Literary Master 1983

Chapter 293 Chernobyl

The reason he came to Nie Hualing's side was because Nie Hualing admitted to offering him generous compensation. In addition, Gu Hua learned through some means that writing articles opposing other countries in the United States could earn him a considerable amount of money.

He was going to take this path anyway.

Gu Hua is a smart man, and a fairly talented one. As long as he can make money, even if he doesn't continue writing novels and goes bankrupt, he can still live a good life through other means.

However, Yu Qie is keeping a close eye on this step from "0" to "1", not giving him any chance.

Gu Hua has already been granted the Peach of Immortality, so the University of Iowa certainly won't send him back to the delegation. However, given Yu Qie's protests, it's impossible for them to publicly hire him either, as the University of Iowa is also afraid of causing an international incident.

Gu Hua has run out of money and can only rely on Nie Hualing to support him.

But how could someone like Nie Hualing support him for nothing?
Gu Hua said, "I'll do whatever you ask me to do. I know a lot of dirt on Yu Qie. He definitely has more than one woman. I can write about his scandals and rumors, and readers will definitely love it."

Nie Hualing said, "Among our writers, there are countless people who gamble, have abortions, and frequent prostitutes. You think you can bring him down with this?"

Gu Hua pondered for a long time and then said, "Yu Qie does things entirely according to his own preferences. He is extremely arrogant and looks down on everyone. He is not good to us in the delegation. He suppresses the younger generation."

What kind of black mark is this?
Nie Hualing was speechless. If someone like Yu Qie was considered evil, then Edison and others like him should all die. What about Mark Twain, who directly cursed the US government? What about Hemingway, the American traitor who colluded with the Communist Party?

"He's like Zheng Bo Ke Duan Yu Yan. He knew I wanted the peaches of immortality, but he deliberately gave me the opportunity. There has never been such a lenient leader. He didn't care whether we left or not, nor did he care that we bought Japanese home appliances in America. He even lent us money."

So, how do you treat his trust?

Nie Hualing had nothing more to say.

Yu Qie's noble character is like a time-tested truth, becoming clearer with each debate. The more a fool describes the whole picture, the more his greatness is revealed.

“He has a gun!” Gu Hua said.

"He always carried that gun on his waist to scare us. He threatened our personal safety."

Nie Hualing finally found a plausible excuse: because of the many shootings that have occurred in the United States, guns have become a relatively negative symbol on school campuses.

As early as 1764, four Native Americans entered a school in Pennsylvania and shot and killed the principal and nine children. Similar incidents occurred repeatedly afterward, with reports suggesting that school shootings happened twice a week—a figure even more alarming than in Columbia.

This is PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) in Americans.

What kind of person is Yu Qie?

Nie Hualing actually harbored some admiration for the enemy.

Let's not talk about his literary achievements in mainland China. Just think about how, after meeting Márquez, he was neither trembling with fear nor arrogant. He simply blended in naturally among this group of top Latin American writers, Márquez, Vargas Llosa... These were once penniless, but now they were flying first class and might eventually run out of money and become penniless again. He was completely at ease among them.

Sometimes, he even forgets that he has accomplished nothing in the Spanish-speaking world, and instead criticizes the absurdity of certain literary giants, such as Márquez, who was obsessed with married women.

Márquez could only plead for mercy, saying, "Yu, you don't understand us Latin Americans..."

With the release of "2666" in the US, publisher Harper has already associated Yu Qie with Márquez, creating many jokes for readers to enjoy, such as "Márquez saves Yu Qie from the execution ground with three shots" and "A veteran dies in Bogotá, but the hero Yu Qie is fearless in the face of danger, and he writes about injustice when he sees it."

Some of it is true, and some of it may be false, but Márquez didn't mind Yu Qie being listed alongside him.

His agent is the famous Carmen, which is indeed one of the reasons, but only one.

Is Yu Qie a literary equal in the literary world?
When he met Liu Xinwu, he was Yu Qie, a 20-year-old who had just learned to draw his sword, able to draw it at the speed of light in 0.2 seconds. When he met Márquez, he was Yu Qie wielding a revolver, having already mastered American Iaijutsu... In fact, there was something indescribable that gave him a strong sense of confidence, and this confidence was felt by those around him.

Therefore, when Yu Qie questioned Márquez about his composition at Bogota Airport... it did not make him seem disrespectful.

Why is this happening?

The more Nie Hualing thought about it, the more she felt like she was about to faint; she really had no other choice.

She herself was already unable to defend herself, but the key to this war of words was which side the host supported.

“Gu Hua!” Nie Hualing said, “What you said is indeed a good idea, and it might have some effect.”

Gu Hua was initially very happy, but then he began to fear that Nie Hua would abandon him later.

Although Chinese people are few in number in the United States, they are diligent in their studies, resulting in a college enrollment rate far exceeding their population proportion. It is almost impossible to find a university in the United States without Chinese students.

The same applies to the University of Iowa.

Over the past week, some Chinese students have heard of Gu Hua. Some have even imitated a trend that was popular in Eastern countries more than a decade ago, posting small posters on the University of Iowa campus!

Severely punish traitors!

—That's what it says.

The University of Iowa is a public university. What does it mean to be a public university?

It's like a university for ordinary Americans!

Nie Hualing and her white husband are part of the American system and work within it.

Given that Nie Hualing would never abandon herself, nor her white husband, if the matter eventually escalates to the point where Chinese students unite to petition for the expulsion of this bad apple… the school administration, based on the students' opinions, is very likely to order Nie Hualing and others to quickly cover it up.

At this point, Gu Hua was about to be abandoned.

Chinese and Americans think alike at this time.

Wheat, wheat!
Gu Hua suddenly remembered the article he had read in the newspaper a few days ago about the bumper harvest in Iowa!

An American farmer who owns tens of thousands of hectares of land had such a large wheat crop last year that he needed to hire dozens of workers to operate machines to help him harvest it.

This year he didn't take good care of the soil's fertility, but instead threw in the seeds, and now the wheat has grown into a new crop.

This is America today; even wheat has learned to please Americans.

Wheat originated in Asia Minor, in what is now the Middle East and Iran, one of the cradles of human civilization. It was later introduced to China about four thousand years ago and has remained there ever since. China was once the country with the largest wheat-growing area in the world for nearly four thousand years. As history changes, the East remains mysterious and vast.

Why do I say "almost"?
Wheat was introduced to America in the 16th century, when the Portuguese and Spanish had just landed on the land and brought with them the fruits of civilization. After that, wheat was planted more and more rapidly in America, and by the early 20th century, the situation had reversed.

The country with the largest wheat-growing area in the world has changed from China to the United States. Countless wheat stalks grow naturally in the United States, as if they, born elsewhere, came from all over the world and were born to belong to this land... generation after generation, forever. Americans, of course, do not cherish the imported wheat.

If one of the pilgrims is missing and swept away by a strong wind, who would care?

"Will you abandon me?" Gu Hua suddenly asked Nie Hualing.

Nie Hualing didn't know why Gu Hua asked the question, so she comforted him:

"We once had two writers from different countries here. Their countries were originally opposite each other, but after they came here, they fell in love with each other. When they left, they left behind a child..."

"Where is that child?" Gu Hua asked.

“That child isn’t with me, but I promise I’ve been raising this child all along,” Nie Hualing said.

"Iowa is a place full of love! Besides pigs and corn, there is also literature. For the sake of literature, please believe me, I will definitely take responsibility for you."

What could Gu Hua do?
He could only choose to believe.
-
The long-awaited second topic discussion has begun, and this round of discussion has drawn the topic of "nuclear literature".

How can a dialogue between writers from both sides of the Taiwan Strait be called "nuclear literature"?
Because in late April, a catastrophe occurred for humanity.

On April 26, 1986, a massive explosion occurred at a giant nuclear power plant in Pripyat, Ukraine, in the Soviet Union. The nuclear reactor was completely destroyed, and a large amount of radioactive material was leaked, making it the biggest accident in the nuclear power era.

The accident resulted in the immediate deaths of more than 30 people, followed by the deaths of hundreds of soldiers who were dispatched for rescue operations due to severe radiation exposure. The incident directly affected 3.2 million people, who will forever lose a portion of their lives due to complications from nuclear radiation.

Countries along the Eastern European border detected excessive radiation levels almost immediately and began evacuations. In Great Britain, far away in the English Channel, a strange surge in radiation levels was detected in the ocean. The dust caused by nuclear radiation drifted as far as Norway and Finland, which are close to the Arctic Circle.

I witnessed firsthand what the American media's state apparatus looks like when it's in operation!
Once this happened, all the news was suppressed for a time. The Soviet Union certainly tried to cover it up, but the nuclear radiation floating in the sky could not fool the machines.

American experts have exaggerated this, suggesting that in the worst-case scenario, the entire Eurasian continent could be polluted as a result.

Humanity will be wiped out because of Big Brother.

All American television stations, all American newspapers, all topics of conversation among Americans... were all about Chernobyl.

The topic of conversation between writers from both sides of the Taiwan Strait had to be changed to "nuclear literature".

This discussion became Yu Qie's personal showcase.

Despite the topic being very popular, no writer was able to offer their opinion.

Yu Guangzhong said, "This is a disaster I did not anticipate. I pray for the people of the world." Then everyone in the audience followed Yu Guangzhong and began to pray.

Yu Guangzhong is a trendy person; he is not the rigid old man portrayed in textbooks.

He was the first to give the Chinese word "rock and roll" its meaning.

In 1969, Yu Guangzhong traveled to the United States for study and saw young people embracing a certain type of music called "Rock and Roll," which is literally translated as rocking and rolling. Chinese people call it "rhythm and blues" or "sung by country singers." Upon seeing this, Yu Guangzhong wrote about this in his collection of essays, "Listen to the Cold Rain," and named it "rock and roll."

The name was then noticed by other Taiwanese musicians who read his book, and eventually spread throughout the country. Cui Jian, who held a concert at Yenching University in mainland China, also called it rock, which influenced other singers, even though they did not know where the term came from.

However, Yu Guangzhong, the true father of Chinese "rock", said after offering his prayers: "I have no opinion to express, I really don't understand it."

Seeing this, Li Ao had no choice but to tell some anecdotes: he read in an American memoir that some people had planned to bomb their own country with atomic bombs, which he thought was utterly shameless.

"Who is so shameless?" Lin Qingxuan couldn't help but ask.

"I don't know!" Li Ao laughed loudly.

Yu Qie was well aware of the situation, but it wasn't appropriate for him to point it out. Li Ao, now acting as a bodyguard, enthusiastically praised the mainland's decision to develop the atomic bomb, exclaiming, "That was a very bold move!"

"We Chinese people need to look at the long term! We see that the explosion of a nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union has caused chaos all over the world. What if it were a large nuclear bomb, or even thousands of large nuclear bombs?"

"After this incident in the Soviet Union, other countries knew it had happened but were unable to punish it. This shows that if we want peace and tranquility, we must first have the ability to make the whole world restless. That concludes my remarks."

Yu Qie laughed heartily and immediately clapped hands with Li Ao.

The subsequent discussion gradually degenerated into a personal show by Yu Qie. This was because they were all skirting the line; none of them understood nuclear literature.

What is nuclear literature?
Yu Qie had already defined it when he first visited Japan, and now he has brought it up again, this time expanding the concept and talking about where the aesthetics of nuclear literature lie.

"Possessing an extremely vast worldview, 'I' strive for survival under extreme conditions. My personal choices may affect the survival of the entire human race. Even in the apocalypse, humanity continues to fight and strife..."

Everyone listened quietly to Yu Qie's speech, and after it ended, the writers from both sides of the Taiwan Strait applauded together.

Qian Zhongshu asked Yu Qie, "You described a hopeless society, while we are discussing aesthetics. Where exactly is the beauty in this?"

Yu Qie said something very insightful: "From an artistic point of view only, tragedy is also a kind of beauty."

This statement was not Yu Qie's original work.

Humans discovered this truth not long after the advent of art.

Aristotle, living before the Common Era, even conducted a serious study and analysis, writing a rather abstract definition. In his *Poetics*, he pointed out that the arrangement of events is the soul of tragedy. In other words, the beauty of tragedy lies in the fact that everyone knows the consequences, yet still cannot prevent the ending from happening.

This discussion was originally the least interesting, but because it coincided with a hot topic, the dialogue between the writers was written up and published in various newspapers, resulting in a significant media impact.

The New York Times, a major international newspaper based in New York, even described the event in a column and quoted Yu Qie's definition.

"He was the winner of the Akutagawa Prize, a close friend of Márquez, and the development of the Chernobyl incident... seemed to be going in the direction he had predicted. He should be considered the founder of nuclear literature."

CNN spent $2,000 to buy the rights to the videotape of the discussion from the United Times, edited it, and broadcast it on television.

"A group of Chinese writers discussed literary creation in the nuclear age, believing that nuclear power represents power, being beyond control, recklessness, loss of order, and tragic beauty."

Although it only lasted a dozen seconds, it still greatly surprised the writers. Because they were on American television, they felt their trip had been worthwhile.

Harper, the bookseller behind "2666," was overjoyed and gave it a boost, resulting in a reprint of Yu Qie's novel with 50,000 copies sold. At the same time, he also submitted the second volume of the novel, which was more than half completed.

By May, the discussion had caused quite a stir.

(End of this chapter)