1980 My literary era

"Horse Trapper" is a big drama, and it is also Renyi's flagship play in the second half of the year.

As Lin Weimin's third drama introduced by Renyi, although this work was not adapted by Lin Weimin himself, the collaboration was with experienced acquaintances like Ouyang Shanzun and Lan Yinhai, so everyone at Renyi felt reassured.

What's more, since "Horse Trapper" was published in the January supplement of "People's Literature" in January, it has directly overshadowed the main issue.

So far, the sales volume of the January supplement of "Horse Trapper" has exceeded 1.5 million copies, setting a sales record for all special issues, special issues, and supplements of all literary publications in the country.

Not only that, this sales volume also beats many mainstream literary publications such as "Harvest", "October", and "Zhongshan".

In the first half of 1983, the only one that could compete with it was probably the first issue of "Contemporary" which was released at almost the same time.

It just so happens that Lin Weimin's name occupies a very important position in these two issues of the magazine.

A kind of superstition is gradually forming among people and arts——

As long as it is Teacher Lin's work, it can't be wrong.

After watching the rehearsal of "Horse Trapper", Ouyang Shanzun talked to Lin Weimin about the situation of "Farewell My Concubine".

Since its performance last year, this drama has been enthusiastically sought after by drama lovers in Yanjing, and has been reported many times by TV stations and newspapers.

The fame of "Farewell My Concubine" was so great that it aroused great repercussions in the domestic drama circle. It was invited to perform in Shanghai, and it also gained enthusiastic popularity.

It’s June again, and it’s the season of “Farewell My Concubine” again.

The performance in Shanghai last year aroused great response. Many cities have successively sent out invitations, hoping that Renyi can perform "Farewell My Concubine". However, due to the overall arrangement of the theater, it can only be performed after the performance in Shanghai. Return to Yanjing.

Renyi plans to send the "Farewell My Concubine" crew to perform in several major cities in China after this year's performance.

For theater actors or behind-the-scenes staff, performing in other places, especially in other big cities in China, is definitely a good job. Otherwise, everyone wouldn’t have left Zhijiang alone last year and went to Shanghai instead. superior.

Ouyang Shanzun asked Lin Weimin if he wanted to take this opportunity to go outside, but Lin Weimin declined again.

His life now is almost filled with work and writing. He even goes to Tiesheng's house much less frequently. He said he still has an important thing to be busy with in a few days.

A few days later, Lin Weimin accompanied Mr. Wan and the leaders of Renyi to Yanjing Airport to pick up Mr. Arthur Miller.

Arthur Miller came to China at the invitation of Mr. Wan. Mr. Wan was busy with work. After two receptions, the rest of the work could only be left to Lin Weimin, a student.

As requested by Mr. Wan, Lin Weimin took a few days off as Mr. Arthur Miller's local companion and visited various tourist attractions in Yanjing.

For Americans, Yanjing in the 1980s was still full of mystery, and Arthur Miller was full of curiosity about everything around him.

These few days are also a rare break for Lin Weimin. Although Arthur Miller's visit to the People's Art Museum is unofficial, the Ministry of Culture still came forward and sent a car, a translator and a driver.

With people from the Ministry of Culture around, Lin Weimin's job was very easy. He mostly spent time eating, drinking, and bragging.

I spent almost a week in Yanjing like this, and my friendship as a landlord has been exhausted. There is one last item left to do today.

"Farewell My Concubine" was officially staged, and Mr. Wan invited Arthur Miller to watch the performance.

In the front row of the Capital Theater, Mr. Wan and Lin Weimin sat on either side of Arthur Miller, highlighting the importance they attached to his guest.

Arthur Miller looked at the performance on the stage, his eyes gradually becoming serious.

At the end of the performance, several people stood up along with the audience, and the actors took their last breaths on the stage. The audience applauded like thunder and lasted for a long time.

"Mr. Miller, what do you think of this play?" Mr. Wan asked with a hint of pride in his brows.

"This is an outstanding work!" Arthur Miller praised with excitement.

He couldn't understand the actors' lines on stage, but fortunately Lin Weimin was on hand to act as an interpreter, and by observing the body reactions and facial expression changes of the actors on stage, it was not difficult to understand the plot.

"This work is comparable to "Teahouse" and "Thunderstorm"!"

Arthur Miller added, which shocked Lin Weimin, "Mr. Miller, you are exaggerating."

Mr. Wan burst out laughing and said, "Didn't you ask me before the performance who the screenwriter of this play was?"

He pointed at Lin Weimin, "Far away in the horizon, close in front of you."

"Lin?" Arthur Miller's expression was full of surprise.

Lin Weimin acted as his companion and kept a low profile these days. He only told Arthur Miller that his job was as an editor and he occasionally wrote some works for publication. Mr. Wan was too busy at work and never introduced him to Arthur Miller. However, he always believed that Lin Weimin's most important identity was just an ordinary student of Mr. Wan.

"Not only that, my old friend, did you know? The novel of this play has also been published in our country."

"Really?" Arthur Miller was surprised again.

Lin Weimin finally figured it out. Mr. Wan was going to show off in person today, so he could only continue what he said: "Yes. This work was originally a novel, and then adapted into a play. The publication in the United States was by Langdon The bookstore is responsible.”

Random House is said to be one of the largest publishing companies in the United States. Arthur Miller naturally knew that he was surprised by the excellence and stunningness of Lin Weimin's work, but he was even more surprised by the spread of this work.

He is also a cultural celebrity in the United States, so he naturally knows how difficult it is for publications from China to be published in the United States at this time.

He asked curiously: "How was the sale?"

Lin Weimin told the truth, "I sold more than 100,000 copies before, and recently I just printed an additional 200,000 copies."

Arthur Miller's face was shocked, "Sold so many? And I haven't seen it?"

Mr. Wan smiled heartily and said: "Old friend, it seems that you have been a little distracted recently!"

Arthur Miller understood that Mr. Wan was joking and said in a humorous tone: "This only proves that I am too busy at work."

In fact, it is normal that Arthur Miller has not read the American version of "Farewell My Concubine". Not counting the 200,000 copies that were later printed, the previous sales of "Farewell My Concubine" in the United States were only a few hundred thousand copies.

According to Chinese standards, this is certainly a lot. After all, it is sold overseas without any popularity.

But for Americans, it only sold more than 100,000 copies in nearly a year, and it’s not even on the best-seller list. If you don’t frequent bookstores, it’s hard to pay attention to it, not to mention that this is a movie. Novels from China.

Arthur Miller sighed and said: "If I had known this, you should have called me and I could write a recommendation to Lin."

After finishing speaking, he shook his head and said: "No, this is unnecessary. Facts have proved that the excellence of this work transcends cultures and languages."

Arthur Miller looked at Lin Weimin and said, "Lin, you are truly an unparalleled playwright!"

Lao Miqua is very direct. Lin Weimin said a few words of humility and reminded: "Mr. Miller, teacher, let's go backstage to greet the actors first."

Mr. Wan patted his head and said, "By the way, you were so busy showing off that I am a student that you forgot about the real thing."

Arthur Miller laughed, "I knew you had another purpose in inviting me to watch the play today!"

Several people chatted and laughed and headed backstage. The actors had already known that Arthur Miller would come to watch the show today.

They worked very hard when they were on stage. Now Arthur Miller came backstage to express his condolences. Everyone was very excited.

Arthur Miller became famous in 1947 with the play "All My Sons". Later, "Death of a Salesman", which he wrote in six weeks, won three major awards including the Pulitzer Prize. He quickly became one of the top playwrights in the American theater world.

After years of accumulation, Arthur Miller's drama creation output is not high, but the quality has always been stable. Together with Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams, he is known as the three great American drama masters of the 20th century, and his status in the American drama world is comparable. Mr Bevan's position in China.

Arthur Miller paid close attention to Yang Lixin, who played the role of Cheng Dieyi, backstage and praised him for his wonderful performance.

"Yang, you should go to Broadway!" Arthur Miller patted Yang Lixin on the shoulder and said.

Yang Lixin looked flattered when he heard what Lin Weimin translated next to him.

Mr. Wan pretended to be unhappy and said: "Arthur, are you poaching my people in front of me?"

Everyone present laughed.

The excitement backstage lasted for a long time. It was not until Arthur Miller's conversation faded that Mr. Wan and several leaders of Renyi proposed to end today's trip.

After sending Arthur Miller back to Yanjing Hotel, Lin Weimin breathed a sigh of relief.

In the car, Mr. Wan sat in the back seat and said, "Weimin, you have worked hard these days."

Lin Weimin was sitting in the passenger seat and turned around and said, "Teacher, I have gained a lot of knowledge by accompanying Mr. Arthur Miller these days."

Mr. Wan nodded and said: "Mr. Miller's ability in the field of drama creation is undoubted. In the next period of time, he will stay at Renyi. This time Renyi will introduce his drama, "The Salesman" on a large scale. The play "Death" will also be directed by him personally. If you have time, you must come and watch it more and learn more."

Mr. Yiwan's status in the domestic drama circle today is not inferior to that of Arthur Miller, but the more he is like this, the less he can rest on his laurels, and the same is true for his requirements for Lin Weimin.

Lin Weimin said seriously: "I understand, I will come over when I have time."

After talking to Lin Weimin, the tiredness on Mr. Wan's face showed. It was already past 12 o'clock in the evening. For an old man over 70 years old, this time was already too late.

The car stopped at the entrance of Muxidi. Lin Weimin turned around and found that Mr. Wan had fallen asleep.

Third update, a little late, sorry.