Back to 80: My Literary Life

Fang Minghua stayed at the Hyatt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, New York, a five-star hotel located near Times Square.

He lived in a suite on the 21st floor, and could see the giant digital screen of the Nasdaq Stock Exchange from the balcony.

"Mr. Minghua, this is your itinerary, please take a look." Evans handed Fang Minghua a document.

On the evening of June 19, he attended this year's National Book Critics Circle Award at Carnegie Hall

At noon on June 20, he participated in a cultural interview program with the famous New York host McDonald: "Round Table" (if he wins the award.)

At noon on June 21, he participated in the book signing event at Noble Bookstore in New York.

At the Federal Bookstore in Houston on June 22

Fang Minghua counted.

Wow, almost one a day, a total of six signings in six cities.

New York, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Chicago, all over the United States, Fang Minghua thought of his pitiful appearance flying in the air every day.

Damn, free things are really expensive.

But since I'm here, I'll make the best of it. It's okay to work hard to promote my own book.

Fortunately, there are about five days left, and I can manage it myself.

"Please adjust the order of Chicago and Philadelphia and put Chicago last." Fang Minghua put forward his own opinion. "I'm going to meet a good friend of mine in Chicago."

"OK!"

After everything was explained clearly, Evans said again: "Mr. Minghua, I'm going back. I will pick you up on time at 6 pm tomorrow to attend the ceremony. Just call me if you have anything."

At this point, Evans paused and said: "Miss Emily's room is next to yours. I hope you can spend a good night."

After saying that, an ambiguous smile appeared on his face.

What does it mean?

But Fang Minghua still said thank you politely.

Fang Minghua washed up, changed into a T-shirt and jeans, and then went to knock on Emily's door next door, and the two went downstairs to eat together.

Of course, they also had to visit Times Square.

At sunset, the two strolled and watched the pigeons flying in the square.

In fact, the Times Square in the 1980s was not as bright and beautiful as it is now. It was a prosperous scene that emerged after the "big cleanup" in the 1990s.

In Fang Minghua's eyes, the Times Square now is messy everywhere, with all kinds of graffiti on the walls and homeless people sitting in the corners. What makes Fang Minghua speechless is that when walking on Broadway Street, he actually heard the low panting of a woman from a nearby movie theater.

Damn!

This immediately reminded Fang Minghua of the Japanese movies he had watched online before he came to this era.

Damn.

So open?

It's Broadway after all, can you cover it up?

The movies that were not suitable for children in the video halls in our country in the 1990s were generally played in the back streets and alleys in the middle of the night.

Emily seemed to be used to it. Seeing Fang Minghua noticed these, she smiled and said, "This is what you Chinese call the decadent and corrupt capitalism. You don't have it in your country, right?"

This question is really hard to answer.

Fang Minghua avoided the question and asked: "I think that a place like Broadway should stage plays like Moulin Rouge, Les Miserables and Cats instead of showing these things."

Emily explained the reason.

All this stems from the economic recession in the United States after entering the 1980s, coupled with urban renewal and commercial transformation, many theaters and shops have closed down, and unemployment and crime rates have risen sharply.

"To be honest, there are many dark and influential movies in our country, such as Midnight Cowboy and Taxi Driver, and many of the plots in them are shot in Times Square. The vulgar movies you see now are also one of the scenery of Times Square in New York."

"Of course, the plays you mentioned have been staged here." Emily glanced at her messy hair blown by the wind and continued:

"I heard that the Lyceum Theater is currently performing a new musical, The Phantom of the Opera, which is great."

"The Phantom of the Opera?"

"Yes, have you heard of this name?" Seeing Fang Minghua's surprised expression, Emily asked.

"It's adapted from the novel of the same name by French writer Gaston Leroux, right?" Fang Minghua answered.

"Yes, have you read this novel?"

"Yeah." Fang Minghua nodded.

"That's great!" Emily clapped her hands happily.

"Recently, a musical adapted from the novel of the same name was staged, and it won seven Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress in a Play. Would you like to watch it with me?"

The girl paused and looked at Fang Minghua.

This is possible.

Just don't watch those R-rated movies with me.

"Okay. Then let's watch it on the evening of the 21st? Let's buy tickets now." Emily is a straightforward girl and ran towards the theater.

Oh. What an anxious girl.

"The Phantom of the Opera" is one of the masterpieces of the musical master Andrew. It is adapted from the Gothic love novel of the same name by the French writer Leroux, and is also one of the classic plays performed on Broadway.

In an opera house in Paris, strange things happen frequently. The original prima donna is almost crushed to death, and a creepy unreal male voice appears in the theater. This voice comes from the "ghost" living in the underground maze of the theater. He falls in love with the actress Christine.

Fang Minghua has not seen this musical, but has seen its companion piece "Midnight Song".

That's right, it was "Midnight Song" produced by my country's Shanghai Film Studio and released nationwide in 1985.

They are all based on the novel "Phantom of the Opera" by French writer Leroux!

Of course, in terms of artistic value, musicals are much higher than movies. After the millennium, this musical was introduced to our country and opened at the Yanjing Tianqiao Art Center. It is said that it ran for 64 consecutive performances.

It’s also nice to see this musical from this era.

After shopping until less than ten o'clock in the evening, the two of them hurried back to the hotel.

You can no longer wander around, Emily said that security guards are prone to trouble.

"Good night, sweet dreams!"

"Sweet dreams!" the two said goodbye.

After breakfast the next morning, Emily rented a Beetle and took Fang Minghua to visit the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island in New York.

Fang Minghua saw that the base of the granite statue was engraved with a sonnet "The New Giant" by the American poet Emmanuelle Roche: the last five lines are widely circulated in the Chinese version:

Welcome,

Those who are weary and needy,

The masses huddled together longing to breathe freely,

The bustling and abandoned,

Poor people.

put these homeless

troubled people

Give it to me together.

I stand at the golden gate,

Lift high the light of freedom!

Of course, Fang Minghua also saw a lot of bird droppings falling on the base of the statue.

Take photos and take souvenirs.

After playing for most of the day, the two returned to the hotel in the afternoon. After dinner, Evans showed up at the hotel on time to pick up Fang Minghua to attend the evening awards ceremony.