1980 My literary era

When Lin Weimin submitted the manuscript, he felt that the shadowy eyes behind him finally disappeared, just like at the end of a horror movie, the resentful spirit disappeared and the protagonist was successfully saved.

In order to prevent errors during the mailing process, the printed version of the manuscript was sent out. There were two manuscripts, one with an address in France and one with an address in the United States. Lin Weimin kept the real manuscript.

The Toshiba T100 at home that had been idle for more than a year finally came into use this time. Lin Weimin even purchased a floppy disk and a printer in order to print the manuscript.

This configuration is unique among domestic literary circles!

This novel by Lin Weimin comes from a later classic movie, "Life is Beautiful".

The movie tells the story during World War II. Guido is a Jewish young man who looks clumsy but is kind and optimistic. He and his friend Filuccio drove a broken car from the countryside to the small town of Arezzo. When passing a barn tower, the young and beautiful girl Dora suddenly fell from the tower into his arms.

Once again, Guido accidentally knocked down Dora while riding his bicycle. The two met again and ignited the flame of love in Guido's heart. He lost no time in expressing his love to Dora.

After some pursuit, Guido embraced the beauty. After the marriage, good things came one after another. The bookstore that Guido dreamed of opened and they had a well-behaved and lovely son, Joshua. Guido often plays games with his son when he has nothing to do, and the family lives a happy life.

But just a few years later, on Joshua's fifth birthday, the National Socialists captured Guido and Joshua and his son because of their Jewish ancestry, and forcibly sent them to a Jewish concentration camp. His wife Dora was spared the disaster because she had no Jewish ancestry, but she was voluntarily arrested in order to be with Guido and his son.

In the inhumane concentration camp, Guido tried every means to find opportunities to get in touch with his wife in the female prison and report to Dora that he was safe. At the same time, he wanted to protect and take care of the young Joshua. He deceived his son that this was playing a game and obeyed Those who play the game can finally take home a real tank.

Joe and his son endured hunger, fear, loneliness and all harsh environments. When liberation came, late one night, the National Socialists were about to escape. Guido hid his son in an iron cabinet and told Joshua... Don't come out, he plans to take advantage of the chaos to go to the women's prison to rescue his wife Dora.

But unfortunately he was discovered by the National Socialists. When the National Socialists escorted Guido past Joshua's iron cabinet, he walked optimistically and strode forward, hinting to his son not to come out.

The optimistic Guido eventually died tragically at the gunpoint of the German National Socialist Agency. At dawn, Joshua crawled out of the iron cabinet and stood in the yard, when a real tank rumbled in front of him.

Later, Lin Weimin was very impressed by this movie, because the first 105 minutes were as beautiful as a fairy tale, but all the sadness surged when Guido took comical strides in front of the iron cabinet.

The more joy and happiness you feel, the stronger this sadness will be, and the context of this film is well versed in the essence of literary creation.

Under Lin Weimin's writing, except that Guido's name was changed to Galliyan, and the American soldier at the end was changed to a Soviet soldier, the rest of the content basically maintained the narrative structure and style of the film.

Two hundred thousand words of comedy were laid out, just for the few hundred words of tragedy at the end.

Just ask, is this knife fast?

Compared with novels like "Alive", which are healing from beginning to end, this kind of novel can truly heal people's hearts.

What Lin Weimin likes most is the core of this work. The name of the movie may be for publicity reasons. "Life is Beautiful" is used, which lacks a bit of charm.

Lin Weimin writes novels very willfully, directly quoting the original words of the Russian proletarian revolutionary Leon Trotsky.

"No matter what, life is beautiful."

The Toshiba T100 that Lin Weimin brought back from the United States had been gathering dust for two years, but it was finally put to use.

He didn't even pretend to be a Hanka, he just wrote the English version.

After all, the content of this novel is completely based on a foreign background, and a Chinese version might not be that popular.

The most important thing is that compared with domestic publishing, foreign publishing is really profitable!

The Chinese Publishing House has recently printed and republished six to seven million copies of his novels, but the total royalties for the number of prints were only a little over 400,000 yuan. The royalties are still piled in the financial office of the unit, and Lin Weimin has not even gone to pick them up.

After printing several million copies, the print run fee of only 400,000 yuan is not enough for foreign publishers to print 200,000 to 300,000 copies.

When it comes to making money, of course it’s still rice.

The effect of the Goncourt Literary Prize is also very strong overseas. Lin Weimin's novels have been selling like crazy in countries covered by Gallimard Publishing House and Random House.

Because his works have been selling well before, Lin Weimin is already well-known in these countries. Now that he has won the Goncourt Literary Prize, his reputation has reached a higher level. He is no longer the famous Chinese writer before, but a new star. Winner of the Prix Goncourt for Literature.

As reader recognition increases, sales will naturally increase.

In addition to the explosive sales of the award-winning work "Lover", the sales of other published novels have also increased to varying degrees.

The sales volume brought about by the Goncourt Literary Prize is at least one to two million copies. Teacher Lin made a tearful profit of two million dollars.

After finishing the novel, Lin Weimin's life returned to a state of doing nothing. His job was suspended, and he was running around everywhere.

On Laba day, he took Shi Tiesheng to Lu Yao's place.

Since he was diagnosed with early-stage liver cirrhosis at Union Hospital last time, Lu Yao has not moved anywhere in the past six months. He lives in the house arranged by Lin Weimin for half a year to recuperate.

During this period of time, Lu Yao's condition has been greatly improved by quitting high-intensity creation, regularizing his sleep and diet, taking medicine every day, exercising regularly, and going to the hospital for check-ups.

This was the first time that Lin Weimin came to visit Lu Yao since he went abroad. Seeing that he looked much better, Lin Weimin was also happy for him.

The six months that Lu Yao's family lived in Yanjing was a rare happy time for their family.

Lu Yao no longer neglected his wife and daughter because of his hard writing as before. He spent a lot of time with them every day. The family occasionally walked around Yanjing City and lived a free and comfortable life.

Lin Weimin observed that the wrinkles on the face of Lu Yao's wife Lin Dan seemed to have relaxed.

This kind of life was extremely rare in her more than ten years of marriage with Lu Yao.

After talking about Lu Yao's health, Lu Yao became concerned about Lin Weimin's award.

"You really released another big satellite this time!" Lu Yao said with a smile.

"The influence of the Prix Goncourt is indeed great. But after winning it, it is just like that. What impact can it have? It is just selling a few more books, but it has a lot of troubles. There are a lot of people all day long. I came here to find you, I’m so annoyed!”

After Lin Weimin said this, he was ridiculed by Shi Tiesheng and Lu Yao, saying that he didn't know how to be blessed despite being blessed.

They heard that Lin Weimin had written another novel in English, and the two were puzzled.

Lin Weimin had no choice but to explain the background and content of the novel, "I will definitely write a Chinese version when I have time, but the market is more popular abroad now, so focus on that first. This is called earning foreign exchange for the country!"

When it comes to royalties, Lin Weimin is naturally enviable. He said to Lu Yao: "The sales of "The Ordinary World" are also good, and the royalties for the number of prints this year are quite large."

The first two single volumes of "The Ordinary World" have been published. The first volume has been sold for almost two years, with hundreds of thousands of copies sold. And now, as the influence of the novels grows, sales are still steady. Being improved.

In the past two years, Lu Yao has received 20,000 yuan in remuneration for the number of copies he has received.

The most annoying thing is that he spends money lavishly and can hardly save any money.

Especially this year, the necessary expenses for medical treatment and recuperation in Yanjing are too much, and the financial pressure is not small.

Fortunately, the third part of "The Ordinary World" will be published soon, and it will be published soon, so there will always be royalties to follow.

While the few of them were chatting, Lu Yao did not forget to turn on the radio and play it on the Central People's Broadcasting Station. This was his habit in the past few months.

The first and second parts of "The Ordinary World" have been produced one after another in the past six months and were broadcast on the "Long Continuous Broadcast" program of the Central People's Broadcasting Station.

It started broadcasting in September 1987, and it is already January 1988. The second part of "The Ordinary World" has come to an end.

During this period, the Central People's Broadcasting Station received tens of thousands of letters from listeners across the country, setting a record for the largest number of letters from listeners of the "Long Continuous Broadcast" program.

The audience also spoke highly of "The Ordinary World". Lu Yao was extremely pleased that the fruits of his labor were recognized by the audience.

The broadcast version of "The Ordinary World" also once again expanded the influence of this novel, making the influence of this novel not only limited to a group of literary youths, but also reaching a wider group of young readers and entering the world. The spiritual world of ordinary people.

Following the Central People's Broadcasting Station, many provincial radio stations rebroadcast this work. The powerful media communication aroused widespread and strong social responses.

In the past few months, the sales of the novel have also increased steadily.

During this period of time, Lu Yao has not been idle except for recuperation. He spared two hours every day to revise the manuscript of the third part of "The Ordinary World" and sent it to the editorial department of "Contemporary".

Ye Yongmei just picked up the second proof copy of the novel from the Chinese Literature Society two days ago. The production of the third part is already in progress. The Central People's Broadcasting Station will broadcast this work during the Chinese New Year, which shows that it attaches great importance to this novel.

In addition to the broadcast of the novel, the third part of "The Ordinary World" will also be published in "Contemporary" in February, and it will be published in one issue.

The same author, the same novel, was published three times in one issue of "Contemporary", a top domestic literary magazine. Lu Yao's record is unprecedented, and no one knows whether it will happen again.

When mentioning this matter, Lu Yao not only sighed, but also expressed gratitude.

Without Lin Weimin's hard work, the novel "The Ordinary World" would not have been published in such a dignified way.

His idea was correct. The publishing and publication of "The Ordinary World" in later generations was indeed full of countless hardships and twists and turns. Fortunately, the final result was good.

Stayed at Lu Yao's house until evening and had dinner. Lin Dan cooked a sumptuous dinner for Lin Weimin and Shi Tiesheng.

When the meal was almost finished, Lu Yao said to Lin Weimin: "Weimin, we plan to return to Xi'an next week."

"Did the doctor agree?" Lin Weimin asked.

Lu Yao nodded, and Lin Dan followed up: "His condition has improved a lot now, and the doctor agreed that we should go back. However, we still can't work too hard after we go back. If we want to fully recover, it will take a few years. "

Lin Weimin pondered and said: "I'm not worried about anything else. There are two main things. One is the medical conditions in Xi'an, and the other is whether he can control his diet and work schedule."

Under his wife's gaze, Lu Yao spoke with difficulty: "It's no problem. After getting sick, I also understood the importance of health. After all, my life is my own. As for the conditions of the hospital, you don't have to worry, I am currently recovering from my illness. stage, and it has already improved. Xi'an is also a provincial capital city after all, so there is no problem."

"Okay. You can set off in two days and I will take you there."