Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 294 Picked it up!
When the other person saw Lin Chaoyang, he was about to greet him with a smile, but as he stared at his face, he seemed to remember something and his eyes were slightly surprised.

Half an eyebrow, small eyes, familiar because this face is well-known in the future, Lin Chaoyang had seen it once before. Strange because that was the only time he had seen it.

Lin Chaoyang was just about to ask the other party what was the matter when he spoke first.

"Oh, we've met before." Banjiemei shook Lin Chaoyang's hand enthusiastically.

"I have an impression, I have an impression." Lin Chaoyang said politely, and then asked: "You are..."

"Didn't I tell you before that I'm the editor of Youth Literature? My name is Ma Weidu, and I came here today to visit Teacher Xu Lingjun."

Ma Weidu looked around the courtyard blankly as he spoke and asked, "Do you live in the same courtyard with him?"

Nowadays, most of the courtyard houses in Yanjing are large compound houses where several or even dozens of families live together. Ma Wei had a preconceived notion that this courtyard was just an ordinary large compound.

"I live in this hospital."

Ma Wei didn't understand what Lin Chaoyang meant, and a flattering look appeared on his face, "What a coincidence, I ran into someone so familiar like you. It's just right, you can introduce me to him."

As he spoke, he walked into the yard in a familiar manner and asked Lin Chaoyang as he walked, "Your yard looks quite large. How many families live here?"

As they were talking, Ma Weidu had already passed the hanging flower gate and arrived at the second courtyard. Just as Lin Chaoyang was about to answer his question, Ma Weidu asked again, "Which house is Teacher Xu's?"

Lin Chaoyang looked at Ma Weidu, who looked like a fool, with a smile on his face, "This is Teacher Xu's home."

Upon hearing this, Ma Weidu looked at Lin Chaoyang, then looked around. It was already evening, and if it was a slum, it wouldn't be so quiet. He immediately understood what Lin Chaoyang meant.

"This courtyard is all Teacher Xu's home? That's really bright!"

He looked apologetic again and asked Lin Chaoyang: "Forgive my ignorance, are you Mr. Xu's..."

"I am Lin Chaoyang, pen name Xu Lingjun."

"Ah~" Ma Weidu was so shocked that he was speechless and only had time to let out a shrill scream from his hoarse voice.

"You, you, you..." He kept saying "you" for a long time, but couldn't organize any words. Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "Come in and have a seat first."

He first led Ma Weidu into the main room, asked him to sit down, and poured him a cup of tea.

After a while, Ma Wei finally got over the shock in his heart, and his face was full of embarrassment, "I'm so sorry, I didn't recognize the great man..."

Lin Chaoyang waved his hand indifferently, "What's there to be embarrassed about? We don't even know each other."

Ma Weidu looked at Lin Chaoyang's calm expression, but the shame in his heart increased instead of decreased.

The misunderstanding when he entered the hospital just now was not a big deal. He was mainly thinking about the bold words he had made when they met before.

The two had met before in front of the purchasing point of the Xinjiekou Cultural Relics Store because they were collecting antiques.

At that time, Lin Chaoyang used foreign exchange coupons to collect antiques, which made Ma Wei very unhappy. During a casual conversation, he heard Lin Chaoyang say that he wrote novels as a hobby, which showed off his superiority.

"That's a coincidence. I also write novels, and my main job is the editor of Youth Literature."

"If you have any manuscripts in the future, you can submit them to Youth Literature. We have met today. I will give you priority in reviewing your manuscripts later."

Ma Weidu thought of the previous scene and his face felt hot. He wished he could dig a hole in the ground and crawl into it.

This is really a case of showing off one's skills in front of an expert, which is really laughable.

"Since we already know each other, why not get straight to the point? The purpose of your visit today is..."

Lin Chaoyang didn't give Ma Weidu time to feel embarrassed. Seeing him ask this, Ma Weidu didn't care about anything else and let go of his emotions.

"To be honest, I'm here today on behalf of the magazine to ask you for an article."

Ma Weidu's words were exactly what Lin Chaoyang had expected. He tried to be as polite as possible and said, "In the past two years, many magazines have written to me or visited me to ask for articles. Unfortunately, my output is not high, and I mainly focus on medium and long articles, so they often come back empty-handed.

After the publication of my last novel, Shutter Island, I have been focusing on my family life and have not been writing any new works recently. "

Seeing that Lin Chaoyang was polite and sincere, Ma Weidu knew that what he said was true. He felt a little regretful, but he had not expected to get the manuscript in one go when he came to his house.

"It is really presumptuous of me to come to you and ask you for an article for the first time. You should also know that our publication is a revision of the "Novel Quarterly". Its characteristics are: written by young people, about young people, for young readers.

Originally we had two columns, one was "Special Articles", with one article in each issue, specially inviting famous writers and literary critics to comment on a certain issue or work in literary creation;
The second is "Bitterness and Sourness Talk", inviting influential writers to talk about their bitterness, sweetness, and experiences in their creative works.

There are many literature enthusiasts in the young reader group, and many readers are very fond of these two columns. Young readers who are interested in literature believe that this can broaden their horizons.

After the revision to "Youth Literature", we retained these two columns. If it is convenient for you, could you write a special review or a creative talk for our editorial department?
The number of words doesn't need to be too many, 1,800 words will be enough, but more words would be even better."

The clever thing about Ma Weidu's commissioning is that he is not like some editors who, if they don't get the manuscript on the spot, hope for the next time or when they have a better relationship with the editor in the future. Instead, he tries to find a way to get the manuscript no matter what.

No matter what it is, even a short analysis of 300 to 500 words will do. As long as you have the first one, it will be easier to get commissioned to write in the future.

Seeing that Ma Wei had lowered his requirements so much, Lin Chaoyang felt embarrassed to refuse.

He thought of Lu Yao's letter today, and said, "In that case... I'll write a review article for Life. Lu Yao and I are also discussing this through letters."

Hearing Lin Chaoyang's words, Ma Wei was overjoyed, "That's great!"

"Are you familiar with Comrade Lu Yao?"

"We have some acquaintance."

Ma Weidu said: "Then you should know that he wrote this book "Life" at the invitation of our editor-in-chief. It's really fate." "Youth Literature" is a magazine under China Youth Publishing House. The editor-in-chief Wang Weiling is also the deputy editor-in-chief of the publishing house.

Lin Chaoyang nodded and said, "I know."

"What a coincidence!" Ma Weidu muttered again, "'Life' is very popular right now, and you and Lu Yao are good friends. If your comments are published, it will definitely cause quite a stir."

Ma Weidu's words were just compliments, just listen to them, Lin Chaoyang would definitely not take them seriously.

After chatting for a while, Lin Chaoyang felt it was about time to serve tea and send the guests away, but Ma Weidu suddenly set his eyes on the antiques in his room.

"Oh! This garlic bottle looks really good!"

"This glaze is obviously from the Yongzheng period, right?"

Ma Wei rushed to talk to Lin Chaoyang, there was no way Lin Chaoyang would not respond, and what he said was exactly what Lin Chaoyang liked.

"Good eyesight, it is indeed something from the Yongzheng period."

Ma Weidu was surrounding the Yongzheng-era imitation Ru celadon-glazed garlic-shaped vase with string patterns, looking at it with great delight. Lin Chaoyang could not tell for a moment whether he was delighted or trying to curry favor.

However, this imitation Ru celadon glaze string pattern garlic-shaped vase is indeed his favorite. If we really talk about its value, there are at least twenty or thirty pieces of porcelain in Lin Chaoyang's house that are more valuable than it.

The reason why Lin Chaoyang likes this thing is that it has a single color, is not superficial, arrogant, decadent, or flattering, has a unique temperament, and has a natural, simple, elegant, and quiet beauty.

Moreover, compared with the appearance of pastel glaze that only appeals to royal nobles, this monochrome glaze is more in line with the aesthetic taste of literati and scholars, and makes people happy when they see it.

Ma Weidu watched and praised, and even though Lin Chaoyang was wary, he couldn't help feeling a little happy.

This kid would have been a good material for flattering and sycophantic officials hundreds of years ago!
The two talked for a while. Tao Yushu had finished his meal and was about to call Lin Chaoyang to eat, but when he saw there were guests in the room, he kept silent.

Lin Chaoyang introduced the two to each other and said politely, "Have you eaten? How about eating together?"

"Don't bother, I'll just go home and eat."

Ma Weidu declined verbally but did not move much. Lin Chaoyang saw that he understood his little intention and took him to the west wing for dinner.

After having a meal, Ma Weidu said goodbye to Lin Chaoyang with satisfaction.

A week later, Ma Wei specially chose dinner time to go to Lin Chaoyang's house to pick up the manuscript, and naturally had a dinner with him first.

Then I got the review article written by Lin Chaoyang for "Life" - "On How to Shape the Image of Contemporary Rural Characters from Gao Jialin's Perspective".

The title is a bit long, and Ma Wei was a little surprised before he even read the content.

General novel review articles have always focused on novels and usually have certain limitations.

But if the title is a sentence structure like "From... to...", it means that the author is not only talking about this novel, but most likely a certain type of works with common attributes, and the content is suddenly broadened by more than double.

Ma Weidu had a little idea before reading the article. He first counted the pages of the manuscript with his fingers and estimated in his mind that there were at least eleven or twelve pages. Lin Chaoyang used 500-grid manuscript paper. Excluding spaces and punctuation marks, there were at least five thousand words.

Picked it up!
He was already filled with joy before he even read the article. He had originally only hoped that Lin Chaoyang would take the time to write a review article of one or two thousand words, but he had not expected that he would be so sincere.

When he finished reading the article, he felt even happier.

Since the publication of "Life", many writers and critics in the literary world have expressed their views on the novel.

Many people put Gao Jialin, the protagonist, in the position of a typical negative character, seeing him as a loser and a tragic figure, believing that he only cares about his own interests, rejects rural life, has no ideal of dedicating himself to a great cause, and treats love as a tool...

Arguments like these have emerged one after another over the past month or so, but Lin Chaoyang's article "On How to Shape Contemporary Rural Characters from the Perspective of Gao Jialin" does not follow the old path of these people.

The whole article does not contain any condescending accusations. The article can be divided into two parts. One part is the analysis and evaluation of the character of Gao Jialin, and the other part is a profound analysis of how literary creators should create a flesh-and-blood image of farmers in today's changing era through the character of Gao Jialin.

In the first half, Lin Chaoyang affirmed Gao Jialin's success as a brand-new image of a young farmer, believing that Gao Jialin inherited his father's fine qualities of hard work and perseverance, and also showed his yearning and expectation for a new life of socialist modernization.

He is enterprising and has the courage to choose for the like-minded love he longs for. He is the image of a young man who is ahead of his time.

As for the hateful aspects of Gao Jialin's character, Lin Chaoyang also criticized them, but his criticism was far less intense than that of some critics in recent times.

In the second half, Lin Chaoyang used the image of Gao Jialin to talk about the shaping of the image of farmers in the new era, and Ma Wei abstracted several key points according to his own understanding.

First, regarding the sense of the times in character portrayal, Lin Chaoyang believes that contemporary writers’ portrayal of rural characters is not lacking in authenticity, but has clearly lagged behind actual developments in capturing the sense of the times.

Second, multi-dimensional characterization...

Ma Wei waved the manuscript and said to Lin Chaoyang excitedly: "Teacher Xu..."

Lin Chaoyang interrupted him immediately, "Don't call me 'teacher', just call me Chaoyang."

Ma Weidu admired Lin Chaoyang's humility, but he was a little uncomfortable with calling him by his first name, so he said, "Then I'll call you Comrade Chaoyang."

"also."

"Comrade Chaoyang, your article is definitely the best of all the reviews I've read on Life."

"I don't deserve it. It's too much of a compliment." Lin Chaoyang said politely.

Ma Weidu said seriously: "This is definitely not a compliment, please listen to me..."

(End of this chapter)