1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 527 Was this also part of the calculation?
"Cheerful".

"That's so cool!"

Su Cong clenched his fists.

In the past, my writing style always required each character to have a happy ending.

When they arrived at Jiang Xian's place...

People are meant to subvert and deviate from the established path of literature.

It does not elevate.

It's meaningless.

There is no hope whatsoever.

It absolutely cannot be said that he has given up his final destination.

In short, everything stops here.

This reminded Su Cong of a statement made by Frederick Jameson, the American scholar who came to China two years ago to talk about "postmodernism":

“It is precisely in the search for traces of a narrative that has been abruptly interrupted, in the replication of the suppressed and buried basic historical reality onto the surface of the text, that the principle of political unconsciousness discovers its role and its inevitability.”

That was two years ago, when Frederick Jameson gave a four-month lecture series at Peking University.

At that time, the Chinese cultural and intellectual circles as a whole still inherited the enlightenment ideology since the May Fourth Movement and were immersed in looking up to modernity.

Jameson's "postmodern" theories suddenly pushed modernity and its masters to the margins of intellectual history.

Foucault, Greimas, Hassan, Lacan, and a large number of other postmodern theorists have taken center stage.

Chinese scholars suddenly realized that Western contemporary cultural and literary theories had changed dramatically, and thus the world had become dominated by the "post-" era. Jameson thus became an "enlightenment" figure who introduced postmodern cultural theory to mainland China and was highly respected.

Later, the old man came to China again. This time, instead of creating the same hurricane effect as before, it sparked a lot of discussion. Some people criticized him for being sarcastic and eccentric, and for being Western-centric at heart, believing that only Westerners have the right to speak in the unconscious realm. The old man's Chinese students, on the other hand, called for avoiding unnecessary misinterpretations.

As the saying goes, opinions vary.

Returning to "The Troubleshooters," Su Cong believes that Jiang Xian's ending was not only timely but also reflected the core ideas of "The Troubleshooters" in his writing attitude, breaking away from past habits and conventions.

I wanted to stop, so I stopped here.

How about it?
What else can I do?
Su Cong felt that this was where he was lacking.

He always thought about using Chinese music to score "The Last Emperor". The more he thought about it, the more he confined himself to the old ways. In writing terms, he was still trying to give the characters a sense of belonging and to elevate the ending.

Why isn't his music awesome enough? Why has he never satisfied Bertolucci?

That's exactly what's missing!

True masters are like Jiang Xian, who are imaginative and break through boundaries at will.

For a moment, Su Cong was filled with emotion and thought about many things.

Of course, he understood.

The phrase "do whatever you want" sounds simple, but most people fail to achieve it not because they lack courage.

You don't have the ability to know!

This just goes to show how talented Jiang Xian is at writing.

With writing at this level, this writer would be perfectly capable of producing work that is worthy of international acclaim.

Su Cong couldn't help but start daydreaming.

Over the years, he has participated in many competitions and selections abroad and has also discovered that there are very few Chinese people on the international stage of these arts and culture fields.

Especially in the three most prominent fields of literature, music, and film.

Chinese writers are almost nowhere to be seen.

As a Chinese person, Su Cong naturally harbors this expectation: that one day, Chinese people will appear in the core competitive awards in these fields.

Although these days everyone is desperately trying to go abroad, thinking that the moon is rounder in foreign countries.

However, as a Chinese artist, Su Cong believes that his country's art is in no way inferior.

Now that Su Cong has read Jiang Xian's "The Playboy," he truly believes that it is not impossible for Jiang Xian to step onto the international stage. Given time, he may even have a chance to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, which no Chinese person has yet won.

No. 166 Chaoyang, Beijing.

Humanities Press.

"Wow, so many letters? Which book suddenly became a hit?"

"Oh, it's not from any of them. This letter isn't from the publishing house; it's from 'Contemporary' magazine."

The People's Literature Publishing House and Contemporary Literature are one entity; the editorial office of Contemporary Literature is located within the People's Literature Publishing House.

"Old He, Old He!"

As they were talking, the gatekeeper looked at He Qizhi from "Contemporary" magazine and called him back, "Please take these two sacks of letters back with you, they all belong to your 'Contemporary' magazine."

"Our *Contemporary*?"

He Qizhi initially found it strange, but quickly guessed what it was, and his heart suddenly became excited.

He opened the sack, took out a letter, and tore it open:

Hello, Mr. Wang Shuo!
I just finished reading "The Troublemakers". Thank you for writing such a "poisonous book". It doesn't teach people to be good, but only forces people to live authentically. It doesn't give answers, but only lets people see what the problems are like.

If anyone tries to spout grand words like "ideal" or "meaning" to me again, I'll slap the movie "The Troubleshooters" in their face.

—A reader awakened by your words.

"Really!"

He Qizhi found it amusing.

Since the publication of "The Troubleshooters", their magazine "Contemporary" has been paying close attention to readers' feedback.

The impact of increased issuance will take some time to materialize.

I didn't expect the letters from readers to come even faster.

He Qizhi quickly opened a few more envelopes, and then, with some suspicion, accepted the truth before him:

These are two sacks of letters.

Some were addressed to Jiang Xian, others to their editorial department, praising their varied styles for increasing the magazine's readability and expressing their anticipation for future novels.

But without exception.

These letters from readers were all written after they read "The Troubleshooters".

"How many days has it been?" He Qizhi immediately brought the good news back to the editorial department.

"It's only been a few days, and so many letters have already arrived! It's almost like the usual two weeks' worth!"

"It seems the readers really enjoy this novel."

"Wow, even though I expected 'The Troubleshooters' to be a hit, having these two sacks of letters right in front of my face is still quite shocking."

"I think I'll be busy again soon."

"What's wrong?"

"Is there even a question? The publishing house will definitely call to ask for a reprint."

Over the years, Jiang Xian has made a name for himself in the literary world. The so-called "Jiang Xian phenomenon" has never failed to work. Every novel of his is a bestseller. The name "Jiang Xian" has become a guarantee of sales and a golden brand.

Therefore, Contemporary magazine had great confidence in his article "The Playboy" and had long hoped that this issue of the magazine would achieve a sales breakthrough.

But until the final result is revealed, no one can guarantee that they will avoid the 99% chance of the 1% event occurring.

In other words, they didn't dare to open the champagne halfway through the game.

Of course, even now, the people at Contemporary magazine aren't entirely sure that the novel "The Playboy" has become a huge hit.

But judging from its current performance, the novel is doing quite well. Unlike her colleagues' delight, editor Liu Yin sat in a corner, her smiling face unable to conceal her deep thoughts.

After she got home from get off work, her husband, Yan Gang, a renowned literary critic from the Wenyi Bao (Literary Gazette), quickly noticed her unusual behavior.

"What's wrong? Is something on your mind?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

Liu Yin didn't mince words, "Back then, when I was reading the manuscript 'Hibiscus Town,' I thought it was particularly good, so I kept it from Jiang Xian and prevented him from giving it to People's Literature."

Over the years, Jiang Xian has published more and more novels, each one of which is very good, but he has never submitted a manuscript to "Contemporary" until this time, when he finally commissioned this novel, "The Playboy". Sure enough, it became a hit.

I was thinking, if it weren't for my involvement, our magazine *Contemporary* might have already commissioned an article from him. I feel really guilty about that.

"What's there to feel guilty about?" Yan Gang laughed heartily. "It's common for editors to compete for manuscripts."

"You don't know, I just feel really bad about it."

Liu Yin said, "You know, if it weren't for He Qizhi from our editorial department, I don't know when we would have been able to get his manuscript. But if it weren't for Lao He, how much would our *Contemporary* magazine have lost? Sigh, it's all my fault."

Seeing Liu Yin's self-reproachful expression, Yan Gang felt a pang of heartache.

He is known in literary circles for his excellent critical writing, and he is also known for doting on his wife.

Liu Yin has a sofa in the editorial department. He made it for her by hand because he was worried that she would be uncomfortable sitting for a long time. This story quickly became a popular anecdote.

"How about this."

Yan Gang smiled and said, "I just read Jiang Xian's 'The Playboy,' and it's really well written. I'll write another literary review for him right away. He's written so many literary reviews for me over the years, he should at least do me a favor. There's no need to keep bringing up that little thing from back then."

"Don't say things like that."

Liu Yin waved her hand, "It's not like you're deliberately promoting this novel for my sake. The novel is indeed well-written. Besides, Jiang Xian's novels are never short of reviews. So, according to you, if you write a literary review for him, he'll thank you?"

"How can that be the same? Can anyone compare to my literary criticism?" Yan Gang retorted.

Liu Yin poured cold water on the idea, saying, "This novel is far superior to most other novels."

"."

Yan Gang thought about it and realized that it really was true.

For most writers, a review article written by him is merely icing on the cake, using his fame to boost the writer's own.

If it were Jiang Xian, and he wrote a commentary, it's hard to say who would be riding on whose fame.

Moreover, Jiang Xian's novels are generally the focus of discussion in the critical community.

In other words:

If you don't write it, plenty of others will.

Thinking about this, Yan Gang felt a little depressed for a moment. After all, he couldn't find any use for it, not even in front of his wife or in his most proud field.

This is not much different from being unable to display one's masculinity.

"Alright, stop thinking about it. Actually, if I think about it, maybe I underestimated Jiang Xian. If he really cared about this, why would he give the manuscript to our 'Contemporary' magazine this time? He probably doesn't even remember what happened back then." Liu Yin comforted Yan Gang at this moment.

"."

Upon hearing this, Yan Gang sat down at the table without saying a word.

"What are you doing?" Liu Yin asked.

Write a comment.

"I already said, you don't need to write it."

"It's not about your matter."

Yan Gang said in a low voice, "It was my own idea to write it. This novel is indeed well-written, unlike anything I've seen before."

The Spring Festival was at the end of January 1987.

The Spring Festival Gala made its debut again this year, looking so fresh and vibrant.

Later generations have commented that this year's Spring Festival Gala was the highest quality ever, bar none.

Having learned from Chen Chong's disastrous experience, this year's Spring Festival Gala really put in a lot of effort and learned its lesson.

First of all, the stage is back to normal. We've switched back to the small studio, so the audience won't be freezing, but the actors will be too.

In addition, all the other participants have found normal people.

King Zhou? Bah! Fei Xiang appeared on stage.

First came "Hometown Clouds," then "A Fire in Winter," accompanied by singing and dancing.

Ordinary people have never seen this before.

Especially "A Fire in Winter".

Who would have thought that someone could start singing and then, hey, start rocking!
In short, he stole the show.

Besides Fei Xiang, another notable figure is Jiang Kun.

After he and Tang Jiezong finished telling their story "Thoughts on Tiger's Mouth," they amused the entire nation and he immediately became a household name across the country.

After the Spring Festival Gala ended, the most discussed topics among the audience, besides "A Fire in Winter" and whether Chen Peisi was so cold that he would never appear on the Spring Festival Gala again, were the crosstalk "Tiger's Mouth Reverie".

Although Jiang Kun was somewhat famous before, in the eyes of outsiders, his fame was largely due to his mentor Ma Ji.

But this time it's different.

The performance of "Tiger's Mouth Reverie" quickly decimated a large number of crosstalk performances, sweeping away almost all of them like fallen leaves in autumn wind.

It's similar to how Ma Ji had works like "The Five Senses Compete for Merit" and "Cosmos Brand Cigarettes".

Jiang Kun is different this time.

He has now created a true masterpiece.

He has entered the inner circle, forged his own path, and can now call himself a master.

As soon as "Tiger's Mouth Reverie" became a hit, Jiang Kun was immediately bombarded with interviews and articles, and everyone knew that there was a Jiang Xian behind this crosstalk performance.

When people talked about it on the streets, everyone admired Jiang Xian.

That's really impressive.

First, let's give Master Jiang Kun a performance of "The Five Senses Competing for Credit".

Another piece of writing for Jiang Kun is "Thoughts on Tiger's Mouth".

He lifted the master and his apprentice in one hand.

Of course, it was soon discovered that in Jiang Xian's new novel "The Playboy," there was also a scene about crosstalk.
However, the story here wasn't as popular as "Tiger's Mouth Reverie." The "master" of crosstalk lived up to his name, which means "a quiet and unpopular person."

The two incidents, "The Troublemakers" and "Tiger's Mouth Reverie," collided at this point in time.

Readers also understood that this was a connection between Jiang Xian and reality in the novel.

The contrast between the novel and reality is quite amusing.

In a short time, the popularity of "The Troubleshooters" skyrocketed several times over. In February, a month after the first issue of "Contemporary" was published in 1987, the circulation of that issue saw a second surge, far exceeding the first wave.

This achievement immediately stunned all the editors of "Contemporary".

Especially Ho Kai-chi.

No wonder Jiang Xian's novels are all bestsellers.

He's so clever!
I was initially puzzled as to why Jiang Xian suddenly wrote about a crosstalk performer.

See now.

So this was also part of Comrade Jiang Xian's calculations!

(End of this chapter)