1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 577 Liu Xinwu personally proofread

"Is it really that good?"

Upon hearing Gao Xingjian's high praise, Liu Xinwu was somewhat at a loss for words.

The next signature action of an adult who is at a loss is to take out a cigarette and light it.

Liu Xinwu could hear the sincerity in Gao Xingjian's words. The fact that he could give such a high evaluation meant that Jiang Xian's novel, even if it wasn't the most outstanding, was still of quite good quality.

In other words, Jiang Xian's "The Little Prince" is by no means a novel that has been forcibly promoted without any substance; the novel must have some merit.

"let me see"

Liu Xinwu pondered for a while, "I remember Wang Yidi from Children's Literature asked Jiang Xian to contribute an article. I don't know if he succeeded, but if he did, he should be able to see the illustrated version."

“Wang Yidi from Children’s Literature.” Gao Xingjian was intrigued, but after all, he had been working as a screenwriter and translator for so many years and was not familiar with Wang Yidi, nor did he know anyone at Children’s Literature.

"How about this."

At this moment, Liu Xinwu was also itching to go after what Gao Xingjian and Ma Jian had said. "I'll call Children's Literature and ask them. If they really manage to get an appointment, I'll go and borrow it to take a look. There shouldn't be any problems."

These days, it's common for works to circulate widely within the industry before publication. This can be considered a kind of "wild" discussion about the work before publication, which is meant to generate buzz for the work, unless the author or editorial department has a specific arrangement to keep the work secret.

Therefore, Liu Xinwu's actions will not be seen as breaking any rules.

"That couldn't be better!"

Ma Jian and Gao Xingjian were overjoyed.

Liu Xinwu lives in Jinsong Community. Almost none of the middle-aged and young intellectuals in the community have telephones installed at home, and Liu Xinwu is no exception. He makes and receives calls using public pagers.

In the Jinsong community, there is a so-called "Jinsong Three Lius", which refers to Liu Zaifu, Liu Zhanqiu, and Liu Xinwu.

Every time the three of them made a phone call, they would go downstairs to the large bicycle shed, where there was a precious pager phone.

The three of them went downstairs, went into the large bicycle shed, and quickly dialed the Children's Literature section. After they introduced themselves, the person on the other end was also very excited.

They all work in the literary circle; who doesn't know Liu Xinwu?

These days, making a phone call is a luxury; there are practically no nuisance calls, and of course, no one would think it's a prank.

Moreover, The Little Prince is not a widely known novel.

The fact that the other party knows this means they are indeed someone in the industry. If it is Liu Xinwu, then it makes perfect sense.

"You're really well-informed! How did you know that Jiang Xian's 'The Little Prince' was commissioned by our Children's Literature magazine?" came the cheerful reply from the other end.

"."

Liu Xinwu remained silent. "It's like this, I'd like to borrow the manuscript of this novel to take a look. I don't know if it's convenient for you, but if it is, I'll come and pick it up in a little while."

"Then please come and pick it up. There will be editors at the office until 10 p.m. tonight," the other party said.

"You guys are busy enough."

"There's nothing we can do."

The other person smiled and said, "To be honest, the publishing house is planning to release this 'Little Prince' story next month, so we're working overtime to finish it. When are you coming over?"

"us."

Liu Xinwu held the microphone and thought for a moment, then said, "I'll go over now."

"to make."

After asking for directions, Liu Xinwu, Ma Jian, and Gao Xingjian went out together and headed towards the location of China Children's Publishing House.

The capital city is only so big now; you can ride your bicycle there in no time at all.

"Xinwu!"

Upon arriving at China Children's Publishing House, Liu Xinwu encountered Gu Jingqi, an editor from the publishing house whom he knew well; they had met before when attending a meeting at the Beijing Writers Association.

"How did you get here? What's going on?"

"Oh, this is Ma Jian, a writer from Shandong, and this is Gao Xingjian, a playwright from the Beijing People's Art Theatre, who wrote 'The Station' before."

"Oh."

Upon hearing the famous song "The Station," Gu Jingqi immediately showed great respect, saying, "I've heard so much about you."

"We came here today to take a look at the new manuscript that Children's Literature recently commissioned," Liu Xinwu explained as he walked inside.

"A new manuscript?"

Gu Jingqi was stunned for a moment, then quickly realized, "Oh, you must be talking about Comrade Jiang Xian's 'The Little Prince'."

"you know?"

“How could I not know?” The other person smiled. “This manuscript has already circulated throughout our publishing house. It’s really well written. As expected of Jiang Xian, I believe this novel will be his most famous masterpiece for a long time to come.”

"Hmm? Is that so?"

Liu Xinwu was still in surprise when he arrived at the large office of Children's Literature.

"Hey."

Gu Jingqi called out, "Xiao Wu, Xiao Zhou, stop what you're doing for a moment. Let me introduce you. This is the writer Liu Xinwu."

The editors of Children's Literature magazine immediately looked towards the door, and upon hearing that it was literary star Liu Xinwu, they became excited.

"Comrade Liu Xinwu, hello, hello."

"Hello." Liu Xinwu smiled and shook hands with several editors. Soon, an editor wearing glasses squeezed in.

"Make way, everyone."

The editor wearing glasses walked up to Liu Xinwu, extended both hands and shook hands with him, "Comrade Xinwu, you've come to look at the manuscript, right? Please have a seat."

"Oh, no trouble at all. I won't bother you any longer. You all seem quite busy with work. I'll just take a look at the manuscript and leave."

"It's no trouble at all. We're all happy to have you here." The other person smiled and poured a glass of water for Liu Xinwu, Ma Jian, and Gao Xingjian. "We didn't expect you to be so interested in Comrade Jiang Xian's manuscript. You couldn't wait to read it before it was even published. We thought you and him didn't get along."

"Uh"

While Liu Xin was speechless, the other party spoke again:
"However, Comrade Jiang Xian's novel is really well written, truly excellent. To write children's literature at his level, he is probably one of a kind in China. We are currently proofreading the manuscript, I'll get you a copy."

Seeing that the other party also praised Jiang Xian's manuscript, Liu Xinwu rubbed his chin, wondering if this "Little Prince" was really that good?
He's not stupid. So far, everyone who has read the manuscript of "The Little Prince" has said that it's bad, which says a lot.

But no one wants to admit their mistakes. He had previously made a hasty judgment on Jiang Xian's "The Little Prince," deeming it a trivial children's literature work, and that writing such an article was a step backward in Jiang Xian's writing career, as well as a concession in his literary resistance.

If The Little Prince is really that good, wouldn't that be a slap in the face to his argument?

So even now, he still harbors a selfish hope that Jiang Xian's novel is not as good as these people say.

Liu Xinwu also didn't believe that a children's literature work, no matter how good, could be.

Just then, the editor brought over a manuscript for "Children's Literature".

Before a manuscript is published, it often goes through a process of three reviews and three proofreadings.

The so-called three-stage review refers to the initial review, secondary review, and final review.

As for the third proofreading, this is the proofreading work done after the layout is finalized.

The first proofreading involves proofreading the original manuscript word by word, focusing on errors in text, punctuation, and formatting, such as typos, omissions, extra words, and misuse of punctuation.

The second proofreading process involves further checking for errors in the manuscript based on the first proofreading. It also includes supplementary proofreading of issues that may have been missed during the first proofreading, such as standardizing terminology and checking figure and table numbers.

The third proofreading is based on the first and second proofreadings, and further ensures the accuracy and standardization of the manuscript. For some high-quality published works, the number of proofreadings may not be three, but more, in order to achieve the best possible result.

The manuscript that Children's Literature magazine gave to Liu Xinwu was for the second proofreading.

The layout of the article is basically complete, and the work looks almost identical to what you see in the publication.

Ma Jian and Gao Xingjian eagerly leaned over, opened the book, and felt a sense of satisfaction.

Well, it comes with a picture!
So this is what an elephant looks like when it's eaten by a python. No wonder the adults said it looked like a hat. The two of them, who had already read the novel, smiled knowingly when they saw the picture.

What surprised them the most was that Children's Literature magazine had actually colored these illustrations!
Full color!

Color publications were rare at this time; most publications were printed in two colors.

Let alone color publications, even color newspapers are rare. For example, the first color newspaper, "People's Daily," was probably published as a trial issue in 1972.

In the following years, about a few dozen copies were published.

The cost is too high!

Unlike the stereotypical image of "Children's Literature," today's "Children's Literature," like most publications, is printed in two colors.

And Children's Literature actually gave The Little Prince the treatment of being printed in full color!

This shows how much importance is attached to this novel.

"I won't bother you any longer. Could you please take this manuscript back and review it?" Liu Xinwu said.

"Yes, yes, you can take it back."

The editors of "Children's Literature" were very accommodating, treating it as an extra "celebrity proofreading" process on top of the three-proofreading process—"author Liu Xinwu personally proofreading"—which could be used as a promotional item when the magazine was published.

After Ma Jian and Gao Xingjian had thoroughly enjoyed reading the more than sixty illustrations in the full text, Liu Xinwu took the proofread manuscript of "The Little Prince" back from "Children's Literature".

When his wife, Lü Xiaoge, saw him come home, she called him to dinner. Liu Xinwu cleaned up the leftover rice that had been gathered upside down in an overturned bowl on the table, then slumped onto his desk and opened the book "The Little Prince".

He had read the opening dedication once, and now, reading it again, he still admired Jiang Xian; he had indeed written the dedication with great artistic conception.

“All adults were once children, but only a few of them remember that.”

This dedication creates a literary atmosphere, as Jiang Xian's words in it read particularly "lovable".

It seems that in order to emphasize that the dedication is an integral part of this novel, Jiang Xian's writing style remains consistent with the dedication in the main text.

"A book I read when I was six years old left a deep impression on me. To this day, I still clearly remember that it was a book about a primeval forest, and its name was 'The Jungle Book'."

This opening line surprised Liu Xinwu, who didn't even realize whether it was another dedication to the novel.

Because Jiang Xian didn't start the story with the standard storytelling opening line, "Once upon a time, there was..."

He spoke casually, mentioning things I'd seen before and what was wrong with them.
Liu Xinwu continued reading, and only from the following text did he begin to discern a hint of children's literature, because the passage was full of childlike fun and was a record of childhood stories.

In addition, in Liu Xinwu's opinion, the first formal chapter of this novel contains a biting satire of adults that completely exceeds the concept of children's literature. No children's literature has ever written like Jiang Xian. Nowadays, more and more children's literature focuses on the beautiful and avoids writing bad things into novels.

The current prevailing view is that children's literature is written for children and should be centered on children.

Therefore, children definitely wouldn't understand the satirical passages that Jiang Xian wrote!

But the charm of Jiang Xian's words made Liu Xinwu believe that if he were a child reading this novel, he would probably enjoy it too. Even if he didn't understand the author's satire, he wouldn't be uninterested in the story.

He then looked down.

Liu Xinwu himself didn't realize that from the very first chapter, the story gradually increased its "childishness."

It's like boiling a frog in lukewarm water. Of course, the idea of ​​boiling a frog in lukewarm water has already been debunked; we'll just use that phrase.

At first, it was just a simple account of childhood events, but gradually, the story began to take on a fantastical element.

It's as if it's gradually pulling you from the normal world into the fantasy world of children.

When Liu Xinwu realized this, it made him even more suspicious that Jiang Xian's novel was really written for children.

Children do not need to be pulled into a fantasy world.

Because children live in a world full of fantasy, they will imagine everything they see and believe everything they hear.

Who is living in a "normal" world?

The answer is undoubtedly
--grown ups.

Liu Xinwu suddenly remembered that Jiang Xian wrote in his dedication: "Dedicated to Jiang Niannian of my childhood."

Wait a minute, why is it dedicated to your daughter when you're talking about her childhood?
As a writer, Liu Xinwu quickly understood the hidden meaning behind it.

He said that what he dedicated to Jiang Niannian in her childhood was actually dedicated to Jiang Niannian in her adulthood.

"Correct."

"That's it."

Liu Xinwu's eyes lit up as he guessed the hidden meaning in Jiang Xian's words.

This dedication is beautifully written!
The opening dedication governs the entire book!
Rather than saying that "The Little Prince" is dedicated to children, it is more accurate to say that it is written for adults.

(End of this chapter)