Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 152 Literature Institute
The next day, Lin Chaoyang went to the Foreign Languages ​​College. When he bought the Overseas Chinese Apartment, he agreed to pay the second installment in half a year, and today was the day.

Because of the hot reprinting of "The Garland under the Mountain" during this period, and the fact that "Chinese Literature" had just paid the reprint fee for "Lai Zi's Summer", Lin Chaoyang and his wife's savings had exceeded 14,000 yuan, so they had no pressure to take out 3,500 yuan to pay for the house.

After collecting the receipt signed by Lin Fugui, Lin Chaoyang casually chatted with him about the current private housing transaction market in Yanjing.

The reason why Lin Fugui wanted to sell the house in the Overseas Chinese Apartment was because he was optimistic about the future real estate market in Yanjing and planned to purchase a few courtyard houses in advance.

Over the past six months, he has been paying attention to private house transactions in Yanjing and found that the number of private house transactions has increased significantly compared to last year. According to him, many of these sellers are preparing to study abroad.

Previously, the only channel for studying abroad in our country was government-sponsored study, and the opportunity to study abroad on government sponsorship was out of reach for the vast majority of scholars and students.

In 79, when the old man visited the United States, the government decided to open up channels for Chinese people to study abroad at their own expense. Although the government has not yet issued a clear document, the news has spread widely among the people, and many people are preparing to study abroad at their own expense.

Studying abroad at one's own expense is very expensive, and few families can afford it these days. Those with ancestral property will sell it, and those without will borrow money everywhere. In the next few years, this will become the norm in the circle of self-funded students studying in the United States.

It is also because of this situation that private housing transactions in Yanjing have become increasingly prosperous since the 80s.

After learning from Lin Fugui about the private real estate transactions in Yanjing in the past six months, Lin Chaoyang said goodbye and left.

Another day, Lin Chaoyang received a call from Xie Jin while at work.

Previously, Xie Jin took a fancy to the novel "The Shepherd" and hoped to adapt the novel into a movie. Lin Chaoyang took on the job of screenwriter. In May, he finished writing the script and sent it to Xie Jin.

Because Xie Jin was busy filming "Legend of Tianyun Mountain" during this period, he did not reply to Lin Chaoyang.

Recently, the filming of "Legend of Tianyun Mountain" has been completed and entered the post-production stage. Xie Jin has the time to study the script of "The Shepherd".

He gave a high overall evaluation of the script, but because it was a literary script, there were still many things that needed to be refined, so he had to meet in person to discuss it in detail.

Xie Jin plans to come to Yanjing in September to have a good chat with Lin Chaoyang about the script.

A few days after he made the call, Lin Chaoyang finally received the payment invoice from Shanghai Film Studio.

Having just paid the second installment of the house payment, Lin Chaoyang ended up with another two thousand yuan in his account. He felt like the more money he spent, the more he had.

One day in mid-August, Zhu Changsheng came to see Lin Chaoyang. He first asked Lin Chaoyang if he had any new works published.

Lin Chaoyang answered no, he had been spending more time reading books recently, and also had to devote some energy to organizing courseware.

He became a specially-appointed lecturer at Yanshi University. Although it was just an elective course, Lin Chaoyang felt that he should still have some awe since, after all, he was teaching and educating people.

Hearing that Lin Chaoyang was going to teach students from Yanshi University, Zhu Changsheng was surprised and said, "Isn't this a coincidence?"

"What's the coincidence?"

It turns out that Zhu Changsheng's main purpose of coming today, in addition to asking if there were any new manuscripts, was to invite Lin Chaoyang to attend a lecture at the Literature Institute.

“It’s probably in the form of a symposium, and the institute is looking for a writer and editor combination.

We have a young editor named Xiao Wangwang Zhaoqian at our Humanities Press, and we want to invite another young writer, and that’s when we thought of you.”

Lin Chaoyang was no stranger to the name of the Literature Institute. He had heard it mentioned at the National Excellent Short Story Award Ceremony in March.

Among this year's batch of students, many are award-winning writers.

"Will it be a bit embarrassing if I go there?" Lin Chaoyang asked worriedly.

Zhu Changsheng immediately understood what he meant.

"You're overthinking it. Although all of you won awards this year, they won because only that one article was worth the prize, and you won because only this award was worth the prize.

If there is an award for outstanding novellas or novels now, you can still win, but they are different. Of course, there will definitely be a group of outstanding writers among these students in the future, and they may even be as good as you.

The first to achieve is the first, there is nothing to be embarrassed about. Sharing your creative experience and feelings is also a learning experience for you. "

Since Zhu Changsheng had said this, Lin Chaoyang felt embarrassed to refuse and agreed.

Two days later, on Friday, Lin Chaoyang rode his bicycle across most of Yanjing City and arrived at the temporary residence of the Central Literature Institute - Chaoyang District Committee D School.

The Central Literary Institute only resumed operations this year and does not yet have its own school building, so it can only borrow a house from D School.

School D was originally a courtyard house with all bungalows in the yard, some of which were original buildings and some were built later.

Class starts at 8:30 in the morning, and Lin Chaoyang arrives at 8:00.

The Institute of Literature and Art has no classrooms for classes, but uses the cafeteria of D School. The cafeteria is still filled with the smell of food. Before class, he greeted Wang Zhaoqian, a young editor from the Humanities Press. Today is a symposium. Before class, the teachers and students put the tables and chairs in a circle, spread the tablecloth, and even had nameplates in front of everyone. Although the venue conditions are simple, it is full of ritual, which makes people want to be solemn.

The fifth session of the Literature Institute started in April, and it has been nearly five months now. During this period, the students have listened to lectures from many celebrities in the literary world, and the worst of them are lecturers from well-known universities.

The two guests today are Wang Zhaoqian and Lin Chaoyang.

In the domestic literary world, Renwen Press is a literary temple. As an editor of Renwen Press, Wang Zhaoqian has his own filter, but people pay more attention to him because of his work and position.

But when facing Lin Chaoyang, the students' eyes were a little different.

Jiang Zilong, Chen Shixu, Aikebai... Many people present, like Lin Chaoyang, are winners of this year's National Excellent Short Story Award.

There are also some famous writers in later generations, such as Wang Anyi who wrote "Song of Everlasting Sorrow", Gu Hua who wrote "Furong Town", and Jin Ying who became the leader of the Literary Association...

Judging from the results alone, this class of students can be said to be star-studded.

In terms of age alone, Lin Chaoyang is even younger than many students, but none of the students present can ignore the aura around him.

"The Shepherd", "Qiu Ju Goes to Court", "The Little Shoes", "The Wreath under the Mountain", "Parental Love", "Lai Zi's Summer", Lin Chaoyang has not been engaged in literary creation for a long time, and his output is not very high, but each of his works is above the standard and has caused a great impact in the literary world and among readers.

In these two months alone, the students at the institute were bombarded with various reviews and news about several works such as "Parental Love", "The Garland under the Mountain" and "Lai Zi's Summer".

So even though Lin Chaoyang is young, and even though some people have received awards on the same stage with him, no one dares to underestimate his strength.

The symposium was opened by teacher Tang Yuqiu, who was in charge of teaching the fifth class of students, and then she handed the topic over to the two guests.

After some mutual courtesy with Lin Chaoyang, Wang Zhaoqian spoke first.

"All the students present here today are writers who have published works. Many of them have won national awards and have made great achievements in literary creation. I am an editor, and today I will talk to you about writing from an editor's perspective..."

Wang Zhaoqian is an editor at Renwen Press. His professional ability is unquestionable. Facing dozens of pairs of eyes staring at him, he was not at all nervous and talked for nearly half an hour before he finished the topic.

After he finished speaking, Tang Yuqiu summarized it and looked at Lin Chaoyang again, "Comrade Zhaoqian just shared with you some of his experiences in literary creation and manuscript review from the perspective of an editor. Comrade Chaoyang's works should be familiar to everyone. Welcome Comrade Chaoyang to tell everyone about them."

There was applause in the cafeteria, and the students looked at Lin Chaoyang with anticipation in their eyes.

Lin Chaoyang cleared his throat and smiled warmly, "It's a rare opportunity to communicate with so many colleagues today."

"When I received the invitation from the Institute of Literature, I actually hadn't thought about what I was going to say. Comrade Zhao Qian just talked about some issues about creation from the perspective of an editor, so I will talk about it from the perspective of a writer."

"I have always believed that when we engage in literary creation, the first thing we need to understand is what literature is. In a more formal way, literature is an art that uses language and words as the medium.

But sometimes I also wonder, what is the original origin of literature?

Perhaps one day thousands of years ago, our two naked ancestors, armed with wooden spears, were ambushing their prey. One of them was so bored that he suddenly said to the other: "Let me tell you a story..."

Lin Chaoyang's voice was steady and unhurried, with a charm that made people unconsciously addicted. The students of the Institute of Literature were immersed in his narration without realizing it.

Lin Chaoyang's speech was not pretentious. He started with the origin of literature and explained in simple terms the various stages of evolution of literature in history, and then talked about the usefulness of literature.

"The question of whether literature is useful or not has actually been discussed by many people from ancient times to the present. Let me first state my point of view. Literature is useful, and its usefulness lies precisely in its uselessness. I know that some people must be scolding me for being pretentious and talking nonsense..."

Lin Chaoyang's tone was light and humorous, and the people around him immediately burst into good-natured laughter.

After everyone finished laughing, he spoke:
"In fact, I think the usefulness of literature lies in its uselessness. I think this truth should not be difficult for everyone to understand. You say that we humans are born between heaven and earth, what is our use?
I think it just adds a little vitality to the world, but it has more negative effects, such as starting wars and destroying the ecological environment...

So what is the greatest use of literature? Why should people waste their time on such useless free activities?

I think the biggest reason is that we need to show that we are not animals driven by nature, but spirits with dignity.

We must demonstrate our own nobility, surpass nature, and even make up for nature's defects and turn imperfection into perfection.

In this way, we are worthy of calling ourselves the spirits of all things. "

Lin Chaoyang's tone and expression were not serious, but the students present clearly felt a strong aura. This aura did not come from Lin Chaoyang's appearance, but from his rich inner world and his profound thoughts.

Although everyone is a creator, what he just explained is something that the vast majority of people present have never thought about.

Even if someone has thought about it, no one has ever thought about it so deeply and thoroughly.

The existence of literature enables people to demonstrate their dignity as the most intelligent creatures in the world.

(End of this chapter)