1980 My literary era

The awarding of the Strega Literary Prize is very different from the Goncourt Literary Prize. The French are very enthusiastic and seem to respect literature very much. When the award was given, the Touen restaurant in Paris was packed with enthusiastic readers and citizens.

When Lin Weimin stood on the second-floor balcony of the restaurant, he was like a crowned prince, enjoying the cheers and support of thousands of readers.

In contrast, the day when the Strega Literary Prize was awarded was more like a party, without so many enthusiastic readers. The ceremony was simple and casual, and the atmosphere was relaxed and happy.

Especially the dinner on the open-air lawn in the evening gave Lin Weimin a sense of being at a table.

If we talk about the atmosphere during the awards ceremony, he prefers the Goncourt Literary Prize; if we talk about the banquet after the award ceremony, he still prefers the Strega Literary Prize.

The day full of flowers was over. Lin Weimin was exhausted when he returned to the hotel and fell asleep before washing up.

The next day, Lin Weimin had two more interviews. Yesterday's interview was mainly with newspapers and TV media, and today's interview was with two magazines, one of which was "Prospect" controlled by Mondadori Publishing House, and the other was from Italy. The famous literary review magazine "Literary Criticism".

Two interviews took up a whole morning, followed by a reader meeting in the afternoon.

It was free time in the evening. Lin Weimin wanted to visit the night view of Rome accompanied by an interpreter, but he was invited out for dinner by Roger Strauss.

There was nothing wrong with going to the Three Treasures Palace. The United States and Italy were separated by almost half a world, but he came over to receive the Strega Literary Award. Of course, he was still rushing to Lin Weimin's works.

So far, his FSG Publishing House has published three novels by Lin Weimin: "Hunting", "The Wind" and "No matter what, life is beautiful". Among them, except "The Wind" has received a mediocre response in the United States, "Hunting" and "No matter what," "Life is Beautiful" have achieved good results.

In the past two years, it has been in the middle of the New York Times bestseller list, and it seems to have a long-lasting trend.

In order to promote these novels, Roger Strauss specially worked with several heavyweight literary review magazines such as "Book Page", "New York Review of Books", and "Writer", which can be said to be a great effort.

After the book reviews were published in several magazines, Roger Strauss even specially mailed them to Lin Weimin.

Of course Lin Weimin knew Roger Strauss' purpose in doing this. After the work was done, it had to be sold well.

This is also the basis for Roger Strauss to discuss subsequent cooperation. Random House has a huge business, and there is absolutely no such gesture of support from him.

Roger Strauss chatted with Lin Weimin for a while about the weather and the situation during today's award ceremony, then went straight to the topic and proposed that he would continue to publish Lin Weimin's works in the past two years.

The hot sales of "Hunting" and "No matter what, life is beautiful" gave him a taste of the sweetness of cooperation with Lin Weimin.

Unlike ordinary pure literary writers, Lin Weimin's works are always unexpectedly popular. When working with him, there is no need to worry about losing money or losing money.

In addition, there is Random House as a competitor, so Roger Strauss's attitude is very low.

As a work by a non-native writer, "Hunting" won the National Book Critics Circle Award for the second time, and Roger Strauss was indispensable. Anyway, it is a cooperation with anyone.

They are really dedicated to their works, which is better than Random House.

However, in the past two years, Lin Weimin has only published "No One Less" and "Promotion". The stories of the two novels are very Chinese. Lin Weimin is very curious about which one Roger Strauss wants to introduce, or simply both. All are introduced.

Roger Strauss quickly gave the answer, "No one left behind!"

Lin Weimin was a little surprised. The story of "No One Less" is very Chinese and very local. "Roger, although it is a good thing for the novel to be published in the United States, do you think American readers will like this kind of work?"

Roger Strauss's answer was very confident, "Lin, you still don't understand your fame among American literary circles and literature lovers."

He continued with a proud look on his face: "I have learned about the stories of "No One Less" and "Prosperity". "Prosperity" is indeed too Chinese. It involves ideological issues, which we Americans can easily understand. Difficult. But "No One Less" is different. This novel was created for the 'Hope Project', right?"

Lin Weimin nodded, "That's right."

"I heard that Project Hope has built more than 1,000 rural primary schools in China, allowing children in poor areas to go to school for free?"

Lin Weimin nodded again.

As the name "Project Hope" has become deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the China Youth Education Development Foundation has not worried about donations for a long time.

In the past two years, the Hope Project has developed rapidly. Four to five hundred Hope Primary Schools will be built every year, and a total of more than 1,300 Hope Primary Schools have been built.

"Lin, you don't even know what an amazing thing you have done!" Roger Strauss praised.

Lin Weimin understood what he meant and asked: "Roger, you mean to use this as a publicity stunt to introduce "No One Less"."

"That's right. 'The world's largest donation to support education', 'Two-time National Book Critics Circle Award winner donated tens of millions of dollars to establish', 'Benefiting more than one million out-of-school children', how about such slogans? Provocative?" Roger Strauss asked.

Lin Weimin doesn’t think Roger Strauss is using the reputation of Project Hope for publicity. After all, he did these things in earnest and there is no falsehood at all.

"Are you sure Americans will buy it?"

Roger Strauss shook his head, "You, you still don't understand the 'hypocrisy' of Americans. We are very 'concerned' about the world."

Roger Strauss was not soft-spoken about his country, and Lin Weimin couldn't help but laugh.

Well, Roger Strauss’s perspective on the problem is indeed very tricky. To put it simply, he has captured the American people’s mentality of “watching the fun.”

Coupled with the "charity" gimmick, it is indeed very likely to attract a group of readers who are interested in the two topics of "education" and "charity".

Since Roger Strauss had already thought out the publicity direction and strategy, Lin Weimin naturally had no reason to disagree.

After receiving his approval, Roger Strauss happily clinked a glass of wine with him.

"Lin, I have to tell you something." After drinking two glasses of wine, Roger Strauss put on a complaining expression.

"What's wrong?"

"Why not let Zun Lung play "Farewell My Concubine"?"

Um?

Lin Weimin looked surprised, "Are you still concerned about this matter?"

"It's not just me? Book fans all over the United States are concerned about this matter!" Roger Strauss looked serious.

Michael Phillips was not an investor for nothing. After returning to the United States, he used his connections to reveal to the media that the film "Farewell My Concubine" was about to be filmed.

This information immediately attracted the attention of some American media, and then triggered a response among the readership group.

In total, "Farewell My Concubine" has been published in the United States for nearly ten years, with sales exceeding 7 million copies, and its readership base is no less than that of many well-known world famous books.

In 1989, the play "Farewell My Concubine" was moved to the Broadway stage, causing a sensation among American readers and theater audiences. To date, it has attracted more than 1.6 million theatergoers, and the box office has reached 130 million.

When "The Intouchables" and "The Kite Runner" were suspended one after another, and he could only rely on selling copyrights to earn millions of dollars from time to time, "Farewell My Concubine" supported a large part of Lin Weimin's overseas income.

Of course, the bigger part comes from "The Phantom of the Opera". This opera has been on Broadway for less than four years, and its box office has exceeded 290 million US dollars.

As the opera's largest investor, Lin Weimin also enjoys the most generous profits, earning more than 20 million yuan almost every year.

Roger Strauss continued: "Zun Long fits the role of Cheng Dieyi very well. Why did you use an actor from Xiangjiang in this movie?"

"There are mainly two considerations. First, Zun Long's facial lines are too tough and not soft enough. Second, Zun Long put forward too many conditions, which annoyed investors."

"Did you annoy the investors?" Roger Strauss didn't expect that the casting of "Farewell My Concubine" would have such a role. "I'm sorry for the details."

Gossip is indeed human nature, so Lin Weimin told all the nonsense that Zunlong's agent made.

After hearing this, Roger Strauss laughed and said: "This Ms. Chen is really a bit like the celebrity agents in Hollywood. It's a pity that Zun Long is actually very suitable for the role of Cheng Dieyi."

"Come on, how many Chinese actors do you Americans know? Now that I'm saying that "The Kite Runner" will be made into a movie, I'm afraid you will also say that Zun Long is suitable, right?"

Roger Strauss was a little unhappy, "Lin, you can't tarnish a book fan's love for the characters."

Lin Weimin was speechless, "Okay, I apologize!"

After dinner, Lin Weimin returned to the hotel to rest.

On his third day in Italy, he still had to attend two readers' meetings, which were of a book-signing nature.

Due to reports in the news media, the Strega Literary Award has become the most concerned thing among Italian literature lovers these days. Lin Weimin, the winner who has broken many records, has also made these literature lovers very interested. In addition, Readers who already liked Lin Weimin's works made the two-day readers meeting crowded and lively.

Lin Weimin's shoulders were sore when he signed, his hands were numb, and the smile on his face was extremely stiff by the end.

After a busy day, he finally got some rest at night, but Lin Weimin still had to keep his appointment.

Before the Strega Literary Prize, he had made an appointment with Bertolucci to get together after coming to Italy. Finally, he had some time tonight, and Bertolucci arranged a party in a unique way.

Bertolucci's home is located in the Prati district of Rome, a famous wealthy area in Rome. It has a typical Romanesque architectural style. There are walls around the villa to form a private residence. The trees and shrubs in the courtyard are scattered high and low, and dotted with green grass. and fountain.

Bertolucci was a good hand at defeating investors, but he was never stingy with himself.

The weather in Italy in July is pleasant, with the highest temperature being no more than 25 degrees during the day and just 20 degrees at night.

The party was also held on the lawn outside. Lin Weimin was pulled by Bertolucci in front of many guests as soon as he arrived.

"Gentlemen and ladies, let us welcome my good friend, Mr. Lin Weimin, the new winner of the Strega Literary Award and one of the screenwriters of "The Last Emperor"!"

The guests who were gathering on the lawn applauded in a dignified manner, and even more lively people whistled unscrupulously. It felt like they were seeing not a writer but a beautiful woman.

Among the guests who whistled the loudest, Lin Weimin noticed a curly bald man at a glance.