Can Chapter 775 really represent the literature of our time? !
Opponents think this is an excellent work. The author uses memories to tell a contemporary Chinese history full of personal memories and individual experiences.
The novel adopts the nesting and convolution of two narrative structures in its narrative. The novel tells the story of Fugui's misfortune and bumpy fate in the era of rapid changes with an ordinary and plain storyline. The brushstrokes reveal the meaning of life and the value of existence, revealing the helplessness of fate and the elusiveness of life.
The opponents also have good reasons: the plot is too heavy and depressing - the protagonist Fugui's life is full of suffering and misfortune. This continuous negative emotion may make readers feel suffocated and find it difficult to resonate.
There is also controversy in character creation. The character of Fugui is not fully developed, and his actions and decisions are often difficult to understand. For example, Fugui was able to quickly turn back as a prodigal son after losing his fortune. This change seemed a bit abrupt and lacked sufficient foreshadowing and explanation.
"Not thick enough"
"Lacks a sense of epicness"
Fang Minghua listened carefully and took notes from time to time.
Every work has shortcomings, including "Alive".
What the opponents say makes sense, and Fang Minghua has nothing to say in defense.
Just looking at this posture.
"Minghua, the situation is not good." Sitting next to Fang Minghua was Radar, who whispered.
Fang Minghua nodded and said: "If the situation is great, it will not be brushed off in the first evaluation."
"Then how do you convince most of the judges?" Radar asked again road.
“I don’t know either.” Fang Minghua was very honest: “I just want to finish what I said.”
"Now, let me give the floor to Comrade Minghua," the host said.
According to regulations, for the works recommended by the judges, after most of the judges have finished their comments, the recommender must speak.
The first is to summarize and summarize the works that you recommend for the last time, and also to answer the questions raised by the judges about this book.
Fang Minghua stood up calmly, looked at everyone and said: "The book "Alive", both in terms of its advantages and existing problems and flaws, I and the comrades sitting here have already talked about it. It’s very thorough. I won’t repeat it here. I would like to take this opportunity to say a few digressions. What is the original intention of establishing the Mao Dun Literature Award?”
Hearing Fang Minghua’s words suddenly appeared in the conference room. Li suddenly seemed a little restless. Some judges didn't understand what Fang Minghua meant when he suddenly said this?
Some of the judges showed disdain on their faces.
You are the youngest here, right? When Mr. Mao Dun established this award, you were still a young boy!
Ask us? !
Fang Minghua did not pause and continued his speech: I remember it very clearly. At that time, I was still working as a janitor at the "Yanhe" magazine. I saw Mr. Mao Dun in the newspaper. He dictated to his son. Wei Tao wrote down the will he left to the Secretariat of the Chinese Writers Association:
“Dear comrades, in order to promote the creation of novels, I will donate my royalties of 250,000 yuan to the Writers’ Association as a way to establish A novel literary scholarship fund to reward the best novels each year.”
"This is the original intention of the Mao Dun Literature Award! To reward the best novels!" Fang Minghua emphasized at this point.
"Comrade Minghua, what do you mean, the novels reviewed in previous editions of the Mao Dun Award and the novels we are reviewing now are not the best?"
Someone interrupted him with a tone of voice. Full of teasing. "I have never denied that the novels that won the Mao Prize are not excellent, but have you discovered a question: Do the works that have won the Mao Prize in previous years represent the literary trend at that time?"
"Since the 1980s, At the beginning, my country's literary world experienced scar literature, educated youth literature, root-seeking literature, avant-garde literature, etc. In the 1990s, new realistic novels, new historical novels, and new realist novels emerged. With each wave of novels, a number of very excellent literary works emerged. But are these excellent works reflected in the Mao Prize? Not necessarily."
As soon as Fang Minghua finished speaking, there was another burst of discussion in the conference room.
Now everyone understood that this guy was questioning the selection of the top prize!
“The works selected for the Grand Prize are mainly concentrated in traditional realism and traditional historical novels. I don’t know if this is intentional as a standard or some kind of inertia or potential in the selection of the judges. Frankly speaking, I think this idea is narrow-minded."
"Tolstoy's "War and Peace" is a great realist work, but you can deny that Marquez's "A Hundred Years." "Loneliness" magical realism work is not excellent?"
""Tokugawa Ieyasu" by Japanese writer Yamaoka Shohachi is an epic traditional historical novel, but "Raguette" by American writer Doctorow "The Age of Tom", but the great literary value contained in New Historicism!"
The conference room was very quiet, only Fang Minghua's voice was heard.
"Speaking of China, let alone "Alive", some new historicist novels in China have successfully used a series of modern narrative techniques to make the stories themselves contain rich metaphorical meanings, such as Ge Fei's "The Enemy", etc., appear to be more spiritual and intellectual in terms of artistry."
"Pioneering novels are no exception, such as Zhang Wei's "September Fables", both in terms of aesthetic ideals and the operation of narrative discourse. All of them have been extremely effective in exploring the possibility of the development of full-length novels, but it is regrettable that these novels cannot be included in the twenty preliminary review lists, and some are not even qualified to be recommended!”
"Comrades, if we, or our descendants, look back at these award-winning works in ten, twenty, or thirty years, how many can we remember? Can they really represent the literature of our era?! Please think carefully, I have finished my speech.”
The conference room was still quiet.
During lunch, Lida smiled and said to Fang Minghua: "Minghua, this move of yours is amazing. Use retreat to advance."
"Why retreat to advance?"
"It is an open secret that the Mao Dun Award awards favor traditional realistic and historical novels. The winning works of the first three announced have not escaped this category."< br>
Radar continued.
“You have come up with a trick. Your evaluation of the winning works is, in a sense, an evaluation of us judges. If we are still stubborn and miss so many excellent works, our descendants will be disappointed in a few years. What would you say? Look, it’s just a bunch of old stubborn people. What are they talking about?”
Old stubborn people?
Fang Minghua couldn't help but laugh.
But it is.
Taking the selection results of this year's top awards in history, apart from "White Deer Plain", who can remember the other films? !
Ten days into the meeting, all the judges voted, and the most critical moment came.
(End of this chapter)