The literary era since 1979

Chapter 221 Magical Realism
As dusk falls, the afterglow is golden.

Gong Xing sat in front of the window, absent-mindedly flipping through the script of "The Happy Bachelor", with no look of happiness on his face.

Just at this moment, a crisp car bell sounded from downstairs.

All of a sudden, it caught Gong Xing's attention.

Looking down through the window, the postman in a green uniform parked his car and called out, "Gong-Le-Hi! There's a letter for you!"

"I'm in the house!"

Gong Xing replied loudly, "I'll be right down," and then ran out of the room.

Hearing the trivial footsteps, Gong's father, Gong's mother and others all looked over, but the figure had already disappeared at the door.

Go and come in a hurry.

Gong Xing ran back into the house with the letter in his hand, his face full of excitement.

"Xiaoxiang, who sent the letter?"

Gong's mother was puzzled, as she was not usually so anxious to gain trust.

Gong Xing said as he walked: "A friend."

Gong's mother asked: "Boyfriend, girlfriend?"

"Good friends!"

Gong Xing locked the door and saw the familiar handwriting on the envelope. He smiled at first, then frowned:
"It took you so long to send it. If the letter is not well written, I will show you how I will punish you!"

As he spoke, he couldn't wait to open the letter.

The first line of words on the white paper caught my eye.

"In the mountains and in the sea, by the water and by the shore, two trees do not make a forest, but under the fields there is a heart."

Gong Xing was stunned for a moment, then quickly walked to the table and carefully analyzed the characters with a pen.

"The character 田 (field) with a heart underneath it is the character 思 (thinking)."

"Two trees make a forest. Two trees put together do not form a forest. Hmm, what word could that be?"

"Ah, it's 'phase'!"

"So, the whole sentence means..."

She read it out as she understood it: "In the mountains, by the sea, by the river, on the shore, I miss you all the time."

He stared at the letter, his eyes filled with emotion.

Just as the corners of my mouth were about to rise, I saw the next line which read "The second half, I'll tell you in person when I see you", and I immediately pulled my mouth down.

"Wrong!"

"Why do you keep breaking things? It's so bad!"

"Gong Yanzi! If you dare to break it like this again next time, I will send you a razor blade!"

After venting her emotions, she took out her treasure box from the drawer. There were many toys in the box, such as bright glass beads, white ceramic ponies, etc., all of which were given to her by her parents.

It has always been cherished.

Now, there is another handkerchief and a letter.

Gong Xing carefully kept it and then wrote a reply.

"..."

"I like your answer very much, but I am very dissatisfied with your behavior of only writing half of the answer! Very dissatisfied!"

Having written this, I paused and couldn't help wondering in my mind, what is he doing now?

………………

These days, the dialect can be summed up in one word: busy!

He not only had to polish the novel "The Grandmaster Huang Feihong", but also had to participate in the publication of the latest issue of "October".

Moreover, among the group of graduates assigned to the editorial department, he would have a young apprentice from the Chinese Department of Yan University, Sui Lijun.

After all, in the editing industry, “passing on knowledge, helping others and mentoring” is a tradition.

Fortunately, as soon as the fifth issue of "October" was released on the 10th, there was suddenly plenty of time for dialect.

"Finally I can take a break again!"

Tian Zengxiang stretched his back and said, "Yanzi, do you want to go to Liulichang and Yushi Station with me?"

"Let's forget about it today."

Fang Yan waved his hand, then asked Zhang Shouren for the remittance slip for Shi Tiesheng's royalties.

"The finance department has sent it. It will arrive in the next two days."

Zhang Shouren said, "Yanzi, you have to thank Tiesheng for us. His article "My Distant Qingping Bay" will definitely help October to open up in the field of pure literature."

Zhang Zhonge smiled and said, "Yes, by then, we will develop October in three areas: pure literature, military literature, and romance literature. We hope to achieve a total sales of 480 million copies this year."

Zhang Shouren said: "But we can't take it lightly, because the competition among literary journals is becoming increasingly fierce."

Sui Lijun was listening quietly when she saw Tian Zengxiang slam the table in agitation.

"That's right. Take military literature for example. Contemporary and Liberation Army Literature and Art are on par with us."

"It's the same with romance literature, it's just a mess."

Zhang Zhonge shook his head and laughed.

"So, we can't just rest on our laurels," Fang Yan said. "We need to pool our wisdom and find new literary directions to keep October going forward."

"I have an idea. Isn't the first Mao Dun Literature Prize going to be held at the end of December?"

Tian Zengxiang said: "Why don't we create a column in the sixth issue to collect all the winning works and acceptance speeches?"

Zhang Zhonge said: "It's good, but I'm afraid that if we come up with it, others will also be able to think of it, and then it will lose its novelty."

"Speaking of awards, there is still an award."

Zhang Shouren said: "Nobel Prize in Literature!"

Fang Yan raised his eyebrows, "Has the result of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature been announced?"

Tian Zengxiang shrugged. Although exchanges with many countries have been restored, external information channels are still closed and scarce.

All people know is that the Nobel Prize basically starts on the Monday of the first week in October and ends on the Monday of the following week.

The winners of an award are announced every day, but no information such as the winner or the acceptance speech is available.

"I have an idea, but it may not work."

Fangyan knocked on the table.

"Whether it works or not, it's better to have it than not to have it."

Zhang Shouren and others urged him impatiently.

"East Guangdong is hosting the Canton Fair right now. A large number of foreign businessmen will flock to East Guangdong. This is our opportunity."

Fangyan planned to ask Han Yuemin and Mike to find out, and also considered asking foreign students such as Suzuki Yoko for help.

"I think this is a good idea!"

Everyone agreed and followed Fangyan's suggestion. They looked for international students, and foreign friends. In short, they mobilized all the forces that could be mobilized.

Finally, on the next day, there was no news from Mike for the time being, but Yoko Suzuki gave an accurate answer at the first time.

“It’s Marquez and his One Hundred Years of Solitude.”

Fangyan passed the news to everyone in the editorial department.

Zhang Shouren said, "Isn't it a representative work of magical realism that won this year's Nobel Prize in Literature?"

"In the next few years, magical realism will probably be the trend of world literature. In my opinion, it would be better to open a special column to introduce magical realism. What do you think?"

Tian Zengxiang looked left and right.

Fangyan frowned: "If it is put in the December issue, two months apart, wouldn't it be less timely?"

"Yanzi is right, and everyone should not forget that Huacheng is in eastern Guangdong!" Zhang Zhonge reminded everyone.

Eastern Guangdong faces Hong Kong and is well-informed, so it is not necessarily that Huacheng will not receive news about the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Tian Zengxiang said: "That's right, we can't let Huacheng get there first!"

Fangyan touched his chin and asked, "How about we do a supplement?"

As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at him, their eyes filled with joy.

The so-called "supplement" is a chapter or pamphlet that is temporarily added when a newspaper or periodical encounters special needs.

Generally speaking, a journal can publish two supplements each year, basically on the anniversary of the magazine's founding.

Or at certain times, such as the Mao Dun Literature Prize, the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Lu Xun Literature Prize...

"That's it!"

Tian Zengxiang clapped his hands in approval, "Next, let's talk about what content to post."

“The concept of magical realism must be there.”

“Should we compile a recommended list of representative works of magical realism so that readers can buy them?”

"Is there a translation of One Hundred Years of Solitude? If it's not too long, we might as well post it!"

“I remember a Latin American literature research meeting was held not long ago, and magical realism and One Hundred Years of Solitude were mentioned.”

"I'll look for relevant papers later. If there are any, we'll select a few and reprint them for publication."

"........."

The discussions continued and grew louder.

Sui Lijun poured water for the seniors one by one, and when it was Fang Yan's turn, she asked in a low voice:

“Master, can you tell me about magical realism?”

"Isn't it taught in Yanda?"

The dialect was a big surprise.

"The teacher only gave a general idea and recommended books by Kafka, Borges and others, and asked us to study on our own."

Sui Lijun said embarrassedly: "I have read a few books, but I still can't figure out what magical realism is."

Fangyan didn't find it that surprising.

After all, the wave of magical realism in China began with the publication of the Chinese version of Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude".

Later, a group of avant-garde writers such as Ma Yuan and Yu Hua emerged and launched a vigorous localization of magical realism.

However, at present, "One Hundred Years of Solitude" is only available in English in China, and there is no translated version on the market.

Sui Lijun blinked, and then she heard Teacher Fang say:
"Ahem, magical realism was created under the harsh environment of the dark rule of Latin American oligarchs and the control of public opinion at that time..."

“To interweave illusion and reality, myth and reality, and turn reality into fantasy without losing its authenticity.”

"It draws on many techniques of Western modernist literature, such as symbolism, allegory, and stream of consciousness..."

“In terms of literary origins, it is a combination of realism and modernism, but it transcends their respective limitations.”

"Slow down, slow down!"

Tian Zengxiang called out "Stop" and quickly picked up a pen and paper. "Yanzi, tell the story again from the beginning."

Under the expectant gazes of the crowd, Fang Yan took a sip of water to moisten his throat, and then began to speak incessantly.

"In fact, we Chinese have had novels that lean towards the style of magical realism for a long time."

"For example?"

"A Dream of Red Mansions."

“A Dream of Red Mansions is a magical realism novel?!”

Everyone was shocked when they heard this.

"Of course not. The Dream of the Red Chamber was written more than a century before the concept of magical realism."

Fang Yan smiled and said, "I just said that Cao Xueqin wrote in a magical realist narrative style."

Sui Lijun asked curiously the reason.

Just listen to him start explaining from the name of "Dream of Red Mansions".

"The title of the book, A Dream of Red Mansions, comes from 'Jia Baoyu travels in the realm of Taixu, while the fairy Jinghuan performs A Dream of Red Mansions.'"

"The 'Illusionary Land' in the novel is a big dream that guides the whole story."

"Dreams, whether they are the Taoist 'Zhuang Zhou dreaming of a butterfly', the Buddhist 'dream of illusions', or the Confucian 'dreaming of Duke Zhou', are all an interweaving of reality and illusion."

"The Dream of Red Mansions hints at the fateful ending of the Twelve Beauties of Jinling through a series of bizarre dreams, but what about One Hundred Years of Solitude?"

“Through the gypsy’s manuscript, the priest’s prophecy, etc., the tragic fate of the characters and the ending of the story are hinted.”

"It has to be said that this is similar in nature."

"........."

Although the crowd did not fully understand, they were greatly shocked.

"The reason why Cao Xueqin wrote Dream of the Red Chamber so obscurely and complicatedly is very similar to the rise of magical realism in Latin America. During the Qing Dynasty, there was a great literary inquisition. In order to avoid being persecuted, this writing method of integrating reality and mythology came up."

Fangyan finished the last sip of water in the cup and his voice became slightly hoarse.

"Snapped."

Tian Zengxiang came to his senses and was the first to clap.

"Clap clap clap."

Zhang Shouren and the others also woke up as if from a dream and applauded.

Tian Zengxiang felt that he was at a loss for words and didn't know how to describe the dialect. The only word he could think of was, "awesome"!
Zhang Zhonge exclaimed: "Yanzi, your level of Redology and literary theory is simply amazing!"

Fangyan waved his hands, but said in his heart, keep praising, don't stop.

Zhang Shouren regained his composure, slammed the table, and said firmly: "In my opinion, why not let Yanzi write the front-page article of the supplement, an article called "What is Magical Realism?"

"The other article is an analysis of the magical realist narrative style of Dream of the Red Chamber. What do you think?"

(End of this chapter)