Literary Master 1983

Chapter 68: Marquez's Reply

"Dear Chinese friends, I am Gabriel García Márquez. Please forgive me for not replying to you in time."

When the image of "yellow rose" is finally revealed, whether Yu Qie's prediction will come true will also be revealed.

Soon after, he used the phone number of the People's Publishing House in Beijing to call Colombia on the other side of the ocean again, and this time, Marquez himself knew everything.

It is said that before he became famous, Marquez often waited anxiously to see whether his manuscripts would be approved.

When he finished writing "One Hundred Years of Solitude", he only had enough money to send half of the manuscript, so he sent half of it - in a panic, he sent the second half, which made him very upset.

The publishing house finally gave an excellent reply, urging him to send the first half as soon as possible... But all these things made Marquez willing to let others send him letters, and he gradually stopped sending letters himself.

Therefore, Marquez's reply reached Yu Qie in the form of a fax.

"In fact, I'm writing a novel at this time. I've named it Love in the Time of Cholera. I have a feeling it's going to be a good one."

"I have been searching for the truth about the Square Massacre you mentioned. The 3000 people figure is of course an exaggeration, but in my childhood, I saw the train leaving the estate with my own eyes. I believe there should have been 3000 bodies in it, but some were eventually thrown into the sea."

"Many people don't know that before I wrote novels, I was an investigative journalist. I am committed to combining journalistic realism with writing skills, so I don't think my works are 'magical'. I have always been a realist writer, and I tell everyone I meet this."

"When I was an investigative journalist, I found that people were always willing to believe more specific things. For example, if I said elephants were flying in the sky, no one would believe it. But if there were 425 elephants flying in the sky, someone might believe you."

"My heart is now completely occupied by the Square Massacre. The good news is that the warlord government in my country fell two years ago, and we elected the first democratically elected government. President Betancur was also a writer and economist. His father raised him by growing bananas. I will contact him to see if I can find more authentic historical archives."

"Thank you again. I was born in 1927. Since the Square Massacre took place in 1928, I have always told others that I was born in 1928. Please keep my secret and don't tell anyone else."

"I am also grateful to all the translators. My country is a small place, but I am grateful that people in another world have not forgotten us."

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Read Marquez's response.

What Yu Qie found strange was that Marquez did not claim copyright.

Because later, when he visited China himself—accompanied by Qian Zhongshu—he was furious because there were pirated books everywhere. Qian Zhongshu was very embarrassed and kept apologizing.

However, when Yu Qie saw that China's per capita GDP was two or three hundred US dollars last year, while Colombia, where Marquez was located, was more than one thousand three hundred US dollars, everything started to make sense.

I guess in Marquez's mind, China was so poor at the time that he couldn't come up with any ideas, or maybe he just didn't have time to come up with any ideas right away.

It is now the end of February. Half a month has passed since the Second Latin American Literature Research Conference came to a successful conclusion.

Although the official printed version had not yet been released, some chapters of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" were leaked through handwritten copies. The creative techniques represented by this novel began to produce a huge effect and became the main topic of this period.

Due to the excitement of the Latin American Literature Research Conference, within a very short period of time, every literature lover was talking about One Hundred Years of Solitude. In fact, at the conference held in Hangzhou at the end of this year, writers recalled that they discussed many topics such as "Root-seeking Literature" and "Avant-garde Literature". Then, they also talked about Marquez. In addition to Latin American literature, reform literature is also very popular. Their base is in the magazine "Contemporary", and a large number of representative works of reform literature have been published in "Contemporary".

Root-seeking literature, avant-garde literature, stream-of-consciousness literature, etc. are on the rise.

At the beginning of this year, when Yu Qie was thinking hard about writing "Da Saba", Qiao Gong went to a southern city and delivered a series of speeches. This was his first trip to the south, and the impact on the literary world was very significant. Before that, there were disturbances of varying degrees in the literary world every year, and some people were unlucky every year. Last year, the Writers Association faced a change of leadership, and the dispute lasted for more than a year without any follow-up, because different people took office to represent different literary trends.

This year, these disputes gradually disappeared along with the signals released by Qiao Gong's trip south. This is the year 1984, and we have truly entered spring.

The public opinion that Liu Xinwu stirred up by writing "Beware of Fantasy Literature" did not last long, because the author of the article himself fell first. People thought that regardless of how well he wrote novels, he did not have the level of literary criticism.

So, what about new realist literature?
Liu Zhenyun's "Tapu" was published as a short story in the first issue of "October" in the new year, but it did not gain a greater impact. Critics regarded it as the spiritual sequel to Yu Qie's "College Entrance Examination 1977".

On the contrary, Cha Haisheng's "Asian Bronze" seems to be about to be born, and Luo Yihe has been polishing this work recently.

When Cha Haisheng finally finished writing the poem, Luo Yihe brought the poem to Yu Qie and asked Yu Qie to read it.

【Asian Copper Asian Copper

The one who doubts and flies is the bird, the one who drowns everything is the sea

Your master is the grass that lives on his tiny waist

The palms and secrets that hold the wild flowers】

He asked Yu Qie: "What do you think?"

This is Cha Haisheng's famous work, so it must be great.

Yu Qie said: "This poem is well written. 'Asian Copper' is not only a subtle metaphor for the image of our poor motherland, which easily reminds us of the barren and vast yellow land in the north, but also a figurative name and summary of our national traditional culture."

"In ancient times, wasn't China a country of copper?"

So Luo Yihe asked Yu Qie to write an appreciation of Cha Haisheng and put it in the October issue. "You are now a very famous writer and researcher. In fact, readers also want to see your appreciation."

“Why do readers like to see my appreciation?”

"Because you have made a name for yourself in battles, of course people believe what you say. 'Yu Shi'——" Luo Yihe used the same alias that Yu Qie used. Next time you want to comment on someone, just continue to use this.

　Part of the response is drawn from an interview between Márquez and a Parisian journalist.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)