Literary Master 1983

Chapter 221 People Want to Be Like Yu Qie

Yu Qie's daily life is split between the advanced study classes at the Institute of Literature and lobbying for various film studios.

Sometimes he also remembered that he was a student. Every time he went to school, it would cause a small sensation. Some people would skip classes to see Yu Qie. Yu Qie never skipped the class of the department head Hu Daiguang. He always sat in the front row, making it difficult to get a seat during Hu Daiguang's class. If you come late, there is no place to stand.

People have a certain perspective on college students in the 1980s, thinking that they were studious, abiding by the rules, but the reality was just the opposite.

The then president of Yenching University of Technology was walking on the playground after get off work one night and he was so angry that he yelled at his students because "every one of them was setting up stalls, and every one of them was thinking about going into business." In the university, it was common to see students copying homework and playing poker every day.

Yu Qie's latest novel is a "hard currency" at the university flea market! It is not uncommon for freshmen to exchange a complete set of "New Reality Collection" for basins, mouthwash cups, playing cards and Teresa Teng tapes from seniors.

Wang Qiang, one of the two brothers in the Spanish Department, became an English teacher at Yanda University. He found that there were always a lot of students sleeping during his class. Wang Qiang was discouraged before, but later he just started to act, no matter whether these people slept or not.

Only Yu Qie can awaken the sleeping souls of students. Those who are not in good health cannot squeeze into the classroom of the New Reality Society. The "New Reality" Society has gradually developed into a nationwide general literature lover society with Beijing as its center. Many universities have branches of the New Reality Society.

Fortunately, the appointment of this kind of society does not require Yu Qie's approval, and it has nothing to do with Jingcheng University. There is only a weak nominal connection, and it is done by the college students themselves... otherwise Yu Qi would be scared.

Even so, Yu Qie also planned to run away from the new reality. In another half a year, when he entered his junior year, he would resign from the position of president and invite someone else to be the boss.

Xu Chi devoted a lot of space to recording the popularity Yu Qie enjoyed during this period. He believed that the reason why Yu Qie's fundraising campaign was so close to success must be due to his personal charm.

No writer can raise two hundred thousand in a month anymore!

If someone else, such as Xu Chi, wrote Little Shoes, the effect would be greatly reduced. Yu Qie has some charm beyond literature, which makes everyone who comes into contact with him attracted to him.

It is difficult to say whether this is influenced by Yu Qie's reputation or represents his "literary dream" accumulated from various buffs.

Xu Chi believes that this is first of all because some of Yu Qie's behaviors are very consistent with the ideas of young people: he is always a little bit out of line and a little aggressive, but not to the point of being unorthodox, and he always achieves a positive effect in the end.

It's like him going to the old Bobcats' caves, like him telling everyone to shut up about bullshit at the Hangtown meeting...

At this time, he seemed no different from those "Director Qiao" who reformed the workshop management system and enforced discipline and assessment as soon as he took office. He was a "strong man" who was vigorous and resolute in literature. However, even the factory directors would end up in a miserable situation because of the workers' non-cooperation. The particularity of literary creation made Yu Qie always have a trump card: "When all of you can't do it together, I will do it myself", which in turn established Yu Qie's authority.

In the first two months of 85, more than one hundred writers and editors who returned from the Hangzhou Conference came up with new insights and wrote new things. But as soon as Yu Che's novel came out, it was as if the air had been sucked out, and all the flames disappeared in an instant due to the lack of oxygen, and instead burned on Yu Che's new work.

Xu Chi saw Yu Qie riding his motorcycle to and from school every day, speeding past Chang'an Avenue. His red and white Yamaha rushed out from a jungle of gray and black steel bicycles, forming a perfect contrast. Many bicycles pedaled hard, their wheels flew fast, but they just couldn't keep up with Yu Qie, and could only look at his back with admiration.

He realized that people wanted to be like Yu Che.

Xu Chi had already thought of the second half of Yu Qie's report: Yes, that's it.

People want to be like Yu Tangent. He is not perfect, he is a little bit his own way, he is different from the old-school role models like cadres and mathematicians, but he is indeed a role model!
Xu Chi interviewed many people in the advanced training class. He asked Yu Hua: "What do you think of this young teacher Yu?"

Yu Hua said: "Although Mr. Yu is young, he is very thoughtful. Whenever he makes some radical moves, he will bear the consequences himself, and the benefits are for everyone... He has proved that he is right time and time again, so we have formed a habit. Generally speaking, when someone instills an idea in me, I always have to confirm whether it is correct or not before considering whether to accept it; but when Yu Qi tells me, I accept it first, and if I encounter mistakes, I will think about whether there is a problem."

Yu Hua's words were so sincere, but he was not the one who admired Yu Qie the most.

Su Tong pushed up his glasses and said, "People of our generation may all have a literary idol! For example, Yu Hua's idol is Kawabata Yasunari and Kafka. My idol is the American writer Carson McCullers. You may not know her, but she wrote The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and Reflections of a Golden Eye... I know some people's idols are Hemingway and Lu Xun."

"But!" Su Tong took a deep breath, "They are all far away from me. Among the people I can see now, the only one I admire enough to call an 'idol' is Yu Qie."

Su Tong is not the one who admires Yu Qie the most.

The person who admired Yu Qie the most was a man named Guan Moye. This man loved to talk and had been criticized many times since he was a child, so he tried hard to control his habit of talking and even took a pen name "Don't Talk". But he was always hard to change his nature, and sometimes when he encountered something very exciting, he couldn't help but speak out.

His voice was so small that it sounded like he was gritting his teeth.

Then when others came to trouble him, he denied it again: "I didn't say that. I never said those words!"

Guan Moye often showed this habit during Yu Qie's class. After Xu Chi came to listen, he noticed this special young writer. Every time Yu Qie said something that Guan Moye agreed with, he would say, "That's how it should be done! Yu Qie, you have to do it this way!"

Because of this special habit, Guan Moye was noticed by many people. When Yu Qie talked about something wonderful, everyone would deliberately hold their breath and listen to see if Guan Moye would give another low compliment! Then, everyone would smile knowingly.

Before Yu Qie went to Japan, Guan Moye also showed this habit in the last class of the advanced training course.

Yu Qie said to the students, "Last time our assignment was to bring up the literary genres that you each admired and see if there was any possibility of creating related works. This assignment also implies another meaning, which is that I hope everyone will find valuable literature. After all, what you read reflects your aesthetic level."

"From the feedback we received, it seems that people's aesthetic standards are not very high."

Yu Qie said something explosive, but the students were used to Yu Qie's straightforwardness. They looked at Yu Qie quietly, and Yu Qie also looked at them.

Yu Qie said: "I have seen some people come up with many new literary genres, such as 'postmodernism' and 'Dadaism'... These are too far away from us. I don't believe that at the beginning of this class, some people had not heard of the literary trends at the 'Hangzhou Conference'. They were not well-informed at all. As a result, they suddenly became interested in the literary style formed by the Vietnam War generation and the crisis of faith caused by excessive urbanization in the 1970s and 1980s abroad, and even wanted to write this kind of literature."

"I think it's bullshit, it's just whining," Yu Qie said bluntly. "If you were a foreigner with a passport, I would let it go. You should have the conditions to grow up, but you don't. Neither do I."

"This kind of thing is like when I was playing table tennis at Yanda University, I met a Sudanese black man who played with me. He dared to play a trick on me by serving a spinning ball in front of me! He was really showing off his skills in front of an expert! I would definitely beat such a person to a pulp!" "The key to writing a novel is to find a literary style that suits you. I think many people are still groping for it. The most urgent task is to re-establish their own aesthetics."

This is indeed the case.

This group of writers from the 1980s was the golden generation of mainland China's literary world. They generally went through a process of changing their literary style. The first time was to follow the trend and imitate the West, and the second time was to localize.

Yu Qie pointed at Su Tong and said, "Why did you submit an assignment that is all about analyzing poetry? Do you want to be a poet?"

Su Tong said: "I wrote poetry at Yanda, but I was never successful, so I also wanted to learn this kind of literature in the advanced class."

Su Tong, you have been writing modern poetry for several years but your manuscripts have always been rejected. You are a professional writer but your manuscripts have been rejected by the school journal! If you are so bad at it, why do you have to write poetry?

Yu Qie said: "I happen to have a poet friend, some of you may have heard of him, his name is Zha Haisheng..."

There was an immediate commotion in the audience. The poet Cha Haisheng was already somewhat famous.

However, Yu Qie said: "After Cha Haisheng started writing poetry, he lived a very poor life. He had no money for dating, no money for movies, and he borrowed money from people everywhere... Do you think I am criticizing Cha Haisheng? At least Cha Haisheng is famous for his poetry! He was already one of the top school poets when he was in school."

"Some people have been writing poetry for years but have no success, and have neither money nor fame. I don't recommend that you engage in this kind of literature after studying for half a year."

Su Tong's face turned red and he was at a loss. Yu Qi's evaluation of him was very harsh.

Yu Qie pointed at his old friend Qu Tianing, who stood up nervously, but Yu Qie nodded at her: "Your idea is very good. Originally, you were a writer who was particularly good at portraying young girls. Now you said in your homework that you want to write some literature about 'mature women'. You didn't mention any doctrines, and you didn't take a big step. It's a very good idea."

Qu Tianing later developed along this path.

If Qu Tiening had not changed like this, she might have become the mainland version of Qiong Yao.

Then, Yu Qie's eyes swept across the students and suddenly called out a person: "Guan Moye!"

Guan Moye raised his head and looked at Yu Qie.

"You said you like wasteland literature? Cyberpunk? Do you want to write this kind of literature? Who told you to write this kind of literature?!"

Guan Moye said honestly: "I only thought so after reading your novel."

Does Guan Moye want to write a science fiction novel like "Happy Hunting" in mainland China in the 1980s?

This is so fucking crooked.

Yu Qie said: "Those who learn from me will live, those who imitate me will die. Have you heard this saying?"

Guan Moye was stunned and said, "I have heard that you told me not to learn from you to write novels, but to write my own. However, I still want to write magical realism, which is also related to you, so I am sometimes affected."

"Magical realism is something from Latin American literature. I didn't write it. I just did some research and explained the word 'magic' more accurately to avoid misunderstandings. If you want to write a novel, just learn this. Magic realism is a framework that can fit anything. Novels like "Happy Hunting" are different. It has a specific scope and is not easy to learn."

Yu Qie said: "Even if I won the award, I still don't recommend people to learn this."

At this point, Yu Qie seemed to realize that if he won the award, it would have an impact on the domestic literary world. He once again emphasized seriously: "I suggest not to imitate this style."

Soon, Yu Qie threw away the chalk and announced the end of the get out of class. Guan Moye saw him leave and suddenly said uncontrollably: "Why can't I write such an article? I can write it secretly."

Xu Chi heard this and immediately became alert. He ran to ask Guan Moye, "Comrade, why do you write this kind of article in private?"

Guan Moye was terrified.

Xu Chi is the editor-in-chief of Foreign Literature Research, a senior veteran. Guan Moye certainly couldn't admit it: "I didn't say anything."

Xu Chi had known Guan Moye's habits for some time. He would not admit what he muttered, so he asked Guan Moye another question:
“Do you have a literary idol?”

"No."

"Many people here have literary role models and idols. How could you not have one? I feel like you are the most obvious one."

"No, I really don't."

Xu Chi said: "I am an impartial reporter. I never dare to change a word of what others say, except for the people I have written about and personally communicated with. If you have any ideas, feel free to speak up."

After several arguments, Guan Moye told the truth: "The person I admire most is Yu Qie. I feel like I live in his shadow. I always write about things as ugly, but Yu Qie writes about things as true, kind and beautiful... In fact, the polio incident reflects how unfair it is and how many people have suffered tragedy, but Yu Qie didn't write about it that way. He used the story of a child winning sneakers to inspire adults to reflect."

Xu Chi was indeed impartial, he just recorded these conversations in the report. To him, Guan Moye was just one of those "people who wanted to be Yu Qie".

(End of this chapter)