Back to 80: My Literary Life

Borrow money?

Of course Chen Zhongshi would not lend money privately.

The royalties from his "White Deer Plain" were enough to allow him to live a better life than most people in Xijing City.

"Is the office building short of funds?" Fang Minghua felt it keenly.

"Yes, to be honest, the funds allocated from above are not enough, and our Writers Association has no industry. We still owe part of the construction fee, and we haven't paid a penny for the decoration. The decoration boss came to collect the debt just after the New Year."

"My idea is that Lu Yao, Pingwa, and I all have royalties, so we can help to advance part of it first. The two of them will pay 30,000, and I will pay 40,000. You can borrow 100,000 from the foundation, so that you can get 200,000 and give it to the decoration boss. It's not easy to do business these days."

After listening to Chen Zhongshi's idea, Fang Minghua pondered for a while and asked: "How much money do you owe to the outside world for the construction of this building?"

"The total amount of construction fee and decoration fee is about 420,000. I will find a way to pay it back slowly in the future." Chen Zhongshi replied.

"Then, none of you three need to advance the money. The 420,000 yuan will be paid by the foundation, and you don't have to pay it back. It's considered a sponsorship from the foundation." Fang Minghua made a decision immediately.

"Sponsorship?"

"Yes, I plan to sponsor 600,000 yuan, and the remaining 180,000 yuan will be used to purchase office equipment. To be honest, the desks and chairs that have been used for decades in our unit should have been eliminated long ago. Computers, printers, copiers, fax machines, etc. should also be purchased. This will help improve work efficiency." Fang Minghua expressed his opinion.

"Thank you so much, Minghua!" Chen Zhongshi was a little excited.

This worry that has troubled me for so many days and made me feel bad for years was solved so easily.

"Thank you for what? I am also a member of the Writers Association. You are the one who is worrying about the building renovation, and I didn't help much." Fang Minghua said with a smile: "But I have a small request."

"What request?"

"Give the foundation and the literary jury a few more offices."

"That's no problem. How many do you want? Are ten houses enough?" Chen Zhongshi said immediately.

"We don't need so many rooms. Five is enough. More is a waste. There are so many people in the office." Fang Minghua said.

"Then five rooms, put on the third floor, next to your office!" Chen Zhongshi immediately decided that as the chairman of the Qin Province Writers Association, he still had some power.

After finishing this matter, Chen Zhongshi's mood immediately became relaxed. He drank two sips of tea and was about to leave, but Fang Minghua stopped him.

"Don't worry, Teacher Chen, I have something to discuss with you."

"What is it?"

"Isn't it going to start the third World Chinese Literature Award soon? I want to adjust the organizational structure. The World Chinese Literature Award Foundation has a Chinese Literature Award Organizing Committee and an office. The office is a permanent institution."

"I will serve as the president of the foundation, and let Bai Miao serve as the chairman of the organizing committee and director of the office, who will be responsible for the organization of this literary award. What do you think?" Fang Minghua said.

"Minghua, it seems that you have completely left the competition to Bai Miao." Chen Zhongshi immediately understood.

"Hehe, you know I'm lazy, and Bai Miao did a good job last time, let him continue to do it."

"Okay, although the Chinese Literature Award is under the name of our Writers Association, it is actually run by you privately, you can do whatever you think is appropriate." Chen Zhongshi immediately agreed: "If you need any assistance in hosting the competition, just ask. I'm leaving first."

After Chen Zhongshi finished speaking, he stood up.

Fang Minghua sent him to the gate and went back to the yard to continue drinking tea.

It is the most suitable person to let Bai Miao do it, of course he will not let him work for nothing, and he will pay him an extra salary.

Among the leaders of the Writers Association who have a good relationship with Fang Minghua, including Chen Zhongshi, the copyright income of the novel has greatly increased their income, which can be regarded as a lot of money in Xijing City.

But Bai Miao is only the vice chairman of the Writers Association. Although he has written some articles, he has not published a best-selling novel, and he only relies on that dead salary.

The Writers Association is not a unit with oil and water, so he is very happy to receive another salary, not to mention that he likes this job very much.

It was the beginning of March, and the cadres of the Writers Association happily moved into the newly built Writers Association building. At the same time, the third World Chinese Literature Award was officially launched.

Bai Miao, the chairman of the organizing committee and director of the office, was in charge, and Fang Minghua was a hands-off boss - of course, he still had to participate in the review work.

Today he was sitting in his office on the third floor of the Writers Association, looking at a magazine, which was "Tianya" run by Han Shaogong.

The columns were very rich, including writers' standpoints, folk language, special reports, literature, art, research and criticism, etc.

The writer's standpoint published the cultural essay "The Betrayed Will" (excerpt) written by the writer Milan Kundera, and "Inside and Outside Football" written by Shi Tiesheng.

People who don't know Shi Tiesheng can hardly imagine that a person who has been sitting in a wheelchair for a long time can actually enjoy this sport and publish articles to discuss it in depth.

"In football and on the earth, among the flags of the ideologies, nationalism is the oldest and most solid ideology, and the passion that is most easily incited."

This is a sentence in the article.

Wow, it's really far-sighted.

In the column of literary research and criticism, an article about poetry written by poet Yu Jian was published, "Retreating from "Metaphor" - My View on Poetry as a Method".

"Why should poetry writing "retreat from metaphor"? Simply put, it is to narrate personal experience "clearly".

After reading it, Fang Minghua couldn't help but sigh.

What does it mean?

It is advocating writing in plain language.

Yu Jian, who became famous in the 1980s, is a representative figure of the "third generation of poetry" and emphasizes the importance of oral writing.

The fact that Tianya magazine published this article naturally has its background.

In the field of literature, "humanistic spirit discussions" have been coming one after another, attracting attention. At the same time, arguments in the field of poetry have also attracted people's attention from time to time. The core of what was later called the "poetry of the 1990s" split was the long-lasting debate between "folk writing" and "intellectual writing".

Poets Yu Jian, Yi Sha, and others who hold the position of "folk writing" and poets Tang Xiaodu, Xichuan, and Cheng, who are called "intellectual writing", have launched a debate in academic discussions in newspapers and magazines.

The two sides held different views on the current situation of poetry, poetic propositions, and writing positions, with clear barriers:

People in the folk writing camp accused intellectuals of having a cultural aristocratic mentality in writing, and based on knowledge and using translated poetry as writing resources, which made poetry increasingly bookish and far away from life and readers.

The intellectual camp refuted the other side: advocating writing so-called vivid "daily life" and taking the path of "hype" is tantamount to reducing poetry to a jester in the consumer era.

They were arguing happily.

Fang Minghua read some of their arguments and sighed in his heart.

Poetry is now in a critical condition, so what is there to argue about all day.