Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 161: The Northern and Southern Walls of “New Prose”
Zhang Chao turned on the computer, created a new document, and entered the name of the novel - "The Glory of Criminal Police".

Then move the mouse to the upper right corner, click the X, and close the document.

As a writer, you must be strategic. If you say that the manuscript will be submitted after May, then it is still in time to start writing in March. You absolutely cannot start early!
Let’s pay off the literary debt first!

"The Great Doctor" has been serialized for 10 months, with a total of 23 words. In terms of volume, it is enough to be published as a single volume in the United States.

However, Xu Ruiya's translation progress bar had just started to move forward, and Simon & Schuster's editor David Miller was so anxious that he scratched his head.

Simon & Schuster was the first American publishing house to contact Zhang Chao, but it got up early and arrived late, and missed "Gone Girl".

The top management is now very dissatisfied with David Miller, which has seriously affected his reputation in the industry. Therefore, David Miller urgently needs "The Great Doctor" to save his reputation.

However, what made Zhang Chao feel relieved was that the essay column serialized simultaneously in "Meiwen" magazine could finally come to an end.

From July to February, Zhang Chao wrote a total of 7 essays of varying lengths, namely "Frost on the Snowy Ground after Rain", "The Peddler", "Spring and Autumn in Food Village", "Grass and Trees in the Hometown", "Swallows and Sparrows on the Beams", "Light and Shadow at Candlelight Night", "People in the Bridge" and "Ordinary Alleys".

Zhang Chao focused his brushstrokes entirely on a corner of his hometown, Changfu County, and made a meticulous depiction of the Dengyun Road in his memory.

He fully implemented the prose concept he expounded in Jia Pingwa's class, writing about small places, small people, and small things...

But this kind of "small" just hits the tired hearts of urban people.

This batch of essays did not cause much response in "Youth" because this magazine mainly focuses on novels and its taste tends to be younger.

However, it caused quite a stir in the magazine "Meiwen".

The mailbox of the editorial department of "Meiwen" is filled with letters from readers. Most of them are middle-aged and elderly people, and many of them are witnesses of the changes in urban and rural areas in China.

I have a natural resonance with Zhang Chao's description of the small southern town that has retained its ancient appearance and simple folk customs amid the rolling tide of the times.

Zhang Chao's prose style is cool, delicate, and elegant, with a hint of melancholy in the description, which is in sharp contrast to the popular "big prose" today.

It was like a breeze from the southeast coast, blowing away the overly heavy cloud that had been hanging over the prose world since the proliferation of "great prose".

Jia Pingwa didn't expect Zhang Chao to be able to do this. After thinking it over again and again, he personally called Zhang Chao:
"On March 3st, there will be a 'Contemporary Prose Development Seminar' in Xi'an. I have decided to include your series of essays as one of the special topics. I hope you can come and attend."

"Will you reimburse me?"

Jia Pingwa almost choked on his tea. He took several breaths before answering, "You kid...it's reimbursed. Hard sleeper on the train, economy class on the plane. Stay at the guesthouse of Northwestern University. The meeting will be held at the Chinese Department of Northwestern University."

"Okay!" Zhang Chao looked at his schedule. As it was graduation season, he had very few classes to attend and had ample time, so he agreed.

Attending this meeting is secondary. The main thing is that Zhang Chao has never been to Xi'an in his past life or this life, so he really wants to see this ancient capital of N dynasties, see the Terracotta Warriors, and see the "rotten Big Wild Goose Pagoda".

What’s more, this trip can be reimbursed!

The seminar was on March 3st, and Zhang Chao arrived two days in advance, but he did not tell Jia Pingwa and planned to go around on his own.

At this time, the temperature in Xi'an was basically above 0 degrees, which was not cold, but the weather was drier than that in Yanjing, which gave Zhang Chao a sense of shock from the ancient capital.

Zhang Chao only felt that his two nostrils had been separated from his body and escaped into another dimension. Only when he picked out the thick blood scab inside did they return to his face briefly.

However, the magnificent and solemn Terracotta Warriors and the museum with exquisite collections still shocked him greatly.

Besides, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda doesn’t look so shabby!

The next day, Zhang Chao also took time to visit Northwest University. The Chinese Department here has a long history of education and is among the best in the country. It has a profound academic foundation and strong teaching and research capabilities.

At the same time, Northwest University was also a major center of "writers' classes" among domestic universities in the 80s. Both Jia Pingwa and Chi Zijian studied here.

Important literary activities in the northwest region almost always take place here. Zhang Chao strolled through the still somewhat bleak campus scenery and saw a large banner hung in the lobby on the first floor of the College of Arts building:

Warmly congratulate the Seminar on the Development of Contemporary Chinese Prose held in our college!

Many students were busy setting up the venue. It seemed that tomorrow's meeting would be quite large.

Zhang Chao could also hear his classmates talking:

"Who's coming tomorrow?"

"Jia Pingwa will definitely come. And Alai, Xiao Fuxing, Liu Liangcheng..."

“It’s still these people…”

"I heard Zhang Chao will be here!"

"A senior sister went to print triangle signs in the afternoon and saw him."

"Wow, is there any chance for an autograph?"

"Isn't Zhang Chao a novelist? This is a prose seminar, why is he here?"

"Don't you read Youth or Meiwen? He has been writing an essay every month and publishing it in two magazines. They are all about the little people and little things in his hometown."

"How can I have time? I can't even finish reading the books on the teacher's list. How is the writing?"

"Is there a time when my Zhang Chao can't write well?"

"You're using a fangirl filter! It doesn't count!"

"What about Professor Duan Jianjun? Is he authoritative enough? In the first week of this semester, he specifically talked about Zhang Chao's prose. His evaluation was 'unconventional' and 'extraordinarily fresh'."

"The evaluation is so high?"

"He also used traditional Chinese painting as an example, saying that Zhang Chao's prose skills were like the 'boneless painting method' in ink painting, which has no sharp edges or outlines, but is full of spiritual content.

It is extremely rare for young writers to have such a solid foundation in prose. Apart from Zhang Chao, there is only one female writer named Li Juan who has this style.

But Li Juan is cleaner, purer and simpler than Zhang Chao. Zhang Chao has a more literary air, while Li Juan has a more primitive feeling of "water lilies emerging from clear water, naturally without any decoration."

"Why did Li Juan pop up again? Who is she?"

"I told you not to listen in class! Professor Duan said that she could become a great writer in the future. Zhang Chao and she, one from the south and one from the north, both wrote essays that were different from the popular style in the literary world, which can be called "new essays."

If Zhang Chao could devote some of his energy from writing novels to writing essays, and his works would be richer, then the two of them would be the two pillars of the "new essay"."

"That won't do... Zhang Chao should just concentrate on writing novels..."

Zhang Chao did not expect that he would be noticed by a professor in the Chinese Department and receive such high praise after only writing a few essays.

But as the student said, he really couldn't spare the energy to continue writing essays in the short term.

Afraid that the students would recognize him, Zhang Chao covered the lower half of his face with a scarf and turned to leave. However, he bumped into a skinny girl.

Zhang Chao looked down and saw that the girl had long hair, black-framed glasses, and had a young and ordinary appearance. At the moment, she was terrified and kept apologizing to him.

Zhang Chao felt that she looked very familiar and suddenly remembered, isn’t this the Li Juan that the student just mentioned?
My nose suddenly felt hot, and the fragile capillaries could not bear the heavy burden. A stream of blood flowed down my nostrils...

(End of this chapter)