Masses Publishing House of the Public Security Bureau and are approved by the police. How could they corrupt your children?
But it's no use for him to feel wronged, because the parents won't listen.

All in all, the status of science fiction in China right now is not much different from that of pornographic books.

Everyone loves to watch it.

But no one thinks that this kind of novel is worthy of being published in a respectable manner, and there is nothing wrong with saying that it is a scourge.

It is said that when the British science fiction writer Aldiss visited China, he held a discussion with some Chinese science popularization workers.

At this time, someone asked a very ridiculous question:

“How do British science fiction novels teach young people about science?”

You can see from this question that many people in China actually don’t understand what science fiction is.

"At first, I thought no one would be optimistic about this novel, but it seems that the novel is quite popular," editor Wang Zhifeng said at this time.

“Yes, I just saw it yesterday. The Literary Gazette actually published a literary review of The Hunger Games, praising the novel,” editor Xiao Yu said.

"Literary Gazette?"

Editor-in-chief Lao Fan was surprised.

The Literary Gazette is the mainstream voice in the cultural world.

What's happening here?
In the past, people disliked science fiction novels.

Why did the situation become different when it came to Jiang Xian's writing?
(End of this chapter)