1980 My literary era

Albert Mondadori was just a bit chatty, but when Lin Weimin wanted to get down to business, he immediately became serious.

In recent years, after winning awards in France, the United States and other countries, Lin Weimin has gained considerable international fame, so Albert Mondadori knows something about Lin Weimin.

Coupled with Roger Strauss's central introduction, the two had a great conversation.

Albert has already collected some English versions of Lin Weimin's works and knows that he is a prolific writer and that publishing houses like him the most.

Once the cooperation is negotiated, as long as a book can become famous in Italy, there will be no need for excessive investment in the future, and a steady stream of cash will be brought to the publishing house.

They could only talk about their intentions on the phone. Albert and Lin Weimin agreed that he would go to China to talk to Lin Weimin in detail next week.

But a week later, Lin Weimin didn't wait for Albert, and another four or five days passed before Albert showed up at the Chinese Literature Society.

Albert explained that he was late because he wanted to wait until their dog had pups before leaving on business.

This reason left Lin Weimin speechless. It seems that Jie is still a dog lover!

Apart from the label of being a dog lover, Albert is still very normal, especially when talking about Lin Weimin's works, he is very excited.

Albert can read and write English fluently. He has read all the English novels published by Lin Weimin abroad, and he is full of praise for these novels.

"Lin, you are a genius novelist! It's hard for me to imagine that so many wonderful and wonderful novels with different styles were written by the same writer!"

Albert's rainbow fart made Lin Weimin a little alert. Could this Italian guy be filling me with ecstasy soup?

Sure enough, after agreeing on the publication list, when talking about the issue of royalties, Albert almost shouted "8%" to break the floor price, and Lin Weimin almost didn't serve tea to see off the guests.

"Albert, you are really joking! When my works are published in any country in the world, the royalties are never less than 15%."

Asking for a high price and paying back the money on arrival, who wouldn’t do it?

"Lin, you have to know that our Mondadori Publishing Group is the largest publishing house in Italy. Cooperating with us means that your works can be spread throughout Italy. You will never achieve the same goal if you cooperate with ordinary publishing houses. To achieve this effect.”

"Albert, the sales of the novel depend on the work itself, and the channel is just one factor. Besides, you know that my novel is published in English-speaking and French-speaking countries, with a large audience. And your Italian language has only a small population, even mud Even if it can’t be compared to Todoroki, if the sales limit is there, how much royalties can it get?”

Lin Weimin's tone made Albert want to hit someone, but he had learned about the publishing situation of Lin Weimin's works and knew that Lin Weimin made millions of dollars every year from royalties from the overseas publication of his works.

The two argued for a long time. Lin Weimin lowered the royalty share to 13% and refused to lower it any further. Albert talked hard and finally settled on this number.

After negotiations, Mondadori Publishing House obtained the publishing authorization for seven works: "The Lover", "Farewell My Concubine", "The Horseman", "Chasing the Murderer", "Burning", "No matter what, life is beautiful" and "The Hunt".

According to the contract, Mondadori Press must publish these seven works within two years, and the publishing authorization will be withdrawn after expiration.

Albert spent a few days in Yanjing and then returned to Italy.

After sending Albert away, Lin Weimin was in a good mood. No matter how small the mosquito legs are, they are still meat!

Time flies and it is already early May. Shi Tiesheng's "The Temple of Earth and I" has been published for a month. During this time, it has caused considerable repercussions in the domestic literary world and among readers.

Shi Tiesheng's style is different from that of most domestic writers of this era. He is a unique writer with his own unique personality charm and writing style.

From "My Distant Qingping Bay", "The Story of Queue Jumping" to "Me and the Temple of Earth", his style is in the same line, somewhere between novels and prose, which often leaves readers in a trance, wondering whether they are reading novels or prose.

But that's not important. Whether it is a novel or an essay, readers can touch Shi Tiesheng's soft heart and feel his rich emotions and transparent philosophy through these works.

In the past month, thousands of letters have flown to the editorial office and Shi Tiesheng's home.

Before "Me and the Temple of Earth", Shi Tiesheng was a well-known writer in the domestic literary world, but after "Me and the Temple of Earth", Shi Tiesheng completed a transformation, and he truly became a popular writer who is well-known to every household.

For a long time, novels have always been the mainstream genre in the domestic literary world, and prose has not been popular. Except for the works of the older group of essayists, the few excellent prose works since the new era have almost all been written by writers from the Bay Island. .

But the rise of Shi Tiesheng broke this situation, and the article "Me and the Temple of Earth" brought the domestic prose field to a new level.

Among the readers' letters to the editorial board of "Contemporary" this month, the readers' calls for increasing the length of the prose column are getting louder day by day. There are also many radical readers who hope that the Chinese Literature Society can establish a literary journal mainly focused on prose.

He Qizhi even found Lin Weimin with these letters from readers, hoping to lobby him.

Later "Contemporary" did undergo a split in the 1990s. The prose column of the publication was separated and established as "Chinese Prose". Just from the name, you can tell that this is a literary journal specializing in prose.

In the early 1990s, the novel craze in China declined. Due to the introduction of a large number of prose works by Wan Dao into the country, and the rise of famous prose writers such as Shi Tiesheng and Yu Qiuyu, the prose genre ushered in its highlight moment, and the popularity was extremely high. For a while.

In the 1980s and 1990s, there were actually not many domestic prose journals.

In 1980, Jinmen's Baihua Literature and Art Publishing House sponsored the monthly "Prose". In 1984, "Selected Prose" was born in Henan. In 1987, "Prose World" was founded in Yanjing. In 1989, Hebei's "Hundred Prose" was founded...

The emergence of more and more prose publications confirms the wave of prose development, and these prose publications have also developed very well in recent years.

Readers hope that "Contemporary" will increase the length of its prose column, which is unrealistic. There are only so many pages in the publication, with more prose and less other types of works. An occasional issue is okay, but most of the readers of "Contemporary" come to read novels. Over time, it means that it is catching up with readers.

Therefore, in the face of the calls of some prose lovers, establishing a new prose publication became the best choice.

Lin Weimin fell into deep thought after He Qizhi finished explaining his thoughts.

The 1990s was indeed the golden age of the prose genre. The most vivid example is that Yu Qiuyu's collection of essays "Cultural Journey" sold 1.5 million copies in more than a year after its release.

In 1988, at the invitation of Ba's daughter Li Xiaolin, Yu Qiuyu opened her own prose column "Cultural Journey" in "Harvest". She published more than ten essays in "Harvest" for half a year, and she was well known in the literary world and among readers. It aroused considerable discussion and brought prestige in the literary world to Yu Qiuyu, a cultural scholar.

Calculating the time, it seems that the collection and publication of "Cultural Journey" will only take one or two years. I can't miss such a best-selling work. I want to contact Yu Qiuyu later.

After a while, Lin Weimin's mind was focused on prose publications again. He thought for a while and said to He Qizhi: "Now it is just the voice of a small number of readers. I will do a reader survey in the next issue of "Contemporary". Let’s see what everyone wants. If the survey results are satisfactory, we will discuss it when you make a proposal.”

There is no problem in running a prose publication, given the foundation of the Chinese Literature Society, to survive, but that’s all.

After 2000, purely literary publications have been in a sharp decline, and this publication may even become a burden to the society.

Therefore, Lin Weimin's attitude is not enthusiastic, but he will not categorically reject it.

Because the existence of the Chinese Literature Society itself is not for profit. It shoulders more of the mission and responsibility of the development of literature in this country. As long as the results of the reader survey are not bad, he will support the launch of this publication.

When it comes to making money, just leave it to Tongwenshe to move forward!

He Qizhi was a little excited after receiving Lin Weimin's support.

Establishing a prose publication will not bring any great benefits to "Contemporary". On the contrary, "Contemporary" may allocate part of its strength to support the construction of prose publications.

But what he thought of was that the Chinese Literature Society had another literary publication, and the domestic literary circle had another literary publication, and readers would also benefit from it.

After He Qizhi left, Lin Weimin picked up the phone.

"Hey, Sister Xiaolin, I am here for the people!"

Li Xiaolin is Ba Lao's daughter and is now the deputy editor-in-chief of "Harvest". Ba Lao has stopped being involved in the specific work of the publication in recent years, so she is the actual head of "Harvest".

Lin Weimin is Mr. Wan's student, so he and she are equals.

Lin Weimin naturally called her because of Yu Qiuyu's affairs. Hearing that Lin Weimin wanted to publish a collection of Yu Qiuyu's essays, Li Xiaolin said happily: "I will contact him for you."

Yu Qiuyu opened a prose column in "Harvest", and it was only after Li Xiaolin's insistence that it was approved. Now that the Chinese Literature Society is going to publish Yu Qiuyu's essay collection, it proves the influence of these essays, and also proves her vision and Achievements.

The two chatted for a few words, and Li Xiaolin hurriedly went to help Lin Weimin contact Yu Qiuyu.

Not long after hanging up the phone with Li Xiaolin, the phone rang.

Before the collection of essays "Cultural Journey" was published and became a hit, Yu Qiuyu was best known as an official and cultural scholar.

He was appointed as the dean of the Shanghai Theater Academy in 1986. In recent years, most of his works have been research works in the field of drama, such as "History of Drama Theory" and "Drama Aesthetic Psychology".

The prose column "Cultural Journey" has triggered some discussions in the literary world since its birth in 1988.

Since it is a discussion, there will naturally be praise and criticism.

His prose style is unique and different from his predecessors. It has a grand structure and a broad vision. People who like it call it "big prose", while those who don't like it criticize it for being artificial. There are many flaws in the use of allusions in the article, which is completely ridiculous. .

Yu Qiuyu heard from Li Xiaolin that Lin Weimin was going to collect and publish his essays, and she was excited. The first sentence she called was: "Editor-in-chief Lin, can my essays really be published?"