Chapter 817 Who will win the best novel in this Chinese Literature Award?
Fang Minghua had almost no participation in this World Chinese Literature Award. He was neither a member of the reading class nor the final judge, but he was designated as the award guest.
In Bai Miao's words: "You are the founder of the Chinese Language Award, so it is only natural that you should be awarded the award."
So Fang Minghua had no choice but to go.
As usual, the jury will first make the final evaluation of the shortlisted works in a closed meeting, and finally hold an awards ceremony to announce the results.
Now the meeting has ended and the results have come out, but they are in a strictly confidential stage and Fang Minghua doesn't know.
Of course, if Fang Minghua wanted to ask organizer Bai Miao, he would definitely know the result, but he didn't think it was necessary.
It would be interesting to take a guess.
Who is the winner of the best novel that he is most concerned about this time?
According to the announced shortlist: "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" by Wang Anyi, "Decision" by Zhang Ping, "Maqiao Dictionary" by Han Shaogong, "Paradise Lost" by Japanese writer Junichi Watanabe, and "Paradise Lost" by Russian writer Yevtushenko "Don't Die Before You Die".
Among them, the most popular ones are "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" and "Paradise Lost".
"Song of Everlasting Regret" takes the novel's protagonist Wang Qiyao's "splendid smoke" legendary life as the main content of expression, linking the vicissitudes of the times with the eccentricities of personal destiny.
In this novel, the author Wang Anyi gradually downplays the influence of traditional realistic literary views, uses a variety of metaphors and film montage techniques, and the writing style is cold, humorous, delicate and moving.
Fang Minghua is also quite optimistic about this book, and it won the fifth Mao Dun Literature Award in history! Of course it hasn’t been promulgated yet.
The other one is "Paradise Lost", which tells the story of a middle-aged man and woman who both died in love due to an extramarital affair.
The novel draws on the creative ideas and writing techniques of Heian period literature represented by Murasaki Shikibu's "The Tale of Genji" in the 11th century. Watanabe Junyi skillfully integrated the "elegance" and "mono-sorrow" of the Heian period into his own works, resulting in a delicate depiction , sincere emotions and exciting artistic effects.
This book caused a great sensation in the Japanese literary world, and even caused the phenomenon of "Paradise Lost", which also had a certain influence in China.
In 1997, he also won the Japan New Word and Buzzword Award of the Year.
In fact, Fang Minghua thinks "Don't Die Before You Die" is quite good. This best-selling book by the famous Russian poet Yevtushenko caused a sensation in Russia, Europe and the United States in the 1990s.
The unrestrained new realism style makes it difficult to define its subject matter and genre. Some commentators say that this is a political news documentary that, under the cover of many interesting stories, reveals the truth about the political turmoil before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, involving the personal circumstances of the Soviet president and marshal
However, given the sensitive subject matter, it is estimated that it is unlikely to win.
Fang Minghua arrived in Lanzhou by train on May 16 and checked into the Lanzhou Hotel.
Lanzhou Hotel is very famous in Lanzhou City. The overall building is in the style of the former Soviet Union. It is solemn and elegant. I am used to seeing Western-style or modern-style hotels everywhere in the country. Suddenly I saw this building with the color of the heavy industry of the former Soviet Union. I felt a strong feeling. A sense of nostalgia.
Members of the literary award jury and the 25 writers whose works were shortlisted all live here, and Fang Minghua met many acquaintances.
In fact, this kind of ceremony also provides a rare opportunity for everyone to meet and communicate together. Everyone can talk about their current situation, literature and so on.
During dinner, Fang Minghua and Wang Anyi sat together and he said: "Sister An Yi, many people are optimistic about your "Song of Everlasting Sorrow""
"Yes, I'm also optimistic about your book." The speaker was Han Shaogong, who was eating a piece of chili. As expected, he is from Hunan Province, and he likes everything spicy.
The "Maqiao Dictionary" that Han Shaogong was shortlisted for this time is also one of his masterpieces, but it caused controversy after its publication. A group of people, including Professor Zhang Yiwu of the Chinese Department of Yenching University, believed that the "Maqiao Dictionary" was plagiarized by the Yugoslav writer Milola "Khazar Dictionary" by De Pavic.
"Khazar Dictionary" is a famous novel published in 1984, which records the history of a dynasty that once existed and fell. The content of this novel is complex, ancient and modern, fantasy and reality, dreams and non-dreams are intricately intertwined. Going back in time and space, switching between humans and ghosts, and confusingly describing the mystery of the Khazar nation's sudden disappearance from the world in the Middle Ages, it is recognized as a strange book.
However, it was later confirmed that the "Maqiao Dictionary" only borrowed dictionary-style writing from the "Khazar Dictionary", and dictionary-style writing existed long before Pavich's "Khazar Dictionary".
The imitation of the structure of a literary work is not only not plagiarism, but a kind of tribute.
But this turmoil has also cast a shadow on Han Shaogong himself and the publication of this book. Han Shaogong is already satisfied to be shortlisted for the World Best Chinese Novel Award.
As for winning awards, he doesn't expect much.
Although both friends are optimistic about their own books, Wang Anyi is still relatively sober. She said: "Not necessarily. Of the five shortlisted books, which one is not weak, especially "Paradise Lost" by Junichi Watanabe 》It also has a great influence in Japan and our country
Watanabe Chunyi also came to Lanzhou, but he was chatting happily with Radar and the others through an interpreter at another table.
Also sitting at this table is Zhang Ping, the author of the shortlisted work "The Choice".
Zhang Ping and Wang Anyi are the same age, but compared to writers such as Wang Anyi and Han Shaogong who were famous as early as the 1980s, Zhang Ping is much inferior in the literary world.
His novels mainly reflect the sharp contradictions in factories, cities and officialdom, such as "Blood Soul", "Skynet" and "Decision".
This kind of novel suddenly emerged in the past few years with Fang Minghua's "In the Name of the People", which was dubbed the shock wave of realism and attracted people's attention.
Zhang Ping's "The Choice" was written in this context. Based on the difficulties of large and medium-sized enterprises in real life, it describes the fierce struggle between a group of leading cadres and the masses against corruption.
Ordinary readers like this kind of novel very much, but many editors and critics in the literary world are not very optimistic about it. Being shortlisted for the best was beyond his expectation.
There is another reason: this book was adapted into a TV series of the same name last year, and the response was very good. Perhaps this is one of the reasons for being shortlisted.
So there were people talking next to him, but he just ate the food silently.
Fang Minghua saw all this.
He didn't have many interactions with Zhang Ping, and they only met once, at the "Realist Literary Works Conference" held by "Zhongshan" magazine in Nanjing in 1994.
It was at that meeting that Fang Minghua proposed the term "new realist novels", which later included "In the Name of the People", "Dachang", "Director of the Petition Office", "No Country for Snow", "Absolute Power", "Heaven Is Here" "" and so on were published one after another, including Zhang Ping's "Choice".
To a certain extent, Fang Minghua is half the owner of this Chinese Literature Award Competition. After all, he founded this competition, so when he saw Zhang Ping being ignored, he took the initiative to chat with him.
(End of chapter)