Generation Z Artists

Chapter 99 The Pioneer of New Youth Literature

When Li Hong recovered a little from her collapse, she found that there was no one in the office.

Huh? Where did they go?
Without thinking too much about it for a moment, she took out her towel and went to the bathroom to wash her face.

As soon as I reached the door, I heard suppressed sobbing coming from the cubicle next to me.

OK OK, another one.

Li Hong passed by the editing room again and heard a fierce quarrel coming from inside, with the word "Fang Xinghe" vaguely mentioned.

"Awesome! So fucking awesome!"

The enthusiastic voice came from a newly graduated writer and director, the funny guy in the department.

But she was in no mood to pay attention to what everyone was arguing about. She returned to her seat, packed her things, picked up her book, and finally put on her sunglasses and hurried towards the dormitory.

The dormitory has 3 bedrooms and 1 living room, with a colleague living in each bedroom. From the left room came the sound of a colleague crying loudly. The door on the right was open. Xiaoyu, with eyes as red as peaches, sat at the head of the bed in a daze.

Li Hong forced a smile at her, but Xiaoyu's gaze passed through her as if nothing was there, without any reaction.

Well, go to sleep, and when you wake up it’s a new day.

But she tossed and turned in bed for most of the night. As soon as she closed her eyes, Fang Xinghe's vivid words would appear in her mind. Then she would either cry for a while out of grief or feel indignant but have no place to vent her hatred.

It’s congested. It’s too congested.

She didn't understand why, she just felt extremely uncomfortable.

It was not until 1 a.m. that Yang Xin suddenly called her. Listening to her sister's crying, she realized that many people were in the same situation as her.

"But why?"

Yang Xin muttered like a little girl: "Why did he have to write so beautifully but destroy everything so cleanly?! I can't accept it, woo... wow!"

Li Hong didn't understand either, but she was eager to explore.

"Have you put Xinghe in his shoes? Do you think that, according to our understanding and expectations of Xinghe, he should have handled it more happily, more wildly, and more freely, and definitely not been so desperate and painful?"

"Yes, yes, yes! He can write tragedy, but he should write more brilliant fireworks of resistance in tragedy, and death should be happy, instead of being so dark, cruel and desperate like now!"

"Is it possible that Xinghe deliberately left everyone halfway depressed, so that they couldn't let go, but also couldn't forget?"

"But why?"

"Maybe it's because... this way people can remember it longer?"

After Li Hong started to guess, she suddenly understood.

"Xinghe is Xinghe, not Chen Cang. Given his personality, he would definitely do something as bad as deliberately writing the darkest ending, and then watching everyone cry while he laughs loudly on the side."

"He's so abominable!"

Yang Xin also knew that this was the correct answer. She was really angry and upset, but when she thought of Fang Xinghe himself and the dark pain suppressed in his thin body, she suddenly couldn't bear to be angry with him.

"He's so abominable!"

She emphasized again that all her hatred towards Fang Xinghe ended here.

Sister Hong is more open-minded. No matter how uncomfortable she is, she can accurately distinguish between Chen Cang and Fang Xinghe.

“Although Chen Cang has Xinghe’s shadow everywhere, Xinghe is definitely smarter, more ruthless, and more willing to take risks. If this happened in reality, he would not be as passive as Chen Cang at the beginning. In the end, I’m afraid that no one will be left alive in the experiment.”

As they were chatting, Li Hong suddenly burst out laughing.

Thinking of Fang Xinghe himself, her mood finally eased a little.

It's really not right to be so depressed over a novel, but this is the magic of Fang Xinghe - he is the worst master of emotion manipulation.

……

The master put down his phone, took a look at the sudden surge in the number of fanatical fans and faithful fans in the dead of night, and expressed satisfaction with the situation.

He received many phone calls questioning him. Sister Yali had clearly watched it a long time ago and had gotten over it, but today she couldn't help but watch it again and called to scold him.

Congested? That’s right.

Or, to use a more professional term from the navy chief, it is called "reluctant to accept the result".

There are also levels of sadomasochism. The most extreme sadomasochism is to use irresistible reasons to destroy all the good things, but it is never painful to the end, but to give people a glimmer of hope and weak release, to express some of the accumulated emotions, and then fall deeper...

This repeats itself, and in the end, the remaining frustration that has nowhere to go becomes the ultimate source of frustration.

In "To Live", Fugui loses himself time and time again, and in the end it is only himself. He lives tenaciously just to survive, and that is the brilliance of Yu Hua.

The same is true for "Cang Ye Xue". Fang Xinghe wrote three versions of the ending and finally chose the one that would make the readers feel heartbroken for a long time.

It's terrible, but this is what writers do, and it's also the way writers most hope to be remembered.

And Fang Xinghe's treatment has another profound meaning——

In the early stage, Chen Cang's image gradually overlapped with Fang Xinghe himself. In the end, Chen Cang was separated from Fang Xinghe himself again.

Every female reader couldn’t help but think: If it were Fang Fang, the result would not be like this.

Chen Cang is passive and Fang Xinghe is masculine. The catharsis and satisfaction that readers cannot get in "Cang Yexue" can be obtained from Fang Xinghe himself, thus generating a more loyal belief.

Enjoy the benefits of emotional projection and avoid the losses of image overlap. This is the super-dimensional thinking of the top water army leaders.

When it comes to playing with the naive readers of 99, Gou Fang is definitely a master.

This is indeed the case. On the same day, Starlight and the high-level fans exploded, and the next day, the public opinion circle also exploded.

Every newspaper had articles about "Cang Ye Xue" written by writers overnight. It was truly overwhelming. In an instant, the entire Chinese society was dominated by Fang Xinghe's "new youth literature".

At every angle, there were people chatting and people arguing.

There are debates everywhere, online and offline.

First is the neglected preface——

Yining: "It is obviously a good work with great literary, artistic, realistic and critical qualities. Except for the less realistic ending, it fully reflects the people and events in that special period. I don't even need to look up the information, I know that such things are not isolated cases."

Wang Meng: "I like all parts of the book except the ending. The author is very realistic and observes carefully. He not only portrays each young person vividly, but also writes adults very well. If you look closely at the character Song Zude, do you feel familiar with him? Which unit doesn't have such people? But to write about him with just a few strokes and write him convincingly requires a very talented ability. Frankly speaking, no one in the Chinese literary world can write to this level before the age of 20."

It was the most insignificant of appetizers.

And they may not really be opposed to the ending of "Cang Ye Xue". Disliking teenage violence is a correct consciousness.

Then there were the defense breaks by Yan Lieshan, Cheng Yizhong, Song Zude, Chang Ping and others, which will be discussed later.

What followed was the extremely eye-catching and shocking sales data - 80 copies were sold that day, and all the newsstands across the country were queuing up. By the next day, the situation of being hard to get a copy of the book became even worse.

Then some newspapers described the grand occasion after reading the book.

Dongfang.com wrote: "Our reporter rushed to No. 135 Middle School yesterday afternoon to interview Han Han and his classmates in the first grade. Han Han himself refused to be interviewed and ran away with his face covered. It seems that his eyes were red and swollen from crying. In addition, according to the teacher, this afternoon alone, copies of "Cang Ye Xue" were temporarily confiscated from the first grade of high school because the students cried too much.

The reporter also interviewed several students who bought "Cang Ye Xue" and found that all of them had varying degrees of depression, sadness, and negative emotions. The power of Fang Xinghe's first novel will surely set off a nationwide sensation and cause a fierce and even violent impact on the youth group..."

Is it true? It is true.

Because many media reported the grand occasion that was so exciting that it would make you cry.

From north to south, from west to center.

Li Xiaolin, editor-in-chief of Harvest, praised it: "This is a groundbreaking work. Since then, China's youth literature in the new era has a standard model. Entering the 21st century with such a work, I suddenly have full confidence in our literary world. The future will definitely belong to you..."

To be honest, these words really made Han Han, Chen Jiayong, Liu Jiajun and others sweat profusely.

No, do you mean... let's benchmark this thing?
What kind of youth literature is this?
Not to mention the post-80s generation who don’t recognize it, in fact, the young writers born after 75 don’t recognize it either.

Don’t classify this stuff as youth literature!
That’s the new youth literature!
With the promotion of some people, the name "New Youth Literature" was officially decided.

But there is a big problem: how to define this thing? There is no clear concept!
As a result, literary critics and young writers quarreled with each other, and professors from the Chinese Departments of major universities were involved - the Chinese Department is not for teaching writing but for studying literature, and this is a perfect job for them.

Peking University has a large number of students, Tsinghua University praises them, Renmin University goes deep into it, and Fudan University compares them horizontally with Western works...

Anyway, this is the situation, and the young group is quarreling in a mess.

Going further back, the older traditional literary circles, which are the main force of the Writers Association, are also in an uproar.

Some writers have strongly criticized the ending of "Cang Ye Xue".

Even if it was just imaginary revenge, the act of poisoning on campus was too extreme.

It can be said that as long as one holds a public or teaching position, one is bound to stand on the opposite side.

Tan Tan, vice chairman of the Writers Association: "Nonsense! Before I saw the ending, I always thought Fang Xinghe had written an award-winning work. His combination of macro and micro perspectives, his deep understanding of the plight of Northeast China, and his insight into the subtleties of human nature after the economic collapse are vividly reflected in the first half!
I almost cheered for him until I saw the ending...bullshit!
How could he write like this? What kind of bullshit revenge propaganda is this? Is it realistic? Is it objective? Is it tense?
It's like coaxing a child, wasting talent!"

There are many criticisms like this, which can basically be understood as the deeper the love, the more severe the criticism, which shows how much they are optimistic about the first half.

It’s not that the second half is bad, but this kind of plot should not appear in youth literature.

Zhang Kangkang published a message to support Fang Xinghe.

“I’m from Zhejiang, but I’ve lived and written in Heilongjiang for a long time, so I know Northeast China very well.

Is Fang Xinghe's description of the Northeast correct? Absolutely, absolutely.

He saw the most secret thing in a special period. The account book that he glimpsed briefly in the text contained only a few words, plus a simple sentence "Are you willing to get engaged to Yan Lieyu?" When Lou Yexue refused without hesitation, it hinted at the inevitable tragic ending of Lou Qingsong.

The car accident that was stopped just in time and the meaningful blank space made me almost think that I was seeing a political science master who had been observing county-level governments and corrupt state-owned enterprises for many years.

Maybe he had heard a similar story somewhere? In short, Fang Xinghe didn't spend a lot of time on the webpage, but he wrote it in great detail.

Writing is hard work, and only truth can reach people's hearts.

Everything about "Cang Ye Xue", including the ending, is too real and too convincing, except for one thing - if we consider his age and his influence among teenagers, then this treatment is obviously not appropriate. However, apart from these non-literary reasons, the conclusion is obvious and indisputable. Fang Xinghe has written a work that is worthy of being recorded in the annals of literary history!"

His opinion was correct. "Cang Ye Xue" was indeed shocking, but Fang Xinghe's identity was indeed too sensitive.

A retired senior leader in the education sector was so angry that he took off his vest and wrote under his real name: "Fang Xinghe, you are not an ordinary writer! If you cut your eyebrows, there will be so many young people imitating you. You are an idol with a huge fan base! Literature is not a reason for you to act recklessly. As long as there is one person imitating you, you will be blamed!"

The criticism and praise were mixed together, and it was unprecedentedly intense, which made many readers who didn't know what was going on completely confused... Was it that necessary?

In fact, the reason is very simple. When anything new comes out, it will deviate from its original position and receive either too high or too low evaluation.

Fang Xinghe's "Cang Ye Xue" is undoubtedly fresh.

Danzeng: "Using the perspective of a teenager, writing on campus about a huge net covering the entire city has made me take a new look at youth literature."

Jiang Zilong: "I have never seen such youth. It is too wise, too deep, too dark, and too cold. But it is undoubtedly youth. It is too flamboyant, too focused on personal experience, and too self-centered. Anyway, the pioneers are always different. Fang Xinghe conquered me."

Li Cunbao: “Before him, youth narratives were always confined to the traditional value coordinates of individuals, such as further education, first love, job hunting, or the revolutionary narratives of the previous generation.

Since him, youth narratives can explore endlessly. Fang Xinghe has done something quite remarkable.”

The general meaning is the same - man, what you have is so new, okay, you are awesome.

The amazing thing about this is not that "traditional literature is compatible with youth", but that "youth literature has greatly broken through the boundaries".

From now on, no matter who writes in this direction, they must respectfully call Fang Xinghe the "ancestor".

However, if I really write according to their opinions, is there a high chance that I will win the Spear Award?
Pure nonsense.

This thing is quite serious about seniority. No matter how well you write, your first book won't work. And this is also a piece of youth literature, which is at the bottom of the contempt chain. You might as well go back and dream. Dreams have everything.

Now is almost the most ideal situation. Fang Xinghe doesn't have to do anything but stay at home. Then, every day there are people praising him and scolding him in the newspapers. It's so noisy that the popularity soars. Then, new readers one after another are deceived into coming in to kill. If they cry, they contribute a lot of starlight, and if they scold, they continue to contribute popularity. He wins without any effort.

What’s particularly interesting is that, in fact, ordinary readers don’t curse much.

There are too few things to eat these days. Although it also has romantic elements, "Cang Ye Xue" is much better than those dramas from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Well, it’s much more cruel than those chaff.

In fact, the revenge plot at the end was not released thoroughly enough, and then he slapped the reader in the face with his backhand: Wake up, stop dreaming, this revenge is all fake, I’m just kidding you.

Who the hell can stand this?

Most young boys just watched it forcefully and then started cursing.

Girls are fascinated by the kind of love in books that lasts through life and death. After being badly tortured, they cry and fantasize, what if... what if...

The overly strong aftereffect caused a huge and sensational impact for a time, and even alarmed two big figures of the time.

Brother Chen Kai: "Xiao Fang, I can completely understand you. Those who criticize you now don't understand the true value of "Cang Ye Xue"! Give me the copyright, and I will make an Oscar-winning movie for you!"

Really, Brother Kaizi is so weird. He didn't even say hello and directly called Fang Xinghe to discuss cooperation (to cheat on copyright).

Brother Mouzi was much more sensible. He first asked Zhang Wenping to contact Wang Charlie, and then made an appointment and called Fang Xinghe personally.

Brother Mouzi is not a very good talker, so he said succinctly: "I want to shoot it. You can adapt the film yourself and play Chen Cang. Let's shoot it together and expose the abscesses of state-owned enterprises in Northeast China..."

Of course Fang Xinghe couldn't possibly cooperate with them, but he was a little puzzled: No, why do you all think that I deliberately want to expose the scars of Northeast China?

Wang Charlie's eyes widened: "Our Northeast media cursed it ourselves!"

My goodness! Fang Xinghe looked back and found that among the three northeastern provinces, except for Jilin Province which remained silent, the two brothers had all lost their defense and were criticizing fiercely.

In fact, Jilin Province’s silence is more telling, allowing the whole world to see its contradictions at a glance.

Indeed, the Northeast was suddenly under tremendous pressure.

This pressure even came directly to the province and was growing day by day.

(End of this chapter)