My era, 1979!

Chapter 130 Newcomer Award and Recruitment
She looked up abruptly, her voice rising a half-octave above her usual volume: "Xu Chengjun! What were you thinking with this draft?"

Xu Chengjun was still in despair, unable to reply.

What?!

Hearing this, he raised an eyebrow and put the envelope on the table: "Let's see how my reply goes first. These young girls nowadays..."

Li Xiaolin didn't take it, pointing at the manuscript: "Don't interrupt! The setting of the black box, three soldiers from different eras, how did you come up with the idea of ​​putting these two together?"

Xu Chengjun leaned back in his chair and sealed the envelope: "You want to bring the hero back to life, don't you?"

“Huang Siyuan, Li Changcun, and Liu Daniu are not just names in textbooks; they are real people with flesh and blood.”

"The black box is a bridge, allowing children from the future to talk to them. Think about it, Huang Siyuan knew that China would be better in 2024, so when he rushed forward, he not only had a mission in his heart, but also hope."

Li Xiaolin fumbled on the manuscript paper, stopping at the line from Huang Siyuan's last reply: "'Take a good look at the golden China for your uncle,' how could your pen stroke be so poignant?"

"It's not that I'm trying to hurt people, it's the facts that hurt people."

Xu Chengjun peeled another chestnut. "They shed blood, wasn't it all for this 'golden' thing? I didn't write slogans, I just wrote about the high-speed rail and airplanes through the eyes of children, about the days they've never seen before."

"It's actually more practical than shouting 'Defend our homeland,' isn't it?"

Li Xiaolin slammed her hand on the table, causing the tea in her enamel cup to slosh around: "That's exactly right! These days, so many manuscripts either lament the wounds or shout slogans, but few can write about the great era from a small perspective like you."

She turned to Liu Daniu's section and pointed to the part where her eyes were red: "You wrote about him planting wild lilies in the trenches, about him smiling with a missing front tooth. When I read it, I thought, this is not a soldier, but a boy who just wants to live."

"But he still went for it."

Xu Chengjun added, "That's what makes a hero—knowing fear, knowing death, yet still going for it."

Li Xiaolin nodded, then frowned: "Then why did you use the perspective of the child 'Hope'? It's both science fiction and fantasy, aren't you afraid people will say you're 'not doing your proper job'?"

“What’s there to be afraid of?” Xu Chengjun laughed. “It’s 1979, literature should have some new things.”

"I hope that AI and projection, which are science fiction now, will become everyday life in a few decades. I am not making this up, but to tell readers that the sacrifices of heroes have truly brought about a better future."

"As for the fantasy... the black box is fake, but the desire to 'talk to the hero' is real."

Li Xiaolin was silent for a moment, then suddenly looked up: "Do you know what kind of impact this manuscript will have if it's published?"

Xu Chengjun remained silent, waiting for her to continue.

"First, those authors who are still writing about their wounds should panic. They've realized that literature isn't just about tears, but also about light. How much these authors of 'scar literature' must hate you!"

"Secondly, in the future, it will be less popular to write about heroes who are perfect and all-powerful. If you write heroes who can feel pain and miss home, readers will no longer accept those 'gods'."

"third……"

Li Xiaolin paused, her tone becoming more serious, "People abroad will know that Chinese literature is not just about 'Red Sorghum,' but also about works that can express 'patriotism' in a natural way."

"Xu Chengjun, your novel 'The Box of Hope' uses Bakhtin's polyphonic narrative style, doesn't it?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Chengjun raised an eyebrow: "Sister Xiaolin has a sharp eye; there must be something to learn from her."

"It's not that I have sharp eyes, it's that you used it so brilliantly!"

Li Xiaolin turned to Huang Siyuan's section, her pen nib poking at the paper. "Three warriors. Huang Siyuan's 'mission,' Li Changcun's 'unwillingness,' Liu Daniu's 'ignorance,' plus the 'future perspective' of hope—four voices intertwined, none of them 'absolutely correct.' Isn't this just a 'multi-part dialogue' in polyphony?"

She paused, her tone becoming more serious: "How many manuscripts in the literary world these days are either monologues of 'heroes shouting slogans' or one-man shows of 'wounded and weeping'? Your approach gives heroes flesh and blood, and allows children to engage with history?"

Xu Chengjun took a sip of tea and said slowly, "Bakhtin said that the core of polyphony is equality. I don't regard heroes as gods, nor do I regard hope as a tool."

“Huang Siyuan asked, ‘Is 2024 a good year?’ I’m not asking this for him; he should have had this question. He didn’t sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice; he sacrificed for a ‘better life.’”

"By the way, Huang Siyuan is the person I'm going to feature in Qingming."

Li Xiaolin rolled her eyes at him and turned to the last page: "Then how do you explain the setting of the black box? Some people will say that you are trying to imitate Márquez's magical realism, which is a poor imitation."

"Different."

Xu Chengjun shook his head, "Márquez's 'magical realism' is a reflection of the reality of Latin America, while my black box is a 'basic need for emotion'."

"It's 1979, and readers are no longer satisfied with heroes only living in textbooks."

"They want to talk to the hero, to know if their good life is what the hero wants. The black box is fake, but it is not fake either. There are as many Hamlets as there are readers. It may not be a concrete thing. Let the readers think about it for themselves."

He picked up the manuscript paper and pointed to the section where he hoped to draw the high-speed rail: "Look, he said, 'The high-speed rail can run 300 kilometers per hour.' That's science fiction now, it's my imagination, but I think it will be commonplace in the future."

"I wrote this not to follow Western science fiction tropes, but to let heroes see a concrete future, not just an empty 'victory'."

Li Xiaolin was silent for a while, then suddenly brought up another name: "You've dismantled the sense of sublimity in traditional heroic narratives, writing that Liu Daniu is afraid of war and Li Changcun wants to go home. Isn't that deconstructing the 'heroic discourse'?"

What she actually meant was Foucault's power of discourse. In 1979, the Chinese literary circles did not study Foucault in depth, but rather had many misunderstandings.

Foucault said: Discourse determines cognition.

Xu Chengjun's eyes lit up: "You know, Xiaolin has a sharp eye."

“In the past, heroes were all ‘shaped’. If the newspaper said he was brave, he had to be brave; if the textbook said he was selfless, he couldn’t miss home. But I want to break this pattern.”

"Liu Daniu was missing a front tooth but still smiled, and Li Changcun was so cold he couldn't feel it but still carried a letter from home. These details don't diminish the heroes, they bring them to life. Their bravery wasn't because they were supposed to be brave, but because they 'wanted to protect hope.'"

Li Xiaolin gave him a deep look.

“I never believed in talent before, but you’ve opened my eyes.”

“The Western literary world is still debating ‘how to write about collective memory’, but you directly use the method of ‘children talking to heroes’ to turn ‘collective memory’ into ‘personal emotion’.”

“Last year when I went to Beijing for a conference, I met with the editors of World Literature. They said that trauma narratives are popular abroad now, but most of them are self-pitying and few are like you.”

The narrative structure of "The Box of Hope" is unprecedented in the world.

Amos Oz's 1995 novel, The Black Box: Love and Memories, uses 49 fragmented letters to weave together a labyrinth of memories from three marriages. It has sold over 200 million copies worldwide and was selected as a must-read for the Jerusalem Prize for Literature.

In 1982, Isabelle Allende's *The House of the Ghosts*, a representative work of Latin American magical realism, chronicles five generations of love and violence within Clara's psychic notebook, interspersed with documents of dictators and manifestos of revolutionaries. It sold over 10 million copies worldwide and was named one of the "100 Greatest Spanish-Language Novels of the 20th Century" by *Time* magazine. Allende pioneered the concept of "memory polyphony" with this novel.

However, Allende didn't have that opportunity; Xu Chengjun paved the way for her.

Antonin Dolce's *All the Lights We Cannot See*, Emmanuel Bergman's *The Lie Keeper*, Keigo Higashino's *The Miracles of the Namiya General Store*, and Liu Cixin's *Poetry Clouds* can all be categorized with Xu Chengjun's *The Box of Hope*.

However, none of them have been released yet; the earliest one is from 1982.

Xu Chengjun is willing to be a pioneer and also likes to refer to this type of novel as "Temporal Lamp Literature".

This type of novel uses concrete "memory media" (black boxes, letters, notebooks, etc.) to enable characters from different eras to engage in emotional dialogue, thereby healing historical trauma and passing on hope across generations.

The literary gene transcends genre boundaries; it is neither purely popular narrative nor traditional elite literature, but rather reconstructs the warmth of history in "memory polyphony," forming a unique literary paradigm.

When Li Xiaolin turned to the part about wanting to take over her father's black box, she lowered her voice and said, "The blank space you left at the end is warmer than Camus's 'Sisyphus'."

Xu Chengjun laughed: "I just don't want to write crying scenes. Heroes sacrifice themselves not so that future generations can cry, but so that future generations can live well. I hope that by taking over the black box, we are taking over the responsibility of 'living well'."

"This is the Chinese view of heroism, not the Western 'individual heroism' or the old 'collective symbolism'. It is 'You protect me as I grow up, and I will look after your future for you.'"

Li Xiaolin folded the manuscript paper neatly, put it into a brown paper bag, and said with a firm tone: "When this manuscript is published, it will not only shock the Chinese literary world, but also show the world literary world that Chinese literature can localize Western theories and write about 'patriotism' that they cannot write."

"You wait, if this 'Letter Box of Hope' doesn't win the Mao Dun Literature Prize next year, I'll be furious with the judges!"

"I'm not in a hurry. Good manuscripts will be recognized by readers and by time."

"My father said he wanted to meet you last time, and I guess he won't be able to resist after reading this article."

Li Xiaolin touched the brown paper bag in her arms and suddenly felt that the "new path" of Chinese literature might begin with this manuscript.

Xu Chengjun was startled. "Old Ba!"

I want to see him!

Neither of them mentioned the follow-up matters of the manuscript. Since Xu Chengjun had shown the manuscript to Li Xiaolin, it meant that he was willing to publish it in Harvest. Given Li Xiaolin's personality and the relatively pleasant working relationship between her and Xu Chengjun, she would definitely give him a relatively generous offer. "By the way, you have already been internally selected for the Harvest Literary Newcomer Award. Be sure to attend the award ceremony on time."

Xu Chengjun was delighted to hear that he had won an award: "Is there any money to be made?"

"roll!"

After Li Xiaolin explained, Xu Chengjun understood that the 1979 Harvest Literary Newcomer Award was a kind of "soft recognition" within the publication or industry, without formal award rules, but it might attract attention in the literary world.

Xu Chengjun also gave up on learning more about the award.

Better than nothing.

"However, 'The Fitting Mirror' has a chance to win this year's National Outstanding Short Story Award, and we are working on it for you."

"That feeling is good!"

The selection mechanism for the National Excellent Short Story Award in 1979 was already very sound, with the nomination notification method mainly relying on a closed-loop process of "public recommendation + editorial department initial screening + expert review".

Throughout 1979, the People's Literature magazine served as the core channel for public recommendations, with readers nominating works by mailing letters or filling out the "Recommendation Form" attached to the magazine.

According to Li Xiaolin, "The Fitting Mirror" has been recommended to the editorial department of "People's Literature" by a large number of readers due to the social popularity after its publication in "Harvest".

The chances of winning are extremely high!
-
In the past few days, the founding of the Wave Literature Society has generated tremendous buzz throughout the school.

Xu Chengjun's name has spread throughout Fudan University.

As a result, students from the entire school enthusiastically participated.

That's Xu Chengjun after all!

Fudan University's only author!

Xu Chengjun clarified the core positioning of the literary society: "to record the tide of reform with a pen and to connect individuals with the times through literature."

He knew that many talented people at Fudan University were not from the Chinese Department, so he did not limit his recruitment to the Chinese Department, but focused on recruiting two types of people.

One type is those with a deep understanding of life. Students who have experienced being sent to the countryside, working in factories, or doing grassroots work can write works that are rooted in reality.

Another type is those with sharp minds. Students from different departments who are interested in the liberation of thought and the budding of reform can provide diverse perspectives for creative work. For example, foreign language students can translate and introduce Western modernist theories.

When the Wave Literature Society was first established, all the members of Dormitory 201 had already participated.

Zhou Haibo: "Cheng Jun, we should be considered veterans, right? Can we become the vice president?"

Hu Zhi: "With a brain like yours, you call yourself the vice president? I think I'm more capable!"

Lin Yimin: "Stop talking nonsense. We're recruiting tomorrow. Hurry up and check how the supplies are. Brother Li, have we made arrangements with the broadcasting station? Cheng Jun said he wants to broadcast the recruitment information in real time."

Lin Yimin was one of the most enthusiastic, running around helping Xu Chengjun. When his family heard about this opportunity, they strongly encouraged him to participate. They highly recognized the future development and founding philosophy of the Wave Literature Society and hoped to use it as Lin Yimin's future political capital.

Xu Chengjun also favored him as one of the managers of the Future Literature Society.

Li Jihai smiled and waved his hand: "Don't worry, there's definitely no problem."

Cheng Yongxin was also busy and sweating profusely: "I'll go work on the posters. When you're done, come and help me take a look."

The plan is to put up handwritten posters on bulletin boards of various departments at Fudan University, at the entrance of the library, and at the entrance of the canteen.

The title emphasizes the "sense of the times": "Write about 1979 as you see it! The Wave Literature Society is recruiting: From dressing mirrors to barns, we record the waves around us."

The content states, "No literary background is required, as long as you have a story and dare to think," and includes Xu Chengjun's signature.

The effect was indeed good. Before the promotional posters were even put up, a group of people had already gathered around, noisily asking all sorts of questions.

Some even brought their own writings, intending to read them aloud to Cheng Yongxin on the spot.

He was enjoying being surrounded by people, but at the same time he was sweating profusely and completely exhausted!
"Speaking of Cheng Jun, where is he? I haven't seen him today."

"Who knows, he's probably been busiest lately."

"Chengjun!" Hu Zhi shouted at the top of her lungs, but Xu Chengjun didn't appear for a long time.

Where was Xu Chengjun at this time?

Chinese Literature Department, Zhang Peiheng's office.

Senior Brother Zhang looked at Xu Chengjun with a helpless expression: "No, so this has become your liaison office?"

Xu Chengjun laughed and said, "How could that be, senior brother? Who made you our literary society's advisor?"

Zhang Peiheng curled his lip. What a great mentor! He didn't need to be involved in the founding concept or organizational structure of the society, but he was the one who handled everything that involved contacting the school and other teachers.

What a wonderful mentor!

At this moment, Xu Chengjun had already contacted the counselors of the Chinese Department, History Department, and Foreign Languages ​​Department, and entrusted these teachers to recommend him in class meetings.

With Zhang Peiheng standing to one side, the teachers were especially cooperative.

The Chinese Literature Department counselor was actually Zhang Peiheng's student, Wu Zhihan.

They were incredibly cooperative, calling him "Junior Brother Xu" and saying "Come to me if you need anything."

This made Xu Chengjun feel a little embarrassed.

But shouldn't you call him Junior Uncle?
Liu Haiyun, the counselor of the Foreign Languages ​​Department, also wanted Xu Chengjun to come to their department to give a 10-minute presentation on "Why we started the literary society in 1979".

After saying that, he added, "Can we speak in English?"
No, you started bilingual education in 1979, right?
That's pretty avant-garde!

After an afternoon of work, I finally managed to contact the teachers from each department.

Xu Chengjun has certain expectations for students from other departments. Some of Fudan's future student publications, such as the "Frontline" wall newspaper, were founded by students from the 77 Journalism Department, and "Poetry Cultivation" was founded by Xu Demin from the 79 Economics Department.

It is worth mentioning the society's journal, "Poetry Cultivation".

Founded in 1981, it published 15 issues by 1993, making it the only campus poetry magazine in the country to span 13 years, and it included hundreds of works by Xu Demin, Sun Xiaogang and others.

Xu Demin is indeed very capable.

The poetry collection "Sea Stars" was edited by Xu Demin in 1983. It includes 103 works by 30 poets from Fudan University. The first print run was 3.8 copies, and it was reprinted to nearly 8 copies, becoming the first anthology of lyrical poetry by college students in China.

Xu Demin's recitation of the poem "Confession of the Soul" resonated with the audience at the 1980 poetry competition, eliciting three minutes of applause and becoming a symbol of campus culture.

As for now, the upcoming journal "The Wave" will definitely include poetry, but whether "Poetry Cultivation" will appear is now uncertain.

However, he doesn't want to miss out on talented people from departments like economics, journalism, and history.

And coincidentally, Xu Chengjun, a first-year graduate student in 1979, had this influence.

Heroes of the world!

"Chengjun, how's your essay on Song Dynasty literature coming along?" Zhang Peiheng couldn't stand his arrogance.

Xu Chengjun glanced sideways, thinking, "Luckily, I was prepared!"

"I wrote a paper with a preface, senior, could you please take a look and give me your opinion?"

Zhang Peiheng: "Postscript?"

Xu Chengjun is a master of poetry and novel writing. His works "The Fitting Mirror" and "The Granary" have caused quite a stir in the literary world, and his adaptation of classical literary theory is also quite good.

He could do research on Song Dynasty literature, but as a first-year graduate student who had skipped a grade, he didn't have high expectations.

It's probably nothing more than doing some routine textual research on the colophons in "Complete Song Lyrics" and "History of the Song Dynasty". If you can figure out the chronology of the colophons by Su Shi and Huang Tingjian, that would be considered passing.

(End of this chapter)