1980 My literary era

After entering June, Lin Weimin's work and life became even busier. He took a few days at the beginning of the month to accompany Arthur Miller locally, and then went to Renyi from time to time.

Mr. Wan’s most important purpose in inviting Arthur Miller to Renyi this time is to introduce a number of representative “foreign operas” to Renyi.

Arthur Miller is a representative figure in the American theater world. His masterpiece "Death of a Salesman" can be described as a classic on the drama stage. It became the first foreign play introduced by Renyi and was directed by Arthur Miller himself. Directed.

Lin Weimin seems to have returned to the time when he first started cooperating with Renyi. He would run to Renyi's rehearsal venue when he had time after work.

In the arrangement of "Death of a Salesman", Renyi put forward its own requirements to Arthur Miller.

Although the story is a foreign one, it still needs to be localized.

The actors do not deliberately play foreigners, do not wear fake headscarves, do not glue fake noses, and do not use translation accents in language. They try to use spoken expressions that are closer to Mandarin.

Arthur Miller was a master of drama, so he naturally understood the importance of localizing drama and agreed to Renyi's request.

Lin Weimin watched bit by bit in the rehearsal room as a "foreign opera" that had been born in the United States for decades gradually took on a local style on the stage through the continuous processing and carving of the staff in front of and behind the scenes. One day he He stood with Su Zhi and joked: "I think human art can create a new style, which can be summed up in four words, 'foreign opera and local performance'."

So when I heard his words, my eyes lit up, "Your description is too accurate, a foreign opera is a local performance, yes, it is a foreign opera!"

Lin Weimin did not expect that his unintentional remark would eventually develop into the unique comedy style of Renyi decades later - "foreign opera and local performance".

In addition to shuttling between people, art and work, throughout June, Lin Weimin's most important job was to plan the "Contemporary Novel Creation Seminar" scheduled by the Chinese Literature Society since last year.

It really makes people scratch their heads that a good pen club has to have such a name. Fortunately, this kind of name was very common in the 1980s, and the style is not too inconsistent.

What is the most important thing about a pen meeting?

Of course they are human beings!

No matter whether they are seniors or rising stars in the literary world, as long as they can be invited, no one will be spared. As long as more people come, there will be more articles praising PEN.

Once there are many articles, they will naturally be published in newspapers and magazines. Wouldn’t this increase your reputation?

"Taihu Pen Club" held "Zhongshan" to take advantage of the situation, "Flower City" became famous because of "Pengcheng Pen Club"...

This is what PEN associations across the country do.

"Contemporary" is now vaguely comparable to "Harvest" among the domestic mainstream literary journals, so naturally it cannot be shabby to hold a pen conference.

Lin Weimin plans to call everyone who can move to Yantai, even those who can't move...

It’s not a big problem, just carry it on the train.

For more than half a month, Lin Weimin's daily work basically consisted of writing letters, replying to letters, making phone calls, and returning phone calls.

"Weimin, how's the contact going?" Meng Weizai called Lin Weimin that day.

"Now there are sixty-two who are sure to come."

This number is far from Lin Weimin's standard.

Meng Weizai nodded, "Yes, this number is enough."

"Leader, it's not easy to do this. Of course, the more people, the better."

Meng Weizai smiled and said: "The number of people is good but not large."

Lin Weimin nodded. The list of participants of this "Yantai PEN Conference" is indeed important.

The Chinese Literature Society is in full force.

As a heavyweight publishing house, there is no doubt about the foundation of Guowenshe.

Many editors in the agency are also translators and writers, from the earliest ones such as Feng Xuefeng and Lou Shiyi to the current ones such as Yan Wenjing, Wei Junyi, and Qin Chaoyang.

Then there is the author network accumulated since the establishment in the 1950s, and then the restoration of order in the late 1970s. The young and middle-aged writers cultivated and contacted in the past few years, such as Ma Jicai, Jiang Zilong, Gu Hua, Lu Yao, Cheng Zhongshi, and Huang Anyi , Liu Xinwu, Liang Xiaosheng, Ma Yuan, Yu Hua, Mo Yan and so on.

To put it bluntly, in the field of domestic publishing, no publication can compete with the Chinese Literature Society except for human connections.

"The number of people is about the same. The most important thing is how much results can be produced during the PEN conference and the subsequent impact. You have to work hard in this regard." Meng Weizai warned.

"knew."

"By the way, how is the contact with Yantai?"

"The government is very cooperative, and the accommodation has been tentatively decided at Dongshan Hotel. In a few days, I will go to Yantai to check it out in advance. The basic activities have been booked by the agency. I will go over and implement everything. , come back and meet everyone."

Meng Weizai heard Lin Weimin's clarity and patted his shoulder with relief.

"well done!"

Lin Weimin complained in his heart, but it ruined the peace between you and Lao Tan.

Two days later, Lin Weimin set off for Yantai for an inspection. After finalizing all accommodation, catering, transportation, and activities involved in the PEN conference, he returned to Yanjing.

After coming back, I spent another day documenting the entire PEN process and handed it over to Meng Weizai.

Meng Weizai flipped through the documents in his hand, nodded with satisfaction and said: "You are really caring for the people! If you hand this document to Lao Yan, you will definitely receive praise."

Lin Weimin looked tired, "As long as you are satisfied. I have rested these two days. I have been running too hard these days, so I have to slow down."

"no problem!"

Lao Meng waved his hand and readily agreed to Lin Weimin's request for leave.

After resting at home for two days, Lin Weimin finally regained his energy. When he returned to work at the Chinese Literature Society, he saw the sample book of "The Horse Trapper" on the table.

"Hey, it's finally out."

It has been nearly half a year since "Horse Trapper" was published in January this year, and it is finally going to be published.

"Hey, for the people, how many volumes will be printed first?" Liu Yin asked curiously.

"Five million copies!"

The number of subscriptions from post offices and bookstores in various places reached an astonishing 350,000 copies. The number of subscriptions reported by Lu Yao's "Life" the year before last was only 130,000 copies.

"No wonder the club regards you as a treasure now!" Liu Yin sighed.

The first printing of 500,000 copies was aimed at selling millions of copies. Liu Yin didn't know how to describe this kind of behavior in the club.

Is this confidence too blind?

But if you think carefully about Lin Weimin's record in the past two years, it seems very reasonable.

"You're such a monster!"

Lin Weimin couldn't laugh or cry.

"Hey! Look what I'm holding in my hand?" Zhu Changsheng walked into the office with an excited look on his face, waving a brochure in his hand.

"What?" Everyone looked over curiously.

Zhu Changsheng put the book in his hand on the desk, and everyone saw that it was a magazine.

“Youth Literature?”

"That's right, our writer Lin's treasonous work was published on this." Zhu Changsheng joked.

Everyone laughed when they heard this. The so-called "rebellious work" naturally refers to the avant-garde novel "Chasing the Murderer" that Lin Weimin gave to "Youth Literature". This issue of "Youth Literature" has just been released. God, everyone hasn’t had time to see it yet.

The editors in the editorial department read an astonishing amount every day, so naturally they have to have a weighing standard. For publications similar to "Youth Literature", you will probably not be able to read them until half a month after they are released. Zhu Changsheng's This is the first time I bought the magazine so early, just out of curiosity about what Lin Weimin wrote in this novel.

Zhu Changsheng took out "Youth Literature" to show off and then put it back. Naturally, he wanted to take a first look at the magazine he bought.

Taking advantage of the fact that there was nothing else to do in the morning, he made himself a cup of tea and turned the magazine directly to the page of "Chasing the Murderer".

Time passed unconsciously, and Zhu Changsheng didn't know how long it took before he suddenly woke up and saw that it was already ten o'clock in the morning.

He looked up at his colleagues, who were all busy with what they were doing.

Then he lowered his head and looked at the magazine in his hand. I have been reading this novel for so long, why don’t I understand it?

Zhu Changsheng hesitated.

How about watching it for a while?

Anyway, work involves reading manuscripts. Am I not reading manuscripts now? Although it has been published.

Thinking this way, he felt much calmer.

Just watch it for a while, and then I won’t watch it until I understand it.

Zhijiang, Haiyan County.

On the street in front of the cultural center, Yu Hua was dressed coolly, with a scruffy hairstyle and sleepy eyes.

Seeing his image, people can't help but think of the too decadent work of the cultural center.

"Haiping!" Yu Hua waved to an equally decadent figure not far away.

The two of them came together, each with a bowl of Beijing noodles, and ate breakfast silently.

"I heard that "Contemporary" invited you to attend the PEN conference in Yantai?" asked the young man named Haiping.

"Yeah, Teacher Lin called and insisted on me going. I'm so busy with work..."

Haiping looked at Yu Hua speechlessly. If you can talk, just chat for a while. If you can't, just eat breakfast quickly.

"Then what..." Yu Hua also realized that he was pretending to be unnatural, "Have you read the novel in "Youth Literature"?"

"Which one?"

"The one written by Teacher Lin!"

"Looked at it."

Yu Hua looked expectantly, "How is it? How is it?"

Claiming to be Teacher Lin's number one fan, Yu Hua attaches great importance to every work of Teacher Lin.

He not only read, but also analyzed Teacher Lin’s thoughts during the creative process after reading. It is precisely by using this method that Yu Hua has made rapid progress in just over a year. He admires and admires Lin Weimin even more in his heart, and often feels grateful that his current progress is thanks to Teacher Lin.

He also attaches great importance to the reading experience and evaluation of Teacher Lin's works by people around him. Every time a work by Teacher Lin is published, he always recommends it to everyone and listens to everyone's insights and comments after reading it.

He felt that this would help him view Teacher Lin's works objectively, instead of falling into blind admiration because of too much love.

Haiping's tone was a bit hesitant, "How...how should I say this?"

First update, second update at noon.