1980 My literary era

Cheng Wuchun blocked Lin Weimin at the door of Li Xin's office with a happy face. He knew at a glance that something good was going on.

"What's going on?" Lin Weimin asked.

Cheng Wanchun said: "I just received a call from the comrades from the WS department. Last night, the Italian Strega Literary Award announced this year's shortlist. Your two novels, "Burning" and "No matter what, life is beautiful" were published at the same time. Shortlisted for the Strega Literary Prize.”

The Strega Prize was born in 1947. In 1944, the writer Maria Bellonci organized a literary salon, which was named "Sunday Friends" because the salons were often held on weekends.

While they were having dinner in a restaurant, Goffredo Bellonci, the husband of Maria Bellonchi, told Guido Alberti, a young businessman from Benevento, about the creation of a new literary competition. plan of.

This idea convinced Alberti, who funded the prize with a generous prize of 100,000 lire.

In 1947, the Strega Literary Prize was officially born, named after Strega, a famous herbal liqueur produced by the Alberti family.

According to the rules, twelve artists select the best book from the twelve books recommended by them, and it becomes the best work of the year.

Since then, the award has been held every year and has gradually developed its own influence. More than 40 years have passed since then. The Strega Literary Prize has not only become the most important literary award in the Italian literary world, as famous as the Goncourt Literary Prize, but also One of the most important literary awards in the European literary world.

Works such as "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco and "The Loneliness of Prime Numbers" by Paolo Giordano only became popular in the Italian and European literary circles after winning the Strega Literary Prize. .

It can be seen that the "star-making" ability of the Strega Literary Prize cannot be underestimated.

Upon hearing the news, Lin Weimin had a calm expression on his face.

"It's just a shortlist, not a prize."

"The point is not to be shortlisted, but to have two works shortlisted. Do you know what this means?" Cheng Wanchun asked.

"What's the meaning?"

Seeing his casual expression, Cheng Wanchun said helplessly: "There are only twelve judges for the Strega Literary Award, and the only novels that can be shortlisted each year are the top twelve novels recommended by everyone. "Burning" and "No Matter What, Life is" "Beautiful" is shortlisted at the same time, which proves that at least two judges in the jury are supporting you to win the award, and your chances of winning almost lead this year's Strega Literary Award."

Lin Weimin didn't think much when he heard that he was shortlisted. After listening to Cheng Wuchun's analysis, he realized that there was such an inside story.

Last year, Albert Mondadori represented Mondadori Publishing House and acquired his novels including "The Lover", "Farewell My Concubine", "The Horseman", "Chasing the Murderer", "Burning" and "No matter what, life is beautiful" Publishing authorization for seven works including "Hunting".

Within one year, seven works were published in Italy, which is quite efficient.

It is precisely because of this that Lin Weimin was shortlisted for two works at the same time.

This is the first time in the history of the Strega Literary Prize.

Lin Weimin had a smile on his face, and then he thought of another question.

Logically speaking, shouldn't Albert Mondadori tell him this news? Why did a colleague from the WS department call first?

"Tsk, tsk, tsk! If you win the Strega Literary Award this time, it will be the second heavyweight award in the European literary world. I can't imagine it!" Cheng Wanchun sighed.

"It's early, we are just shortlisted now."

Lin Weimin was in a good mood, but after all, he was not winning an award, so he had to restrain himself.

"Work hard! With these two awards as a foundation, you are not far away from the Nobel Prize in Literature."

Cheng Wuchun patted him on the shoulder, spoke earnestly and had high hopes.

"The more you talk about it, the more exaggerated it becomes. Even if you don't even mention your horoscope, what you said seems to be true."

Among the famous literary awards in Europe, the Prix Goncourt in France, the Strega Prize in Italy, and the Booker Prize in the United Kingdom belong to the first echelon. For a person who has won any of these three literary awards, For writers, it is a supreme honor, and many unknown writers have become famous and successful through this channel.

Worldwide, the ones that are as famous as these three awards are probably the Pulitzer Prize for Literature and the National Book Award in the United States. Among the three major literary awards in the United States, the National Book Critics Circle Award is the most open, but it is also the most open. The weakest influence in the world.

In addition to these awards, there is also the Swedish Nobel Prize for Literature, which is a bit transcendent.

No matter how you guys try to catch up, Nobel is always calm and stress-free.

In any case, it was a happy event that two novels were shortlisted for the Strega Literary Award. Lin Weimin and Cheng Wanchun had a few laughs and were in a good mood.

Writing a novel is not entirely about winning awards, but winning an award is better than not winning one. Of course, we are just shortlisted now, nothing is decided yet.

The news that Lin Weimin's two novels were shortlisted for the Strega Literary Prize spread quickly within the Chinese Literature Society, and then continued to spread, and then spread again.

Then people continued to send congratulations to Lin Weimin, colleagues walking in the club said congratulations, and friends far away wrote letters and phone calls to congratulate him.

Lin Weimin has long been accustomed to this kind of situation. Whenever his works have won awards in recent years, he has always become the focus of attention from colleagues, friends and even national public opinion.

Another difference this time is that the Strega Literary Prize announces the top twelve shortlisted candidates at the end of March each year, and then awards the prize on the first Thursday of July each year.

Now he is shortlisted. If Lin Weimin wins the award in July, everyone will have to congratulate him again.

As the media paid attention to the news that Lin Weimin was shortlisted for the Strega Literary Award, more and more readers also learned about this matter through media reports.

Last year, Lin Weimin did not win the Yanbing Literary Award. As soon as the award results were announced, news came from the United States that Lin Weimin won the National Book Critics Circle Award, which caused many readers to question and ridicule the Yanbing Literary Award.

This year is March again, and news comes that Lin Weimin has been shortlisted for the Strega Literary Award.

The media that reported this incident also specially gave readers a brief introduction to the value of the Strega Literary Award. This time Lin Weimin was shortlisted for two more works, making history for the Strega Literary Award.

Many readers once again dug up last year's Yanbing Literature Award and ridiculed, ridiculed, and abused it.

This behavior has become a routine among Lin Weimin's readers. Whenever Lin Weimin wins the award in the future, the third Yanbing Literature Award will always be beaten to death by this group of readers to relieve their hatred.

"Two-time Yan Bing Literature Award winner" is obviously not as prestigious as "three-time Yan Bing Literature Award winner", and this is the third time in a row.

Just because of the selfishness of some judges, Lin Weimin missed such a brilliant record that was unprecedented and probably unprecedented.

This incident is enough to make many loyal readers of Lin Weimin never forget it and hate those judges for the rest of their lives!

The news of being shortlisted for the Strega Literary Award was still spreading. This weekend, Lin Weimin once again gathered with Xu Feng and Michael Phillips in the coffee shop of the Yanjing Hotel, but there was one more person in the party today.

"Teacher Lin!" Cheng Kaige came to the coffee shop early. When he saw Lin Weimin coming in, he hurriedly stood up and shook hands with him.

"Kaige, we meet again!"

"Yeah, it's been a long time since I last saw you. The last time I saw you was when we were filming "The Last Emperor" in 1987."

Lin Weimin smiled and said: "That time you played a guest role as the captain of the guard. You still want to study abroad, right?"

Cheng Kaige nodded, "After that, I went to the United States for exchange and study for three years. I heard that you went to the United States in 1989, and I planned to visit you, but it was a pity that it was too late."

The two chatted casually for a few words, and Xu Feng introduced Cheng Kaige to Michael Phillips.

Cheng Kaige has been in contact with the behind-the-scenes team since he agreed to Xu Feng's director of "Farewell My Concubine" that day. It took a few days for the main behind-the-scenes staff to come up with an idea. Cheng Kaige is here to report to everyone today. Let’s talk about the situation.

"In terms of screenwriting, Ms. Xu said that Mr. Lin doesn't have time. I think we can name it. My friend Lu Wei can be responsible for the specific writing. He is a very capable screenwriter..."

Lin Weimin's business this time was a "capital-free business". He couldn't get much remuneration for writing scripts for the crew, so he put off writing scripts.

Cheng Kaige found the original screenwriter, and he was happy to see the results.

As the photographer, Cheng Kaige chose Gu Changwei.

Just as the 78-level directing department has produced numerous talents, Yanying's 78-level photography department has also produced several great photographers, and Gu Changwei is one of them.

Over the years, he has been indispensable in the films of Cheng Kaige and Zhang Yimou.

Cheng Kaige named several people behind the scenes, but Lin Weimin didn't pay much attention because he was waiting for a name.

"Teacher Lin, Mr. Phillips, there is something else I need to tell you. I invited my father, Mr. Chen Huaikai, to be the artistic director of "Farewell My Concubine." My father is a famous director in China and a director of the Yenching Film Academy. senior faculty."

The second half of Cheng Kaige's sentence was explained to Michael Phillips.

Lin Weimin had some exchanges with Yan Ying, so he naturally knew Cheng Kaige's family background.

Michael Phillips is still satisfied with the fact that Cheng Kaige asked his father to support "Farewell My Concubine". The presence of father and son together shows that people value this movie.

This kind of situation also happens from time to time in the American film industry.

Lin Weimin on the side was completely relieved this time.

There has always been a saying in later generations that "Farewell My Concubine" was filmed by Cheng Kaige's father, Cheng Huaikai.

There are two reasons for everyone's doubts. One is that Cheng Huaikai is indeed the film's art director, and the other is that the artistic level of "Farewell My Concubine" is indeed outstanding among Cheng Kaige's works, unique and a bit unconventional.

Later, "Farewell My Concubine" was shot with an investment of 4 million meters. Looking at the domestic film industry, this is an astronomical figure.

In 1986, when Xie Tieli planned to make the movie version of "A Dream of Red Mansions", Yan Film Studio invested more than 10 million yuan, setting a record for investment in domestic films, and the equivalent of a pound of rice was less than 3 million yuan.

His son Cheng Kaige is going to direct a movie costing US$4 million, and it seems natural that his father will come out to help out.

Regardless of whether it's true or not, everyone has high hopes for the performance of "Farewell My Concubine". It's better to come than not to come, it's like another insurance!