1980 My literary era

The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has a high status in the American literary world. If ranked by influence, the three major mainstream literary awards should be the National Book Award, followed by the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle. Award again.

The main difference between the three is that behind the National Book Award there are American publishers, and behind the Pulitzer there is News Corporation. Compared with the first two, the influence of the National Book Critics Circle is weaker, with influence and financial resources. Power has a lot to do with it.

However, because of this, the National Book Critics Circle Award also appears to be more pure. Within the American literary circle, the results of this award are more recognized by professionals in the American literary circle.

But this does not hinder the influence of the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize.

The authority and influence of the National Book Award lies in the strong publishing and distribution capabilities behind it. Winning this award is equivalent to being recognized and welcomed by the vast majority of booksellers in the United States, which is very important for a writer.

The authority and influence of the Pulitzer Prize are due to the sharp surge in the global influence of the United States since World War II. Its journalism industry has become a benchmark for international public opinion. The Pulitzer Prize has also taken advantage of this trend to become a globally renowned award. .

For many years, the Fiction Award has been somewhat overshadowed by the Journalism Award, but that is compared to the Journalism Award. In fact, because of the public’s attention to the Journalism Award, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction does not get as much exposure every year. Not a lot, on the contrary, a lot.

This year's awards ceremony is over. The news media and the public have paid the same attention to the Pulitzer Prize as in previous years. At the beginning, they first focused on the journalism award.

But many people are also paying attention to the special features of creative awards. "God Bless America" ​​was a double hit, winning two awards for novel writing and historical writing. This has never happened in the history of the Pulitzer Prize.

In particular, the winner, Lin Weimin, is a Chinese writer. Although Lin Weimin's reputation in the United States has been at its peak in recent years, such a clear preference for a foreign writer has still made the public full of discussions about the decision of the Pulitzer Prize jury.

Especially since last year, the relationship between the two countries has been tense. Until last month, this tension reached its peak. Under this situation, Lin Weimin's award seemed a bit unusual.

This can also be seen from the number of news reports.

According to the rules of previous years, the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism is the main content of the report, and the content of the novel will only be mentioned in passing at the end of a report.

But this year, after reports about the Pulitzer Prize appeared, those who were interested will find that many media reports focused on Lin Weimin, who won two awards.

It is true that "God Bless America" ​​is extremely popular in the United States now, but as a writer, it is a bit outrageous to steal the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism.

Of course, this is the view of industry insiders.

For ordinary readers, they only know that Lin Weimin, a foreign writer, won another award in the United States, and broke the Pulitzer Prize record.

As the news continues to spread and ferment, Lin Weimin's reputation in the United States becomes even more famous, which also boosts the sales of his novels in the United States.

Not only that, the international influence of the Pulitzer Prize has also expanded Lin Weimin’s popularity in various countries around the world, especially in Western countries.

Lin Weimin has already adapted to this rhythm over the years, receiving awards, accepting interviews, and attending events. After four or five days of busy work, Roger Strauss also planned to organize another book signing for him across the United States, but Lin Weimin decisively refused. accepted his proposal.

It has been more than a week since he came back and forth, and he still has to go back to Yanjing to wait to inherit the throne!

Well, in fact, the main reason is that he is too busy with work. It will take at least half a month to hold a fan signing event across the country, and he can't afford it.

The day after Lin Weimin arrived in the United States, the day he received the Pulitzer Prize, in Cannes, France, the 49th Cannes Film Festival was held as scheduled.

A total of 23 films from many countries around the world have been shortlisted for this year's Cannes Film Festival, including many great directors, such as Lin Weimin's old acquaintance Bertolucci, who was shortlisted for the film festival this year with his new work "Stealing Beauty"; Cheng Kaige's "Feng Yue", which has been honed for two years, was also shortlisted for this film festival.

Others include famous directors such as Mike Leigh, Hou Hsiao-hsien, David Cronenberg, and Robert Altman.

Among the great directors with world-renowned masterpieces, Roberto Benigni, who participated in the competition with "Life is Beautiful", seemed ordinary.

This comedy star from Italy is very famous in Italy. He moved to Hollywood in the past few years and achieved some results, but he was not noticeable at the Cannes Film Festival where famous directors and superstars gathered.

The film "Life is Beautiful" he brought most attracted the attention of the jury and the news media because it was adapted from Lin Weimin's work.

Not only are Lin Weimin's acquaintances among the participating directors, but there are also his acquaintances among the jury.

Francis Ford Coppola is the president of the jury at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

After the opening of the film festival, the participating films will be screened on a rotating basis every day.

The works of many famous directors who came to participate in the film festival have become the targets of the audience and received warm welcome.

Bertolucci's "The Secret", David Cronenberg's "A Train Named Desire", Hou Hsiao-hsien's "Goodbye, Southland, Southland", Robert Altman's "Kansas", Cheng Kaige's "Love in the Moon" …

Screenings of these works are sold out and have received mixed reviews.

A week into the festival, all participating films have had public screenings.

Among them, Mike Leigh's "Secrets and Lies", Lars von Trier's "Breaking Waves", and the Coen brothers' "Fargo" have all won unanimous praise from audiences and the media, and have become the contenders for the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival. the most powerful contender.

Works such as "Stealing Beauty", "Kansas Love" and "Love Affair", which had high hopes before and after the opening of the film festival, have almost all fallen into disrepute.

Cheng Kaige, who came to the Cannes Film Festival with "Feng Yue" this time, was originally very ambitious. He thought that the film that took longer, more energy, and more money to create could continue the glory of three years ago and boost his film career. Create a new peak.

But he never expected that the reviews after the screening of "Feng Yue" were almost overwhelmingly negative, whether it was from the audience, judges or the media.

After a few days of negative comments, Cheng Kaige's ambition was completely shattered by reality, and he completely lost the complacency he once had.

He still couldn't figure it out. His film was shot with so much care, all the designs were more clever than "Farewell My Concubine", and the pictures and lenses were more beautiful. Why was this the result?

Although the film festival has not yet concluded and it is not time to announce the award results, reason has already told Cheng Kaige that he has no chance of winning this Palme d'Or.

In the last few days of the film festival, Cheng Kaige's energy was completely different from that at the opening, and he completely lost his confidence and fighting spirit.

Xu Feng, who accompanied Cheng Kaige to Cannes, looked at his state and felt depressed and helpless at the same time.

At the beginning, Xu Feng fell in love with Cheng Kaige at the Cannes Film Festival because of his talent. For Cheng Kaige, she lobbied Lin Weimin and got the rights to adapt "Farewell My Concubine".

After obtaining the adaptation rights, Xu Feng spent huge sums of money to invest in the film. In the early 1990s, 4 million US dollars was definitely a huge investment for filmmakers from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and three places. This fully reflects Xu Feng's love for Cheng Kaige. Appreciation and trust.

When filming "Farewell My Concubine", Xu Feng felt that the cooperation with Cheng Kaige was quite tacit. He had some own artistic pursuits, but at least he could listen to other people's opinions.

But after "Farewell My Concubine" achieved unprecedented success nationwide, Xu Feng discovered that Cheng Kaige seemed to be a different person.

During the filming of "Feng Yue", Cheng Kaige hardly listened to any of her opinions and suggestions. Even though Xu Feng tried to persuade him sincerely, he still insisted on his own opinion.

The success of "Farewell My Concubine" certainly gave Cheng Kaige confidence, but this does not mean that he can completely ignore other people's opinions, especially since Xu Feng is also an investor and producer of this film.

In the past few days, Cheng Kaige saw Xu Feng with erratic eyes, showing some guilt.

That afternoon, Xu Feng forced him to watch a movie. It was also a competing film, and it was "Life is Beautiful" adapted from Lin Weimin's work.

After coming out of the theater, Cheng Kaige was in an unusually low mood.

Seeing his performance, Xu Feng suddenly felt a little happy in his heart.

"What do you think of this movie?" Xu Feng asked.

Cheng Kaige was very proud and always held his head high in front of others, but today, his waist seemed a little unable to straighten.

He did not answer Xu Feng's words immediately. He pondered for a while, opened his lips several times, and finally uttered two words feebly: "Very good!"

"What do you think of it compared to Farewell My Concubine?"

These words deeply hurt Cheng Kaige. A trace of anger flashed in his eyes, but he still maintained restraint.

"I don't know." He said dullly.

Xu Feng said: "I'm not asking you this to laugh at you. Have you ever thought that if you had continued to cooperate with Mr. Lin, this play would now be your work."

Cheng Kaige pursed his lips, hesitated for a moment, shook his head and said, "Even if I can get the rights to adapt this work, I may not be able to make it like this."

Seeing that he was still a bit arrogant, Xu Feng said with all his heart: "Producing Mr. Lin's works should be a dream for any director."

Hearing this, Cheng Kaige's face stiffened.

What Xu Feng said was as close as pointing to his nose and saying, "The success of "Farewell My Concubine" has little to do with you as a director."

How can a person as proud and conceited as Cheng Kaige endure such an insult?

He gave Xu Feng a stern look and walked away without saying a word.

Xu Feng looked at his back and shook his head helplessly.

Separating from Cheng Kaige, Xu Feng did not leave the theater entrance. She waited here for about half an hour and then saw a crowd of reporters walking out of the theater entrance.

The reporters surrounded the few people in the middle. Wherever the people inside went, their microphones followed them. There were endless questions. It seemed that the people surrounded must be big stars or heavyweight filmmakers.

Xu Feng looked at the scene at the entrance of the theater and couldn't help but show a bit of envy in his eyes.

Surrounded by reporters was none other than the screenwriter, director and leading actor of "Life is Beautiful", Roberto Benigni.

Standing with him is his wife and the film's heroine, Nicoletta Blaschi.

There was another person Xu Feng knew next to him. He was Michael Phillips, one of the investors and producers of "Farewell My Concubine". He was also the investor and producer of "Life is Beautiful".

"Life is Beautiful" is the biggest dark horse at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Since the film was screened, it has received enthusiastic praise and crazy pursuit from the media, film critics and audiences.

It is in sharp contrast to the negative reviews of "Feng Yue".

That kind of scene is familiar to veterans of film festivals.

From the strong feedback from the outside world about "Life is Beautiful", they saw the birth of a classic.

Many filmmakers who came to the film festival were discussing privately that this year's Palme d'Or would probably go to "Life is Beautiful."

This movie perfectly restores the black humor in the novel and presents a tragic story in a comedy way. It is completely different from any previous World War II-themed film. It reflects the Second World War from a fresh perspective that goes beyond the conventional. this history.

It is full of creativity and whimsy, turning an almost failed subject into gold. Many film critics who watched the movie even praised Roberto Benigni's performance in the movie as being equal to Chaplin.

This is undoubtedly an extremely high compliment, but Roberto Benigni's performance also deserves it.

Self-written, self-directed, and self-acted, no one can deny his role as the soul of this film.

If there is anyone whose contribution can be compared with him, it is probably Lin Weimin who created the original work of this film.

"Life is Beautiful" is the work of Lin Weimin. Xu Feng also knew that Lin Weimin had handed over the adaptation of this novel to Roberto Benigni, an Italian actor, and also attracted Michael Phillips to invest in the film.

She believed that if she had taken the initiative to contact Lin Weimin and Michael Phillips at that time, relying on the tacit understanding cultivated during the investment process of "Farewell My Concubine", it would not be difficult for her to get a part of the investment share.

But there are no ifs in everything. At that time, she put all her energy on Cheng Kaige and "Feng Yue" and had no time to care about anything else.

Facts have proved that she made a wrong bet.

The real soul of "Farewell My Concubine" is not Cheng Kaige, but Lin Weimin.

This rule still applies to "Life is Beautiful".

well!

Xu Feng lamented in his heart.

The thoughts in his heart only lasted for a moment. Seeing the team of Roberto Bernini and others moving towards his direction, Xu Feng waved to Michael Phillips.

"Mike!"