Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 298 I use my native language

Stephen King picked up the coffee, but instead of drinking it, he asked, "I think whiskey is more suitable now."

Susan stood up tactfully and went to another carriage. Soon she came back with two whiskey glasses filled with ice and a bottle of whiskey.

Stephen King smiled and said, "Jack Daniel's? I like this drink."

Susan poured him a glass and looked at Zhang Chao tentatively; Zhang Chao shook his head slightly and said, "I don't drink."

Xu Ruiya said, "Give me a glass." So Susan poured another glass for Xu Ruiya.

Stephen King took a sip of wine and seemed to relax. He leaned back on the sofa and asked lazily, "How old were you when you first read an 'adult' book?"

Zhang Chao paused for a moment, recalling what was going on. After a long while, he asked Xu Ruiya, who was standing next to him, "What is the most common translation of Journey to the West in the English world? Monkey King?"

Xu Ruiya covered her mouth and smiled, saying, "Of course not. The more common English title of Journey to the West is actually very simple - Journey to the West."

Zhang Chao said "Oh" embarrassedly, then turned to Stephen King and said: "If you don't count some sporadic short stories, the first 'formal' 'adult' book I read was Journey to the West, when I was about 9 years old.

I remember it was a summer afternoon. I sat on a stone in the yard until the sun went down and the words on the book could no longer be seen. I finally finished reading one of the books.

Stephen King raised his glass to greet Zhang Chao and said happily, "I have also read Journey to the West. I like the monkey Wukong. Did you understand the novel at that time?"

Zhang Chao said: "When I was just born, it was made into a classic TV series. I watched the series first and then read the book, so I can understand it. But some of the 'ancient Chinese' in it still caused me some trouble."

Stephen King said with some envy: "It's incredible that a 9-year-old child can see ancient languages." - When you chose "Journey to the West", apart from the familiar stories and characters, did you think about what kind of book it was?
Popular? Serious? Magical? Critical? Funny? ...Have you ever thought that you might not understand this book?"

Zhang Chao laughed and said, "How could it be possible? What could a child understand? It was purely out of interest. I just picked it up and read it without thinking whether I could understand it or not."

Stephen King: "That's the same thing for me. In 1959, when I was about 12 years old, my family moved to a small town in Maine. The school in the small town was a one-room school, and there was no library - or even in the town itself.

In those days, a big green van would come in every week, called the Book Van, from the state, and you could borrow three books from the Book Van, and they didn't care what they were - you didn't have to borrow children's books.

No one told me what is pure literature and what is popular fiction; what I should read and what I shouldn’t read. So I read The Call of the Wild and The Sea Wolf this week, and maybe The Warmth of the Cold World next week, and then The Man in the Gray Suit the week after that…

I read whatever comes to my mind, sometimes just by the color of the spine or the pattern on the cover..."

Zhang Chao laughed and interjected, "It was the same when I was a kid, except it wasn't a book cart, it was my father's bookshelf."

Stephen King continued: "When I read Sea Wolf, I didn't understand Jack London's criticism of Nietzsche; when I read McTeague: A San Francisco Story, I didn't realize that this was 'naturalism', nor did I understand that the author Frank Norris actually meant 'You can never win, the system will always defeat you.'"

Zhang Chao seemed to have grasped something, but he was not sure. He still said, "You mean, readers don't really care whether a novel is 'popular' or 'classic'?"

Stephen King shook his head and said, “I’ll tell you what readers care about – when I was a little older, I read Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles and understood two things – first, if she didn’t wake up when that guy fucked her, then she must have really fallen asleep;”

Faced with the sudden "violent remarks", Zhang Chao was a little embarrassed and the two ladies also blushed.

Stephen King seemed not to notice their expressions, and continued: "Second, life was really hard for women in those days. That was enough. I never read the book again, and after Jude the Obscure, I never read Hardy again."

Zhang Chao understood a little and said, "So we can't assume that our works will be read repeatedly by most readers. In fact, most readers care about what they read the first time and what kind of plot impacted their emotions.

After all, when writing, one follows one's inner desire to express oneself and to find the part that can resonate with the readers. As for the subject matter, techniques, content, rhetoric... none of them can replace this primitive impulse.

Instead of thinking about how to balance "popularity" and "classicism", it is better to abandon this consciousness - this is really too difficult!"

Stephen King said: "That's because the world you grew up in has more distinct boundaries, so you have this imprint in your brain. At least for me, writing "The Shawshank Redemption" is no different from writing "Pet Sematary" and "Carrie". They are all what I want to write.

Of course, I never thought that the former would be made into a movie that is so popular with you - oh, but you probably don't like the original novel, and you won't think it is 'great'. "

Zhang Chao was stunned when he heard the phrase "branded in the brain" and said, "This is probably the 'steel stamp of thought'." After saying that, he turned around and asked Xu Ruiya if there was any problem with his "translation".

Xu Ruiya nodded, indicating that it was okay. As the head of the translation department of Tide Culture, although she did not translate The Three-Body Problem, she was quite confident that she would participate in the cross-review.

Stephen King asked with interest: "'Idea Stamp', this term is interesting, did you coin it?"

Zhang Chao explained, "This is a word from the science fiction novel The Three-Body Problem, which is serialized in a magazine I edited. It is roughly..." Zhang Chao briefly introduced the plot of The Three-Body Problem and the connotation of "ideological stamp". After listening to it, Stephen King became more interested and asked, "This novel sounds great! Is there an English version?"

Zhang Chao winked at Xu Ruiya, who quickly said, "We have translated the first part of it, and the word just now comes from the second part. If you are interested, we can show you the translation of the first part."

Stephen King is not only a writing maniac, but also a reading maniac. He reads nearly a hundred books every year. He was naturally very happy to hear that there was a new book to read. He immediately took out a business card and handed it to Xu Ruiya, saying, "I can't wait!"

David Miller, who was "listening" in the hallway, looked nervous. Zhang Chao did send him some chapters of The Three-Body Problem, but he did not sign them immediately because he did not really understand the novel.

It's not that he has no experience in reading science fiction. On the contrary, as an American elite who makes a living by "reading", he has read countless science fiction or fantasy novels.

However, none of them confused him as much as "The Three-Body Problem" - he could feel the grand conception of the quiet yet dangerous universe, and he was amazed at the imagination of the Trisolarans who "locked" human technology, but more often he was discouraged by the hardcore theoretical content and some "strange" motivations of the characters.

After all, as an editor, he selects works for readers, not for himself.

It is said that this is a "trilogy", and this is only the first part. David Miller wants to wait and see.

How did Zhang Chao suddenly succeed in "selling" The Three-Body Problem to Stephen King? You know, Stephen King has a publisher with whom he has a closer cooperation...

David Miller decided to sign the first part of "The Three-Body Problem" as soon as the train journey was over.

Stephen King was obviously having a great time talking, and his language became more and more "outrageous". He said to Zhang Chao: "Young man, don't give a damn about whether the novel you wrote can be recorded in history.

When Fitzgerald became famous, he was a writer of popular novels about youth, love, disillusionment... His "The Great Gatsby" actually sold very poorly.

At that time, some critics in the New York Times said that "the novel reads exaggerated and weird, and sometimes reveals traces of cheap novels", while others said that "the novel is too scattered and weak, and its artificial and deliberate feeling will make it quickly forgotten."

Then Fitzgerald began to go down the drain. Hey, later they said The Great Gatsby was a masterpiece and Fitzgerald was the greatest American writer.

Look at the world, these sons of bitches... I don't give a damn what they say about my novels. I only care about the check - as long as the number on it is the same length, it proves that I have not been abandoned by the readers.

As for the rest, Fu** Off! "

As he spoke, he drank the wine in the glass in one gulp.

Zhang Chao was happy to hear this. Although Stephen King's creative philosophy was different from his own, his creative experience and mentality were really worth learning from.

"Don't make distinctions" and "Just pay the check" are not such difficult principles to understand, but if they hadn't come from Stephen King's mouth, they wouldn't have been so convincing to him.

Maybe this is the reason why “I have heard many truths, but still cannot live a good life.”

In the communication with Stephen King, he talked more and Zhang Chao said less, but Zhang Chao did not feel depressed at all. Zhang Chao was like an interviewer, "pulling" the real things out of this old writer bit by bit.

Before they knew it, it was noon and they went to the dining car for lunch.

They chatted for a while in the afternoon until 3 o'clock, when the train entered Nevada and stopped at Reno Station. Stephen King was going to get off here, and the conversation time between him and Zhang Chao was over.

Since the stop lasted for 20 minutes, the publishing house arranged a simple interview with reporters at the platform as a summary of the first conversation.

However, this kind of interview was more official. Zhang Chao and Stephen King tacitly praised each other's business. Both of them are veterans in dealing with the media. It was flawless and everyone was happy.

After seeing Stephen King off, Zhang Chao got on the bus and continued his journey.

Just as he stepped into the carriage door again, a voice suddenly called him: "Mr. Zhang Chao, can I ask you one last question?"

Zhang Chao turned around and found a reporter with South Asian appearance - deep European features and big eyes, but tan skin.

Without waiting for Zhang Chao to answer, the reporter asked, "I am a reporter from The American Indian. It is reported that your interviewee this time is Kiran Desai. As a representative of young Asian writers, what do you think is the biggest gap between you and Kiran Desai, the Booker Prize winner?"

Zhang Chao thought about it and said, "Gap? I think it's probably because I write in my own ethnic language?"

After saying that, he ignored the reporter's reaction and turned and walked into the car.

(End of this chapter)