Chapter 381: No Science

Chapter 381: No Science

Chapter 381: No Science
"Brother Chen, I toast to you for daring to speak the truth when no one else is talking." Yan Feng raised his glass, "Brother Chen's works are no wonder praised as being as noble as those of the famous scholars of the Wei and Jin dynasties!"

Translator, translator, please stand up and speak for me, thank you.

The writers next to him also raised their glasses, praising him. Not to mention the writer circle, even ordinary people would praise him when they were drunk.

"In the field of literature, Gu Lu's only work is 'New Interpretations of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio'. And this series is just standing on the shoulders of his predecessors." Chen Xiaolong was drunk, so he spoke in a very loud tone.

He continued, "The work of this young man Gu Lu is of no value in itself!"

"Hehe, don't say that. We still have to save face for the young people." Yan Feng said immediately.

He didn't dare to completely deny Gu Lu. The Young China Theory and the Four Parts of Diplomacy were both officially recognized.

Even though Yan Feng hadn't really read it carefully, he could still say a few words - Gu Lu just had the advantage of age and good luck. The rest was just average.

"But Teacher Yan, there are five winning works in the 10th session..." someone asked at the banquet.

What you mean is, why did you stand out when no one else in the five works stepped forward?

"'Camel Bells Ringing' was the most famous fairy tale of the year." Chen Xiaolong immediately responded, "Gu Lu's target must be this work. It's very obvious."

Although Yan Feng didn't say anything, he nodded in agreement. He also thought that Gu Lu was saying that he was unworthy. He said that "Camel Bells Ringing" was not as good as "The Little Prince". The opponent was already attacking him, so he would definitely refute it!
Gu Lu:?
"There is still a threshold for serious literature. Gu Lu is still too young to cross this threshold."

"It's okay to let him write the theme article, but don't think too much about the rest."

"He took advantage of his young age and was praised to a height he shouldn't have been able to reach."

One after another, they all began to criticize a writer who was a dozen or twenty years younger than them and was considered their junior. Some were jealous, some followed the crowd, and some insisted on being an elder.

Sometimes the saying really comes true - friends don't have to have common hobbies, they just need to have common enemies.

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The two glasses collided with the tabletop, making a crisp sound. The common enemy in our mouths went better with wine than braised peanuts and edamame.

As the weather turned cooler, the fighting at the wine table weakened. With only two empty Feitian Moutai bottles, Yan Feng and his group finished earlier than usual.

"I just said that the moon at eleven or twelve o'clock at night is beautiful. Sometimes it is two, sometimes it is three." Yan Feng fell asleep with this thought.

The next morning, it was cloudy and rainy. To those who are in a good mood, the rain is like a brush that makes everything appear. To those who are depressed, the rain is like glue, making the trees, streets, and memories all sticky.

The rain is still the same rain, but the mood is different and the meaning is different.

Without the sun, the smell of alcohol on Yan Feng and the others seemed to be unable to dissipate, and it still enveloped the hangover people. When they stood up and moved, the smell of fermentation overflowed.

The August issue of People's Literature was released, and Yan Feng and other writers got it first because he subscribed to it on an annual basis.

The sales of Huacheng, Harvest, October and People's Literature are mainly due to the readers coming from the writers.

Think about it, there are 200,000 or 300,000 writers in China, even if we don't count online writers. So even if the physical publications are in great decline, the sales of People's Literature are still 300,000 or 400,000 per issue. That's how it came about.

I drank alcohol the day before and was sober during the day. My throat was dry and my mouth was parched. I poured myself a cup of overnight tea and now I couldn’t care less.

Yan Feng returned to the house with three literary magazines, namely People's Literature, Poetry Magazine, and Harvest.

People's Literature has announced that Gu Lu's short story will be published in August. Yan Feng just can't stand the fanfare. Other readers, including him, don't get treated this way. He doesn't care, as he mainly writes children's literature, but can other authors feel comfortable?
It's no big deal, Yan Feng thought, "Another rewrite of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, or Notes from the Yuewei Thatched Cottage?"

The introduction to the publication recommends three works serialized in this issue, three of whose authors are very familiar.

There is no need to say much about Chi Zijian and Chi Li. The former's "Right Bank of the Ergun River" won the Mao Dun Literature Prize, and the latter is a master of short stories, many of whose works have been adapted into film and television dramas.

The last one is Gu Lu, who is also elevated compared to these two, Yan Feng thought.

"The Dwarf" gives us a textbook reproduction of the gradually neglected technical elements of novels in terms of structure, story progression, and language simplicity. Gu Lu has also carefully considered the content and value. The work accumulates potential energy in the advancement of the plot, describing both the lives of marginalized characters and the real speculation of society. It shows the author's extraordinary balance - the sense of proportion in hiding the edge. Based on the circus to describe the entire society, this short story tells the story naturally in a weird and neat style rather than a mysterious one, which is worth reading.

"A reproduction of the textbook?" Yan Feng smiled in confusion.

Then he looked at the short story.

About 10,000 words, not a lot. Even if you read it carefully, you can finish it in half an hour. At first: That's it?

After reading: This?!
"It seems to have something to it, but it also has many shortcomings. There is no sense of immersion in writing about a foreign story, and the scenes that the dwarf encountered after becoming handsome are completely unrealistic..." Yan Feng just kept finding faults in everything, and he finally found a lot of them.

After a long time, these bones turned into a sentence, "Articles are naturally formed, and they are created by chance. This article must be an extraordinary work."

Short stories are a test of a writer's skills. You can really tell whether a writer is good or not at a glance.

Let's take an example of a writer who exists in both Earth and the parallel world, "Shut up", and not talk about his character or morality. Just look at his short stories with fantasy colors, such as "Moonlight Slash" and "Aunt's Scimitar". The former is also the winner of the first Pu Songling Short Story Award, and it is also the only literary award Gu Lu has won so far.

After reading it, you can clearly feel the gap between Shut Up and other writers. Shut Up is far ahead. You will also sigh like Yu Hua, "Damn, how can he write so well?"

Similarly, the short story level of the short story of St. Aime is similar to that of Shut up, which is a clear lead.

When readers can understand the difference after reading an article, experts will be able to feel it even more.

Yan Feng's progress in reading People's Literature was limited to the article "Dwarf". Ten minutes later, he turned to the next article, and then he could clearly feel that there was a distance between the other short stories and "Dwarf", including the other two works in the introduction.

"Teacher Chi Zijian and Teacher Chi Li, the quality of their serialized works this time is a little bit lower. So..." Yan Feng didn't like Gu Lu emotionally, but his rational literary quality told him that even in the serialized history of People's Literature, "Dwarf" was a top-notch work.

The only thing worth criticizing is the rare foreign background. Yan Feng understood it instantly, because freak shows originated in America and became popular in Europe. There may be some in China, but they are definitely not common, and not as common as circus clowns. Therefore, considering the background, the dwarf can only be of a foreign background.

Chen Xiaolong and other writers in the Northwest circle are still very straightforward, because they really help their relatives and not others, and they just go straight ahead.

Even though the short stories serialized in People's Literature were visibly good, they were still attacked for having foreign backgrounds and for being too magical.

Around the afternoon, Yan Feng made a comment:

"We write novels and form our own style. After more than ten years or more, every progress can be traced. Canxue imitates Kafka, Yan Lianke imitates DH Lawrence, etc., which can be seen with the naked eye. Then who is Gu Lu imitating? It is not clear. Gu Lu's creative thread is vague and even impossible to track. After reading "Dwarf", my only feeling is, why can there be such progress in just four or five years? It's not just the writing thread, it's not scientific from the perspective of species evolution!"

Imitations by writers are not always successful. For example, if I tell you that Guo Xiaosi imitated Cao Xueqin's Dream of the Red Chamber, how would you respond?
Let’s get back to the topic, Yan Feng’s remarks.

Chen Xiaolong and the writers who supported him felt like the sky had fallen...

"Look, I told you so. The literary and artistic circle culture is very strong, but in the final analysis, good writing can be criticized." Liu Yong, deputy editor-in-chief of People's Literature, couldn't help but comment when he heard others talk about interesting things in the Northwest circle.

"The progress in short story literature is indeed huge - let me use an inappropriate analogy, it has risen from the level of popular novels to the level of fast-forward textbooks. Although four or five years is a long time, it feels too short for this improvement." The secretary general of the Writers Association said, "Editor-in-chief Liu, has Teacher Xiao Gu submitted other similar short stories?"

Tian Mengge, the secretary general of the Writers Association, is still the same person who announced the Little Prince's various achievements in Japan at the meeting a few years ago. He is proficient in six languages. He is 42 years old this year. Secretary Tian has strong personal abilities, but that doesn't mean he can move up.

"Of course there is," Liu Yong said, "Teacher Gu will send it to me in a few days."

"It's good to have it, because I feel that Yan Feng's sudden change of style is just a way to flatter and kill." Tian Mengge said, "Currently, many people are paying attention to Teacher Xiao Gu's second short story. Editor-in-Chief Liu must keep a close eye on it. It would rather there is no short story than it is lower than "Dwarf". "

Secretary Tian was fully aware of the intrigues, so he got to the point right away.

Hearing this, the calm Liu Yong also became a little nervous. As the saying goes, there is no first in literature and no second in martial arts. Since ancient times, scholars have looked down on each other. He also understands these things and cannot delay Teacher Gu's comeback.

"Actually, Teacher Xiao Gu doesn't care about these things at all. I just talked to Teacher Xiao Gu on the phone this morning, and she didn't pay any attention to it at all." Liu Yong said first, and then answered, "I will definitely pay close attention to Teacher Xiao Gu's second short story after his comeback!"

That’s good, Tian Mengge nodded.

Indeed, no one paid attention to it. Gu Lu was very happy at the moment.

Good news comes one after another.

The Japanese film and television rights of "The Devotion of Suspect X" have been sold, and Fuji TV offered 100 million US dollars. Japanese animation and Japanese dramas are more important than movies, so the price is very good. Shochiku Co., Ltd. only paid 1.3 million yen for the rights of "Flowers for Algernon".

Here is another detailed news from Earth: the copyright of Keigo Higashino's 17 Yunlaiwu special performance cost between one and two million.

There is no way. The best seller is too diligent. He always writes two or three works every year. When Gu Lu traveled through time, he had already written eighty or ninety works. Even though he wrote some good works such as "Guardian of Prayer" in the later period, the best seller wrote too much and failed to reproduce the level of the four masterpieces (Malice, Day and Night, Suspect, and Worry-solving Grocery Store). As a result, many passers-by no longer want to read it.

"Huh? Why are you urging me to submit the second draft so soon?"

(End of this chapter)