Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 191 Is it great to know English?

It was just after the Chinese New Year, and Lin Chaoyang was very curious about who would think of calling him. When he picked up the phone, he found out that it was Zhang Guangnian. The old comrade started by praising "The Death of Van Gogh".

"Chaoyang, your writing style is becoming more and more distinct and diverse, especially among the younger generation of writers. It can be said to be unique.

It is a great joy that our literary world has a rising star like you..."

Zhang Guangnian said a lot of nice things and went around in circles for a long time before he finally asked Lin Chaoyang secretly whether he had received the letter from "Selected Novels".

"Novel Selections" has just been launched. The goal of our Literary Association is to promote excellent literary works to a wider range of readers. Your novels are all very outstanding..."

Lin Chaoyang then understood the purpose of his call, which turned out to be to curry favor with him.

After saying a few words of thanks and chatting for a while, he hung up the phone.

After hanging up the phone, Lin Chaoyang was a little confused. After all, Zhang Guangnian was the head of the Writers Association and a leading figure in the literary world. Why should he curry favor with him?
When he got home in the evening, he told Tao Yushu about this matter. She thought about it for a moment and then laughed.

"Let me test you. Do you know that there were two official selection systems in the Han Dynasty?"

Lin Chaoyang pondered and said, "You are talking about the selection and appointment, right?"

The so-called "Cao Ju" means that local officials in charge inspect and select talents in their jurisdiction at any time and recommend them to their superiors or the central government. After probation and assessment, they can be appointed as officials.

The so-called "zheng pi" means that the emperor or local officials recruited local people of prominent status to serve as officials. The emperor's conscription was called "zheng" and the local officials' conscription was called "bi", which together is "zheng pi".

Both of them selected and appointed officials. The difference was that the recommendation system was a bottom-up selection process, while the conscription system was a top-down selection process.

But no matter which method is used, there is a core element - the person being recommended or recruited must be wise or talented.

Under this selection system, the presence of talented people in the wild will undoubtedly put tremendous pressure on those in power, as they will easily be accused of being out-of-touch and careless in employing people.

After saying this, Lin Chaoyang understood what Tao Yushu meant. He thought about it carefully and felt that there was some truth in what he said.

"But Old Zhang is the head of the Literary Association after all..." Lin Chaoyang hesitated.

Tao Yushu said: "You are like this, because you are in this mountain. Have you ever thought about this question? How famous are you in the domestic literary world now?"

"It should be quite big." Lin Chaoyang replied.

"It's not just should, it's big. And it's very big! Very big!" Tao Yushu emphasized.

“De Ning told me that when The Horse Herder and Little Shoes were published in Yenching Literature and Art, the sales of their magazine increased significantly. The same is true when your other works are published in other publications.

It has been a year since the single volume of "Little Shoes" was published. The sales volume must have reached hundreds of thousands of copies, right?
"The Garland under the Mountain" achieved sales of 300 million copies in less than a year, which is unprecedented.

What does this show? It shows that your appeal among readers is absolutely huge.

At least I think that among the young generation of writers in China, the influence of your works is unique.

If you don't join the Literary Association, it will be like a fishbone stuck in the throat of the leaders of the Literary Association, making them feel caught in a dilemma.

It’s not because there is anything wrong with whether or not you join the Writers Association, but the public opinion it brings will always torture them.”

Tao Yushu's words flattered Lin Chaoyang so much that he asked, "Why would it have such a big impact if I didn't join the Literary Association?"

"Think about it, is there any writer friend you know who is not in the Writers Association?"

Lin Chaoyang thought about it. Among the people he knew, not to mention the famous ones like Liu Xinwu and Wang Zengqi, even Chen Jiangong, who was still in school, had joined the Literary Association.

Not only writers, but many editors have also joined the literary association in the past two years.

Since resuming its work in 78, the Writers Association has experienced great development and absorbed a large number of new members. All writers who have achieved some fame have been absorbed by the Writers Associations at all levels.

There are indeed very few cases like Lin Chaoyang who is famous throughout the country but has not yet joined the Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

"So, of course they hope that you will join the Writers Association as soon as possible, even if you do nothing." Tao Yushu concluded after his analysis.

She added: "I'll see him. I'll have to find you if I have a chance."

"Let's talk about it when the time comes. He didn't mention this topic today anyway." Lin Chaoyang said casually.

A few days later, the New Year atmosphere had not yet dissipated, and Li Tuo ran to the library to find Lin Chaoyang, saying that he wanted to invite all his friends to get together before the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

He wanted to set the party venue at Lin Chaoyang's home. The main reason was naturally that the Overseas Chinese Apartment was large and had good hardware conditions, and Lin Chaoyang was also a good cook. Lin Chaoyang gladly agreed.

On the second Sunday of the first lunar month, in order to prepare for the party, Lin Chaoyang started preparing food the night before.

Before nine o'clock in the morning, Li Tuo and Zheng Wanlong showed up at his house with two bottles of wine.

"Hey! You brought something with you?"

Li Tuo smiled and said, "It's New Year's Day, how can you come here empty-handed?" He went into the kitchen and asked, "Are you preparing food so early?"

"Just preparing food. With so many of you coming, if I have to work hard at noon, I won't be able to eat until dinner."

Lin Chaoyang said to Li Tuo while cleaning the hairtail in his hand.

Li Tuo looked at his skillful movements and gave him a thumbs up, "These moves really show the demeanor of a great chef!"

After a while, Zhang Chengzhi came in carrying two pounds of pork and complained, "It doesn't matter whether it's before or after the New Year, it's too much trouble to buy some meat."

The meat he was holding was bought from the grocery store in the morning after waiting in line for nearly an hour.

He greeted Lin Chaoyang's family, looked around the house, and said enviously, "Chaoyang's house is really luxurious!"

Li Tuo said, "That's right! The ministerial buildings in Baiwanzhuang are not as good as here. Otherwise, why is Chaoyang's writing efficiency so high? Living in such a big house and writing, how can he not write quickly?"

Zhang Chengzhi joked, "Is this the reason why he writes so fast?"

After chatting for a while, Zhang Chengzhi wanted to go into the kitchen to help, but Lin Chaoyang came out of the kitchen.

"Okay, everything is almost ready, we can just wait until noon to start."

After hearing what he said, several people sat down. The rich aroma of jasmine tea filled the living room, making people feel relaxed and happy.

Zhang Chengzhi has a relatively rich experience among the few people. He was HWB in his early years, and later went to Inner Mongolia to work as an educated youth. In 1972, he was recommended to become a worker-peasant-soldier college student in Inner Mongolia and studied archaeology at the History Department of Yenching University.

After graduating in 78, he was assigned to work in the archaeology group of the Chinese History Museum. In the same year, he was admitted to the Department of Ethnology of the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, where he is still studying.

In 78, his debut novel "Why the Rider Sings to His Mother" was published in the 10th issue of "People's Literature", which caused quite a stir and won the first National Excellent Short Story Award the following year. He also met Li Tuo at the award ceremony of the National Excellent Short Story Award.

He and Lin Chaoyang met at Li Tuo's housewarming party.

Zhang Chengzhi talked about the novel by Juan Rulfo that he had been reading recently, which left Zheng Wanlong confused.

Juan Rulfo is a Mexican writer who became famous in the 1950s and is quite influential in Latin America, but he is a very uncommon name in China today.

His works have not yet been introduced into China. When Zhang Chengzhi talks about such writers, Li Tuo and Zheng Wanlong, two "local guerrillas", naturally have no say.

Lin Chaoyang had seen an English version of "The Burning Plain" in the Yanda Library. This is Juan Rulfo's representative collection of short stories, so he could understand why Zhang Chengzhi liked Juan Rulfo.

Because there are several short stories in "The Burning Plain" that describe the peasant revolution in Mexico, and the novels all end with the tragic defeat of the peasant uprising army and the collapse of the revolutionary ideal.

Zhang Chengzhi has a life complex in his heart, otherwise he would not have been HWB back then.

Seeing Lin Chaoyang's thorough analysis of the novel, Zhang Chengzhi was delighted and treated him as a confidant. He talked with him about everything from Juan Rulfo to Gabriel García Márquez, the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Although Juan Rulfo is not as famous as Marquez worldwide, his influence on Latin American literature is enormous. He influenced a generation of Latin American writers, including Marquez.

Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude" was published in 1967, and the first edition of copies was sold out in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, within days.

Several editions were printed within a few months, but the demand still exceeded the supply. Half a million copies were sold in three years and quickly attracted the attention of European and American publishers.

Within just a few months, nearly twenty translation and publishing contracts were signed, including with many European and American countries such as Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Poland and Hungary.

In the following years, the novel won literary awards in various countries. The Italian translation won the Cianciano Prize, the French translation won the French Best Foreign Work Award, and the American translation became one of the twelve outstanding works of the year.

In 1972, Márquez himself won the Gallegos Prize, the most prestigious literary award in Latin America, for "One Hundred Years of Solitude". Ten years later, in 1982, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Although the Nobel Prize in Literature is not awarded for a work, "One Hundred Years of Solitude" undoubtedly plays an extremely important role in Marquez's winning of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Marquez became famous in China because after he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982, the literary magazine Huacheng translated his speech at the Nobel Prize ceremony.

"Huacheng" is one of the four famous domestic literary journals. It was the first time that a well-known Chinese literary magazine introduced a Nobel Prize winner in literature to its readers.

The operation of "Flower City" made Marquez famous in China overnight, and almost all literature lovers knew the name of this new Nobel Prize winner in literature.

After that, some domestic publishing houses openly pirated Marquez's works and sold them in China without obtaining his authorization.

So much so that when Marquez visited China in 1990, he became furious when he saw pirated books displayed in bookstores, and declared that his works would not be allowed to be published in China within 150 years.

It is now 81. Marquez has not won the Nobel Prize in Literature, the vast majority of readers in China don’t know him, and his works have not been pirated.

Zhang Chengzhi was talking to Lin Chaoyang. Li Tuo and Zheng Wanlong on the side were unable to join in the conversation and felt a little uncomfortable, like two local dogs looking at a golden retriever.

You are good at English and you can read English novels.

Is it great to know English?

(End of this chapter)