1980 My literary era

Lin Weimin's eyes were fixed on Alai's hand until he saw the four-character title on the first page of the manuscript, and he couldn't help but have a relaxed smile on his face.

Finally the wait was not in vain!

"teacher LIN!"

Alai handed the manuscript to Lin Weimin. He took it and suppressed his itching, and first arranged for Alai to stay in the guest house upstairs.

"I've been on the road for two days. Let's take a good rest. I'll let Xiao Tong review the manuscript first."

After making arrangements for Alai, Lin Weimin handed the manuscript to Tong Zhonggui.

When he went to work the next morning, Tong Zhonggui had dark circles under his eyes and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked like he hadn't slept. He blocked Lin Weimin who had just entered the building and was very emotional.

"Teacher Lin! Teacher Lin! You must read this novel!"

Lin Weimin smiled and said: "Looking at you, you didn't sleep all night last night, right?"

Tong Zhonggui chuckled twice, "I really didn't sleep, I couldn't sleep at all. I couldn't put down Alai's novel after I picked it up. It's so well written, you must read it carefully."

Lin Weimin said: "Don't worry, write down your review comments first, then hand the manuscript to me, and then go upstairs to catch up on some sleep."

Tong Zhonggui knew that Lin Weimin was caring about his health. He nodded and couldn't wait to return to the office. He picked up his pen and started writing quickly, and he would flip through the manuscript from time to time.

After a whole morning of this, he finally wrote the review comments.

There is no fixed format for the editor's review comments, which are usually just a few hundred words. However, Tong Zhonggui's review comments took him a whole morning to write, covering more than ten pages of manuscript paper.

When they were about to eat, Yao Shuzhi saw the scale of comments on this manuscript and was surprised: "Xiao Tong, what masterpiece have you reviewed?"

Tong Zhonggui looked up and smiled stupidly, "You'll know later!"

"Mysterious!"

As she said this, she wanted to turn over the manuscript on Tong Zhonggui's desk, but was held down by Tong Zhonggui, "I'll show it to you later. Teacher Lin wants review comments from me!"

With that said, he took the manuscript and review comments to Lin Weimin's office.

Yao Shuzhi was tickled by Tong Zhonggui's actions, and chatted with others about the manuscript that Tong Zhonggui was reviewing.

"You should be reading the manuscript sent by the author from the southwest yesterday, right?"

It was almost lunch time, so everyone focused on the work at hand and started chatting.

Lin Weimin touched more than ten pages of review comments and joked: "You are annotating this novel!"

Tong Zhonggui smiled and said: "I was so excited that I couldn't help but write more."

Lin Weimin nodded, "Okay, let's go eat first and think about going to sleep when we come back."

After lunch, Tong Zhonggui went to the dormitory upstairs to rest, while Lin Weimin sat in the office and flipped through the manuscript.

Before Alai's work, the word "dust settled" did not exist in the extensive Chinese vocabulary.

"The Dust Has Settled" tells the story of a prominent Kham Tibetan chieftain who gave birth to a stupid son to his Han wife after drinking. However, this stupid son always made premonitions and behaviors that transcended the times, and became the main factor in the rise and fall of the chieftain system. of witnesses.

Generally speaking, the framework of this novel does not deviate from Alai's "Agu Dunba" and is still derived from the oral literary culture of Tibet.

But after Lin Weimin read the novel, he felt that its style was more similar to William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury". The two works have many similarities.

For example, both novels tell the story of social transformation and turmoil, express the nostalgia for hometown, and emphasize the erosion and dissolution of traditional culture by time.

Also, they all use the image of "fool" to tell stories. The "Yoknapatawpha" world and the "Jiarong Tribe" world in the Aba Snow Region involved in the two novels both have strong religious overtones and use seemingly stupid forms to present the complicated and complex external world.

Of course, the two novels have similarities and differences.

Benjy, the protagonist of "The Sound and the Fury", as the narrator, only has straightforward narration. His narration becomes a stage to show other people's personalities, without personal emotions and subjective judgments.

The narrative of the "idiot" Second Young Master, the protagonist of "The Dust Has Settled", is like talking in sleep, using "silliness" as self-protection, more like the wise and foolish people beloved in traditional Chinese culture, who find a living space in the power struggle with this kind of narration. Wisdom firmly controls the development of the storyline.

The two authors also have completely different attitudes towards the story. Faulkner devoted himself to the creation, making the work full of tension between love and hate.

However, the protagonist portrayed by Alai in "The Dust Has Settled" is always shown as an outsider, free from the world, giving the whole story an otherworldly feeling, and Lin Weimin can't help but think of what he felt when he read Alai's poems. a feeling of.

After spending nearly two days reading "The Dust Has Settled", Lin Weimin put down the manuscript and rubbed his eyes that had not rested for a long time, but he was still thinking about the plot of the novel.

"The Dust Has Settled" only reveals a touch of helpless sadness about the passing of tradition. The writing style is delicate and deeply reflects on the lost things and the people of the past. The "idiot" Second Young Master in the novel is the eyes of Alai, the creator of the world in the book. He looks at the disputes in the world with a detachment from time, space and objects.

After reading the novel, it is not difficult to see that Alley imitated his predecessors when writing, but to be honest, the artistic value and ideological quality of "The Ashes" are not weaker than Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury".

Imitation is not for plagiarism, but for transcendence.

Lin Weimin sighed with emotion, and spent some time marking the parts of the novel that he thought needed modification, and then waited for Alai to return from his trip and found him and Tong Zhonggui in the office.

"The novel is very well written! I think it deserves a Yanbing Literature Award!"

As soon as Alai sat down, he was so shocked when he heard Lin Weimin's words that he jumped up without even sitting down, with a flattered look on his face.

"teacher LIN……"

"Haha, what's wrong? Don't you have confidence in yourself?"

Alai was speechless and stammered: "I don't... dare to think about it, I don't dare to think about it. This is my first novel, and I think it will be great if it can be published."

Lin Weimin smiled and said: "It will be no problem to publish it! Not only will it be published, but I will also give you some special treatment."

When he said this, Alai and Tong Zhonggui focused their eyes on him, with a bit of expectation.

"Headline, published in one issue, big font size!"

Tong Zhonggui's breath froze and he looked at Lin Weimin in disbelief. These three conditions were the top treatment for his work to be published in "Contemporary".

There are headlines in every issue, which is not unusual. It only shows that the work is competitive among all works in the current issue, but large font size and publication in one issue are not the treatment that ordinary people can get.

The last one to receive such treatment in "Contemporary" was the first part of "Ordinary World" by Lu Yao. It has been more than five years since its publication.

In the past five years, "Contemporary" has not published heavyweight works, but no one can give Lin Weimin this treatment. Not even Lin Weimin has enjoyed it when publishing his own works.

With Lin Weimin's current reputation and status in the country, it is not difficult for him to enjoy this treatment. However, he is the editor-in-chief of "Contemporary" and does not want to take advantage of this to prevent others from gossiping.

"Teacher Lin, this...this..."

Alai was so excited that he didn't know what to say. His face turned red and he held it in for a long time before he said, "Is this...appropriate?"

Lin Weimin laughed and said, "What's inappropriate? I'm giving you this treatment because your novel is worthy of it. If you're not qualified, I won't give it to you even if you beg me."

After a while, Alai finally calmed down.

After chatting for a while about the creation process of the novel, Lin Weimin asked Alai: "How many days did you take leave this time?"

"One week, I plan to leave tomorrow." Alai said matter-of-factly.

Lin Weimin said: "Can we discuss with the editorial department and stay in Yanjing for a few more days to finish revising the manuscript before leaving."

"This..." Alai hesitated.

Lin Weimin added: "I plan to publish your novel as soon as possible. If everything goes well, it can be published in the eighth issue."

Alai was surprised again. Even Tong Zhonggui looked at Lin Weimin in surprise. Tong Zhonggui said: "Teacher Lin, are you too late?"

It will be late July soon, and there is only half a month until the eighth issue of "Contemporary" is fully released. It is not easy to complete the revision, proofreading and typesetting of a novel.

"It's a bit rushed. However, there are very few parts of the novel that need to be changed. If Alai's changes go smoothly, we will arrange for someone to proofread it, and it should be in time.

Even if it's too late, it doesn't matter. In the worst case, it will be posted in the next issue. It doesn't matter if it is posted in the next issue. "

After Lin Weimin finished speaking, he looked at Alai with a questioning look in his eyes.

Alai said: "No problem, I will call my work unit to ask for leave and try to finish revising the manuscript as quickly as possible."

Lin Weimin nodded, "Don't be too anxious, you still have to take the quality of the manuscript into consideration, it doesn't matter if it's a little late!"

After a few people finished chatting about the novel, it was already dark outside.

Alai went out for fun today, and Lin Weimin deliberately waited until after get off work to wait for him.

The revision of the manuscript was imminent. Alai rejected Lin Weimin's proposal to have dinner together and went back upstairs with the manuscript.

Lin Weimin glanced at Tong Zhonggui, who wisely packed his things and left work.

He knew that Teacher Lin didn't want to invite him to dinner.

Lin Weimin drove home. It was already past 7:30 in the evening. After a quick meal, the two of them drove to Qizuo Alley.

I have been abroad for more than three months, and today I went to visit Han Zhuangzhuang's house.

On the way, Lin Weimin mentioned the issue of changing cars for Tao Huimin. The Crown she was driving now was eliminated by Lin Weimin. Lin Weimin had previously said that he would change cars for her when she became proficient in driving.

Lin Weimin had discussed this topic with Tao Huimin before they got married, but she did not agree.

This time Lin Weimin brought it up again, Tao Huimin still said: "This car is only five years old. It would be a waste to replace it. Besides, it is already good to have a motorcycle to drive now. I don't know how dangerous it is to drive a Crown." , what kind of car should I change to?"

Seeing that Tao Huimin said it sincerely, Lin Weimin said: "Then wait two years before changing."

"we'll talk about it then."

The car stopped at the entrance of the alley, and the two walked for a while. When they opened the door of Han Zhuangzhuang's house, they saw him shirtless eating cucumbers.

"Uncle? Are you back?" Han Zhuangzhuang saw Lin Weimin's face full of surprise.

"Um!"

Han Zhuangzhuang went into the house and put on his shirt, while Lin Weimin sat under the tree in the yard and chatted with Han Dingbang.

He and Tao Huimin talked about going to the United States for their honeymoon, but it turned out that they stayed there for more than three months. Han Dingbang was also very concerned.

"Even if we catch up with this, there's nothing we can do about it." Lin Weimin sighed.

"Just come back! Just come back!" Han Dingbang said.

Lin Weimin asked Han Zhuangzhuang again, "Have you finished filming your movie?"

"Well, we just finished filming at the beginning of the month."

"When will the movie be released?"

"Good morning, Director Xie is very ambitious. After the film is completed, he plans to take it abroad to participate in a round of film festivals before releasing it," Han Zhuangzhuang said.

Lin Weimin smiled and said: "It seems that Director Xie was stimulated by Yimou."

"I guess so." Han Zhuangzhuang smiled with wrinkles on his face.

This look makes me a little anxious!

But being an actor is just right, without any image interference or worries.

"What are your plans next?"

"I don't have any plans. I'll go back to the hospital and stay there. If there's a suitable script, I'll take it. If there's no suitable script, I'll just act in peace in the hospital."

"Didn't you ask Yimou for a role?"

"There was no role that I could play in his movie. He asked me to play the role of the young master. How could I play the role of the young master? I declined. Let's wait until there is a suitable role in the next movie before we cooperate."

Han Zhuangzhuang added: "By the way, Yimou wanted to contact you a while ago. I called the United States but couldn't find you."

Lin Weimin asked about the time of the call and said, "I was holding a book signing in the United States at that time, running around."

"Then I'll call him and ask him to come over?"

"Okay, you can ask him. If you don't have time, ask him to come to the work to find me tomorrow."

"good!"