Literary Master 1983

Chapter 43: An Editor and a Reader

Who is Bu Xinsheng?
If "A Moment of Romance" is the most popular novel in November, then Bu Xinsheng is the hottest "star" at the moment.

This man was the director of a shirt factory in Zhejiang Province. In order to improve the efficiency of the factory, he started a bonus system with "no upper limit and no lower limit". Then in the summer he was interviewed by a reporter from Xinhua News Agency and wrote an article titled "A Factory Director with Original Spirit - Bu Xinsheng".

The article was sent for internal reference.

Internal reference is a relatively unique news product of Xinhua News Agency. It is not intended for public release but for "internal reference" by the leadership.

Some senior leaders thought Bu Xinsheng did a good job and asked to promote him vigorously.

As a result, the national literary circles, including the news media, reported Bu Xinsheng extensively and repeatedly, which eventually led to articles related to him appearing on the front pages of almost all media. A large number of writers also began to write "Director Bu Literature", which all took advantage of the spring breeze in various forms and were published in major publications.

However, these novels had little impact on later generations.

Because their novels are so closely linked, it's as if they were copied from the same outline.

In 79, the writer Jiang Zilon published a short story "The Record of Director Qiao's Taking Office", which won the National Excellent Short Story Award that year and received the most votes from readers. However, the model operas of "Factory Director Literature" went from bad to worse until they were eliminated, which happened very quickly.

In essence, these novels are the same novel, and after reading one there is no need to read the others.

So Yu Qie said: "Perhaps, we still have to go back to ordinary people, write about the real life of ordinary people, and express the emotions that people already have. This is my idea."

Yu Qie spoke very politely, but everyone inexplicably felt that he was right.

After hearing this, Liu Zhenyun felt that he had made the right decision to join the club.

He seemed to have found the boss's affirmation.

When he was an undergraduate, Liu Zhenyun revised his novels over and over again, and it was extremely difficult to get them published in the campus magazine "Weiming Lake". He had to ask his senior sister Cha Jianying to help him revise them many times.

To the extent that Liu Zhenyun once doubted that he could not write novels.

He always felt that his specialty was writing about "ordinary people's lives" and adding some dramatic humor. However, he didn't know if anyone would read his writing style.

In the final analysis, the current situation of domestic novels is like the development of vernacular Chinese in the Republic of China. There are many people writing novels, but there are also many people who don’t know how to “write novels”.

After the discussion, Liu Zhenyun found Yu Qie privately.

"I have a novel I'm going to write... A demobilized soldier returns to his hometown to review for the college entrance examination, and several other rural youths also take the college entrance examination to change their fate of poverty. This is my real experience a few years ago."

Yu Qie asked, "Have you ever been a soldier?"

"I served in the military! This novel is basically my autobiography. I even plan to use the first-person pronoun 'I'."

So what if it's written in the first person? It's not like you're writing an online novel, so why are you afraid of failure?

Yu Qie seemed to have some impression of the development of this novel, "What name are you going to give it?"

"'Ta Pu'. This place is actually my hometown, Yanjin Wanglou."

Oh! This is Tapu.

This novel is Liu Zhenyun's famous work. It was first published in "People's Literature", which is much higher than Yu Qie's starting point. It won the National Excellent Short Story Award that year.

The reason why "Tapu" is not well-known is that Liu Zhenyun's later novel "A Place of Chicken Feathers" is too famous, not to mention the series of film scripts that followed. "Tapu" is a standard new realist novel, and it also conforms to the theory advocated by Yu Qie - it seems that the left protector of our new realist society has been found, and that is you, Brother Zhenyun.

"However, I have always had doubts about writing this novel..." said Liu Zhenyun.

"What are you worried about?"

"I feel that the story development of this novel is very similar to your "College Entrance Examination 1977". You see, I also write about a few young people, and so do you... your story takes place in 1977, and mine takes place in 1978..."

Liu Zhenyun became more and more frustrated as he spoke. He realized, "I don't know why, but I always feel like I'm living in your shadow."

"College Entrance Examination 1977" written by Yu Qi was originally a movie script, which was definitely written later than "Tapu". It is not clear who copied whom, and it is difficult to say whether Liu Zhenyun's "Tapu" was referenced.

Because Liu Zhenyun later became one of the best film screenwriters in the country.

Liu Zhenyun now said that he "seemed to be living in Yu Qie's shadow", which of course made Yu Qie very uncomfortable and even embarrassed, but Yu Qie generously "forgave" him, "Brother, if you want to write, then write. This is your own experience. How can you say that you copied it?"

Liu Zhenyun thought this Yuqie was really great.

On the other side, Luo Yihe asked Yu Qie if he had any new works.

As we all know, after Yu Qie founded a club, he would come once or twice a week to discuss literature with everyone. Yu Qie always had someone to talk to.

As a novelist, when he is talking a lot, he often has a new creative idea in his mind, otherwise he would not be so confident.

For example, when Haizi met Yu Qie today, he seemed a little stage-frightened and they didn't talk about anything profound.

Because Haizi not only failed to write a masterpiece, he didn't even have the embryo of a masterpiece in mind, so how could he have a deep conversation with others?

So, when Luo Yihe asked Yu Qie himself, Yu Qie directly admitted: "I do have a new idea."

"Can I ask what it is?" Luo Yihe said.

Yu Qie brought out the stories he had heard in the Spanish Department and the major historical events he knew:

After the college entrance examination was reorganized in 77, the Spanish Languages ​​Department of Yenching University was one of the first departments to resume education and send students abroad.

As we all know, the biggest event in 78 was indeed the plenary session. But before the plenary session in December, the decision to expand the number of students sent abroad had already been made.

In July of that year, President Carter's confidant was on a private visit to China. He was suddenly asked an "unanswerable question" and immediately disregarded diplomatic etiquette and called President Carter.

President Carter was awakened, and the next news shocked him even more: "China wants to send a group of students to the United States and asked if we can send 5000 people?"

Carter thought for a moment and said, "They could send 10 people."

Of course, there were not 100,000 people in the end, but there were 700 to 800 people in the first year.

So in 79, when Mr. Qiao visited the United States, a large number of domestic students showed up at the airport to greet him and attend the welcoming ceremony held by Carter.

They really should thank Mr. Qiao, because in the decade before 78, the country only sent 21 international students to 337 countries. This was a phone call that changed their destiny.

(End of this chapter)