Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 738 Fang Minghua recommends "To Live"

“To Live?
"Yes, Editor-in-Chief Lei, have you read this book?" Fang Minghua asked.

"Of course I have read it. This was a very popular book two years ago. Zhang Yimou made it into a movie and won an award. How could I not have read it?" Lei Da said with a smile.

"So what do you think of the writing?"

Lei Da didn't say anything. He took out another cigarette, lit it, took a puff, and then said, "This novel is among the 111 novels submitted. We discussed it for a while during the reading class. I remember Hu Ping, the director of the Creative Research Department of the China Writers Association, made a very representative speech."

"What did he say?"

"He said that this is the least avant-garde novel written by the avant-garde novelist Yu Hua. It not only marks an important narrative transformation and maturity in Yu Hua's novel creation, but also becomes a literary transformation work that marks the literary development and transformation of Chinese contemporary literature from the avant-garde literature that began in the mid-20s to the 80s and even affected the new century. In short, it is a relatively good work." Lei Da said finally.

"Then why didn't it even make it into the 20 preliminary shortlists?" Fang Minghua was curious.

"This is just Hu Ping's personal opinion and cannot represent all members of the study class." Lei Da explained with a smile.

"Of course, this book also has its shortcomings. For example, the characterization of Fugui is too one-dimensional and lacks the necessary psychological depth and complexity. There are also problems with the handling of the historical background. The novel shows China's decades of historical changes through Fugui's perspective, but the handling of this historical background may be too simplified, etc." Lei Da mentioned several shortcomings of the book in one breath.

Fang Minghua nodded.

"You're right, this book does have these shortcomings, but you can't deny that it's a good book, right? It's better than "The Turmoil of Autumn", right?"

Lei Da was stunned for a moment and suddenly burst into laughter: "Minghua, why are you holding on to "The Turmoil of Autumn"? Of course, this is your personal opinion, and you can express it at the meeting."

At this point, Lei Da paused and threw away the cigarette butt in his hand: "Minghua, after reading the 20 novels in the preliminary selection, did you find a problem?"

"I know that the preliminary selections are basically traditional realism and traditional historicism works. New historicism works like "To Live" and avant-garde narrative novels were almost wiped out." Fang Minghua said lightly.

"Since you have seen the clues, you don't need to ask me why "To Live" was not selected in the preliminary round, right?" Lei Da said.

"But this is unfair! You also know that from 89 to 94, a large number of new historicism and avant-garde narrative novels emerged. Why should we turn a blind eye to them?! I don't care about anything else, but since you let me be a member of the jury, then I have the right to recommend works that I appreciate!" Fang Minghua said in a firm tone.

"Editor Lei, can you do me a favor?"

"Can you let me be one of the judges to recommend this work?" Radar asked back.

"Yes, according to the regulations, a new work needs three judges, and you are one short. To be honest, I am not very familiar with most of the judges at the meeting, and I don't know what they think of this novel."

Lei Da thought for a moment and said, "Chen Jiangong is also a member of the reading class. He was also very interested in this book at the time. You can find him."

"Okay, I'll look for it when I get home tonight!"

After strolling around with Lei Da, Fang Minghua returned to the hotel and went to look for Chen Jiangong.

Chen Jiangong's current positions are Secretary of the Secretariat of the China Writers Association and Director of the Creative Research Department, President of the Writers Publishing House, and Director of the Office of this year's Mao Dun Prize Jury. He is 47 years old this year and is relatively young on the jury.

After a few casual words, Fang Minghua went straight to the point and said that he was going to recommend Yu Hua's "To Live" for the jury to read, and asked you to be one of the recommenders.

"Minghua, how do you know I like this book?" Chen Jiangong was a little surprised and suddenly thought of something:
"Radar must have told you! This guy and I are the only two people who are both members of the reading class and the judging committee this time. He is also one of the recommenders, right?"

"Yes, Editor-in-Chief Lei is the same." Fang Minghua said with a smile.

"Since it's him, he must have told you why this novel didn't pass the initial review, right?" Chen Jiangong's words were very obscure, but Fang Minghua understood them. "He told me, and I know it, but I want to try."

"Well, you have to prepare well. It's easy for the three of us to recommend it, but it's not easy to convince these judges."

"I know."

Recommending a book for the jury to read is not as simple as having three people jointly recommend it. As the main recommender, Fang Minghua must write down the reasons for the recommendation - that is, the writing characteristics of the novel you recommend, what are its advantages and disadvantages, and explain them one by one, and speak at the meeting for other judges to read and refer to.

From a certain perspective, this is also a means of promotion and publicity.

Of course Fang Minghua should take it seriously.

After returning to his room, Fang Minghua began writing overnight. Unfortunately, he had no computer and had to write by hand, which was a bit painful.

Two days later, Fang Minghua formally submitted "To Live" to Vice Chairman Chen Changben as a work to be read by the jury members.

This is the second person to recommend a novel to the jury after Ding Ning recommended "The Turmoil of Autumn"!
After Chen Changben announced the news at the meeting, a burst of whispers broke out in the meeting room again.

Fang Minghua didn't say anything, just sat quietly in his seat.

Two days later, when the novel was being discussed, Fang Minghua stood up and gave an impromptu speech.

"Comrades, according to the meeting arrangement, I will comment on the novel "To Live" that I recommended. If there are any inappropriate parts, please criticize and correct me. I will analyze this novel from the following aspects one by one."

1. The novel adopts a double narrative structure. The first narrative layer is about "I" who went to the countryside to collect folk songs and listened to "Fugui" telling stories. "I" is a listener, and the second narrative layer is "Fugui" telling the story. He is the witness and narrator of the story. The novel uses a double narrative structure to build a story well.

Below I will discuss each level of the narrative:

The "I" in the first narrative layer is a creator of the county cultural center who went to the countryside to collect folk songs. Although "I" is the first person in the novel, in fact, from the perspective of story narration.
Second, the narrative strategy of repetition and interruption is adopted in the narrative, which makes the novel more appealing and tense.
3. The “warm narrative” method used in the novel

Fang Minghua spent half an hour analyzing the novel in detail, and many judges present nodded frequently.

I have to admit that Fang Minghua's analysis of this novel is very accurate.

It is indeed an excellent literary work, but sometimes excellence alone is not enough.

Of course, this cannot be said openly, as we are all veterans.

After Fang Minghua finished his speech, some people also made comments. Generally speaking, there were more praises than criticisms.

Fang Minghua listened carefully and took notes from time to time.

He wasn't feeling much optimism.

Recommending the works to the judges is just the first step. According to the meeting arrangement, this meeting is only a preliminary discussion of all the works and does not involve any specific voting.

Who knows what changes will happen during the discussions in subsequent meetings and at the crucial stage of the final vote?
The 17-day meeting has come to an end - it was originally 15 days, but was extended by two more days because two new novels were recommended.

What made Fang Minghua feel a little strange was:
Historically, White Deer Plain, which caused a lot of controversy during this year's Mao Dun Prize selection, did not cause any waves at this meeting. Almost everyone agreed that this was a rare realist masterpiece in recent years!
What exactly is going on?

(End of this chapter)