Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 284: Award for Personality
"Compared with young writers from other countries, isn't his experience of winning awards a little thin? I heard that there is another young writer in his 20s in Japan who won the Akutagawa Prize."

“How many awards did he win?”

"Well, it seems like there was only one Zhuangzhong Literature Award. The Chinese Media Award for Potential Newcomer...didn't he fall out with the 'Southern Clique'? So they didn't give it to him."

"Nonsense. Didn't I hear that he received some award from Japan?"

"Hey, that prize is high, but not up to par."

"How tall?"

"I heard there were 30? I can't calculate the Japanese yen conversion, but that's about it."

"Wow, 30 if you don't show it on the stage? How much does it cost if you show it on the stage?"

"What about the novella prize? And some magazine prizes? None?"

"He only wrote one novella, which was published in Huacheng. Later, he started his own magazine, and his manuscripts were not leaked. He did have a few essays in Meiwen, but they were not substantial enough."

"Some awards have either been discontinued, or are selected from the magazine's own circle of authors, or have little influence, so even if you give it to them, they may not be willing to accept it."

"It's difficult, it's difficult!"

In the office of the Yanjing Writers Association, smoke was curling around as Chairman Tie Ning and a group of vice chairmen were holding a meeting.

"We have too few youth literature awards, which is indeed a problem," said Vice Chairman Liu Heng, adding, "It has affected the metabolism of our literary world."

Jiang Zilong laughed and said, "Don't mention the word 'literary world'. After last year, no one was willing to mention it anymore."

Liu Heng said indifferently: "Oh, that's because some of them are not honest and have a guilty conscience. What is the relationship between me and Xiao Zhang?"

Zhang Kangkang frowned and said, "You guys should smoke less first. Look at Xiao Zhang, he never smokes! Why don't you learn from the young people?"

Gao Hongbo asked: "If I don't smoke, my brain won't work properly. Hey, what are the rules for this year's Mao Dun Literature Prize? Have they been announced?"

The Mao Prize naturally refers to the Mao Dun Literature Prize.

Tie Ning is both the chairman of the Writers Association and the chairman of the Mao Dun Literature Prize jury. Hearing this, he replied, "This year's jury will review works from 2003 to 2006. According to convention, the jury will be established in the second half of the year, and will start collecting works at the end of the year. The final results will not be announced until the end of 2008."

The Mao Dun Literature Prize is awarded every four years, and occasionally every five years. The reason why the works for each session are collected at the end of the following year is to allow those works that are stuck at the end (for example, at the end of 4) to have time to ferment word of mouth and sales, so as to avoid missing out on excellent works.

Also, because this award is given to novels, every year there are at least hundreds of works submitted by major publishing houses. If the judges want to be as fair and just as possible, just reading all these works is a huge and time-consuming and labor-intensive task.

That is why the awards for works produced between 2008 and 2003 were not given until the end of 2006.

Although the Mao Dun Literature Prize has been criticized for its monotonous judging style, which literary prize does not have its own tone? The Mao Dun Literature Prize has done a good job in this regard.

Li Cunbao hesitated and said, "Isn't it too young for him to talk about the Mao Dun Literature Prize now? Alai must have been over 40 when he won the prize."

Liu Heng glanced at Li Cunbao and said, "When did I say he would win the award this year? I mean, we have to consider his special situation and how to encourage him, right?

Do you remember what the leaders said at the last meeting—Xiao Zhang was there too—? "We must vigorously develop a team of young writers, constantly consolidate our cultural position, persist in exporting culture abroad, and establish a good cultural image for the country."

Now that we have come to this, we should at least take some action."

After hearing Liu Heng's words, everyone fell silent. Zhang Chao attended the last meeting of the Writers Association, although he was just a "voting observer", but he received the most attention. There is even a saying that the higher authorities held this meeting mainly because of the huge and positive influence Zhang Chao has caused overseas in recent years.

So even though Zhang Chao is only 22 years old now, even though he does not hold any official position, and has not even officially joined the Writers Association, but at least in the short term, his every word and action will attract the attention of many interested people.

Tie Ning frowned. As the chairman of the Writers Association, she certainly knew the weight of the leader's words, especially after the meeting, Zhang Chao jumped to Ludao. He said he was going to Xiamen University for an exchange visit, but the content of his lectures sent back from Xiamen University was more and more exciting.

At first, Zhang Chao only talked about his creative process and personal experience, but gradually he began to have opinions on the level of contemporary Chinese literature, especially that China has not produced a master like Pamuk who is capable of clearing obstacles for later generations.

Pamuk is a rising star who just won the Nobel Prize, so he could just tolerate this.

But later on, Zhang Chao's "opinions" on contemporary Chinese literature became increasingly sharp, especially when he talked about the fact that many countries' writers were unrestrainedly learning from the world's advanced trends such as Marquez and magical realism. He was very blunt and even criticized his own teachers Yu Hua and Mo Yan.

The reason why this Writers Association meeting specifically wanted to come up with a charter to discuss literary awards was because of a recent open class Zhang Chao gave on Ludao Island, the theme of which was "The Power Structure and Literary Values ​​Behind Literary Awards."

In this open class, Zhang Chao conducted an in-depth analysis of the impact of various domestic and foreign literary awards on domestic and world literary trends. The full text of the speech was compiled by enthusiastic students that evening and posted online.

Zhang Chao expressed some rather sensitive views in his open class:

“Literary awards are often closely related to power structures. They not only reflect the will of the state, but also play a dominant role in the construction and configuration of the literary field within the power field.”

“The establishment and selection process of literary awards reflects specific literary values, which may lead to the homogenization of literary creation, making literary works tend to conform to the style and themes of the award criteria, and inhibiting the development of literary diversity and innovation.”

“The power structure exerts influence on literary creation and evaluation through the establishment and selection mechanism of awards, thus shaping the power relations and capital distribution in the literary field to a certain extent.”

"Our domestic literary awards lack international influence, not only because our national strength was not strong in the past, but also because of the single value system and the rejection of commercial operations."

"We place too much emphasis on the so-called 'fairness' of literary awards. In fact, there is no award in the world that is voted on by people and is free of controversy. Fear of controversy is a disease!"

……

The next day, a media report came out: "Dissatisfied with the unspoken rules of domestic literary awards, Zhang Chao may withdraw from award selection."

It would have been fine if this layer of window paper had not been broken. After it was broken, everyone realized: Hey, Zhang Chao has been in the industry for more than three years, and has produced influential works one after another, and he even won the "Zhuang Zhongwen Literature Award"!
The "Zhuang Zhongwen Literature Award" is quite important in the industry. It is an award that young and middle-aged writers dream of, but ordinary readers don't recognize it! Who is Zhuang Zhongwen? Is he a famous writer? Is he as famous as Lu Xun, Mao Dun, or Lao She?
For a time, public opinion was abuzz.

The writers from the Writers Association far away in Yanjing were shocked after seeing this.

The leaders here had just finished their meeting when Zhang Chao started making this scene - is this an advanced version of "the crying baby gets the milk"?

But the writers' association members are also suffering, because if we count the important literary awards in China, Zhang Chao is not very reliable:
The Mao Dun Literature Prize is awarded every four years, and the award ceremony will have to wait another two years. Moreover, Zhang Chao’s age is obviously not suitable, and it is unlikely that he will win the prize.

The Lu Xun Literature Award is a single award given every two years and a grand award given every four years. It also has a novella award. Zhang Chao is suitable for the award, but he has to wait until the end of the year.

The Lao She Literature Prize is awarded every two to three years, but it is only given to outstanding works created by Beijing-based authors and published in Yenching. Zhang Chao obviously does not meet the requirements.

The People's Literature Award is given once a year and is only awarded to works published in People's Literature. Zhang Chao has published a novella titled "The Cliff", but it was a collaboration with Quan Yongxian, whose name appears before Zhang Chao's.

There was a "Feng Mu Literature Award" a few years ago, which had three awards: young critics, new literary figures, and military literature. Zhang Chao definitely met the requirements for the "New Literary Figure" award.

However, the "Feng Mu Literature Award" was discontinued after being held three times in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

As for other literary awards held by magazines or local literary associations, due to the decline of literature, there is often not even a decent report after the awards are given. "It's a gap, a gap!" Vice Chairman Chen Jiangong lamented.

Everyone here "unscrupulously" focused on Zhang Chao and discussed important literary awards suitable for young writers, but there was no sense of private negotiation at all.

Just because of the standards of "young writer" or "literary newcomer", there would probably be no controversy if Zhang Chao won any award related to it.

The only controversial issue is probably whether this award is worthy of Zhang Chao's achievements in recent years.

Compared with the mainland, not to mention Japan, the United States, and Europe, where the literary markets are highly prosperous and mature, even Hong Kong and Taiwan have done a good job in rewarding young writers.

Taking Hong Kong as an example, the Youth Literature Award has been established since 1972. By holding an annual literary competition and compiling the winning works into a book, it provides a free way for creative people to publish their works, thereby encouraging literary creation.

Since the award was launched, almost all well-known writers in Hong Kong have come out of it. It is known as one of the three major literary awards in Hong Kong, along with the "Hong Kong Chinese Literature Biennial Award" and the "Chinese Literature Creation Award".

In comparison, in 2007, there was indeed a lack of awards suitable for young writers in mainland China. It was obviously unfair to let these young people compete in the traditional award selection process where relationships are complicated and old masters are rampant.

After arguing for a long time without any results, Tie Ning couldn't help but put forward his own suggestion: "If we want to set up an award specifically for young writers from scratch, it will take at least 1 to 2 years from application, approval, publicity to actual operation..."

Jiang Zilong's eyes turned, and he grasped the key point, saying, "You mean, not to create a new one from scratch? Then you can add new ones directly from the existing awards?"

Tie Ning nodded and said, "Yes."

Gao Hongbo also came to his senses. It turned out that the main point of today's drama was here. He quickly asked, "Doesn't that mean we have to wait for a year or two?"

Tie Ning said: "Although it is a new award, it does not mean that it has to be awarded together with the main award!"

Everyone was stunned, obviously they had never thought about this.

Tie Ning sighed secretly, and then explained: "In the original literature award, a young writer or new literary talent award will be added, but it will be presented separately before the main award.

This award has weight and attention, and is a great encouragement for outstanding young writers in China.”

After Tie Ning finished speaking, a buzz of discussion broke out in the conference room.

After more than ten minutes, Chen Zhongshi, who had been silent, spoke up: "I think there is nothing wrong with this proposal. We old men are not capable of moving stones, but we can at least make way for the kids!"

Chen Zhongshi was the oldest vice chairman present besides Jiang Zilong. He usually stayed in Xi'an, but this time he happened to come to Yanjing for something. His words still carried a lot of weight.

Jiang Zilong also agreed: "We should set up a significant new literary award, and give it out separately, so that no one else can steal their limelight!"

Jiang Zilong is the only "three-term veteran" in the Writers Association besides Chairman Tie Ning. His vote in favor of this proposal means that this proposal is likely to become a reality.

"Then which literary award should be used to establish this newcomer award?"

Tie Ning looked around the conference room and said firmly, "Of course it's the Mao Dun Literature Prize! Only the Mao Dun Literature Prize has this influence, and it is known and recognized by people all over the country."

The conference room was once again filled with a buzzing sound.

This is the Mao Dun Literature Prize. No matter how controversial it is, it is still the highest award in Chinese literature!

Any action on this award must take into account the profound political and cultural implications behind it.

After a long discussion, Gao Hongbo finally asked Tie Ning a question on behalf of the other vice chairmen: "You must have a plan. What is it? Can you tell us about it?"

Tie Ning sorted out his thoughts a bit, and then gave a detailed introduction: "We must first admit that we are behind advanced regions in cultural communication. Apart from the Mao Dun Literature Prize, we do not have any other awards with international influence."

No one objects to this. If this were not a formal work meeting, everyone's speech would have to be written into the meeting minutes. One could even directly say that the Mao Dun Literature Prize has no international influence. "

But many of those sitting in this room are Mao Dun Literature Prize winners, so we have to save face for each other.

Seeing that no one had any objections, Tie Ning continued, "So if you want to do it, you have to do it right the first time. If you are timid and then fail, it will be too late to try to fix the problem.

My suggestion is to establish a new "Mao Dun Literature Newcomer Award" under the Mao Dun Literature Prize. The award cycle will be two years, mainly to commend literary newcomers who have performed outstandingly in the past two to three years.

If the first award is given this year, it will be given to newcomers who appeared in the literary world between 2004 and 2006. In terms of nomination, the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the Writers Association, and major literary magazines can jointly form a nomination committee and a review committee.

As for the specific selection criteria and number of winners, we can discuss them in detail after the committee is established.”

After Tie Ning finished speaking, someone immediately asked, "So is it 2 years or 3 years?"

Tie Ning said openly: "Taking into account the special nature of the first award, the scope will be relaxed to three years at first, so that as many new literary talents as possible can be considered.

Starting from the next term, since we have already connected, we will hold it every two years!"

Some people immediately laughed secretly, saying that this was not the "specialness of the first award" but the "specialness of Zhang Chao's participation in the competition." Zhang Chao published his first book in 2004, and by 2005 it had already had a great influence.

But there is still a question: "Should there be a mechanism to avoid the new literary award from the main award given out a year later? For example, in principle, those who win the new literary award will not participate in the selection of the Mao Dun Literature Prize?"

This question could be said to be absurd. The Mao Dun Literature Prize has never had a winner under the age of 40, and “newcomers” have nothing to do with this award.

But because everyone assumes that Zhang Chao will definitely win the Newcomer Award and will definitely be nominated for the main award of the Mao Dun Literature Prize, this question arises.

Tie Ning said: "The Mao Dun Newcomer Literature Award is given to writers, and the Mao Dun Literature Award is given to works. The two are not in conflict, so there is no need to avoid them."

Since Tie Ning, the chairman of the Writers Association and the chairman of the Mao Dun Literature Prize Jury, has said so, naturally no one has any other opinions. The probability of Zhang Chao winning two awards in a row is not zero, but it is really too low.

Tie Ning concluded: "The purpose of establishing the Mao Dun Newcomer Literature Award is to support young literary newcomers, build a healthy literary ecology in the new era, and give young writers with development potential, influence, and youth more opportunities to showcase their talents."

Then he added earnestly: "I know what everyone is thinking. He may not need this award, but other young writers certainly do. Not everyone has his reader base and media exposure.

"A single flower does not make a spring." The original intention of establishing the "Mao Dun Newcomer Literature Award" may have been because of a certain young writer. But when this award is successfully implemented, all young writers will benefit!"

In a word, the matter was defined and no one had anything to say. After a simple show of hands, the matter was settled.

After discussing a few routine matters, the Writers Association meeting came to a successful conclusion.

It was already night, and just when everyone was about to leave, secretary Xiao Yang suddenly came in and reported a piece of news to Tie Ning: Zhang Chao had won a literature award, and it was a big one!

At this point, all the chairmen and vice chairmen in the conference room lost their composure - wasn't this a slap in the face, and it was a loud slap...

(End of this chapter)