Literary Master 1983

Chapter 238 Mao Dun Literature Prize

Therefore, Yu Qie no longer wanted to influence Guan Moye. He felt that it would be best if Guan Moye could be affected, since Guan Moye was a very talented person after all, but it wouldn't matter if he wasn't affected at all.

People have demonized the writer Guan Moye, either believing him to be a person with malicious intentions or a person with a conscience who speaks the truth. In reality, he was just a writer.

Yu Qie, who often treated people to meals, also treated Guan Moye to a meal this time, and then, contrary to his usual behavior, told him: "Just do it your way."

One can imagine how terrified Guan Moye was—it was like the disclaimer of those cruel emperors who killed their beautiful concubines: first, they would make a joke and ask the concubine to do something, and once she agreed, they would cut off her head.

Guan Moye was startled. He stopped eating and his face turned pale: "Teacher Yu, I'll change it, I'll change it."

Yu Qie shook his head and said, "I had a problem with my thinking before. I was always thinking about taking shortcuts and using small actions to influence big events in the future. But I forgot that I myself am the biggest shortcut."

Guan Moye, of course, had no idea what Yu Qie was talking about.

Yu Qie said, "Go ahead, your novel is well-written, very good. You are also a very talented writer. Among all of us students, I actually think you are the most promising."

"But do whatever you want, write however you want, just do it that way."

Guan Moye was terrified, moved, and also felt a chill. Then, he instinctively felt that Yu Qie might be about to write something.

Yes, Yu has not written any novels since the Akutagawa Prize.

Making movies, doing charity work, and working as a literature lecturer have taken up Yu Qie's time, and readers have been waiting for him for far too long.

Everyone is eagerly anticipating what kind of novel he will write and what kind of events he will address.

As the literature workshop neared its end, the course became more relaxed, leaving the students ample time for creative work. All the students pondered deeply, and, following their established schools of thought, produced their key works.

Guan Moye's novel is undoubtedly "The White Dog Swing," from which "Gaomi Northeast Township" was born; Yu Hua wrote "The April 3rd Incident," a novel with both "stream of consciousness" and avant-garde literary characteristics. This is not Yu Hua's most famous novel, but it best represents his early style, which is violent and cold; Su Tong wrote "The Escape of 1934," in which he created a complex metaphorical world; Qu Tiening and Wang Anyi each wrote "The Straw Stack" and "Xiao Baozhuang," one involving several women in the countryside, and the other connecting disaster relief in rural Huaibei with the Bible.

These novels are all excellent and are a sign of the writers' maturity. They have mastered various literary techniques and use all of humanity's cultural products as creative material. Sometimes, reading these novels alone, one feels that they are even more brilliant than their representative works from their mature period.

Because they are like soldiers who have just taken up arms, ready to point their sharp spears at everyone. They create extremely complex stories with dazzling skill.

But this is precisely the result of the faculty's training.

Yu Qie summarized these novels:

"Looking back now, it's a bit of a pity. When I was teaching, I was always talking about techniques, but that's just a side thing. Many times when we write a good story, we don't realize at the time what kind of literary theory we're using."

"Our intuition selects the words that touch us, and thus a novel is written."

Yu Hua has evolved in the past six months. He has shown his talent earlier than ever before. So he asked Yu Qie, "I feel like I can write novels now. I can keep swimming and swim to the deep blue sea I want. But I don't know how to go back."

He meant how I could achieve great skill without artifice, simplifying complexity.

Yes, reflecting on this issue marked Yu Hua's first transformation, turning him from a flashy avant-garde writer into a writer of realistic themes.

In response to Yu Hua's question, Yu Qie recounted how he mailed his first novel, "If Heaven Has Feelings," to the post office the year he graduated from high school: "At first, the person completely ignored me. Then I let him read my novel for a while. A few minutes later, or maybe even less, he suddenly stood up and asked me if I wanted him to bind it for me."

Everyone burst into laughter.

Many of them have had this experience: being looked down upon and then suddenly becoming famous. In reality, these people are all geniuses in the eyes of others. Even Yu Hua, whose path was relatively bumpy, became famous much faster than most online writers go from signing a contract to having tens of thousands of subscribers.

Yu Qie said, “You see, we all have these moments. When you feel frustrated, remember this moment. When you feel invincible, remember this moment too.”

Soon after, the new Mao Dun Literature Prize was awarded.

This year's Mao Dun Literature Prize, awarded after a three-year hiatus, encompassed works from the latter half of 82 to the beginning of 85, with three novels selected. Yu Qie's *New Realism Collection* is widely recognized as the most influential novel of the past three years, with total sales exceeding several million copies; its award is well-deserved.

The other two novels are "Heavy Wings" and "The Yellow River Flows Eastward." One focuses on the reform of a fictional automobile factory, reflecting the modernization and industrial reform; the other traces back to the heavy period of the War of Resistance against Japan, describing the ten years of heroic and tragic experiences of the people in the Yellow River flood area after the "Huanghuakou Dike Breach."

In previous Mao Dun Literature Prizes, the competition was fierce, with almost all the novels selected for the "70 Classic Novels of the Past 70 Years" collection. They will be placed in the national library and recognized as part of the era's memory.

The awards ceremony was held in the auditorium, presided over by Ba Jin. Feng Mu and Ding Ling, veteran writers familiar to Yu Qie, were members of the judging panel. They mentioned Liu Xinwu, Yu Qie's former rival:

“Yu Qie, since then, has never written a good novel again.”

Yu Qie exclaimed in surprise, "So Liu Xinwu is still writing novels! I thought he had completely become an editor."

“Of course I’ve been writing,” Feng Mu said.

Moreover, Feng Mu spoke the truth: "Liu Xinwu actually writes quite well. If it weren't for you, he might have been an excellent writer in the past few years. After the Hangzhou Conference, I saw that new writers have emerged, so he should have been the 'best' for a period of time, but now he has nothing." "The future will probably forget him."

Dingling and Liu Xinwu have a good relationship. She once praised Liu Xinwu to foreign journalists and is now keeping up with his recent situation: "Some time ago, he wrote a novel called 'The Bell and Drum Tower,' which tells the story of several families in the Bell and Drum Tower area in the past few years in 12 hours... We were very surprised that he could write such a novel, which is very innovative."

“But,” Dingling sighed, “how can this compare to the collection of ‘Da Sa Ba,’ ‘We Two,’ and ‘Together with You’? Even just one of them is better than the last.”

"Looking back now, he was a very impressive young man. If he hadn't messed things up (suppressed Yu Qie), he would still have a place here."

Yu Qie won the Mao Dun Literature Prize!

Ba Jin's award citation for Yu Qie stated that "this novel realistically reflects the lives of ordinary citizens in the 1980s."

Simplicity is the most important.

Whether writers before or after the Hangzhou Conference, they were all incredibly fascinated by the theme of rural life, which resulted in a lack of corresponding literary works for the urbanization of hundreds of millions of people during the momentous historical event of reform and opening up.

Now that gap has been filled. So it's not surprising that Mr. Qiao was present at the auditorium.

He already knew Ma Shitu, Ba Jin, and others, but he didn't expect that he also knew Yu Qie. Qiao Gong was dressed simply; he wasn't tall, and had a kind smile on his face.
“Yu Qie, when will you and your teacher come and chat with me? I visited your home last time and heard that you brought a handful of beans with you when you came to the capital. We need people like you. But don’t donate money this time, especially not too much. I’ll tell you why later.”

"You've become successful, but you haven't forgotten your poor brothers, nor have you forgotten where you came from. I used to think it was because Ma Shitu taught you well, but now I know that's just who you've always been."

He grasped Yu Qie's hand and said, "I trust your novels and you as a person."

"Are there any other difficulties you're facing that we can help you with?"

What difficulties could Yu Qie possibly face?
This was a very valuable opportunity, but upon closer reflection, Yu Qie really didn't face any difficulties. So, to be honest, he said, "I can't think of anything difficult for me."

As a result, Mr. Qiao burst into laughter. He looked around, and the others couldn't help but chuckle as well. All Mr. Qiao could say was, "Guess which of your novels I like best?"

It should be "The Way Out," but isn't saying this now betraying Wang Meng? Wang Meng has only been the literary GOAT for a short time, and hasn't even had a chance to settle in yet.

Yu Qie said he didn't know.

As expected, Qiao Gong said, "My favorite book used to be 'Da Sa Ba' (The Big Handcuff), but after 'Chu Lu' (The Way Out) came out, it became the way out. Where is the way out? You have to find the way out yourself. You have to have some initiative and be able to endure."

As he spoke, others wrote down what he said.

Suddenly, Qiao Gong sighed, “It’s a pity that I haven’t seen such a good novel since then. I loved reading novels when I was young, but I didn’t like those stereotypical, formulaic ones. To be honest, I loved reading martial arts novels the most. When I wasn’t busy, I would often read novels written by Cha Liangyong at noon and in the evening. In those novels, heroes could kill emperors with a single slap, and a few people could form a battle formation to resist an army. How interesting… One day, someone told me that I had a fight with Cha Liangyong. I was very surprised. They also said that I wrote a novel to refute him. So I went to read that book, which is ‘The Way Out’.”

He really loved the book, so much so that he recalled the entire process without hesitation. Then, his gray eyes narrowed, revealing a visible smile: "Once I saw this book, I couldn't put it down. When I was halfway through, I realized... traditional literature is still much higher in its themes than martial arts novels. Cha Liangyong was too naive. He's not a martial arts master; he couldn't protect the people in the village..."

"Without violence, there is no production and no peace."

"Then my secretary reminded me that a meeting was about to start. I really couldn't bear to put down this novel, so I kept reading it on the way. I turned to the last page and everyone was back, recognizing their ancestors. It was wonderful, wonderful! So I took it to the meeting and threw it over there, asking the people on the other side to come and see it too!"

That's how Yu Qie received the award. The news reported on it, and it also mentioned that Mr. Qiao was present at the scene.

However, his heartfelt words did not make the news. The only news report was of Yu Qie bending over, smiling as he watched Qiao Gong speak, their hands clasped tightly together.

This photograph became the starting point for a new round of propaganda promoting respect for intellectuals. At the time, there was a tendency to focus on science while neglecting social sciences and humanities, which caused some concern: if the country focused on physics and chemistry, would it abandon politics, history, and geography?
Yu Qie was singled out as a typical example—you see, we need to focus not only on science, but also on culture.

A major event also occurred in Yanjing this month.

On May 19th, the men's national football team committed an unforgivable sin—underestimating their opponent! With only a draw needed to qualify for the 1986 Mexico World Cup, they conceded two goals, losing their first and possibly last chance to enter the World Cup.

This marked the beginning of a dark period for the Chinese national football team. Every time they faced the challenge of qualifying, someone would pull off an incredible feat. The difficulty of qualifying for the World Cup became easier year by year, while the team's overall performance declined by the same amount.

This incident momentarily stole Yu Qie's spotlight, with foreign media outlets such as the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse reporting on it, shocking the domestic audience with the fans' unbridled behavior! Agence France-Presse, on the other hand, gleefully published an article: "The Chinese are finally starting to connect with the world!"

Yes, the Chinese are finally starting to connect with the world. In this most serious and mysterious place, football hooligans have also emerged.

It began to resemble the world Yu Qie knew more and more. In the capital, food was no longer rationed; at Yenching University, the New Reality Society began recruiting new members, and Yu Qie, the president who had just won the Mao Dun Literature Prize, resigned from his position and became an ordinary student. Meanwhile, a young man named Cui Jian was preparing to hold a rock concert at Yenching University; in Yu Qie's hometown of Wanxian, a massive water conservancy project was approved, and a group of experts went to the area to conduct research and delineate relocation zones.

Thanks to sponsorship, the production team of "Dream of the Red Chamber" was able to film two scenes simultaneously, which meant that Zhang Li and Chen Xiaoxu had less time to take vacations. However, this also meant that they would have to end their multi-year filming cycle earlier than planned.

At the end of the month, filming for "Children of Heaven" officially began. Yu Qie would occasionally come to the set to check on the filming progress, but most of the time he was too lazy to come. Jiang Wen became Xie Jin's messenger. Jiang Wen rode her bicycle very fast to Yenching University, to the editorial office of "October," and to Gulou Street to find Yu Qie.

(End of this chapter)