1980 My literary era

It was three days later that Phillips called Lin Weimin again. During this period, he went back to Spielberg to discuss Lin Weimin's concerns. After some negotiations, the two parties finally agreed to set a limited time limit for the authorization period for the film adaptation rights of the novel. Been there for 5 years.

Within 5 years, if Spielberg does not initiate the film adaptation of "No Matter What, Life is Beautiful", then Lin Weimin will take back the film adaptation rights for free.

In this way, Lin Weimin's concerns were resolved, and Spielberg also obtained the right to adapt the film.

One of the benefits of working with Spielberg, a major Hollywood director, is that the cost of adapting "None" set a record for a film adaptation of Lin Weimin's novel, and he received $800,000.

The reason why Spielberg was willing to spend a sky-high fee of US$800,000 to obtain the rights to adapt it was naturally because of the popularity of the novel "None" in the United States and Lin Weimin's current fame in the United States.

Before "None", "Farewell My Concubine", "Horse Trapper", "Lover", "Chasing the Murderer" and "Burning" were all published in the United States.

Among them, the sales volume of "Chasing the Murderer" is the worst, with sales of only more than 200,000 copies, and it is now rarely seen in bookstores in the United States.

Then there is "Burning". Although this novel won the National Book Critics Circle Award that year, the novel tells the story of Asian immigrants, and its content is mostly critical of American society. It is relatively niche, and readers in the United States Most of them are concentrated in ethnic minorities and ZY people.

But fortunately, with the blessing of the National Book Critics Circle Award, the novel sold more than 400,000 copies, and Random House also made a lot of money. It can be regarded as a work that brought both fame and fortune.

The sales situation of "Lover" and "Horse Trapper" in the United States are somewhat similar, but the sales curve of the former is "U" shaped, while the sales curve of the latter is "J" shaped.

When "The Lover" was first launched on the American market, it was titled "The Far Eastern Version of "The Great Gatsby"" and attracted the attention of a wave of readers. Unfortunately, Lao Mi was not too interested in this kind of sentimental love story, and the sales of the novel were very low. It went all the way down, and then went out of print like "The Chase."

As a result, Lin Weimin won the Goncourt Prize for Literature last year for "The Lover". Random House struck while the iron was hot and republished half a million copies. Taking advantage of the popularity of Lin Weimin's award, the sales of the novel soared, and now it has gradually entered a stage of stable sales. Sales have exceeded one million copies.

If "The Lover" borrowed from the Goncourt Literary Prize, then "The Horse Rider" borrowed from the east wind of "The Kite Runner". "The Kite Runner" received rave reviews on Broadway and won the After winning the Tony Award, "Horse Trapper" immediately doubled in value as the original work, and now its total sales have exceeded 1.5 million copies.

Among Lin Weimin's works, "Farewell My Concubine" is the most popular among American people. It was published in the United States in 1983 and was not popular in the first two years.

But as time goes by, the novel's word-of-mouth effect continues to expand. Coupled with the author Lin Weimin's growing reputation in the United States, the sales of the novel are increasing day by day.

In recent years, it has been a frequent visitor to the New York Times bestseller list, with sales in the United States approaching three million copies.

If we count the sales in China and other English-speaking countries around the world, the total sales are approaching tens of millions of copies.

With the publication of novels, Broadway performances of plays, Tony Awards, National Book Critics Circle Awards, Goncourt Literary Awards, and Academy Awards, Lin has gradually established his reputation in the United States for his folk novels and plays.

As more and more readers and viewers see his works, coupled with the blessing of several awards, Lin Weimin's name has become more and more well-known to the American people.

It is precisely because of the blessing of these auras that after Random House published the novel "None" this year, the novel was on the New York Times bestseller list in just half a month, and ranked all the way. Climbing upwards at a rapid speed.

The first printing of 500,000 copies of the novel was sold out within half a year. According to the current situation, sales are expected to exceed one million copies by the end of the year. This achievement is the first for Lin Weimin among all novels published in the United States.

It took several years for several other novels to achieve total sales of more than one million.

Lin Weimin waited in Yanjing for half a month and signed the contract for "None" with the lawyer sent by Spielberg.

In late November, it snowed in Yanjing.

It was the weekend, and Lin Weimin drove to the entrance of Ertiao Hutong in Beichizi.

Lin Weimin got off the car and walked into the alley. There was a layer of snow on the ground, the water in the low spots on the road had frozen, and snowflakes were still falling in the sky.

He walked to the door of a courtyard and pushed open the ajar door of the outer courtyard. At this time, the snow in the courtyard had been swept clean.

The nanny who was collecting the slag came out and smiled when she saw Lin Weimin, "Writer Lin, are you here?"

"Where's Teacher Qin?"

"I'm discussing the manuscript with Teacher Meng."

Lin Weimin thanked the nanny and entered the main room, where he saw Tan Chaoyang and Meng Weizai gathering by the stove and discussing the manuscript.

Although the two of them are retired, they sometimes can't sit still and are occasionally responsible for the final review of some novels.

"Old Tan, how have you been these past two days?"

The two people who were discussing the manuscript with their heads down raised their heads and laughed when they saw it was Lin Weimin. Tan Chaoyang said, "Why are you here?"

"I heard you were sick, so I came to see you."

Lin Weimin sat down familiarly and said, "Look, you are still energetic enough to read the manuscript. It seems that you are recovered?"

"It's just a cold and a bit of pneumonia. I'll go to the hospital and get a sling for a few days and I'll be fine."

Lin Weimin nodded, "That's good!"

Meng Weizai looked Lin Weimin up and down and asked, "You came to see the patient empty-handed?"

"How can I be empty-handed? I came with full sincerity!"

"You are becoming more and more perfunctory in dealing with us retired comrades."

"You, an old comrade, need to further reform your thinking! Comradeship is worth a thousand dollars, do you understand?"

After a few jokes, Meng Weizai and Lin Weimin chatted about recent issues of "Contemporary".

This year's tenth issue of "Contemporary" published "Crying in the Drizzle" by Yu Hua, and the eleventh issue of "Contemporary" published the first half of the fourth volume of "Emperor Kangxi" by Yue Erhe, both of which have recently caused a stir Quite a response.

"Shouting in the Drizzle" is Yu Hua's first full-length novel in many years since his debut. The style is still avant-garde, carrying the banner of "avant-garde novels" and not disappointing the many readers who love him.

Since 1984, "Emperor Kangxi" has been published in "Contemporary" at a rate of one per year. This year, this glorious historical novel with a million words finally came to an end, but the controversy surrounding it has not stopped, but is increasing.

Meng Weizai said: "I read the editor's note you wrote. I mean it well, but the effect is too small. It's better to write a complete review of the novel "Emperor Kangxi" to calm the situation. debate."

Lin Weimin waved his hand, "I wrote that editor's note for the readers who love it. It just briefly explains the position of our "Contemporary". If you submit an article to the publication, it can easily turn into a verbal spat. There is no need for it. If you are willing to discuss it, just As for discussions, as long as they are not up to the mark or online, nor are they criticized or slandered, we welcome them."

After hearing what he said, Meng Weizai showed a somewhat gratified smile on his face, "Not bad, not bad, he is really mature. It seems that this deputy editor-in-chief is not in vain."

Tan Chaoyang also teased Lin Weimin a few words. While they were talking and laughing, they heard the nanny outside talking to someone.

After a while, five or six middle-aged men walked into the main room.

Tan Chaoyang was stunned when he saw one of the men, "Gui Lin, why are you here?"

"Uncle, my colleagues and I are on a business trip to Yanjing. Come and see you."

The visitor's name is Tan Guilin, and he is Tan Chaoyang's cousin from his hometown in Huanggang.

Qin Guilin introduced the colleagues behind him to Qin Chaoyang. The leader was the mayor of Gong County in his hometown of Huanggang, as well as people from the Education Bureau and the "Enterprise Management Committee."

Lin Weimin and Meng Weizai planned to say goodbye, but when Tan Chaoyang and others heard that Tan Chaoyang introduced his and Meng Weizai's names, they immediately held their hands with enthusiasm.

Meng Weizai was the former president of the Chinese Literature Society, and he enjoyed the treatment of a minister after he retired. Even Lin Weimin, deputy editor of the Chinese Literature Society, was two levels higher than the leader of County Magistrate Gong who was leading the team today, not to mention that they still had literary names.

Faced with the enthusiasm of Tan Guilin and others, Meng Weizai and Lin Weimin had no choice but to sit down again, and then listened to several people chatting with Tan Chaoyang about the situation in their hometown.

Tan Guilin and others went to Beijing to do business and specifically found Tan Chaoyang. Without asking, they knew that they must have gotten some information through Tan Chaoyang.

It's a pity that Tan Chaoyang has been in the publishing and cultural circles all his life. After listening to Tan Guilin and County Magistrate Gong explain the situation, his brows were furrowed.

"I'm afraid I can't be of much help in this matter."

Disappointment flashed across the faces of several people present when they heard this, and Qin Guilin said anxiously: "Uncle, I know this matter is embarrassing for you, but we can't help it. The Yamen in Yanjing is too big, and we are from a small place. I don’t even have any acquaintances, let alone doing things…”

When Tan Guilin said this, he noticed the winks given to him by the comrades who came with him, and saw that Tan Chaoyang's face was not very good-looking. He knew that what he said was very inappropriate, so he kept silent and stopped talking.

The atmosphere in the room fell into awkwardness for a moment.

Lin Weimin knew what Tan Chaoyang was like. If people from his hometown asked him for help within his ability, he would definitely be willing to help. But asking him, an old man who had buried his head in books for decades, to help pull the strings was really embarrassing for him.

Seeing Qin Chaoyang being carried there, Lin Weimin sighed secretly and said, "Mr. Gong, I just heard that one of the tasks you are coming to Yanjing this time is to implement the construction funds of several schools in the county?"

Magistrate Gong, who was already heartbroken, suddenly brightened up when he heard this, "That's right, that's right, Teacher Lin..."

My back hurt and I was so upset that I couldn't sit or stand, so I felt strong while lying down. However, I couldn't type on the computer while lying down, so I had to use my mobile phone to type. It took me a whole day to write 6,000 words.

Try to make sure there are two updates in the past few days. If there are more, I dare not say anything. Isosceles is better and I will write more.

Hope everyone understands!