Chapter 217 The counterattack begins

Chapter 217 The counterattack begins

Chapter 217 The counterattack begins

“In my opinion, Wang Zixu is like a child playing with fire. No, I should say that in terms of writing, he is an adult with the mind of a child.

"He has the ambition of an adult and the innocence of a child, and he is eager to achieve unprecedented success by playing with fire.

"But he didn't cook a good meal. His clumsy and awkward attempts caused a lot of smoke. But he was not afraid of causing harm to society at all, and he was complacent about the power of fire!"

Kong Huaifang's words were so harsh and direct in their criticism that everyone present was stunned.

The seminar was certainly not a group for boasting. After Shi Tonghe's speech, everyone had already made a prediction about the discussion situation.

But I still didn't expect the criticism to be so intense.

In fact, what Kong Huaifang said just now was just the beginning.

"There is a scene in the novel that goes like this: In order to rescue the abducted women, the women of Xi Village formed a red lantern army, invented 'weapons' such as spinning wheels with blades and rope-pulled sky lanterns, chanted spells, burned talismans, and set fire to the church.

"Although these stories are told by a 'crazy grandma' who likes to exaggerate, the book attributes the protagonist's rebellious spirit to this movement and does not hesitate to praise it.

"It was clearly an act of ignorant people fighting against civilization, but Wang Zixu glorified it as a national struggle and tragedy. This kind of historical nihilism is a blasphemy against the national spirit.

"It is not taboo to deconstruct grand history from the perspective of small people and to write real events with the method of magical realism. This kind of narrative orientation is tantamount to playing with fire. And to promote such works as 'China's One Hundred Years of Solitude' is even more despicable..."

Kong Huaifang spoke incessantly on the point of "historical nihilism", and he was eloquent and endless.

An Younan peeled an apple for herself, stretched her bare white legs on the coffee table, and said:

"Shi Tonghe's recommendation from me was not in vain. The person he found sang really hard."

Duan Xiaosang covered his mouth and whispered, "You're exaggerating. You're scolding me so harshly."

"I originally thought that at most they would just degrade the prince to scum, but it turns out that they want him to die."

When Kong Huaifang was speaking, Pu Yuyang, who was sitting next to Duan Xiaosang, frowned more and more, scratched his ears and cheeks, and finally complained in a low voice:

"What are you talking about!"

Duan Xiaosang glanced at her. The little girl was obviously at a loss for words and was not mentally prepared.

Kong Huaifang's interpretation is full of malice and deliberately distorts the author's expression. As long as you read the book in depth, you will find that what he said is not the point.

This kind of interpretation is like a cow chewing on a peony or scratching an itch through a shoe. In short, it is picking out sentences and accusing others of trivial matters, which is quite similar to the spirit of literary inquisition.

"However, describing the Boxer Rebellion as a fight among ignorant people is too untenable. It reeks of the old Heshang school." Duan Xiaosang complained in a low voice, "Young people nowadays don't buy into this anymore."

An Younan took a bite of the apple and said, "That generation grew up listening to Western myths, so they were all like this. Look, they were nodding their heads as they listened."

Duan Xiaosang said, "If Prince Xu can't hold it in, we can seize this opportunity and attack him. Maybe we can turn the situation around a little. At least we can cater to the mentality of some young people."

"It's useless." An Younan shook his head. "If you refute directly, you will fall into their trap."

"why?"

"To refute directly is to focus the debate on the characterization of the Boxer Rebellion. Arguing with people about this is prone to extremism, and it will become historical nihilism. And don't forget that they are sitting in the referee's seat, how can you win the argument?
"Besides, his book is so long, the focus must not be on this one plot, right? If you make a fuss about this, the news will turn out to be 'young writer glorifies violence and has a distorted outlook', and readers' attention will be diverted.

"Even if he wins the debate, at most they will both get fifty lashes, but they will still offend a group of people. You will be labeled as having incorrect values, having problematic ideological orientation, misogynistic... all kinds of labels will be attached to you and you can't take them off.

"People who have read books are always a minority. The current reading culture is impetuous, and people like to watch the ten-minute simplified version of a movie. Readers don't have the patience and rationality to distinguish who is right. They will simply determine who is a good person and who is a bad person, and then label them, label, label, label..."

An Younan stretched out his index finger and pointed at Wang Zixu's back on the screen, sticking labels on him.

Duan Xiaosang didn't say anything, but she had to admit in her heart that An Younan was right.

An Younan is lazy and doesn't like reading, but she is extremely insightful in some aspects.

The best thing for Wang Zixu now is to admit defeat. Don't fight back when you're beaten, don't talk back when you're scolded, just accept whatever others say, and pray that you don't attract too much attention.

When the controversy over the seminar is over, no one will remember what was said at the seminar. But in a few years, the book may become popular due to word-of-mouth.

And...since An Younan is interested in him, if he can coax An Younan and just give him a hand, maybe he can turn things around?

……

Xiao Mengyin put her hand on her mouth, sitting in a relaxed posture. Under the cover of her dense eyelashes, her eyes like warm water moved quietly to the left, observing Wang Zixu's expression.

If Kong Huaifang had been criticized like this when she was writing her first novel, she would have been furious. Even now that she has experienced so much, she would still be a little impatient and distracted.

But Wang Zixu looked like nothing happened.

It should be said that it is like a chicken without any function, a chicken that is as still as a wooden chicken.

With his head lowered, his eyes fixed on the paper in front of him, his face as calm as a lake, his back slightly arched, he looked like a terminally ill patient who was about to give up treatment and was listening to the doctor talk about the survival period of various treatment options.

Xiao Mengyin wondered, had he really given up? Or had he simply lost his will to fight?
Even if you really give up, it's better than getting furious.

Seeing the prince looking up at her, she calmly pointed at the small piece of paper in front of him, reminding him:

"Please control your emotions!"

The prince nodded very lightly, as if it were an illusion.

Kong Huaifang finally finished his speech. The whole audience was silent.

At this moment, even the most obtuse person would realize that the protagonist of this seminar was probably not very popular.

Kong Huaifang's lecture clearly exceeded the boundaries of a literary review, as if the discussion had been agreed to be limited, but all the moves were aimed at the disabled person.

Tian Zhenlei was drinking tea at the audience seat, and his hand that was holding the water was shaking slightly.

Today was a grand occasion he had never seen before. He was not excited, on the contrary, he was a little scared.

He and Wang Zixu were not close friends, he just felt that seminars should not be held in this way and literature should not be conducted in this way.

He felt that this was wrong, that this might set a precedent that would have endless consequences, but he didn't know how to object.

There must be people in the field who think the same as him, but when he looked around, he only saw gloating in the eyes of most people.

He trembled, like a prophet who predicted the coming of the flood. Shi Tonghe seemed to be quite satisfied with Kong Huaifang's performance, nodded slightly, and looked away.

Professor Zhong still sat there like a mountain, motionless; Li Minyang, however, became a little anxious and seemed to want to say something, but Shi Tonghe shut him up with a word.

"Professor Zhong and Editor-in-Chief Li have said they will not speak, so the next one is Wang Zhongxing... By the way, does Wang Zixu have any opinions?"

Everyone's eyes turned to Wang Zixu.

There was both mockery and pity in their intertwined gazes, but Wang Zixu remained dumbfounded and shook his head dryly.

Shi Tonghe said: "Wang Zixu, Mr. Kong's criticism of you may not be pleasant to your ears, but it is good advice and you must take it seriously."

After that, he turned to Wang Zhongxing and said, "Then it will be Wang Zhongxing's turn to speak next."

Wang Zhongxing licked his lips, picked up the speech materials and knocked them on the table, seeming eager to try.

“You may have seen that I once published a review article in Wanzhou Daily, in which I analyzed and evaluated the book Fire in the Stone.

“But at that time, due to time constraints, I only read it once, and Fire in the Stone had not yet been published in full, so my interpretation was not deep enough or thorough enough.

“In recent days, after reading the current chapters of Fire in the Stone for the third time, I have summarized three serious problems in the creation of this work:

"First, the structure is loose and the showmanship is too much; second, the characters are flat and the descriptions are frivolous; third, the pattern is narrow and the style is not high."

After turning the page, Wang Zhongxing continued:

“By looking at the author through his writing, I can feel the author’s mentality when he was writing. He knew that his writing skills were still shallow when challenging this kind of subject matter, so he deliberately showed off his skills in order to avoid being criticized for being shallow.

"The most obvious thing is that each chapter switches perspectives in a showy way. Indeed, its perspective switching is very clever, but is this kind of clever technique for the sake of cleverness really what our literature needs?..."

Wang Zhongxing spoke a lot in a very eloquent manner, and his criticism of "Fire in the Stone" was even more sharp than Kong Huaifang's evaluation just now.

Kong Huaifang's evaluation just now was just a high-level comment, which was made from the perspective of values ​​and talked about the orientation issue, but did not involve the novel itself.

From this point of view alone, there are many works that have "wrong directions" but wonderful content. It is a good achievement for Wang Zixu, a fledgling author, to receive attention and evaluation from seniors from all walks of life.

But Wang Zhongxing's denial went even further. He not only denied the value of the book, but even the value of the book.

Many authors do their own thing. If you make a big deal about it, they will probably just laugh it off. But if you say that they write poorly, they will fight with you.

Wang Zhongxing repeatedly danced in this minefield, as if he was deliberately trying to provoke Wang Zixu.

"The last point is that the scale is not high enough. After a cursory reading of this book, many people will exclaim that this book is the Chinese version of One Hundred Years of Solitude, but after a careful reading, you will find that its scale is not high enough.

"White Deer Plain is about the conflict between two families, and One Hundred Years of Solitude is about a century-old folk epic. Fire in the Stone combines the two into one, but you can't tell whether it is about writing an epic or about two major families.

“It means, where does it land?
"It is like writing the boatman's song on the Yellow River. The broad brushstrokes are used to describe the various aspects of the boatmen and passengers on the boat. However, Fire in the Stone is like using a lot of ink to describe the muscle details of the boatmen, euphemistically calling it seeing the big picture from the small.

“Can this still be called an epic? This also confirms my previous thoughts - the subject matter is good, but it was ruined by an inexperienced author who lacks writing skills.”

After saying that, Wang Zhongxing put down the manuscript and looked at Shi Tonghe.

Shi Tonghe had been holding his hands together under his chin, his eyes deep, as if he was thinking about something. After Wang Zhongxing finished speaking, he was silent for a long time before he came to his senses and looked around and said:

"Wang Zhongxing's analysis was detailed and serious enough, and he even read the long novel three times. This responsible spirit is worth learning from."

He took the lead in applauding, and soon the applause in the conference hall resounded throughout the venue.

Xiao Mengyin clapped her hands lightly twice, then put them down, bit her lip, turned to look at Wang Zixu, only to find that he was still clapping. She secretly admired his calmness and thought he was a real character.

He was too rational, as rational as an artificial intelligence. Although Xiao Mengyin knew that he made a rational choice, she was still a little disappointed.

Her political skills made her know what the best choice was at this moment, but her passion as a writer made her want to see a rebellious and unruly male, rather than a compromiser who would just swallow his pride.

Shi Tonghe nodded and looked at Wang Zixu: "Wang Zixu, what do you think?"

Wang Zixu had no expression on his face and did not react. Shi Tonghe did not speak either. The two looked at each other.

Shi Tonghe deliberately kept silent, prolonging this awkward silence. When certain emotions brewed in this silence and everyone began to have subtle thoughts, he finally spoke again:
"You should be happy to have a colleague like Mr. Wang Zhongxing who studies your work carefully and meticulously. Perhaps readers who like your work may not read as much or more carefully as Mr. Wang."

After that, he turned sideways and turned to the others: "Okay, the next one will start speaking."

Next up was Shen Qingfeng. Shen Qingfeng had a wicked smile on his face, but waved his hand and said, "I didn't read it carefully, so I can't say for sure. Let's go to the next one."

Wang Zixu looked at him in surprise. This guy didn't take the opportunity to add insult to injury. It was really unlike him.

The next person was also an acquaintance of Shi Tonghe. Although he had not squeezed into Shi Tonghe's core circle, he was smart enough to know which side he should take, so he quietly changed his original review speech materials and published a series of analyses that were from the same school as Wang Zhongxing.

The following speech was similar.

The prince counted the heads of people. As early as when he came in, he had already discovered the mystery of the seating order. Generally speaking, this seating order was quite unfavorable to him. It was a deliberate arrangement by Shi Tonghe. But there were also some points that could be used.

So since he came in, he had been brewing a plan in his mind.

By the time the fifth person finished speaking, the plan was finally ready.

Shi Tonghe continued to whip the corpse as usual. After the last speaker finished speaking, he turned to look at Wang Zixu and said, "What do you think? If you don't have any ideas, go to the next one."

"I have."

"Huh?" Shi Tonghe raised his head in surprise.

"I have a few ideas," said Wang Zixu.

The person who had spoken just now looked up at him with a nervous expression.

Shi Tonghe pondered for a moment, then said, "You say."

Everyone saw that he raised his hands abnormally high, as if he was holding up a flag with both hands, and his movements were strange.

Xiao Mengyin was just about to wonder why he had endured it until now, but suddenly she couldn't bear it anymore. After taking a closer look, she discovered that Wang Zixu was stretching.

He stretched comfortably and enjoyably, and yawned.

(End of this chapter)