1980 My literary era

Lin Weimin is now well-known in the mainstream literary circles of the United States, but he lacks formal recognition.

In later generations, the domestic CCTV had a program called "Hundred Schools of Lectures". Through this program, many professors teaching in colleges and universities became famous.

One of them, Yu Dan, who taught "The Analects of Confucius", was nicknamed "Academic Super Girl" by the public.

This nickname is a good illustration of the influence of "Hundred Schools of Lectures" on Yu Dan. He was obviously an unknown professor who devoted himself to learning in universities, but he became famous because of being on a program and became a cultural phenomenon. It is exactly the same as "Super Girl" which became popular all over the country many years ago.

Lin Weimin's experience is somewhat similar to that of Yu Dan. He is clearly a writer of serious literature, but his works are all best-sellers. Even many best-selling authors on the best-seller list have been overtaken by him.

Such a monstrous writer has given many people in mainstream American literary circles a very complicated view of Lin Weimin.

In terms of works alone, Lin Weimin's works are indeed very good. Whether he won the National Book Critics Circle Award or the Goncourt Literary Award, most people in the mainstream literary world recognize him.

But when it comes to the sales of his works, mixed emotions arise.

In the history of American literature, there are not many writers whose works sell well. Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Scott Fitzgerald, and Joseph Heller all have good sales of their works.

For example, Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" sold 21,000 copies in the first year it was published. That was in 1925. To date, more than 60 years have passed. "The Great Gatsby" "Bi" has sold more than 5 million copies in the United States, and tens of millions of copies worldwide.

There is also Joseph Heller. His "Catch-22" and Richard Yates's "Revolutionary Road" were shortlisted for the National Book Award at the same time. Richard Yates narrowly failed. This "Catch-22" "Catch" sold 30,000 copies in the year it was released, and now its cumulative sales worldwide have exceeded 6 million copies.

Looking at Lin Weimin again, his earliest and best-selling work "Farewell My Concubine" published in the United States has exceeded 2 million copies. According to the popularity of this book, if it breaks the 5 million figure, it is estimated that it will be in within these ten years.

How long did it take for "Farewell My Concubine" to be published in the United States? If we calculate based on the estimated time it will take for this work to reach 5 million copies, it will be at most twenty-five years.

However, the figure of 5 million copies is the path that "The Great Gatsby" took half a century to complete.

The sales of "Farewell My Concubine" are of course related to the unprecedented prosperity of the publishing industry in the United States in recent years, but the popularity of this work is undeniable.

Just because it sold better than "The Great Gatsby" does not mean that the influence of "Farewell My Concubine" in the United States exceeds that of "The Great Gatsby". The classic masterpiece "The Great Gatsby" was published in the United States. Over the past half century, the impact on American society has reached a subtle level.

But what if we give "Farewell My Concubine" another fifty years?

You must know that Lin Weimin is a foreigner. He is not an Ansa or a Jew, but a Chinese.

Whenever this topic comes up, the mood of this group of people is naturally extremely complicated.

Roger Strauss is a Jew. He was born in a marriage between two famous German-Jewish families in the United States. His mother is from the Guggenheim family, his father belongs to the Strauss family that owns Macy's department store, and his wife is The heir to Rheingold beer.

As a second-generation rich man born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Roger Strauss plunged into the publishing industry and achieved brilliant results, worthy of the Strauss family name on his head.

But Roger Strauss also has troubles. FSG Publishing House has been established for more than 40 years, and its authors have won 20 Nobel Prizes for Literature alone. As a publishing house known for its literary works, FSG Publishing The company has reached the top in its field.

Because of this, the development of FSG Publishing House seems to have reached a bottleneck.

In recent years, Roger Strauss has been seeking to bring FSG Publishing House to a higher position, but he has been thinking hard but has been unable to do anything.

According to the trajectory of history, after several years of fruitless efforts, he would sell the FSG Publishing House he founded to the German Holzbrink Group in 1993, bidding farewell to the publishing industry completely.

But in today's timeline, Roger Strauss met Lin Weimin, just like King Wen met Ziya, and the emperor's uncle met Zhuge. How could he miss such a writer who could both win awards and sell books?

Roger Strauss even had an absurd idea in his mind that Lin Weimin might be the golden key to unlocking the transformation of FSG Publishing House.

Faced with Lin Weimin's rejection, Roger Strauss was not discouraged at all.

When he founded FSG Publishing House, he was able to win over many powerful writers not by paying them huge remuneration, but by caring for these writers meticulously and carefully planning their careers.

In other words, as long as he licks comfortably enough, no writer can escape his clutches, and Roger Strauss believes that Lin Weimin will be no exception.

Roger Strauss was communicating with Lin Weimin about the publication of his works. Because Random House had arrived first, Roger Strauss could only pick up the leftovers from Random House. He felt that You should take the initiative to change this situation.

"Lin, have you ever considered that your drama works are actually very popular and can be re-created into novels."

Lin Weimin looked at Roger Strauss in surprise. Do capitalists really have no conscience?

"You mean The Intouchables and The Kite Runner?"

Roger Strauss nodded, "That's right!"

Among all Lin Weimin's works, only "Untouchable" is a pure drama, while other works basically contain novels first and then dramas.

"The Kite Runner" is a special case. It was first a novel, then turned into a play, and it was also exported to the United States and evolved twice.

According to Roger Strauss's idea, he also wanted to evolve a third time.

This is too doggy, right?

A person with such noble moral character as Teacher Lin cannot do such a thing.

he~tui!

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

Lin Weimin categorically rejected Roger Strauss's crazy proposal. You Jews are so shameless!

Roger Strauss deeply regretted Lin Weimin's attitude. Lin Weimin did not agree with his saucy operation, so he really could only pick up the leftovers.

Lin Weimin gave him a lot of books, including "Latent", "Cliff", "The Wind", "Speak Well", "The Ming Dynasty 1566", and one more, eh?

Roger Strauss pointed to the title on the book list that Lin Weimin had crossed out, and asked: "Lin, why did you write this novel and then cross it out? Could it be that this novel was also signed by Random House? Exclusive agreement?”

Lin Weimin glanced at the position Roger Strauss pointed at and explained: "That's not the case. This novel mainly caused a lot of controversy after it was published in China, so I decided not to publish it within ten years."

After hearing what Lin Weimin said, Roger Strauss' eyes lit up, "What is controversial is a good work. Can this novel be published in the United States?"

"this……"

Lin Weimin was really stunned by Roger Strauss.

He was also worried about public opinion affecting law enforcement before, so he finally chose to hide "The Hunt" in the country for a period of time.

Seeing Lin Weimin's hesitation, Roger Strauss added: "We are in the United States, not your country, so there won't be much controversy."

Lin Weimin agreed with his words and asked: "You haven't even understood the novel in detail, so you want to publish it?"

Roger Strauss laughed, his face full of confidence, "Lin, being able to make a writer decide not to publish within ten years is a very big stunt in itself. Do you mind if I come?" Is it time to use this matter as a publicity?"

Lin Weimin looked at Roger Strauss in silence.

It is not without reason that you Jews can make a fortune.

"You can publish "Hunting", but you must publish one of these three novels." Lin Weimin pointed to the book list and said.

Roger Strauss was stunned for a moment, what do you mean? Want to do bundled sales?

His eyes were on the names of the three novels, "Latent", "Cliff", and "The Wind", and he immediately realized keenly that since Random House had not selected these three novels, Lin Weimin also wanted to emphasize that among them There must be a reason.

Lin Weimin did not hide anything from him and said directly: "These three works tell the story of the espionage war that invaded China with mud bombs during World War II."

His brief explanation directly pointed out the possible taboos in these three novels in the United States. In the 1980s, Nihong's economy was so developed that it claimed to "buy the United States", and Nihong capital rushed into the American market in large quantities.

Mitsubishi Estate bought New York's Rockefeller Center, Sony bought Columbia Pictures for $3.4 billion, Panasonic bought Universal Pictures for $6 billion...

The influence of the Nibo people in American society is deepening and growing.

Given Lin Weimin's current popularity in the United States, if these three works "Latent", "Cliff", and "The Wind" are published, they will definitely attract some attention and may lead to attacks by the mud-hungry R-wing forces.

If Lin Weimin were an American or British, and Xiao Nihong dared to protest or cause trouble in the United States, the United States would just slap him in the face without being used to it.

But the problem is that Lin Weimin is a Chinese. He has neither a strong motherland nor arrogant capital behind him. He only has some fame. When publishers encounter such a situation, in line with the principle of doing more than doing less, they usually choose to avoid this. kind of works.

"I see!"

Roger Strauss pondered for a long time, seeming to be experiencing some inner struggle.

Lin Weimin was not worried at all by his expression and posture, and sat there looking at him calmly.

Roger Strauss performed for a long time. Seeing that Lin Weimin was not impatient at all, he sighed slightly in his heart, what a little fox!

Who is Roger Strauss? Jewish Americans are not just ordinary Jews, they are Jews who truly have fame and capital in the United States.

If his publishing house wants to publish a work about Mu Hung's invasion of China during World War II, will he be afraid of protests from Mu Hung people?

This is like two younger brothers fighting over a woman. They are both younger brothers of the boss, but there is always a close relationship. The boss must choose the younger brother who has a good relationship with him, and Nihong is the younger brother who has a good relationship with the American boss.

The problem is that Nihong is just the younger brother of the United States, but the Jews are the father of the United States!