Literary Master 1983

Chapter 91: Praise for Yu Qie

Wang Meng said happily: "Since this year, Yu Qie has become the most popular young writer and the most popular young writer among the public! Both superiors and other audiences want to see Yu Qie."

Liu Xinwu asked: "Isn't Yu Qie in Rongcheng? Why don't you let him come to participate, but let us come instead?"

"Because Yu Qie couldn't make it, but everyone didn't want to miss him." Wang Meng said frankly, "Have you seen the program this time? Tenor Jiang Dawei sang "Ask What We Are Thinking", and the Central National Song and Dance Ensemble Orchestra accompanied it... The host of the meeting had a narration..."

"What's the narration?"

Wang Meng beamed with joy: "The narrator said, what are we thinking about? We are thinking about the soldiers on the front line, the most lovely people. What are we thinking about? We are thinking about the heroic and courageous young people, their unremitting struggle. What are we thinking about? We are thinking about our compatriots of all ethnic groups across the country, and we are united together."

"What does this have to do with Yuqie?"

"Because this heroic and courageous young man is exactly what Yu Qie is talking about." Wang Meng said happily, just as if he had said to Liu Xinwu a few years ago, "I wrote "The New Young Man in the Organization Department" because I expected that you are the new 'young man' in our literary world. You are full of vitality and pay extra attention to people's personalities."

Now, he once again gave such a high evaluation to someone, but that person was no longer Liu Xinwu. Moreover, he hoped that Liu Xinwu would praise the next person.

Liu Xinwu wanted to express his own opinion: "Editor-in-Chief Wang, have you read the latest big news?"

"What news? Yu Qie killed the enemy?"

"No, it's the president of the United States who is visiting us. There are so many stories here... We can neither lose our decorum nor neglect the guest..."

"President? That actor, he was almost shot - Oh my God, I just realized he looks exactly like Yu Qie." Wang Meng said in surprise, with unstoppable joy on his face, as if this coincidence was a huge surprise for him.

But why the cotangent again?
Why is it always cotangent?

Liu Xinwu's heart was filled with burning resentment, but he expressed it in a gentle and refined manner: "Actually, I want to write a critical article about his novel "Big Scatter". I think the novel is not true enough because he has never studied abroad and has never met many foreigners... I think..."

"——If he doesn't understand, who can understand?" Wang Meng didn't notice anything. "If a Yanda student doesn't understand even in a place with the most foreigners? Only diplomats can understand."

"But doesn't this kind of fiction distort the facts a bit and damage the friendship between the people of the two countries?"

"I hate making a big deal out of nothing. A novel is a novel. Be tolerant of it. That's what I said to you then, and I say the same to others now."

Wang Meng finally realized something, but he didn't take it seriously. Instead, he patted Liu Xinwu on the shoulder:

"Everyone knows that you are a gentle person. You have been a class teacher for many years. You should be broad-minded. Yu Qie has now begun to become the face of our literary world, a glorious side, and a brand-new force..."

"But I think..."

Wang Meng ignored him and continued:
"New reality, military literature, Latin American literature..." Wang Meng spoke of them like a treasure trove, full of pride, "Oh, when I debuted, I also wrote a novel about educated youth! Yu Qie is undoubtedly a genius, and he has his lofty ideals, everyone can see it. If you want to criticize him, how would you criticize him?"

"We should criticize him in a protective and encouraging way... But such criticism should be done by people with higher status. I don't think you can do it. Everyone knows that your level of criticism is not high..."

Wang Meng made a joke. "Now I'll tell you, you write it, you have to embellish it, and then you can speak at the Great Hall—"

Liu Xinwu didn't know what he was doing, he just felt that his pen was moving uncontrollably:

"The difficulty we faced before was the loss of trust. No one knew what was still credible. Bei Dao wrote "I Don't Believe" and said, 'I don't believe that the sky is blue. I don't believe that thunder has no echo. I don't believe that dreams are false..."

Liu Xinwu's handwriting became a printed transcript:

"With the development of the times, we seem to have regained trust. In 79, Liu Xinwu published "I Love Every Green Leaf" in People's Literature, saying that everyone's personality is a green leaf. New creators began to think about the importance of the individual..."

The script was placed on the podium of the "Youth Gala", and the speaker rehearsed many times for this:
"In 82, Li Cunbao wrote "The Wreath under the Mountain", in which he described a warrior image that was different from the previous perfect warriors, and even spent more time outside the battlefield. This anti-traditional writing style caused great controversy, but in the end it gained more and more likes..."

In the formal speech, Liu Xinwu was reading aloud:
"Literary theorist Professor Zhu Guangqian wrote "On the Theory of Human Nature, Humanism, Human Touch and Common Beauty" and published it in "Literary Research". With the force of spring thunder, he pointed out that human nature is the 'natural nature of human beings'. It is not written specifically for literary creation, but it has inspired many creators to realize the specific, increasingly enriched and noble beauty of human nature..."

Liu Xinwu couldn't take his eyes off her, his voice trembling:
"We have called for a new round of creators who have broken through the original forbidden areas of literary creation. In other words, they are the first generation to grow up without forbidden areas, so they can create truly advanced literary works. The most representative of them is... is..."

"——" In front of more than 6,000 people, Liu Xinwu was lost in thought. He stared blankly at the content below. These compliments were written by him himself.

It turned out that he had understood it a long time ago, but just refused to admit it.

With the speaker facing away from him, his voice was heard only by himself and was very quiet, giving him the illusion that he was talking to himself. He doubted whether the 6,000 people in the audience could hear him, because it was also so quiet.

Liu Xinwu said tentatively: "Yu Qie... Yes, whether it is the new reality he advocated in October, or the more famous military literature, or the tracing of the popular Latin American literary creation trends in the West, they all show a clear difference from the thinking of his predecessors."

"It didn't just 'break out of the ground' or 'come out of nowhere', but it has a clear development trajectory."

"His generation will break through the existing constraints and fetters, boldly explore and innovate, and lead the literary trend..."

Of course the audience heard it, but how did Liu Xinwu notice it? Because the unprecedented applause broke out at the scene, which in turn covered the sound of the speakers, making Liu Xinwu realize that what had just been said was very remarkable!

So many people agreed with his conclusion, and there was excitement on their faces. Whether they were the elites of the Yenching literary and art circles, such as the song and dance troupe, orchestra, and symphony orchestra, or the literary giants who were directly engaged in creative works, they applauded Liu Xinwu's brilliant presentation and deeply agreed with his conclusion.

This is Liu Xinwu's work that has received the best feedback from readers this year. In short, the work can be called "Praise Yu Qie".

People were still clapping, and some stood up and said, "You wrote so well! So great!"

"Why do you see it so clearly? It makes my heart beat faster! You are indeed a writer."

At this moment, Liu Xinwu felt that something was broken in his heart.

(End of this chapter)