Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 150: Phenomenal Works

In mid-July, the Literary Gazette was published.

A review article entitled "Lai Zi's Summer: The Pioneer of Chinese Stream-of-Consciousness Literature" attracted the attention of the literary community and literature lovers.

As a critic, the author Yan Gang has considerable influence in the domestic literary criticism circle.

Last month, he was touched after reading "Lai Zi's Summer" and discussed it with his wife Liu Yin. Finally, he wrote this article "Lai Zi's Summer: The Pioneer of Chinese Stream of Consciousness Literature", which was successfully published in "Wenyi Bao".

In his article, he devoted a large amount of space to elaborating on Lin Chaoyang's bold innovation in the imported literary genre of stream-of-consciousness literature in Lai Zi's Summer, and his words could not conceal his appreciation for Lin Chaoyang and this work.

"The narrative perspective of Lai Zi's Summer switches between the perspectives of the protagonists Lai Zi and Xiao Jun. The author boldly challenges the narrative structure of stream-of-consciousness literature and does not follow the traditional, jumpy narrative rules of stream-of-consciousness literature.

Instead, it uses a symmetrical narrative structure to present the flow of the two protagonists' thoughts, emotions, memories and even subconsciousness.

This presentation method is not the linear narrative of realism, nor the jumping and fragmented narrative of stream of consciousness literature, but a spiral narrative method in which you are in me and I am in you.

The symmetry and integration make the space, time and character relationships within the text present a complex and rich interweaving state, greatly enhancing the artistic expression and reading experience of the work.

This narrative style can be said to be unprecedented, and it is also an important breakthrough in stream-of-consciousness literary creation to date, and a truly pioneering experiment.

……

In the novel, Lai Zi and Xiao Jun's inner world forms a subtle and profound interactive relationship with the external environment.

Through the character's psychological changes, emotional fluctuations and value concepts in a specific social context, the author reflects the common psychological characteristics of adults and adolescents during China's social transition period.

At the same time, the author believes that "Lai Zi's Summer" is not just a work that simply imitates Western stream-of-consciousness literature, but an excellent work that is based on the Chinese social and cultural context and conducts innovative exploration of this literary form with local characteristics.

"Lai Zi's Summer" incorporates a large number of cultural symbols and images with Chinese local characteristics, such as traditional festivals, folk customs, and family education concepts encountered on the road. These elements are integrated with the protagonist's inner world.

It not only enriches the cultural connotation of the text, but also gives the work a distinct Chinese flavor.

This precise grasp and unique expression of the Chinese context enabled "Lai Zi's Summer" to successfully achieve localized innovative transformation while drawing on Western stream-of-consciousness techniques, opening up a new path for the development of Chinese stream-of-consciousness literature.

……

This work not only demonstrates the author's keen insight into the individual's spiritual world, but also, with its groundbreaking narrative style, leads readers into an inner world full of philosophical thoughts, surging emotions and unique characteristics of the times, highlighting the unique charm and innovative value of Chinese stream-of-consciousness literature.

In the vast starry sky of contemporary Chinese literature, Lai Zi's Summer is like a shining star. With its unique artistic techniques and profound ideological connotations, it has established a monument for the development of Chinese stream-of-consciousness literature. "

The article "Lai Zi's Summer: The Pioneer of Chinese Stream-of-Consciousness Literature" written by Yan Gang has nearly 10,000 words. It discusses the literary quality and originality of the novel "Lai Zi's Summer" from multiple angles. It has clear views and unique insights. In just a few days, it caused a great response in the domestic literary circles.

At the end of the article, he even evaluated "Lai Zi's Summer" as "a monumental work of Chinese stream-of-consciousness literature", which is enough to show his appreciation and respect for this novel.

"Lai Zi's Summer" was published in the second issue of "Contemporary" this year, and it has been nearly three months since then.

During this period, the second issue of "Contemporary" sold more than 38 copies, an increase of almost % compared to the sales of the first issue of this year.

As the headline work of the second issue, "Lai Zi's Summer" naturally made an indelible contribution. Such a sales increase also fully reflects the readers' love for this novel.

Hundreds of thousands of readers have been addicted to the psychedelic fairy tale world woven by Lin Chaoyang, unable to extricate themselves, and have been moved to tears by the stories of Lai Zi and Xiao Jun.

The novel has gained an excellent reputation among readers and has also received rave reviews from critics.

Unlike readers who focus more on the story, critics focus on the novel's groundbreaking creative techniques and style.

Critics and scholars who study contemporary literature know much more about stream-of-consciousness literature than do ordinary literature lovers and the general public.

As an important genre of modern Western literature, the rise of stream-of-consciousness literature has contributed a number of outstanding writers and works to the world literary scene.

Everyone knows that the development of stream-of-consciousness literature in China is undoubtedly extremely weak compared with that in foreign countries. However, it is precisely because of this weakness that Lin Chaoyang's "Lai Zi's Summer" is even more valuable.

When most domestic writers still considered stream-of-consciousness literature to be rare and many people had never even heard of it, Lin Chaoyang was already able to use mature creative techniques to complete a long stream-of-consciousness novel of outstanding quality.

Many critics and scholars who have done some research on stream-of-consciousness literature generally believe that Lai Zi's Summer has reached the level of many foreign stream-of-consciousness novels. Before Yan Gang, there had been many praises for Lai Zi's Summer in the literary world, but most critics and scholars still focused on the novel's extension of the style of Western stream-of-consciousness literature.

Although many review articles mentioned the local elements in "Lai Zi's Summer", they did not attract enough attention from the critics and were mostly just mentioned in passing.

Yan Gang's articles were like a loud bell, which immediately opened up the minds of many literary critics and scholars in China.

After reading the article, many people thought more and more that it was true.

As the article says, "Lai Zi's Summer" enriches the content of the novel with a large number of Chinese local cultural elements and intentions, and can be said to have pioneered Chinese stream-of-consciousness literature.

These people then thought of Lin Chaoyang's creative process. The creation of "Lai Zi's Summer" not only tests whether Lin Chaoyang has fully grasped the core of Western stream-of-consciousness literature.

What is more important is whether he can adapt them in the creative process, maintaining the original unique style of stream-of-consciousness literature while taking into account the integration of elements of Chinese culture.

As it turned out, Lin Chaoyang did it. He created a masterpiece of stream-of-consciousness literature that combines the cultural characteristics and styles of the East and the West.

When those critics and scholars were inspired by Yan Gang's article and realized this, they seemed to have suddenly opened the door to a new world and their thinking was no longer constrained.

Within just half a month, many literary magazines and literary review magazines such as "October", "Yanjing Literature and Art", "Hebei Literature and Art", "Literary Review", and "Literary Hundreds of Schools" published review articles on "Lai Zi's Summer".

Most of the authors of the articles are well-known critics in the commentary circle or well-known scholars in universities.

Coincidentally, the keywords of these articles all focus on "Chinese stream-of-consciousness literature", a term first coined by Yan Gang.

The article "On "Lai Zi's Summer": The Origin of Chinese Stream-of-Consciousness Literature" published in "Literary Hundreds of Houses" wrote: The in-depth exploration and true reproduction of the individual's spiritual world fully demonstrates the charm of stream-of-consciousness literature, making "Lai Zi's Summer" a model work of Chinese stream-of-consciousness literature.

The article "Lai Zi's Summer Behind Regional Characteristics and the Mark of the Times" published by Hebei Literature and Art says:

The success of "Lai Zi's Summer" lies in its organic combination of stream-of-consciousness literature and local culture. This combination is ingenious, and it constructs a text environment that has both distinct regional colors and is full of individual spiritual insights.

It is not only an outstanding representative work of Chinese stream-of-consciousness literature, but also a deep exploration and vivid interpretation of China's social and historical changes and the individual spiritual world.

The article "Lai Zi's Summer Reconstructs Stream of Consciousness Literature" published in October explains:

"Lai Zi's Summer" faithfully follows the basic principles of stream-of-consciousness literature, but does not stop at imitating and reproducing traditional techniques. Instead, it makes bold innovations and expansions.

The work deeply embeds regional characteristics and historical background into its structure and narrative, broadening the expressive dimension of stream-of-consciousness literature and successfully breaking the closedness and individualistic tendencies of stream-of-consciousness literature.

Closely linking it with the broad social reality and profound cultural soil gives the work richer and more diverse cultural connotations.

With unique innovative spirit and profound artistic skills, the author successfully reconstructed the creative form of stream-of-consciousness literature, giving it new life in the context of Chinese culture, achieving a high degree of unity between artistic form and social content, and providing a model for the future creation of Chinese stream-of-consciousness literature.

……

Lin Chaoyang had been in the spotlight in the literary world recently because of the news that President Hu bought a copy of "The Wreath under the Mountain" at his own expense and gave it to the soldiers on the front line.

Now, all major literary magazines and literary review magazines have suddenly published a series of reviews, which has immediately triggered a trend of interpreting "Lai Zi's Summer" in the literary world.

This has once again allowed Lin Chaoyang to shine in the literary world. Including the wave of public opinion influence caused by the National Excellent Short Story Award at the beginning of the spring, this is the second time this year.

Compared with the last time, the impact this time is greater and more widespread.

Lin Chaoyang not only popularized the fashionable concept of stream-of-consciousness literature to domestic readers through Lai Zi's Summer, but also created a unique style of Chinese stream-of-consciousness literature, which has been highly praised by critics.

For a time, writers, critics, and scholars were all proud to interpret "Lai Zi's Summer". This trend continued to spread and caused a huge response among readers.

The most obvious change is that the sales of the second issue of Contemporary magazine, which published Lai Zi's Summer, have stabilized after nearly three months of hot sales.

Unexpectedly, with this favorable trend, the editorial department of "Contemporary" actually received calls from Xinhua Bookstore and local post offices urging them to print more copies.

The heated discussions and praises in the literary world and the pursuit and love of readers converged into an unstoppable torrent, making "Lai Zi's Summer" the most influential phenomenal work in Chinese literary circles in the summer of 1980.

(End of this chapter)