The literary era since 1979

Chapter 147: Taking October to a Higher Peak
In the coffee shop of Yanjing Hotel, foreigners cast their glances towards Fangyan's table, five women and one man!
"Teacher Fang."

Suzuki Yoko's face was still full of excitement: "This is the best New Year's gift I have ever received!"

"New Year's gift? Isn't the Spring Festival not here yet? Why do you say it's a New Year's gift?" Su Ya asked Fang Yan in a low voice.

Fangyan explained that the New Year in many countries, including Japan, is on January 1st, so there are so many foreigners in the restaurant today, gathering together to celebrate the New Year.

Bai Ruoxue glanced sideways, and Su Ya suddenly realized:
"So that's it."

"Just like Teacher Fang said!"

Yoko Suzuki invited them to attend the New Year's Eve party for international students in the evening, but Fangyan politely declined and changed the topic to the translation of the novel. "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" is not long, and it would take a long time to translate the entire thing.

Bai Ruoxue looked left and right.

I heard from Yoko Suzuki that with their current time and ability, the daily translation volume is about one to two thousand words. After the preliminary translation is completed, the next step is "bilingual comparison" proofreading. Once this step is completed, it will be the final review of the pure translation proofreading.

"That's about a month."

Fangyan took a sip of coffee.

"Hi!"

Yoko Suzuki said that her translation can only be regarded as a rough draft, and Yuhikaku's professional translator will polish it before publication.

"If you have any questions while translating, you can come to me."

Bai Ruoxue smiled and said she was willing to help at any time.

"Thank you."

Suzuki Yoko said gratefully: "If I am lucky enough to translate Mr. Fang's manuscript, I will definitely ask you to check it for me when it is finished. I hope to present it to my father in the best condition so that he can see the results of my years of studying abroad."

Bai Ruoxue asked: "Yangzi, do you mind if I show it to my Japanese teacher?"

Fang Yan asked curiously, "Do you have a Japanese teacher?"

Bai Ruoxue smiled and said that it was just an elder who watched him grow up, an old acquaintance of his grandfather, a professor of the Japanese Department of Foreign Trade, Chen Tao.

"He is Ruoxue-chan's teacher!"

Yoko Suzuki and Yui Hashimoto looked at each other in surprise.

Fangyan learned from them that Chen Tao was the editor-in-chief of the magazine "Japanese Language Learning and Research" and was in charge of the editing of the "Japanese-Chinese Dictionary" and the "Modern Japanese-Chinese Dictionary".

Su Ya's eyes widened, and she lowered her voice and said, "Ruoxue, your Japanese teacher is Mr. Chen, then your grandfather is..."

"He is just a teacher at the Foreign Affairs College."

Bai Ruoxue raised her hand and said, "I am also a fan of Mr. Fang's books. I have always wanted to meet you and talk about "The Fission of the Great Qin"."

"There is a chance."

Fangyan raised her eyebrows. It turned out that those who could be good sisters with Qiu Peining were not ordinary people. But it would not do her any harm. The higher the quality of the translated manuscript of "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog", the more popular it might be when it is published.

"Arigato, Wakayuki-chan!"

Yoko Suzuki was even more excited. With Chen Tao, a master in the field of Chinese-Japanese translation, guiding her, she was sure that the translation would be of good quality and she could perform well in front of her father.

Bai Ruoxue smiled and waved her hand, then she heard Su Ya wanting her to teach her a foreign language, "Xiao Ya, do you want to learn?"

Fangyan said: "You have to learn foreign languages. It's better to learn more than one."

"If Teacher Fang is willing to learn, I will teach you everything I know!"

Bai Ruoxue's eyes were firm.

At this moment, some foreigners not far away were already getting restless and began to sing Auld Lang Syne softly.

Amid the singing, people drank coffee, talked and laughed.

Tang Shengnan said weakly: "Teacher Fang, you gave Yui and Yoko New Year's gifts, can you give us one too?"

Fangyan said: "I may not be able to give you what you want."

"I'll give it to you! I'll give it to you!"

Tang Shengnan asked excitedly, "Can you sing the song 'On the Banks of Lake Baikal' that you sang last time in Yuanmingyuan Park in its entirety?"

Fang Yan was surprised and asked, "You guys are still thinking about this song?"

Bai Ruoxue said with emotion: "Once I've heard it, I can't forget it. I can't forget it at all."

"That's right, Sister Pei Ning and we have been talking about it these days."

Tang Shengnan clasped her hands together and begged, "Teacher Fang, please, just once."

"Please, Teacher Fang!"

Bai Ruoxue, Suzuki Yoko and others looked at him eagerly.

Tang Shengnan said: "If you are willing to release a tape, I promise to be the first to buy it, and I will buy ten copies!"

“I can’t compose music.”

Fangyan put down the cup gently.

There are not as many audiovisual publishing houses today as there were in the mid-to-late 80s. There are only a few such as China Record Company, Record Factory, and Yanjing Audiovisual Publishing House. Moreover, there was no sales revenue sharing at that time, and singers, lyricists, and composers only received a little bit of royalties.

There is also no awareness of copyright. Once a song becomes popular, many singers will immediately cover it, such as "Little Deng Lijun" and "Little Liu Wenzheng". They are everywhere. As for whether the audio-visual publishing house has paid the royalties according to regulations, probably only the publishing house itself knows the answer.

"It's good to have lyrics. You are a poet and a lyricist."

Tang Shengnan said sincerely, "The people at the audio-visual publishing house will arrange it for you."

"I don't deserve the title of 'lyricist'."

The dialect is so funny that it is hard to tell whether it is a good one or a bad one. At least it has to be of the level of "The Sky of History" or "Where is the Way Forward" to be worthy of this title.

………………

On New Year's Day, Fang Yan took the opportunity to deliver the invitation letter for the October Literature Award to Zhang Guangnian and ran to his senior brother's house to report with reservations about Suzuki Yoko's translation of the novel.

As expected, there were no surprises and it was approved.

After all, being so valued by international students and being recognized as having a huge market once introduced to Japan is in line with the purpose of cultural exchange. As for translation work, it is not impossible to make adjustments.

"I understand."

Fangyan stood up and prepared to leave.

"The recent literary award organized by your magazine October has caused quite a stir. I heard that you came up with the idea?"

Zhang Guangnian walked him to the door.

Fang Yan smiled and said, "Although the idea was mine, to run this literary award successfully, the cooperation of the entire editorial department is needed."

Zhang Guangnian said with emotion: "I regretted not recruiting you to People's Literature. Now that you have joined October, the sales, reputation and style of the entire journal have improved. I regret it even more."

"Please don't make fun of me. Even if I praise October to a higher level, it can't shake the status of People's Literature."

Fangyan shook his head and laughed.

“If October continues to forge ahead and People’s Literature remains the same, it’s hard to say what will happen to it,” Zhang Guangnian said. “People’s Literature needs a new leader now.”

"What do you mean?" Fangyan was very surprised.

"It's a pity that you are too young, otherwise, Comrade Feng Mu and I would have handed People's Literature directly to you."

Zhang Guangnian patted his shoulder.

Fangyan felt that his shoulders were heavy.

"Even if you give it to me now, I'm afraid I won't be able to manage it well. There are many things in the publishing house that I haven't learned or understood thoroughly yet."

“You still have a long way to go. Work hard at October and achieve more amazing results!”

Before leaving, Zhang Guangnian gave some words of encouragement.

"I will, Brother!" Fang Yan said seriously, and continued to deliver invitations door to door, including Ding Ling, Feng Mu, Ai Qing, Wang Zengqi...

For October's first literary award, the entire editorial department went all out, either inviting renowned writers and senior figures in the national literary world to present the awards, or confirming whether the shortlisted writers could be present on the day of the awards.

"Isn't this Pangdahai? Give me some!"

Fangyan took a sip of water to moisten his throat.

In the past two days, I have been notifying Lu Yao, Jiang Zilong, Gu Hua, Wang Anyi and others one by one to attend the award ceremony, and my throat is hoarse.

"I'll make it for you."

Tian Zengxiang put down the documents in his hand.

"Why is Teacher Zhang missing?"

Fangyan glanced at the empty seat.

Tian Zengxiang said while making tea: "Teacher Zhang has gone to the editorial offices of Contemporary and Youth Literature and sent out invitations. Now many journals want to learn from us to organize literary awards. We are not shy about it and invite them to come to the site to observe and exchange experiences."

"Old Tian is right!"

Zhang Shouren walked in with an empty cup in his hand.

"You want some Pang Da Hai too?"

Tian Zengxiang smiled.

Zhang Shouren nodded and took out the award list.

"I was a little worried at first whether the winning works of our first literature award would overlap with the works selected for the National Excellent Short Story and Novella Awards, but the result was far beyond my expectations. Although there were some overlaps, they were not many."

"This is the advantage of sorting by subject matter rather than length." Tian Zengxiang put some Sterculia lychnophora in the two people's cups.

Fang Yan sighed quietly, "But it's not perfect either. For example, Bitter Love, Flying, and When the Sunset Disappears, which are works of high quality but highly controversial, still missed out on the literature award."

Zhang Shouren comforted her: "Yanzi, this is not your fault. You have tried your best."

Tian Zengxiang said: "Yes, although it is a pity that the masterpiece was lost, President Lu and Editor-in-Chief Su also did it for everyone's sake. No one wants to experience the "Bitter Love" incident again."

Fangyan nodded. Although "October" has the bloodiness of "drawing a sword and riding a horse", it will not be so stubborn as to rush into the muzzle of a gun.

"No matter what, it's already a breakthrough from zero to one!"

Zhang Shouren said: "In the past, I would not have dared to think that a novel with a 'love' theme could win an award."

Tian Zengxiang said with a smile: "Yes, this time we are evaluating not only romance literature, but also local literature, military literature, reflective literature, historical literature, prose and poetry. This not only shows the magnanimity of our big magazine, but also reflects the trend of diversity in the literary and art circles, and also highlights the inclusiveness, value and weathervane role of the October Literature Award."

“We need to talk about the advantages, but we can’t ignore the disadvantages either.”

Fangyan blew away the steam and said, "Although we strived to be objective and fair in judging the awards this time, there are still many pearls that have been lost in the dust."

"Iwako is right. Take you for example."

Zhang Shouren gave examples in a serious tone.

In the competition of spy war literature, it is obvious that the dialect-written works "The Disguiser", "Listening to the Wind" and "The Dark War" should all be shortlisted for awards, but in order to avoid duplication, although multiple works can be on the list, only one work can be awarded. Similar situations are everywhere.

“I’ve been selected enough times.”

Fang Yan showed a helpless smile, "If it is taken away again, the fairness of the entire literary award will be ruined."

"You can't say that."

Tian Zengxiang said: "Those works of yours deserve awards!"

Zhang Shouren also had no objection and glanced at the list of winners.

As a love novel that breaks through literary taboos, "Under the Hawthorn Tree" must be on the list of love-themed novels!

As a pioneering work that launched the reflective literary trend, how could "The Horse Herder" be absent from the list of reflective literature?

Even if "The Fall of the Great Qin" does not win an award in the name of reform literature, it is still a masterpiece of historical literature.

Not to mention "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog", which failed to make it into the local literature list because it missed the selection deadline.

"If Yanzi hadn't stopped him, his song 'Love Life' would have also been on the list."

There was a hint of regret in Tian Zengxiang's tone.

Fang Yan took a sip of his saliva and said, "One more or one less is not a big deal. The big deal is to give the award to someone who doesn't deserve it."

After chatting for a while, it was time for lunch.

When everyone came back from the cafeteria to get food, they happened to run into Zhang Zhonge.

"What do Contemporary and Yenching Literature say?"

Fangyan picked up a piece of braised pork.

Zhang Zhonge took out an aluminum lunch box and said, "Of course they are very happy to have it. They have already promised to send a representative to attend the award ceremony."

“Then all the links are basically in place.”

Fang Yan and Tian Zengxiang smiled at each other.

Zhang Zhonge said that among the several editorial offices he visited, none of them failed to mention that October had a strong momentum and had become a force that could not be ignored among the national literary journals, especially since it had hosted the October Literature Award.

"They are right. Let's not talk about influence, let's talk about sales."

After Tian Zengxiang said this, everyone talked about the sales of "October" for the whole year.

Since the official first issue was released, sales have been steadily increasing.

After editors such as Fangyan joined the group, the sales and subscription numbers increased significantly. In particular, the lifting of paper restrictions gradually released the potential of large-scale literary magazines. Today, the sales of one issue can be stabilized at around 700,000 copies.

The issue that published articles such as "Life" and "Autumn Memories" that were enough to cause a sensation across the country has sold over one million copies in total.

There are 6 issues a year, and the total annual sales volume reaches 422 million.

You have to know that a bimonthly magazine like "Huaxia Youth", relying on the continuous fermentation of life discussions, only sold 395 million copies that year.

"If we continue this momentum from 81, is it possible to sell a million copies every week?"

Tian Zengxiang looked around and couldn't help but imagine.

"Haha, a million per issue, you're really too bold to think about it!"

Zhang Zhonge asked, "That issue of Life had the highest sales last year, right? What was the final sales volume?"

"132 million copies. We just broke the 130 million mark. We printed 3 more copies."

Zhang Shouren sighed, "My estimate was too optimistic at the time. Fortunately, I stopped in time, otherwise I would have to pay the loss."

Suddenly, there was silence.

Although Zhang Zhonge was serving his sentence at home and reflecting on his crimes at the time, he also knew that "October" was trying to quickly reverse the negative impact of the "Bitter Love" incident, and the entire editorial department was very impetuous.

The popularity of "Life" made them so overprinted, but it ended up being unsalable, which severely dampened everyone's enthusiasm. Things did not get better until "Autumn Memories" came out.

"I think Lao Tian's goal is still promising."

Fangyan clapped his hands and said, "As long as we can discover more good authors and good works."

"That's right, we have Yanzi in October!"

Tian Zengxiang smiled and put his arm around his shoulder.

"It's not me, it's us."

Fangyan glanced around, his eyes passing over the faces of Zhang Zhonge, Zhang Shouren, Tian Zengxiang and others one by one.

Step by step, I will raise "October" to a higher height!

(End of this chapter)