Literary Master 1983

Chapter 18: A Place for the Soul to Rest
So, this letter, together with the previous congratulatory message written to Marquez, was sent to Marquez's residence in Colombia.

At the suggestion of Ma Shi Tu, Yu Qie's research manuscript was submitted to the journal "Foreign Literature Studies".

"Foreign Literature Research" is a professional literary research journal, a quarterly publication, updated in March, June, September and December every year, so Yu Qie's entire research will not be available to the public until December at the earliest.

But don't worry, other writers at the discussion will mention Yu Qie's research results and his firm attitude.

The circle of writers is pitifully small, and before December, the debate between Yu Qie and Liu Xinwu will surely be circulated; everyone will be betting on who will win and who will lose. If they can get a reply from Marquez with evidence attached, then they can close the bet in advance and see the result.

The editor-in-chief of "Foreign Literature Research" magazine is Xu Chi - like Huang Xingbang of "Red Rock", Xu Chi is also a reportage writer. In addition, Xu Chi is also a translator.

There are two main translations of "Walden" in this era: one is Qian Zhongshu's version, and the other is Xu Chi's version.

Xu Chi is a leading figure in the literary world of Hubei Province. Like Ma Shi Tu, he likes to accept new things. Compared with their age, they appear to be more open-minded.

In the 1990s, Ma Shi Tu and Xu Chi were the first old-school writers in China to use the Wubi input method and personal computers for literary creation. It may be hard for you to imagine that when Ma Shi Tu was over 100 years old, he still wore reading glasses and wrote manuscripts using an iPad.

Ma Shi Tu’s final advice to Yu Qie was to create a pseudonym, or a small account.

"In the past, in order to avoid trouble and prevent others from playing tricks on me... many writers had several pen names that they used in rotation. I have several. My real name is Ma Qianmu, and later I changed it to Ma Shi Tu. I also used Ma Zhifu, and people recognized me. Then I started using Wuyang Shi Tu and Jia Yin, and sure enough, I wasn't recognized for a while... You should also choose several in the future. When you encounter controversial articles in the future, use this pen name, and only a few people will know it's you."

"If it's good, you beat the drums and tell everyone that it was written by you. If it causes trouble, you keep silent and deny it until you can't deny it anymore... But, so what? The worst that can happen is that you go to jail."

"Change the title of your book, What Are We Talking About When We Talk About Magical Realism? I think Realism in Latin American Literature would be a good choice."

Yu Qie asked: "What if one day my other pen names also become famous?"

"When you become so famous that you can't hide it anymore, things will turn around, because when you have to use that pseudonym, everyone will know it, and you will start to settle accounts!"

Yu Qie’s new pen name is “Yu Shi”.

His name comes from his father who is a math teacher, and is taken from trigonometric functions. The trigonometric functions are a large family, including cotangent, cosine, cosecant, covector, semicovector, etc. Considering that cosine already has someone, and cosecant doesn't sound good, it's better to use covector.

The covector function is generally used in specific fields, such as navigation, surveying and mapping, etc. In this sense, it is quite consistent with the nature of literary research and is not wrong at all.

Later, when Yu Qie wrote literature that was popular with the public, he was Yu Qie. When Yu Qie wanted to stir up some controversy, he would go on his trumpet to settle accounts one by one.

As for the letter to Colombia, the return trip might occur later than the publication of the research manuscript - it depends on whether Marquez, a Colombian, can take Yu Che's letter and the clues provided by Yu Che seriously.

In geography, there is a concept called antipodes, which means that because the earth is round, wherever you stand you can definitely find the point on the surface of this huge sphere that is farthest from you.

China's antipodal point is Argentina, and thirty degrees north of latitude is Colombia.

The latitude from Chengdu to Beijing is only nine. When Yu Qie sent the letter, the two-week seminar was over and he had to report to school.

During these two weeks, he produced half a piece of war literature, "A Letter from My Fiancée from the Front" or "Saving the Soldier".

"College Entrance Examination 1977" and "A Moment of Romance" will be published in the October issue of "Red Rock".

Due to the enthusiasm for the college entrance examination during the summer vacation, "College Entrance Examination 1977" was reprinted in advance in the September issues of "Sichuan Literature" and "Youth Literature". Both will be published as early as next month. The royalties and sample issues will be sent to the address of Yenching University filled in by Yu Qie.

I wrote a literary research article entitled "Realism in Latin American Literature" using the nickname "Yu Shi", which is currently under review.

What is left of the cotangent?
Alai believes that Yu Che has not yet found a place for his soul to rest. In other words, Yu Che has no love.

The last group activity for many writers at the seminar is to enjoy the art performance with the soldiers coming down from the front line. In this art performance combining both literature and military, Chengdu’s famous “Battle Flag Song and Dance Troupe” will bring everyone a wonderful dance performance.

Remember when Alai helped Yu Che borrow a bicycle? Now, Yu Che is riding again.

He had a pile of books to return, and when Alai saw him, he said regretfully, "Yuqie, I borrowed this car for you... I wanted you to meet some girls."

"You shouldn't put books in the back of your car, but a girl sitting there, hugging your waist and leaning her soul on you... I often regard writing as a secret love. If you suppress it for too long, the lake will burst its banks. After I finish a piece of work, I will feel bored after being in love. This is just like the side effect of an intimate relationship. I use love to describe many states of my life."

“So, when I entered into true love, the sweetness of love soothed my soul that was exhausted by creation.”

It was like Yu Qie was meeting this junior college teacher for the first time. Yu Qie said, "Alai, I didn't expect you to be a romantic."

Alai said: "Yu Qie, there is love between you and your hometown, and there is love between you and your writing, but you still lack a real love."

So, Alai and Yu Qie rushed to the library to return the book. Along the way, Alai told Yu Qie about his life experience and various interesting things he heard.

According to Allais, people with great creative talent like Yu Che often do not have a happy ending in history because they are too sensitive and intense and their thoughts are detached from the world.

Most of those geniuses ended their artistic lives by dying young, stopping writing, or committing suicide.

Alai attributed this to the fact that these people were unable to find a place to rest their souls.

On the 28-inch bicycle, Yu Qie turned around curiously and asked:
"Alai, according to what you said, you will write many works in your life. If a love affair is not enough to soothe your soul, what will you do?"

"Teacher Yu, I am a single-minded person, I don't know yet." Alai said seriously. "But you may need an unprecedented habitat, or, another habitat."

(End of this chapter)