1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 552 A Century-Level Classic

"Comrade Jiang Xian, since you have a story, why not write it down?"

At this moment, even though Li Mingshuo didn't quite believe that Jiang Xian's story could surpass the quality of "The Grass House," he could only try it as a last resort.

Having an article to submit is better than nothing.

"Uh"

Jiang Xian hesitated for a few seconds before agreeing, "Okay, but you'll have to wait a while while I think about how to write this story."

Indeed, as Zhu Lin said.

He was busy with the release of "Stories from the Editorial Department" a while ago, but now he has some free time and time to create. Besides, Peking University is giving him a diploma even though he doesn't have to attend classes there, which is quite a favor. His graduation project was something he promised them, and he has to keep his word. So he might as well take advantage of these few days to write this story and submit it as his graduation project. It couldn't be more appropriate.

"Please do it as soon as possible."

Li Mingshuo was overjoyed to have successfully urged Jiang Xian to write the manuscript. Regardless of how well it was written, at least Jiang Xian had agreed to write it, so his task was considered successfully completed.

"A month and a half is enough time for you to read it? Any longer would be difficult for us, so please finish writing it as soon as possible during this period."

"A month and a half?"

Li Qingquan frowned as he listened.

This is so nerve-wracking.

Writers often spend six months or even years creating a novel; how can a mere month and a half be enough time to write a good one?
"Two months," Li Qingquan suggested, trying to persuade Jiang Xian.

He did believe that Jiang Xian might have a good story in mind, but he was worried that because of time constraints, Jiang Xian might not be able to write the story well, which would be a waste.

"two months"

A look of embarrassment appeared on Li Mingshuo's face. "Well, we also have our own rules and regulations."

“Just two months then.” Li Qingquan’s tone left no room for refusal. “This is Jiang Xian’s novel. How can it be the same as other people’s? It’s worth Peking University waiting a few more days.”

“That’s not how it works.” Li Mingshuo was also in a difficult position. The graduation project was handled collectively, and a month and a half was the longest Li Mingshuo could wait, as it was also the deadline for the graduation project.

Furthermore, the graduation project is also a competition, and the quality of the work determines the final ranking of the students in the writer's class.

If everyone else has a deadline of one and a half months, but Jiang Xian has two months, then it's giving Jiang Xian special treatment, which not only wastes public resources but is also unfair.

Li Mingshuo explained his predicament to Li Qingquan, "It's not that I don't want to give Comrade Jiang Xian more time, but it's really unfair to the other students. Even if we postpone the deadline for the entire writing class, it's still unfair to everyone else. How can we make others wait so long just because of one person? Don't you agree?"

"Ah."

After listening, Li Qingquan nodded. The time was not as he had thought, and it was not something that could be increased at will.

What else can be done?

Li Qingquan was thinking quickly when he heard Jiang Xian say, "That's fine, a month and a half is enough."

Hiss.

Li Qingquan looked at Jiang Xian and met Jiang Xian's confident and composed gaze.

“When I wrote ‘The Chess King’ before, it only took me a little over a week to finish it. Now that I’ve already come up with the story, all that’s left is to write it. A month and a half is more than enough.”

"Furthermore, whether it's postponing the submission deadline specifically for me or reviewing my manuscript later, it shouldn't be done. Since I've joined Peking University's writer's program, I'm just an ordinary student at Peking University, and I should be treated like one. As for attending classes, that's out of necessity; I can't spare that much time. But when it comes to the entrance exams, I absolutely shouldn't receive any special treatment. Everything should be done the same way; otherwise, it's too unfair to others."

After saying this, Li Qingquan looked at Jiang Xian with admiration in his eyes.

In his view, the unparalleled confidence in those words was by no means the arrogance of Jiang Xian's wild words.

That's how it should be!

Such an excellent writer should have such confidence in himself; he is fully qualified to believe that he can complete the creation of his entire work in such a short period of time.

Even now, Li Qingquan still remembers when he was the main person in charge of "Beijing Literature and Art", Zhang Dening told him that she and Jiang Xian had agreed to write a piece on creative writing. As a result, she was still asleep in the middle of the night when Jiang Xian handed her the piece.

At that time, Zhang Dening asked him whether this writer deserved the title of "quick-witted".

At that time, Li Qingquan was not in a position to make a hasty conclusion or judgment on this matter.

Now, Li Qingquan can say with certainty that Jiang Xian is definitely a representative of quick wit in the literary world.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to publish such a large number of works in such a short period of time after entering the literary world, and these works are all masterpieces with great influence and profound ideas.

"Then I'll wait for your good news." Li Mingshuo breathed a sigh of relief after completing his mission.

Now that things have come to this point, he has nothing to worry about.

Even if Jiang Xian doesn't deliver the work, Li Mingshuo can say that he and Peking University have done everything they could, and that Jiang Xian broke his promise and failed to keep his word.

Moreover, he tends to believe that Jiang Xian can indeed finish the novel in a month and a half.

For such an excellent writer, completing a novel in a month and a half is not difficult if they are determined. The challenge lies in whether the novel can satisfy the author, the readers, and the literary critics.

Yes, compared to speed, quality is the most difficult aspect to control.

On the other hand, Jiang Xian also found it interesting. He hadn't expected there to be a time limit for creation. This wasn't difficult for him, since the novel was already in his mind. Moreover, in the original historical timeline, the novel was actually a work that the author completed in one go over three months. Yet, this novel became a worldwide sensation over half a century, becoming the second best-selling book after the Bible.

Jiang Xian lightly flipped through the pages of this novel in his mind, and the text came into view:
A book I read when I was six years old left a deep impression on me. To this day, I still clearly remember that it was a book about a primeval forest, and its name was "The Jungle Book." What amazed me as a child was a picture in the book: a python with its huge mouth open was swallowing a ferocious beast.

The book explains it this way: "When a python eats, it always swallows the food whole and then lies motionless for half a day until the prey in its belly is completely digested."

I then developed many magical and wonderful imaginations about the jungle. I even drew it on paper with colored pencils and named it "Work Number One".

When I showed my first piece of work to the adults, I expected them to scream in surprise.

But they always say, "Oh, it's just a hat, who's afraid?"

I didn't intend to draw a hat; I wanted to draw a giant python digesting an elephant. To make it clear to adults who might not understand, I drew my second piece: a cross-section of the elephant inside the python's belly. It looks like this:
But the adults advised me to stop wasting my time drawing snakes and instead focus on geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar. And so, my dream of becoming a painter was shattered when I was only six. The failures of my first and second artworks also made me lose faith in adults: It was so annoying to always have to explain things to a child like me!
I had to choose another career. Later, I learned to fly and flew almost all over the world. It turns out that geography is really useful; if I get lost at night, I can immediately tell whether I'm in China or Arizona.

Throughout my life, I have met many serious and composed people, and lived among them for a long time. I have tried to observe and understand them carefully, but my opinion of them has never changed.

When I think I've met a knowledgeable adult, I pull out my number one piece of art, which I always keep with me, to see if they can understand it. But I always hear the same answer: "A hat." So I stop talking about snakes or elephants and just chat with them about bridge, ties, golf, and the political topics they're interested in. They get happy then and think I'm a very fashionable and witty person.

[Pilot] + [Adventure] =
A short story, *The Little Prince*!
That's right, what Jiang Xian synthesized was this book, which has been translated into more than 300 languages ​​and is considered one of the most translated books in the world:

"little Prince"

If we were to select the best book of the 20th century, this novel would undoubtedly be a strong contender for that title.

Why were the two inspirations "pilot" and "adventure"?

Because these two inspirations run throughout the novel:
The pilot is the narrator of the novel. At the beginning of the story, he tells the reader that he cannot find anyone in the adult world with whom he can have a good conversation because adults are all too practical.

Next, the pilot told the story of how he met the Little Prince in the Sahara Desert six years ago when his plane made an emergency landing due to a malfunction.

The mysterious Little Prince comes from another planet.

Then the pilot told the story of the Little Prince and his rose.

Why did the Little Prince leave his own planet? Which planets did he visit before arriving on Earth?
The pilot recounts the Little Prince's adventures on six planets, where he meets a king, a vain man, a drunkard, a businessman, a lamplighter, a geographer, a snake, a three-petaled desert flower, a rose garden, a switchman, a merchant, a fox, and the narrator, the pilot himself.

The pilot and the Little Prince shared a very precious friendship in the desert.

When the Little Prince left Earth, the pilot was very sad. He missed the time they spent together very much, so he wrote this novel in memory of the Little Prince.

Of course, although the author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry only spent three months writing this novel, the background of its creation is by no means simple.

First, let's talk about Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the original author of "The Little Prince." Why is the narrator of "The Little Prince" a pilot? Because the author was a pilot, and one of the earliest pilots in France.

During World War II, he returned to the military as an air force pilot, but disappeared during a flight mission, becoming a mysterious legend left for the world to explore.

The Little Prince was written in 1942, right at the most critical moment of World War II.

Prior to this, Saint-Exupéry had been drafted into the army to participate in air force reconnaissance operations, witnessing the French air force's major defeat and the signing of an armistice agreement between the Vichy government and Hitler.

He was completely disillusioned with French politicians because of the French army's defeat, and eventually traveled through North Africa and Portugal to the United States, hoping to find hope for saving his country there.

But the infighting between political parties and the darkness of social reality also disappointed him.

Saint-Exupéry understood the French demands for a ceasefire, that they wanted a respite.

Therefore, Saint-Exupéry was unwilling to issue any condemnation in the United States, because what was important was to seize the opportunity to counterattack. Saint-Exupéry was a proponent of resistance in both action and emotion.

However, some prominent figures in the Gaullist faction fled to the United States during the French crisis and are now shouting for resistance from across the ocean. They are especially disgusted by the frequent attacks on the French army, which has made sacrifices and is now enduring humiliation and confusion in Africa.

Furthermore, he was also very suspicious of de Gaulle's intentions and methods towards other French resistance forces.

Because Saint-Exupéry was a celebrity, the Vichy faction wanted to win him over, and when that failed, they spread rumors and slander against him; the Gaullist faction, seeing that he was slow to join their camp, became suspicious of him.

Saint-Exupéry advocated that "France is above all else" and wanted the two factions to put aside their past grievances and unite against the enemy, but he was attacked from both sides.

Therefore, the 28 months he spent in the United States were the most painful period of his life.

It wasn't until 1941, when the United States declared war on the fascist countries and joined World War II, that Saint-Exupéry saw hope again. He believed that with the help of the United States, the fascist aggression would be defeated and France would be liberated.

The Little Prince was created against this backdrop.

Having witnessed the ugliness of the adult world, Saint-Exupéry believed that childhood is a time of hoping for miracles, pursuing warmth, and being full of dreams. In contrast, adults are lifeless, power-hungry, vain, and superficial.

So he chose a child's perspective on the world, using a child's innocence, curiosity, and desire to learn more about the world to tell stories to adults.

Especially for adults who "haven't lost their childlike wonder," let them use the Little Prince's imagination to temporarily forget the desires of the adult world, fly back to childhood, reflect on real life, and discover the true meaning of life.

It is precisely because of this complex background that we can read such profound emotions in "The Little Prince".

At night, Jiang Xian sat in his study, reading "The Little Prince" again. He had just put down his pen when he suddenly realized a big problem.

Well, although the text of "The Little Prince" is already a classic enough.

But there is another important reason that cannot be ignored that makes this novel a classic of the century.
--illustration.

(End of this chapter)