Writer 1979: Writing for the People

Chapter 62 How come there's a Xulu here too?

After receiving Xu Lu's letter from the store, Li Xiuzhi ran home and then carefully opened the envelope.

She already knows quite a few characters, so she can understand it by herself.

Looking at the fallen leaf inside and the contents in front, the corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly. For some reason, she seemed to be able to see the smile on Xu Lu's face when he picked up the leaf.

As she was laughing, she suddenly noticed the last sentence at the bottom.

"Xiuzhi, I miss you!"

She opened her eyes wide, somewhat surprised by Xu Lu's boldness and directness, and then her face turned red with embarrassment.

But in her heart, she felt a sweet sensation, sweeter than honey!

So he was thinking of me too!

whee!

Just then, a familiar voice called out from outside.

"Aunt Li, has Uncle Xu written to us recently?"

In the past, Zhang Qiaoqiao wrote the letters that Li Xiuzhi wrote to Xu Lu, and she also read the letters that Xu Lu sent back to her.

She also teaches her to read in her spare time.

Li Xiuzhi has made rapid progress in her studies recently, and Zhang Qiaoqiao deserves some credit for that as well.

But this time, Li Xiuzhi was too embarrassed to let her see the letter, so she quickly stuffed it under the covers. After she came in, she stammered and said...

"No—no, he's probably been quite busy lately and hasn't written—"

Although she found Li Xiuzhi's reaction a bit strange, Zhang Qiaoqiao was easygoing and quickly put the matter out of her mind.

  

"Aunt Li, I've found some more red dates. Let's make some more dried fruit."

With Xu Lu away, Zhang Qiaoqiao took the initiative to take care of Li Xiuzhi.

During this time, she always took her to do all sorts of fun things, making her happy every day.

"it is good."

9 Month 25 Day!

The article "Life is Like a String," published half a month ago, is still generating a lot of buzz. Even though an additional 50,000 copies of that issue of "Beijing Literature and Art" have been printed, it is still in short supply.

No matter where it is, as long as it is placed on the bookstore shelves, it will be sold out in less than half a day.

During this period, Li Qingquan, the editor-in-chief of "Beijing Literature and Art", was all smiles.

He has always hoped to further expand the influence of "Beijing Literature and Art".

How to expand?

It all comes down to good works!

For example, this article, "Life is Like a String."

Although this article did generate some controversy, and there have been quite a few articles criticizing it in newspapers recently, its circulation figures show that ordinary readers still quite like the story.

As for Li Qingquan, as long as everyone likes it, that's enough!

On September 25th, the Guangming Daily published an article titled "Let's Talk About the 'Yam Faction'"

The article once again attracted everyone's attention.

First of all, the name itself is quite unique.

"Yam Pie"?

Isn't a yam just a potato?

It's interesting that there's a literary genre with this name.

What surprised everyone even more was that the first author of this article was listed as "Xu Lu".

How come I can still see Xu Lu here?

Everyone was completely baffled, feeling that Comrade Xu Lu's "attendance rate" had been a bit high in the past two months!

It seems that his name can be seen in many places.

However, if it's a work by Comrade Xu Lu, people are still willing to take a quick look.

The article contains just over two thousand words; it doesn't take much time to read the whole thing.

At a glance, everyone can probably tell what this article is about.

It actually introduces one of the schools of rural literature called the "Yam School". According to the introduction, this so-called "Yam School" is the first realist school of rural literature in my country, and also the first mature rural creation school in contemporary literature since the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Wow, that sounds pretty impressive.

As for whether it's true or false, everyone recalled Xu Lu's previous article, "Establishing Local Literature," and upon reading it, the arguments seemed quite reasonable and well-founded, so they all felt it was quite plausible.

To be fair, Comrade Xu Lu is indeed quite knowledgeable in the field of local literature.

First he wrote "Receiving the Precepts," and then he published "Wheat Harvesters," redefining the concept of rural literature. I wonder when his next rural novel will be published, and which place it will be about?

That's something to look forward to.

For the average reader, the article "Let's Talk About the 'Yam Faction'" is just something to enjoy for entertainment.

People don't really care who was the first mature rural literature school, nor do they care much about how the school was formed, who the members were, or what its characteristics were. In the end, what they mainly look at are the works themselves.

But for the literary world, the impact of this article's publication was considerable.

Even those who questioned its authenticity and rationality generally dismissed their doubts upon seeing the article's second author.

Although Wang Wenshi is not as famous as Lu Xun, Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, Lao She, Ba Jin, and Cao Yu, he is, after all, the vice chairman of the Shaanxi Provincial Writers Association, and has great influence both within the province and nationwide.

Like the article about trust that was reprinted by People's Literature last time, Wang Wenshi actually put in a lot of effort behind the scenes.

Otherwise, People's Literature might not have paid attention to this article, nor would it have made the decision to reprint it so quickly.

Since he is the second author of this article, the article's value and credibility must be greatly enhanced.

In addition, from another perspective, the fact that this article, "Let's Talk About the 'Yam Faction'," was published in Guangming Daily also carries a certain meaning.

Previously, the word "派" (pài) was actually a very sensitive word because it was easy to be associated with certain things.

Therefore, in the past, the literary world only dared to talk about the personal style of writers, and dared not openly discuss the phenomenon of literary schools.

The successful publication of this article is tantamount to academically confirming that "literary schools are normal artistic phenomena, not political issues," which has loosened the restrictions on school research nationwide and can be considered one of the landmark events in the liberation of thought and return to the laws of art in the literary and artistic circles.

Of course, this is also related to Wang Wenshi's influence.

Xu Lu is currently well-known, but his qualifications are still too shallow; he's not qualified enough to endorse such an article.

Even if the authorities really wanted to go with the flow, the review process would be significantly longer and would never be so quick.

It was precisely because Wang Wenshi acted as the second author that this article was able to appear before everyone so quickly.

It's worth mentioning that the people from SX Province were the happiest to see the article "Let's Talk About the 'Yam Pie'" published.

Not long ago, they were talking about establishing their own local literature brand, and now Xu Lu has directly helped them build the brand.

This is just like a pillow appearing when you're about to fall asleep.

It's a pity Xu Lu isn't a writer from Shanxi; otherwise, his status in the province's literary scene would definitely have risen considerably.