Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 819 You Can Do It With Me

As Chen Fan sipped his tea and listened to Ba Jin's words, he couldn't help but chuckle.

He placed the teacup on the table, dusted off the ash, and then looked at Mr. Ba and said, "I think your concern is unnecessary."

Ba Jin hummed in agreement, raised an eyebrow, and looked at him with a serious expression. He asked, "Why is it unnecessary? I think it is very necessary. This relates to the fundamental question of literature: is it something used to enlighten human thought, or is it just a pastime?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "Then I'd like to ask you a question."

Ba Jin slightly raised his chin. "Speak."

Chen Fan asked, "In your opinion, is the influence of a book, or the ideological content, more important?"

Seeing that Ba Jin was deep in thought, Chen Fan spread his hands and said, "The level of education of readers and their literary cultivation determine that the degree of dissemination and seriousness are necessarily inversely proportional."

Admittedly, within a limited circle, the more intellectually profound a work is, or what is often referred to as literary, the greater its influence. For example, in the literary world, works that have won the Nobel Prize are considered better than those that have not.

However, if we break out of this circle and place it in a broader space, the fact is that the more popular and less profound a work is, the wider its reach and influence.

Looking at it from this perspective, what do writers most want to do?
It can be summed up in just four words: "literature carries the way".

Through one's own work, one conveys the ideas one wants to express and gets more people to accept them, right? So, in fact, it expresses a result: influence is more important than intellectual content.

Old Ba frowned, waved his hand, and said with a bitter face, "What you said makes sense, but I feel there's something strange about it. Let me think about it carefully."

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "Actually, there's not much to think about. Take fairy tales back then, for example. Before that, were fairy tales considered literature? No. It was after the May Fourth Movement that Lu Xun, Ye Shengtao and other predecessors advocated the creation of children's literature. Ye Shengtao even wrote 'The Scarecrow,' which became the beginning of modern fairy tale literature. This marked the beginning of fairy tales being accepted and promoted by the mainstream literary world as a form of children's literature."

Popular literature today faces the same predicament as children's literature did back then. If you feel that popular literature lacks literary merit, is it possible that you have already made a judgment about this literary form in your mind?

Those who believe that popular literature is merely entertainment, lacking literary merit and intellectual content, consider such works to be inferior to serious literature.

However, popular literature has a wider reach and greater influence than serious literature. This forces serious writers to confront the question: popular literature is there, visible to everyone. What should they do then?

Chen Fan tossed away his cigarette butt, picked up another one, lit it, and looked at Old Ba with a smile, "They're visible, annoying, and yet we can't do anything about them. What do you suggest we do?"

Ba Jin raised his eyelids slightly and hummed twice, "From what you're saying, you seem to have the idea of ​​advocating for popular literature?"

Chen Fan immediately shook his head, "No, no, absolutely not. I don't have such a big idea."

He paused for a moment, then moved forward, leaned on the edge of the table, and smiled at Ba Jin, saying, "I just think that instead of forcibly dividing literature into popular and serious literature, it's better to let things take their natural course."

The general public prefers popular literature, which is an undeniable fact. The intellectual depth of serious literature is far superior to that of popular literature, which only focuses on entertainment and enjoyment. Given this, why can't we allow a diverse range of literature to flourish?
If you enjoy popular literature, then go ahead and read it. If you prefer something more serious and thought-provoking, there's also our serious literature to choose from.

As he spoke, he gestured, "As long as it's not the kind of thing where you force someone to drink water on a windy day, or a book that distorts the truth, blurs right and wrong, or warps values, you can let it develop as it may."

The recently concluded National Congress of Literary and Art Circles also expressed this idea: only by liberating our minds and allowing a hundred flowers to bloom can the world of literature and art truly expand.

Ba Jin nodded slightly as he listened.

After a while, he suddenly realized what was happening, threw away his cigarette butt, glared at him, and said, "Wait a minute, you almost led me astray. Did I say popular literature was bad? When did I say we couldn't do popular literature?"

Chen Fan blinked, then widened his eyes innocently. "Didn't you say I wrote too much popular literature and didn't take seriously literature seriously?"

"correct."

Ba Jin said irritably, “I’m talking about your personal problem, not the issue of popular literature versus serious literature. This issue has been debated for many years, and you still need to discuss it with me here.”

I'm talking about yourself. You've written so many popular literary works in a year; don't neglect serious literary creation. That would be irresponsible to yourself and to your teacher, Professor Xu, with his vast knowledge.

Chen Fan's face hardened. "So you mean popular literature is inferior to serious literature?"

Ba Jin rolled his eyes in anger, "Sophistry."

The next second, he laughed out loud in anger, "I've figured it out, making you earn less money is worse than killing you."

Chen Fan chuckled and pulled out a cigarette, handing it to him. He laughed and said, "No, if a knife were ever held to my throat, I would definitely give in and immediately write a few books of serious literature to redeem myself."

Ba Jin, with a cigarette between his fingers, shook his head repeatedly as he listened, saying, "If you were alive decades ago, you definitely wouldn't be able to do revolutionary work."

Chen Fan nodded sincerely, "You're right!"

After a while of commotion, Ba Jin finally calmed down and said while smoking, "Fine, write whatever you want. But to be honest, I'm still looking forward to seeing you write more serious literary works. And don't forget why Professor Xu took you as his student."

Upon hearing Ba Jin's words, Chen Fan immediately straightened up and said earnestly, "Of course I remember. Actually, my idea is quite simple: make money from popular literature and then use that money to support the development of serious literature."

Upon hearing this, Ba Jin's expression changed slightly. He unconsciously adjusted his posture and looked at him, asking, "What do you mean?"

Chen Fan thought for a moment and said, "Here's the thing, I plan to get affiliated with the Jiangnan Writers Association in a while and start a magazine. The initial plan is to start a comprehensive magazine."

Old Ba frowned slightly. "Comprehensive? It has everything?"

Chen Fan nodded and said, "It has everything. A part of it is popular literature, including historical fiction, novels, and storybooks. As long as it's interesting, it can be published."

Part of it is a global overview, which is a collection of excerpts from foreign magazines and periodicals. These excerpts may include anecdotes, interesting stories about customs, or even literary selections from abroad.

This final section, however, focuses primarily on serious literature. My tentative title for it is 'Literary World,' providing a small space for enthusiasts of serious literature to publish their work.

He paused for a moment, pointed to the magazine "Harvest" on the corner of his desk, and sighed, "Your magazine's standards are too high, and the others are about the same, especially the top-tier magazines like 'People's Literature,' 'Yanjing Literature,' and 'Jiangnan Literature.' Their thresholds are extremely high, and they reject manuscripts at the drop of a hat, leaving no room for beginners..."

Upon hearing this, Ba Jin waved his hand to interrupt him, "Without standards and requirements, can it still be called serious literature?"

After catching his breath, he continued, "However, your idea is quite good. Using the soil of popular literature to drive the cultivation of serious literature, from a practical point of view, although the feasibility is not very high, it is still feasible to a certain extent."

Chen Fan shrugged and said, "There's nothing we can do about hobbies and interests. Some people just get sleepy when they see serious literature, and even if we invite the old master, it won't help. The only people we can win over are those who want to read as soon as they see words. They even need to tear off half a newspaper to go to the toilet, otherwise they can't poop. These are the people we can cultivate as readers of serious literature."

Upon hearing this, Ba Jin burst out laughing, "You can't expect anything good to come out of a dog's mouth."

He shook his head and then laughed, "However, the words may be rough, but the principle is sound. Serious literature is relatively dry and boring, and it requires that kind of mental focus to stare at the words."

He exhaled a long breath, squinted his eyes and thought for a moment, finally fixing his gaze on Chen Fan.

Chen Fan took two sips of water from his teacup, his gaze darting around. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Old Ba snorted twice, looked at him and laughed, "You came to see me today, didn't you have something else to say?"

Chen Fan blinked. "No."

Old Ba shook his head again, "Really not?"

Chen Fan rolled his eyes slightly, put down his teacup, and chuckled, "It's really nothing. As for the publishing house affiliation, although I haven't talked to Uncle He yet, it's pretty much a done deal. The reason I haven't talked to him yet is because the time isn't right."

Old Ba raised an eyebrow slightly, "Why isn't the time up yet?"

Chen Fan sighed and said, "Because there isn't a suitable person to take charge. Being an editor requires a lot of time sitting and reviewing manuscripts, and you often have to pull the authors aside to revise them. It's almost all about wasting time. I definitely don't have the time myself, so I can only find someone to keep an eye on things for me."

However, I don't trust just anyone..."

He looked up at Mr. Ba and explained, "After all, my plan for this magazine is to be self-sufficient. Apart from finding a unit to be affiliated with, I will handle everything else myself."

Ba Jin suddenly interrupted him, "You want to start a private magazine? Since all publications were confiscated after the founding of the People's Republic of China, there has been no precedent for this."

Chen Fan smiled. "So let's talk about affiliation first."

Old Ba raised his forehead high, his brows furrowed, and muttered, "If you're going to be affiliated with someone else, you have to accept guidance from the organization and ensure you don't make any fundamental mistakes. That's one way to do it."

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "Right? That's what I was thinking too. By affiliating with a higher-level organization, we can receive guidance from them and ensure that the overall direction is correct. At the same time, we can operate independently and be responsible for our own profits and losses, which ensures the flexibility of the magazine's operations. You think it's feasible, right?"

Old Ba glanced at him, pondered for two seconds, and said, "You just said you wanted to find someone to keep watch for you. Have you found that person yet?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "The person was arranged a long time ago. It's Jiang Tiantian. I trust her very much. It's just that she's still in school and her schedule isn't very convenient, so I haven't been in a hurry to do this."

Ba looked at him and asked, "It's not that you can't choose Jiang Tiantian as the editor-in-chief of the magazine. This young lady is quite quick to learn. She has been studying here for two years and is already at a similar level to the senior editors. She can independently review and revise manuscripts."

Moreover, the magazine you're going to publish will primarily focus on popular literature, which will make it easier. Just assign her a few experienced editors to set the tone, and it won't be difficult at all.

He adjusted his posture and looked at Chen Fan, asking, "But you've affiliated the magazine with the Jiangnan Writers Association, while she's in Shanghai. What do we do about that?"

Chen Fan said very seriously, "My affiliation with the Jiangnan Writers Association doesn't affect the fact that the magazine's address is in Shanghai, does it?"

When Buffett heard this, he was speechless. Could it really be done like this?
He then shook his head and said, "In my opinion, you shouldn't bother Lao He so much. It's just a matter of affiliation. Why don't you just work with me and be affiliated with the Shanghai Writers Association? We have office space here, you just need to pay the rent."

"After that, we'll hang up another sign and let Jiang Tiantian move in. Also, I'll find you a few retired editors so they can contribute their remaining energy. What do you think?"

Chen Fan's eyes widened. "Such a good thing?"

It didn't matter which organization he chose to affiliate with; the reason he put the Jiangnan Writers Association first was naturally because he felt most confident in choosing He Qingsheng.

Since Mr. Buffett agreed, he was naturally happy to save himself the trouble.

As for how to explain this to He Qingsheng?

Actually, it's easy to handle. At worst, we can just use Jiang Tiantian's name here. Even if everyone knows that she's just a front, she's still a pretty useful brand in the open.

Seeing Chen Fan laughing heartily, Old Ba also grinned and said, "Isn't that a good thing?"

Chen Fan nodded repeatedly, "That's great, they've solved both the people and the land problem..."

He paused mid-sentence, then his face fell, and he squinted as he asked, "With such good terms, don't you have any requests?"

Who knows if there's a trap hidden in the benefits that are offered to you out of the blue?
Old Ba chuckled and said, "Nothing else, I don't want your shares, and I won't send anyone to interfere with the magazine's work. It's just that I want to send an observer to your magazine."

Chen Fan thought for a moment, then suddenly laughed and said, "Are you planning to use me as a guinea pig?"

Ba Jin leaned back in his chair, exhaled a long breath, and said, "At this literary and art congress, everyone said that we should liberate our minds, but how to liberate them and to what extent are all questions."

This is one of them.

Secondly, what you just said, although it is a fallacy, is still a kind of truth. Popular literature has a greater social impact than serious literature. I would also like to see what kind of wonderful effect will be produced by putting two completely different kinds of literature in the same magazine.

Thirdly,..."

He leaned forward again, looked at Chen Fan, and said, "You've done more than just run this magazine, haven't you?"

Chen Fan blinked. Although Ba Lao's words were a bit convoluted, he actually understood them.

Because she understood, she was somewhat surprised and asked, "How did you guess that?"

When Old Ba realized he had guessed correctly, he grinned and said, "I didn't guess anything. I just felt that when you did something, you wouldn't do it for the sake of the matter itself. There must be other purposes behind it."

Chen Fan's face fell. Could it really be like this?

Ba Jin looked at him and asked curiously, "Tell me, besides publishing books, what else can this magazine do?"

(End of this chapter)