1980 My literary era

The people who walked in were two old men in their fifties and sixties.

Lin Weimin recognized one of them at a glance. Is this Woody Allen?

He did not admit his mistake, and Arthur Miller introduced the two of them to Lin Weimin.

The younger one is none other than Woody Allen, one of the famous Hollywood directors, while the other, older one, is Dino De Laurentiis, a well-known Hollywood producer.

Woody Allen was filming the movie "Hannah and the Sisters" in New York during this time. The filming location of "Hannah's parents' house" in the movie was at the intersection of Riverside Road and 86th Street, not far from Sanremo.

Later generations of people will know Woody Allen because of his huge reputation in the world of film. Since 1960, he has produced almost one movie per year, and the quality of his movies is surprisingly stable.

From "Annie Hall", "Manhattan" to "Midnight in Paris", his films are not only loved by thousands of movie fans, but also won numerous awards, including Cannes, Venice, and Oscars. Looking at the world's film industry, there are few who can match his award-winning record. few.

Woody Allen first entered the American entertainment industry as a screenwriter on Broadway. He soon showed his talent in drama creation after entering Broadway. His first play "Don't Drink That Water" was performed on Broadway for 598 times for two consecutive years.

Later, he wrote, directed, and acted in many plays, all of which were well received by critics and audiences. He and Arthur Miller also met on Broadway.

In the mid-1960s, he began to get involved in comedy films, and also achieved good results. After the 1970s, his involvement in styles became more and more extensive, he received more and more honors, and his reputation grew.

Before 1986, it had won several awards at the Berlin Film Festival, Oscars, Golden Globes, etc., and was famous.

Another Dino De Laurentiis is a good friend of Woody Allen and a senior producer in Hollywood. I've been visiting New York for a few days and was brought to today's dinner by Woody Allen.

At around six o'clock in the evening, the guests gathered and the chef began to serve the dishes.

The guests sat around the long dining table in Arthur Miller's house. Arthur Miller and his wife sat at the main seat, and Lin Weimin sat on Arthur Miller's right hand side.

Arthur Miller knocked on his glass, and everyone's eyes turned to him.

"Gentlemen and ladies! Let us welcome my friend, the famous writer and screenwriter from Eastern China, Mr. Weimin Lin!"

After Arthur Miller's toast, everyone raised their glasses and drank together.

The dinner officially started, everyone chatted while eating, and the atmosphere was relaxed and casual.

Sean Adam asked about Arthur Miller's new work.

In the 1970s, Arthur Miller's drama creation came to a standstill. In recent years, he only released one play, "The Great American Bell" in 1980. Unfortunately, this drama received a mediocre response.

Since then, Arthur Miller has released no new works.

He is now over seventy years old and has a strong body, but his creative ability is not as good as before.

The so-called "new works" are the works of Lin Weimin that Arthur Miller has always mentioned to introduce.

"I am also discussing this issue with Lin. He has several works, which in my opinion are very suitable for the tastes of American audiences. Personally, I like Farewell My Concubine the best." Arthur Miller said.

Lin Weimin said at this time: "It is too difficult to move "Farewell My Concubine" to the Broadway stage without any sense of violation. This novel involves Peking opera, war, turmoil, etc. Background, it is difficult to find a similar and suitable background. If there is no adaptation, it will be difficult for the audience to understand the historical and humanistic background of this story."

Arthur Miller nodded: "This is indeed a big question, and I have been thinking about it."

Because the conversation between the two was about Lin Weimin's works, the others just listened and did not participate.

Arthur Miller frowned and thought for a while, then looked at a few friends, "Do you have any suggestions?"

Everyone was confused by his question. They all knew that Lin Weimin was a screenwriter from far away China, but they had never seen any of his works. No one expected that Arthur Miller would ask such a question.

Bloomgarden and Sean Adam have seen "The Untouchables", but when it comes to Lin Weimin's other works, they are also clueless.

Everyone's silence stunned Arthur Miller for a moment, and then he realized that there was something wrong with what he said.

Lin Weimin also discovered a problem at this time. Ever since he met Arthur Miller, in their conversations, he had always translated "Farewell My Lover" as "Farewell My Lover" instead of the title "Farewell" published in the United States. My Concubine".

The word "Concubine" is very accurate when used to describe "Yu Ji", but when translated into English, it is difficult to call it honest and elegant. Lin Weimin deliberately avoided this word and changed it to "Farewell My Lover", so Arthur ·Miller has always used this name.

"Farewell My Concubine, have you read this novel?" Arthur Miller asked in a different way.

Woody Allen said: "I have read it. Is that novel the work of Mr. Lin?"

As he spoke, he looked at Lin Weimin with a bit of surprise.

Bloomgarden also said: "Of course I have read that novel. It has been on the New York Times bestseller list for a long time, right?"

After listening to what the two said, everyone's faces showed curiosity.

They knew nothing about Lin Weimin before they came. They only knew that Arthur Miller was going to host a banquet for Lin Weimin, and he must be a friend he valued very much.

When Arthur Miller introduced Lin Weimin as a writer and screenwriter, everyone didn't think much about it.

The novel "Farewell My Concubine" has been on the American book market for nearly four years. In the first two years, it was not a big splash. It occasionally touched the tail of the "New York Times" bestseller, but was quickly squeezed off the list.

But in the past two years, it has gradually begun to work hard, from not being on the list to the bottom of the list, and then to the middle of the list. It has been maintained for nearly a year, and the results are extremely stable. This kind of sales curve is rare in the American book market. See.

When a new book is launched, it will probably be divided into several situations.

The first type is that there is no splash. Let alone the list, you may not see many in bookstores. You can’t pounce on it anymore. This is not only related to the quality of the book, but also to the distribution channel.

The second is to become an instant bestseller. The most typical ones are various success studies or skills books. If they are well marketed and have strong distribution channels, they can easily sell well in a short period of time. But this kind of hot sales is difficult to last, usually no more than half a year.

There is another kind of best-selling book that really dominates the list. Except for the exception of one book becoming famous, most of these books are works by famous writers, with outstanding quality, many book fans, and huge influence.

The above three situations belong to the vast majority of the American book market.

And there are really very few films like "Farewell My Concubine".

The results in the first two years were not very good, but they also helped the publisher make money. Generally speaking, books have sales potential. It is impossible for books to always be sold if they are always placed in bookstores.

In this case, many publishing houses will be cautious about reprinting books, because once the sales potential reaches the bottom, the publishing house is likely to face the risk of unsalable books.

However, Random House went against the wind and started a large-scale reprinting and promotion of "Farewell My Concubine" two years after its publication. As a result, they really succeeded.

The sales volume of "Farewell My Concubine" has been rising again and again, and the upward curve is stable without any decline. Now it has sold nearly one million copies in the United States alone. If you include the English-speaking countries, it has already exceeded the one million copy mark. .

Four years is enough time for "Farewell My Concubine" to cultivate a group of readers in the United States, not to mention its sales performance in the past two years has been so outstanding.

Woody Allen and Bloomgarden are both engaged in drama-related work and usually read a lot of novels. "Farewell My Concubine" has achieved outstanding sales in the United States in the past two years, so they have naturally read it.

After Bloomgarden finished speaking, Woody Allen's eyes became even more excited and asked: "Lin, is that novel really your work?"

Arthur Miller said at this time: "Not only Lin's works have been published in the United States, but also "The Horseman", "The Lover", and "The Murderer". I remember the publisher is Random House. right?"

Lin Weimin nodded, "That's right."

Woody Allen suddenly picked up the napkin on the table, dipped his fork in the sauce and wrote on it: "So, your pen name is WeiMin Lin?"

This pinyin name is the author's name used by Lin Weimin's works published in the United States. It seems that Woody Allen has really read his own work. Lin Weimin smiled and nodded.

Lin Weimin's affirmative answer made Woody Allen's face even more surprised, "Oh my God! This is such a coincidence! Do you know? I love your movie "The Pursuit" so much! You are simply a Genius! Only a genius’s mind can come up with such a wonderful narrative trap!”

Woody Allen's praise made Lin Weimin very happy, "Thank you!"

Everyone became even more curious after hearing Woody Allen's praise. Among them, only Bloomgarden had read the English version of "Farewell My Concubine", and the others had not even read a Lin Weimin novel.

Listening to Arthur Miller's introduction, Lin Weimin actually has four works published in the United States. Such treatment is obviously not available to ordinary new writers. What's more, Lin Weimin is a writer from a foreign country. It is difficult to publish four works. One can imagine.

Dino De Laurentiis said excitedly: "Listen to what you said, Ivey, I'm really curious about Lin's works. I'm going to buy all these books and take a good look at them when I get back."

"Of course you have to read it, my old friend! Lin's novels will never disappoint you. He is a genius novelist!"

Arthur Miller also said at this time: "Lin is indeed a genius. His works have such a wide range of styles that I think few people can achieve it."

Woody Allen and Arthur Miller praised Lin Weimin one after another, which made Lin Weimin a little bit overwhelmed. Others suddenly became interested.

In the past, everyone's enthusiasm for him was more of a courtesy and etiquette. Now that they know that Lin Weimin's works are so popular in the United States, everyone really takes him seriously.

Lin Weimin became the focus of the dinner party, and everyone kept asking him questions.

At first, everyone asked about the work. Later, Li Baoyu finally couldn't hold it back and asked Lin Weimin a question.

"Mr. Lin, may I ask your age?"

"I was born in 1960, and I am twenty-six years old this year." Lin Weimin replied.

Twenty-six years old?

Woody Allen suspected that he had heard wrongly and asked repeatedly: "Twenty-six years old?"

Lin Weimin nodded.

Woody Allen looked at Lin Weimin's face again. It was not inappropriate to say that this face was twenty-six years old, but everyone had seen Asians in the United States and knew that these people were born with baby faces. Lin Weimin had a good relationship with Arthur Miller, and everyone subconsciously did not think of his age too young.

Not only Woody Allen, but everyone in the room, except Arthur Miller who was familiar with Lin Weimin's situation, including his wife Inge Moraes, were shocked.

Everyone was completely shocked.

Arthur Miller reported the names of a bunch of works earlier, and now you tell me that the authors of these works are only twenty-six years old?

There was only one thought in everyone's mind.

So, how old was he when he wrote these works?