Literary Master 1983

Chapter 105 Ba Lao's Evaluation
Yan University.

May is the beginning of the exam season for students, but it is not that stressful. You can still see many students participating in various activities at school.

The New Realism Society is quite famous in Yanda, and many students from outside the school come to join. Currently, the New Realism Society and the May Fourth Literature Society are competing against each other and have become one of the most popular literary societies in the school.

There is a saying that there are four great poets in Yanda University, namely Luo Yihe, Cha Haisheng, Lao Mu, and Xichuan. Cha Haisheng is indeed the most famous among them, while the other three are more introverted and do not have the exuberance of Cha Haisheng.

Xichuan is also a fan of Yu Qie. He read the book "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and, under the introduction of Luo Yihe, took the initiative to join the New Realism Society and tried to create some prose literature.

The "new reality" is no longer just a "new reality", but represents new things and new creators.

Historically, Xichuan would have established a good relationship with Yu Hua, became friends, and fought for Marquez's autograph. Now, they have all become "people influenced by Yu Qie."

Yes, there are some people who are "influenced by Yu Che". This does not mean that Yu Che has dominated the young literary world, but that he was the first to have a wide-ranging influence and is an iconic figure.

Authors represented by Liu Xinwu created "scar literature", while authors represented by Yu Qie, regardless of whether they are military literature or new realism novels, are replacing the original attention paid to scar literature.

The number of authors creating scar literature is decreasing, while the number of authors trying new themes is increasing.

Judging from readers' feedback, the public seems to have reflected enough, let go of the pain of the past, and started to look forward. They need works that are closer to their current lives.

Some people in the literary world noticed this phenomenon and wrote articles. Among these articles, the most famous one was the review written by Wang Meng and published in the Literary Gazette.

Later, a reporter from the Ta Kung Pao interviewed the current chairman of the Writers Association, Ba Lao, who was recuperating at home due to an injury. So this "literary review" was recorded in the Ta Kung Pao in the form of a dialogue.

In one of the earliest newspapers in Chinese media history, the reporter asked: "Scar literature seems to be losing attention. Have you noticed this phenomenon?"

"noticed."

“How would you rate it?”

"'Scar literature' is necessary to exist. When it first came out, people criticized it, saying that these works inevitably make people sad. I supported scar literature at the time, hoping that people would not forget the wounds of the past just because they are moving forward and looking forward, and let the wounds fester."

“So do you still support scar literature now?”

"It's not a question of whether I support it or not. Today, people are more willing to read other articles, which shows that they have indeed moved on. The same thing is understood differently in different eras. I watched several performances of Thunderstorm in Shanghai. In the 1940s, people criticized the authority of feudal patriarchs; after the founding of the People's Republic of China, people paid more attention to the class relations in the play; and this year, the movie Thunderstorm was released, and I found that young people began to pay attention to the love in it and the appearance of the actors... Is this a good thing? Newcomers have their own pursuits, which is probably a good thing."

"Do you know the writer 'Yu Qie'?"

Ba Lao smiled and said, "I am from Rongcheng. I know his teacher. Do you think I know Yu Qie?"

“What do you think of these new writers?”

“People often say that the old does not go away before the new comes, but I think that only when the new comes, you know that the old has gone... Yu Qie may be such a person.”

The conversation ends here. Ta Kung Pao is also distributed in Hong Kong, so many Hong Kong readers may have first come into contact with Yu Qie through this report.

They are keenly following various events in the mainland, and Yu Qie's writings on "love" and "humanity" allow them to see the new ideas and experiences of the younger generation in the mainland, which have nothing to do with politics. The Yanda campus has also entered a romantic spring. With so much good news this year, students are talking about national affairs with confidence.

One of the two brothers in the Spanish Department, Wang Qiang, graduated this year and has been arranged to stay at Yanda as a teacher.

Yu Qie asked, "Didn't you want to study abroad? Didn't you succeed?"

"I must go to the United States to study in my lifetime, but I must do it in an upright manner, with the Americans inviting me to go there, rather than trying my best to go there on my own."

Yu Minhong interrupted, “He broke up with Lucy because he couldn’t be the son-in-law of an American.”

Lucy is Wang Qiang’s American girlfriend. She likes to read the Little Red Book and her father is an executive at a publishing house.

Yu Qie: "Aren't you an English teacher at our school? How come you were dumped?"

Wang Qiang said bitterly: "My monthly salary is 100 yuan, and the taxi driver earns 500 yuan, which is five times as much as me!"

Yu Qie said: "The taxi driver has a car, do you have a car?"

"I don't have a car!" Wang Qiang said, "Lucy's family not only has a car, but also a private plane, although it's an agricultural plane... I still don't even dare to think about it."

"You have never had any money. Why would she break up with you just because you have no money? Why?"

"Because I lost to her in table tennis!" Wang Qiang said, "I have been working hard to learn English and American knowledge and culture, and then I realized... Lucy never cared about what I learned, she only cared about whether I could give her, give her..."

Yu Qie hit the nail on the head: “Emotional value.”

This term did not appear in the 1980s, but as soon as Yu Qie brought it up, Wang Qiang understood. "Yes, it's your 'emotional value'. I can no longer make her feel happy. She never liked me. She only cared about her own happiness."

"Whether it's the Little Red Book or Che Guevara...they are just her tools. After all, she is an American with American blood."

Yu Minhong and Wang Qiang invited Yu Qie to eat hot pot hot pot meat. Then they learned that Yu Qie's novel royalties reached 10 yuan per thousand words. Yu Qie could get 200 yuan in less than a week for writing a novel of 30,000 to 40,000 words.

According to this calculation, his monthly income is almost more than that of two taxi drivers.

Wang Qiang enviously said, "Yu Qie, you are different from us. You can always see things clearly and earn a lot. I won't be surprised if you are liked by foreign women in the future."

That's exactly what happened.

Lucy, the ex-girlfriend, came to see Wang Qiang. At that time, Wang Qiang was preparing for class next door and practicing oral English. Lucy felt bored and came to visit the New Reality Club. As soon as everyone saw this big white American girl, they were very enthusiastic about her and introduced her to the club.

But Miss Lucy didn't like bootlickers. She took a liking to Yu Qie, who was standing in the middle of the club without even raising his eyelids.

Yu Qie is reading "1984", a novel written by British writer George Orwell, published in 1949, which is said to be an allusion to the Soviet Big Brother.

(End of this chapter)