Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 376 Yanjing, I’ll go with you!

Hong Zicheng, Xie Mian and others stayed at Tao's house for nearly two hours and chatted until about three o'clock in the afternoon before leaving with a sense of reluctance. Today's conversation will inevitably produce a few reviews or papers in a while.

In front of them, Lin Chaoyang was just like a BOSS in the game, purely used to gain experience.

After the others left, Tao Yucheng said with amazement, "After the publication of Crossing the Guandong, Chaoyang's reputation seems to have risen to a higher level!"

"There's no such thing as a high level. It's just that everyone is curious about my work and wants to talk to me about it."

Tao Yucheng said: "Don't be so modest. I have heard a lot of discussion about your novel in our school, and it has received rave reviews.

When the trend of root-seeking literature started a while ago, some students in our school scolded you. But now that "Crossing Guandong" has been published, there is no response at all!"

Tao Yushu asked in confusion: "Is there such a thing?"

"Of course not. Students are quick to believe everything they hear. There was a big debate about root-seeking literature a while ago, and some people just wanted to be different and join in the fun by criticizing Chaoyang.

As soon as "Crossing the Guandong" was released these days, everyone said that "Crossing the Guandong" was the pioneering work of root-seeking literature, and those opponents couldn't find any angle to criticize it.

It’s really well written, I read it recently.”

Tao Yumo echoed, "Originally, Yenching Publishing House published One Hundred Years of Solitude this month, and it caused a sensation among the students in our school. Almost every student who loves literature has a copy.

But this time, after my brother-in-law published "Crossing Guandong", the discussion about "One Hundred Years of Solitude" among the students in our school was reduced, and all the discussion was about "Crossing Guandong".

The publication of "Crossing the Guandong" suppressed the discussion of the newly published "One Hundred Years of Solitude", but this certainly does not mean that the former is better than the latter.

No matter how popular "One Hundred Years of Solitude" is, it is just a work by a foreign writer. The reader base that Lin Chaoyang has accumulated over the years since his debut is definitely not comparable to that of "One Hundred Years of Solitude".

However, from the perspective of public opinion dissemination, the influence demonstrated by "Crossing the Guandong" after its publication has indeed exceeded the level that ordinary contemporary literary works should have, and even exceeded the effect of any previous work of Lin Chaoyang after its publication.

For example, after the May Day holiday, an article titled "Crossing the Guandong: A Shocking Artistic Peak" appeared in "Yenching Literature", and the article was signed by Li Tuo.

This article was written by Li Tuo after he read the complete version of "Crossing the Guandong" at Lin Chaoyang's home. The whole article is filled with irrepressible love for the novel and is full of praise. He even praised the author Lin Chaoyang to a degree that made some people feel uncomfortable.

"…This is a grand national epic, a colorful and magnificent historical scroll. The full text of more than 600,000 words spans from the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China until the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, spanning the two historical stages of the feudal era and the democratic republic.

During the past thirty years, the world has undergone tremendous changes, including political turmoil, warlord separatism, and bullying by foreign powers... Ancient China has experienced one cruel and tragic ordeal after another.

Xu Lingjun condensed this era of great turbulence and change into the rise and fall of a family between the White Mountains and the Black Waters. The story is ingeniously conceived, full of ups and downs, and intertwined with family feuds and national hatreds.

On the historical stage carefully constructed by Xu Lingjun, scenes of thrilling and thought-provoking human life dramas are performed on the ancient land.

As far as I am concerned, having had the good fortune to read the entire text in advance, "Crossing Guandong" is undoubtedly an excellent literary work that combines historical depth, grand narrative and national cultural values...

All of this is of course inseparable from the contribution of the author Xu Lingjun, who has a profound understanding and unique insights into Chinese traditional culture, which has been fully demonstrated in his works.

He skillfully combined complex history with folk legends and local customs, demonstrating his profound cultural heritage.

His superb narrative skills make the story rich and fascinating, the text is fluent and natural, and the structure is rigorous, which can make readers enjoy the reading process greatly...

The success of "Crossing Guandong" proves that Xu Lingjun has stood at the forefront of contemporary Chinese literature. He has profound thoughts, rich emotions, and is full of humanistic feelings. He has contributed an outstanding treasure to the treasure house of Chinese literature and established an artistic peak that is difficult to surpass for contemporary Chinese literature. He deserves the cheers of all readers!"

The content of "Crossing the Great Wall: A Shocking Artistic Peak" is undoubtedly strongly subjective to the author. For many ideal writers and critics, Li Tuo's behavior is obviously unfair.

It will make people feel a little disgusted, and it is completely lacking in the spirit of a scholar.

For the vast majority of simple readers, they feel an inexplicable sense of refreshment when reading, and this refreshment comes from a strong sense of identification with the consistent values ​​and aesthetics.

But while feeling refreshed, readers also had some dissatisfaction, and many readers wrote to the editorial department of Yenching Literature to express their thoughts.

Only a small portion of the letters praised the content of the article. The majority of the remaining letters mainly accused Li Tuo of spoiling the plot of the second half of the novel in the article. The readers' letters were full of dissatisfaction and indignation.

"Crossing the Guandong" was published in "Huacheng" in two issues. Readers have only read half of the content now and will have to wait until June 6 to see the full content.

The full text of "Crossing the Great Wall: A Shocking Artistic Peak" is over ten thousand words long. Although most of the content is argumentative, it inevitably mentions the plot of the novel. Among them, there is a summary of the plot of the second half of the novel in more than a hundred words.

Originally, the novel was to be published in two parts, and readers were looking forward to the second half being published sooner so they could have a glimpse of it. But Li Tuo suddenly did this, and those readers who had read the first half suddenly felt more disgusted than if they had eaten a fly.

When it comes to spoilers, you either don't reveal anything at all, or reveal everything, like a constipated donkey extruder half-covering a ball of shit. Who are you trying to disgust?
Letters flew to the editorial department of Yenching Literature like snowflakes, and the readers' resentment and anger pierced everyone through the letter paper and words.

"Li Tuo has really stirred up a hornet's nest this time. Everyone is scolding him!"

There was a hint of gloating in Zhang Dening's tone. The current situation was really weird.

"Crossing the Guandong" was popular, and Li Tuo praised the novel and the author when he wrote the novel. Logically, it should be welcomed by readers, but now all the letters from readers are scolding him. Liu Heng smiled and said, "I said you should ask him to delete the part discussing the plot, and now it's all good."

"If I want to delete it, he has to agree! Asking him to delete it is like asking for his life. I think he is almost becoming Chaoyang's lackey."

Zhang Dening was cheerful and carefree, and her jokes went off track. Zhou Yanru coughed and reminded her, "Don't talk nonsense, be careful of the impact!"

Comparing a famous writer to a lackey would be extremely offensive if this were to get out.

Zhang Dening knew he had said something wrong, so he immediately shut up and changed the subject, saying, "Looking at the reactions of these readers, the impact of Crossing the Guandong is indeed extraordinary this time. I just revealed a little bit of the plot."

Wang Jie said: "From our professional perspective as editors, there is no doubt that this novel is good. However, the strong response from the readership is a bit exaggerated. I remember that the "Song of Youth" I wrote was also popular all over the country, but it didn't cause such a sensation."

“It’s different. At that time, it was said to be popular all over the country, but in fact the audience was still small and the literacy rate was not high.

In recent years, the number and enthusiasm of literature enthusiasts have far exceeded that time. Chao Yang's novel was also highly anticipated and has been clamored for for two or three months in the literary world and among readers.

Now that he has finally surfaced and has not disappointed everyone with his extraordinary quality, this sentiment will naturally go a step further. "Liu Heng analyzed rationally.

Wang Jie nodded. "Speaking of which, the current situation is not something that ordinary works can achieve. It was widely circulated before it was published, and the readers' expectations have been raised so high."

"Yes, I can only say that the quality is too outstanding."

The discussion about "Crossing the Guandong" within the editorial department of "Yenching Literature" is a microcosm of the current domestic literary circles and readership.

At the same time in Guangzhou, inside the old building in Dashatou.

Li Shifei, editor-in-chief of Huacheng Magazine and chief editor of Huacheng Publishing House, is having a conversation with president Su Chen that may change the fate of the publishing house.

"This is too big a step!" Su Chen sighed, his face full of melancholy.

Li Shifei advised: "Lao Su, this is also a move to adapt to the market economy. Now that we have Lin Chaoyang as a pioneer, this is a great opportunity for us."

Seeing that Su Chen remained silent, he continued to persuade him, "In the past, reforms were often carried out only when they had no choice but to do so, and in the end, they often had to experience excruciating pain.

In fact, we can think about the problem from another angle. Why can't we carry out reforms when we are at our peak?

Of course, there will be a lot of resistance to this, but the pain will undoubtedly be minimal.”

Su Chen looked at him and said, "Since it is a reform, there will be success and failure. Have you ever thought about what will happen if you fail?"

Li Shifei said fearlessly: "What else can I do? At worst, I will just quit my job as editor-in-chief!"

"You make it sound easy, but what about the unit? How are we going to explain this to the higher-ups and the lower-ups?"

Li Shifei shook his head and said, "Lao Su, I think you are taking this matter too seriously. The royalty system, after all, is a risk shared by the publisher and the writer. Don't you know the drawbacks of the basic royalty + print royalty model?"

When he said this, a bit of depression appeared on his face, "Excluding magazines like Huacheng and Suibi, our publishing house publishes nearly a hundred books a year. How many of them can really make money?
For a book, the writer gets at least 1,000 or 2,000 yuan, and at most 3,000 or 5,000 yuan. If the sales volume of a book is less than 10,000 or 20,000 copies, we cannot even make back the royalties we pay to the writer.

Isn’t there a risk here?”

"You don't understand!" Su Chen frowned, as if he had something to hide.

"I understand it very well!" Li Shifei said decisively, "Isn't it just about considering the impact of public opinion? Lao Su, our Huacheng Publishing House is at the forefront of reform and opening up. Are we afraid of being the first in the world?
You have seen this issue of "Huacheng". In just half a month, the sales volume is about to reach 100 million copies. Do you know what this means!

"Crossing the Guandong" was published in two issues, and the sales volume it created for "Huacheng" will not be less than 500 million copies, which is almost the sales volume that could only be achieved in a year and a half before. Sales volume means efficiency!

Will the sales of such a work be bad?

I wrote to Chaoyang and talked about this. The total sales of "The Garland under the Mountain" has now exceeded 10 million copies.

With the potential that "Crossing the Guandong" has shown now, even if it cannot achieve the terrifying sales volume of 10 million copies, it will always reach 3 to 5 million copies.

We have finally reached a cooperation with Chaoyang. Are you going to watch this opportunity slip away?

This is a rare opportunity for our publishing house!"

Li Shifei stared at his old partner and spoke in a powerful voice.

Su Chen looked at him, his eyes gradually changed from hesitant to firm, "Well, you're old enough, just do it. Just do it according to your idea."

He paused, "Yanjing, I'll go with you!"

(End of this chapter)