Literary Master 1983

Chapter 220: Only "Little Shoes" can be filmed

At the end of February, rumors were circulating every day about whether Yu Qie would win the Akutagawa Prize, and the situation had reached a fever pitch.

At that time, there were two channels that were widely available in mainland China: one was the Main Channel, and the other was the Economic News Channel, the predecessor of Channel 2. These two channels would report documentaries on the Akutagawa Prize from time to time. What is the status of the Akutagawa Prize in Asia? Why was the Akutagawa Prize established?
The Japanese literary giant Ryunosuke Akutagawa, commemorated by the Akutagawa Prize, played an important role in the Japanese literary world and coined the term "Rashomon".

In 1935, Kan Kikuchi, the founder of Bungeishunju, created this award after his good friend Ryunosuke Akutagawa. Since Akutagawa himself was good at pure literature, the award mainly selects pure literature works.

This explains why many people in China cannot understand Yu Qie's novel "Happy Hunting". It is a thorough serious literature, a literature among literature.

The mainland writers' association has held two seminars on the novel "Happy Hunting" to popularize the science of new writers. Adapting "Happy Hunting" into a movie has also become one of the tasks of major film studios. However, after evaluation, this novel is far from being restored in terms of the current level of the mainland's film industry.

If we force ourselves to film it, it will probably be a waste of time and money. It would be better to get more vaccines.

I'm afraid only Americans who made the "Star Wars" series have this ability.

Maybe the Japanese can manage to film it too... oh, and North Korea.

Their leader loves movies and regards advancing the film industry to world-class levels as one of the country's cultural guidelines. To this end, they even kidnapped South Korea's national director Shin Sang-ok and brought him to the country, and then kidnapped Shin Sang-ok's husband as well, and released the special film "Pyongyang Monster" this year.

This special effects film tells a story about "a dragon slayer finally becoming a dragon", which is of great artistic value.

It is said that his works such as "Happy Hunting" and "Letter from the Fiancée" are very popular in the country. Yu Qie even received a New Year's gift from the North Korean Embassy - a box of red wine. The wine Xu Chi drinks comes from here.

I hope Yu Qie won’t be kidnapped in the future.

At present, some of his overseas fans either want to shoot him or kidnap him. Yu Qie's fans love him so much that they want to grind his bones to dust or tie him up.

In short, all these reports…led to a new wave of sales for Yu Qie’s novels. From north to south, his novels were placed at the front of bookstores. Originally, there were at most a dozen publishers, but now there are more than 40 publishers. Even in Taiwan, pirated copies of Yu Qie’s novels appeared.

Because the numbers were so large, the local authorities could only let it go.

Before leaving, Wang Meng and Yu Qie discussed the specific details of going to Japan.

He came to Yu Qie's house and listened to Tchaikovsky's violin music on the tape recorder for a while, then said with emotion: "You are really living a fairy-like life. I never thought that the courtyard house could be so comfortable. I don't want to go out even if I stay here for a day."

Yu Qie smiled and said, "Then I'll reserve a room for you. I'll give you the key, too. You can come by yourself."

"I'm here to stay, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to buy another house, and when I come back from Japan this time, I'll go take another look."

Wang Meng smiled bitterly and said, "My salary in the cultural department is only about 100 yuan a month... Hush, don't tell anyone."

Afterwards, Wang Meng verbally explained the list of people who would visit Japan this time. The literary circles mainly included Yu Qie and him, the author of the report Xu Chi, and the vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Qian Zhongshu and his daughter - these two people were going to visit Kyoto University.

In addition, a group of people from the Go community will also go with them, as well as dozens of people from the business and industrial circles. Xinhua News Agency also sent three reporters, the most prominent of whom is the president Mu Qing.

"Mu Qing? Mu Lao?"

Yu Qie was very surprised. With Mu Qing's level, he shouldn't be here.

Mu Qing is an excellent journalist and also an essayist. His most famous work is the news report "Model Jiao Yulu", which describes a grassroots cadre with faith and ideals.

Wang Meng said: "It's not just for you. After all, we have a Go team, a literature award, and so many other comrades. In recent years, our exchanges with foreign countries have become more and more frequent. Even in Africa, Xinhua News Agency has sent seven or eight reporters to stay there for a long time to report back to China. In the years since the reform and opening up, whether in economy or culture, we have been working hard to catch up with developed countries."

"We think you have a good chance of winning the prize. In fact, we also consider the international situation. We are currently in a de facto honeymoon period with other countries."

When Wang Meng left, she suddenly said to Yu Qie: "A lot of people are paying attention to you, so don't cause any big trouble these days."

Yu Qie sensed the seriousness in Wang Meng's tone: "What do you mean?"

Wang Meng patted Yu Qie on the shoulder and said deeply: "The Spring Rain Operation you organized is really amazing! It can be said that it is a direction we have never thought of before. All writers have to thank you."

"I have something else to tell you. During last year's negotiations, your novel was used to criticize the British. We translated the novel into English and let every member of the other negotiating team read it."

Wang Meng suddenly said in a sonorous and powerful voice: "Although the Chinese are poor, they are not afraid of death! They are only afraid of death being worthless. We can take root and sprout anywhere, and we can start all over again. No matter how many generations pass, we will never give up!"

"Yu Qie, do you know what happened next?"

Yu Qie said, “What happened?”

"Thatcher fell down the stairs after she went out! She was so scared! Haha!"

Wang Meng described it vividly and with great yearning, and it was obvious that he had heard it from somewhere else.

Mrs. Thatcher's fall was a well-known diplomatic incident, which was immediately widely circulated abroad. However, many people do not know that due to diplomatic etiquette, this incident was not reported in China at the time. CCTV directly cut this scene from the videotape.

Therefore, Yu Qie heard the news for the "first time". He was quite surprised, which satisfied Wang Meng's desire to share.

"Yu Qie," Wang Meng asked him, "you have done a great thing again this time. Tell me honestly, when you wanted to launch this vaccine donation campaign, did you want to gain some fame or status for yourself?" Yu Qi said frankly, "My original intention in doing this was to do good things. As for what I can get, I shouldn't refuse."

Wang Meng was very satisfied. He nodded and said, "Of course! This is also the survival of the fittest!"

Not long after, the visiting delegation had a simple meeting with the Japanese delegation, which was nothing more than the same precautions: don’t run around, be aware of political influence, etc. The meeting was held at the then Yenching Normal University.

Yu Qie met Mu Lao in this occasion. After the meeting, he took the initiative to find Yu Qie and said, "Young people are heroes! I always say that our intelligence and talent are never inferior to others. Whether it is playing Go or writing novels, we can do it!"

Mu Qing added: "We at Xinhua News Agency should have followed the whole process and written reports to send to the people across the country. We did the same with the Sino-Japanese competition! However, Xu Chi is a better writer of reportage. Due to the special nature of literature... I think we should not only focus on the results, but also on the process."

"Yu Qie is a young writer whom I personally admire very much. He is more important than all his works put together."

Xu Chi was right next to Yu Qie, and he was so excited that he issued a military order: "I will definitely complete the task and write a flesh-and-blood Comrade Yu!"

"That's good!"

Requests for adaptations of Yu Che's novels came in like snowflakes. His latest novel, "Little Shoes," was already being recorded for radio programs and rehearsed for a play. The most important film was put on hold by Yu Che, waiting for him to return from Japan. Many studios had no choice but to give up after hearing the news.

Xie Jin, a director from the Shanghai Film Studio, refused to believe this! He drove from Shanghai to the north and talked to Yu Qie before he left for Japan.

Xie Jin originally liked Yu Che's novel "A Way Out". "A Way Out", "Big Scatter" and "Letter from the Fiancée" are the three pillars of Yu Che's novels. "A Way Out" has a particularly significant impact overseas and it is very easy to attract sponsorship, which is particularly important for domestic films in the 1980s. Rich businessmen in Southeast Asia lined up to donate money and came to give money after hearing the news.

This is a major event that can be engraved in the family tree!
Therefore, countless people want to shoot this grand production.

But after Yu Qie met with Xie Jin, he requested that they must first shoot "Little Shoes" and resolve the charity fundraising issue within the year before they could shoot other projects.

Xie Jin didn't think it had to be this way. For a while, he even invited actor Zhu Shimao and writer Li Cunbao to act as middlemen. They called and tried to persuade Yu Che, but Yu Che disagreed.

Gong Xue didn't know what was going on, but Xie Jin also asked her to call Yu Qie. When Yu Qie received the call from his "old comrade", his tone softened a little, but he still said, "No means no."

Gong Xue said earnestly, "Yu Qie, although Little Shoes is well-written, it was only recently released. It usually takes several years or even more than ten years for a novel to be turned into a movie. Your novel is very well-written, so you have to be especially careful when adapting it, lest the readers are dissatisfied after reading it."

indeed so.

It is rare that a movie is made right after a novel is published. Gong Xue, as an industry insider, has good intentions. But Yu Qie has to do what he cannot do. "Little Shoes" was originally a movie, and it was very successful. It was also very successful after it was introduced to the mainland in another time and space. There is no reason why it should not be successful now.

If the director doesn't know how to shoot, Yu Qie will guide the director on how to shoot.

Gong Xue wanted to persuade Yu Qie, but Yu Qie said, "Do you remember that you gave many soldiers chocolate candies at the Laoshan front? Do you have any impression? Those candies were brought to the soldiers by your nephew. I heard that many people had chocolate candies for the first time and knew what chocolate tasted like for the first time."

"Now there are many people who also need vaccine candies, so I will give them these candies, but not just one or two, but millions or tens of millions. I didn't come up with the idea of ​​fundraising because of writing the novel. I came up with the idea of ​​fundraising first, and then I wrote the novel."

"Old comrade, if you say these things again, I will be very disappointed in you. You should not ask me for mercy on behalf of others anymore."

After that, hang up the phone.

Gong Xue felt that she was misunderstood. She was doing this for Yu Qie's own good, not to take advantage of him. But Yu Qie didn't give her a chance to explain, which made Gong Xue cry. Her sister Gong Ying was so scared that she stayed with her sister for a few days. When Gong Xue felt better, she said, "I told you long ago that you must have always liked Yu Qie. If you didn't like him, why would you be sad because he misunderstood you? You want to explain, but you're afraid of angering him again. You're so worried about gains and losses. This is really unlike you!"

"Don't talk nonsense." Gong Xue said. "I was just misunderstood and I'm simply sad."

"You still don't admit it! Sister, you are not that kind of person. You don't even bother to explain when others misunderstand you. You are not free and easy at all now!"

Gong Xue still refused to admit it: "I don't have any at all."

Gong Ying then said, "Since you don't have it, and I see you are in so much pain, why don't I call Yu Qie and scold him, saying that you are exactly the kind of person he thinks you are, neither worldly nor concerned about the children's situation. You are a spoiled young lady, let him break up with you!"

Gong Xue was so scared that her tears stopped and she quickly wiped her face: "Don't pour oil into the hot pan again, it will burn!"

Gong Ying added: "Then let me tell him your idea. I think you are so pitiful... Of course he won't choose you, because he has a fiancée. But you still have me, we are two against one, who wouldn't want that?"

Gong Xue didn't even have the strength to speak anymore. She stared with wide eyes and covered her sister's mouth desperately, not daring to let her speak anymore. Gong Ying cried a few times, and after breaking free, she said, "If you don't want to, forget it. I just want to say that I stand on your side. If you like Yu Qie, I like him too. If you are wronged, I hate him too."

Gong Xue became even sadder and apologized hurriedly. Seeing this, Gong Ying also burst into tears with excitement. The two sisters hugged each other and comforted each other.
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Yu Qie went to Japan to make his request known: he could only shoot "Little Shoes" first.

Every time he met a colleague from a film studio, he would say: "Little Shoes must be filmed first! Why? Because the children can't wait."

Yu Che will not consider filming any other works until the fundraising reaches a satisfactory level.

His attitude was so firm that no one dared to use any other method unless they got his personal permission.

The draft of the domestic copyright law was only issued in late 89 and passed in 90. Therefore, strictly speaking, Yu Qie does not have the copyright of his novels in the modern sense in mainland China. However, the Beijing Publishing House and Yu Qie are in the same boat, and no one dares to authorize his novels without Yu Qie's consent.

Two years ago, when Yu Qie was in Chengdu, he wrote to Marquez, and Ma Shi Tu even made a joke: "We never pay copyright fees."

This is a common practice in Soviet countries, but who would dare to film Gorky's works without saying hello to him?
(End of this chapter)