Literary Master 1983

Chapter 7 Circle
That night, Yu Qie was still looking at the materials he had available.

Ale played poker with the guys from the next dormitory to pass the time. He said the night was long and only poker could keep him company.

It was almost ten o'clock when Alai asked for the first time: "Are you still watching?"

Yu Qie replied: "You go to sleep first."

More than an hour later, he finished washing up and was ready to rest. He asked again, "Yu Qie, are you still watching?"

Yu Qie said, “After I finish reading the few pages I have, I’ll turn off the lights.”

Alai didn't know that Yu Qie would soon have an article published in the "Red Rock" magazine, and thought he was a literature lover who came here by chance to gain some experience.

He felt that Yu Qie was so young, but he used his strength too early, and he was afraid that too much might be as bad as too little, so he reminded him:

"I've heard that haste makes waste. To write an article, you need talent. Even if you work so hard, it's just that diligence can make up for lack of talent! But literature doesn't believe in diligence... After this seminar, if you study hard, you will have a published article sooner or later. Just don't rush now!"

Yu Qie replied: "The October issue of Red Rock will publish a novel called A Moment of Romance, which I wrote not long ago."

what?
I haven’t been published in a provincial publication yet!

Man! What can I say!

Alai was stunned: "Then you need to rest for a long time! What are your plans after the seminar?"

"Report to Yan University." Yu Qie didn't even raise his head.

Alai's eyes widened. "Is this the Yanda University I was thinking of?"

“How many Yanda universities are there in China?”

Alai, who graduated from a technical secondary school, immediately threw the poker on the coffee table and said, "I swear now that I will never play poker again during this period! I will follow your example."

----

Yu Qi is in a very good and engaged state. Along with his empathy for the materials he reads, he truly thinks about how to leave his own mark in this era and how to use his identity to do something for others.

Can you create texts that are comparable to great works and can be passed down to future generations?

For example, "An apple spread throughout the platoon", or "Where is the logistics chief? He is the logistics chief", and the cry of "Fire at me"...

An individual's physical strength is insignificant in the tide of the times, but his words can maximize the butterfly effect.

So, should there be a fair reflection on war in this work? The author examines the harm caused by war to mankind from a higher-dimensional perspective.

This kind of thinking angle has always been easy to win the favor of judges, both Chinese and foreign.

For example, the beautiful butterfly in "All Quiet on the Western Front", or the generation in "Our Fathers" who went from longing for war to being confused and helpless and then falling into the abyss of despair?

No, no.

Because the background is the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam.

This is a just war, fought to defend the country, not to invade and colonize. There is no need to add unnecessary details or impose additional meanings.

So, what kind of words can be so thought-provoking?

Alai and Yu Che collected materials together. He also found some videotapes and front-line reports, which helped Yu Che a lot.

Some information caught Yu Qie's attention.

A dozen Yi soldiers smiled at the camera and said, "We Yi people are not afraid of death, we are very brave." Afterwards, all of these young people died in the subsequent battle.

But this is not the most shocking thing about Yu Qie.

In the Lang Son artillery battle, thousands of cannons roared and thousands of troops advanced together. The soldiers endured hearing loss and auditory hallucinations and worked tirelessly.

This is not the most shocking thing about Yu Qie.

The enemy broke into our field hospitals and brutally massacred the nurses and wounded soldiers. We vowed to make them pay back a hundredfold, and we did it.

This is not the most shocking thing about Yu Qie.

What shocked Yu Qie the most was that while he was charging and fighting on the front lines, letters from the rear asking for breakup or divorce came like snowflakes. They said with certainty, "I need to strengthen my studies and should not spend my energy on love affairs. Therefore, let our relationship end here..."

The soldiers put down the letters, not knowing whether to cry or laugh, they gritted their teeth and continued to fight in the next round.

At this moment, the cruelty, indifference, even the ridiculousness and senselessness of war are all part of this history.

Yu Qie felt that he had found the inspiration that could serve as the “key point” of the article, and he wrote it on paper:

"I'm with them!"

Yu Qie wanted to create a novel based on the material of the counterattack against Vietnam and borrowed the structure of the later commercial film "Saving Private Ryan":
[At the beginning of the counterattack against Vietnam, our army planned to pass through Lang Son and march north of Vietnam to the vicinity of Hanoi. However, soon after the battle began, our side suffered heavy casualties, among which a high-ranking mother lost three sons. After the front-line commander learned of this tragic incident, for some reason, he sent an 8-man team led by a platoon leader to carry out the established special operations mission while taking the letter sent by her fiancee to find and protect the mother's only son...]

[After going through untold hardships, they finally found the target, only to find that he was unwilling to leave because his comrades were in a tough battle. At the same time, a letter from the rear was opened, and it turned out to be a farewell letter asking for a breakup. Everyone decided to join the last battle together]

That’s “I’m with them.”

I sincerely hope that when readers read this article, they can become the "I" who is "with them", and thus give support to the soldiers on the front line and understand their situation.

Yu Qie laid out the framework and started writing this novel.

At this time, the seminar sponsored by the Sichuan Writers Association had already started as scheduled.

Its beginning was marked by the arrival of Ma Shi Tu.

----

There is no mandatory time limit for the seminar, but everyone usually participates in the whole process.

There is time for self-creation every day, food and accommodation are provided, and there are experts to share their experiences. Professors from the School of Literature of Sichuan University and later Southwest University give lectures. It is a paradise for new creators.

That afternoon, everyone gathered together and got to know each other under the guidance of the host. On the rostrum were representative writers of the province during this period, Liu Shahe, Wang Huo... There were also academic researchers and some administrative cadres.

The most famous one is Ma Shi Tu.

When it comes to literature, there is no way to bypass the industry leaders. Ma Shi Tu is one of the "Five Old Men of Shu" along with Li Yaotang and others. He was the chairman of the Provincial Writers Association and the Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles during this period, and he is also Yu Qie's fellow townsman in a broad sense.

There are two literary institutions worth mentioning in mainland China, one is the Writers Association and the other is the Federation of Literary and Art Circles. The Writers Association was established earlier than the Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

In various countries around the world, there is generally only a Writers Association, and the Federation of Literary and Art Circles only exists in China and the Soviet Union, because it carries a left-wing ideology and shoulders the responsibility of guidance.

The Writers Association is an organization. The fate of a writer will be completely different if he is accepted or rejected by this organization. This is also completely different from European and American countries.

In the 1980s, if you were a mainland writer, you had to mingle with other people. If you didn’t, you couldn’t make any progress, and even publishing articles was a luxury. In a collectivist society, isolating yourself from the organization is a stupid thing that you absolutely cannot do.

Yu Qie is a natural member of the Sichuan and Chongqing literary circles. From the moment Red Rock was published, he was destined to make his debut, and of course he had to join this group.

(End of this chapter)