Even two days later, the news that Dialect won the Pulitzer Prize for History was still spreading.
Whether it is the literary sections of mainstream newspapers such as "People's Daily" and "Guangming Daily", or large-scale national literary and art newspapers such as "Literary News" and "Literary News", and even radio and television stations, they are also competing for it. Reports and comments, and specially sent reporters to block the door for exclusive interviews.
The earlier "May 19th", a humiliating moment for the national football team, seemed to be forgotten in the corner.
The national football team is happy, but Fang Yan has a constant headache. In addition to one after another interviews, he also faces countless phone calls every day.
I have it at home and in the office, and it keeps ringing.
Those who called to congratulate include people with close connections like Zhang Guangnian, Wan Jiabao, and Wang Zengqi, as well as some old leaders and old comrades from the Writers Association, Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and culture departments that they don’t know at all. After all, the Pulitzer Prize in History It can be regarded as a great event in the literary world.
The Humanities Society will naturally not miss this golden opportunity and immediately prepares to reissue "Guns, Viruses and Steel".
“Hahaha, as expected, the first to get the moon is those who are near the water!”
Wang Meng patted Xia Yan on the shoulder, “Yanzi, this time you have stood up for our literary and art circles and our publishing house. A great achievement!"
"Don't say that." Fang Yan smiled.
"You, you, are you being humble again?"
Wang Meng took the initiative and said: "When is the award ceremony? No matter how long the leave is, I will approve it now!"
Fang Yan spread his hands and said with regret that the Pulitzer Prize Ceremony was over long ago and there was no need to go to the United States to receive the award.
Wang Meng comforted him amiably, "It's a bit regretful, but no matter what, winning the award is a great thing."
Fang Yan nodded, "Just say It’s time to ask for leave, hey, I really want you to be kind and give me a note.”
"Where are you going this time?" Wang Meng was curious.
Fang Yan told the truth, the premiere of "Once Upon a Time in China" will be held in July. At that time, he will accompany Gong Qie and the crew of Shanghai Film Studio to go south to Xiangjiang to cooperate with the promotion. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I went to complete the task that the film bureau strongly requested.
"Is it about co-producing a movie with Jiahe and Shaw Brothers?"
Wang Meng knew it well and said: "Comrades Fang Yu and Jinxian have already talked to me before."
"Then look at this note..."
Fang Yan smiled.
"I approved!"
Wang Meng said seriously: "The prosperity of movies is also part of the prosperity of literature and art. As long as you make a movie, you must adapt novels and original scripts, so the more movies The more prosperous the literature is, the more prosperous the literature will be; conversely, the more prosperous the literature will be. It’s hard for movies to prosper even if they are prosperous.”
Fang Yan agreed readily, but touched his nose apologetically:
“But I seemed to have promised you at the beginning of the year that I would do it this year! Travel less and spend more time in the editorial department..."
"This moment, that moment."
Wang Meng raised his hand and said that under his leadership, "People's Literature" has regained its reputation and brand in the literary world.
The problem of insufficient submissions and not many good manuscripts in the past has almost been solved now. Instead, supply exceeds demand. If the purpose of "People's Literature" is not to discover new talents and support young writers, otherwise, These submitted manuscripts by newcomers will be treated as discarded manuscripts.
At this time, there were so many famous writers closely related to "People's Literature" that the space was running out of space. At this point, the author's abundant resources may not be a good thing. It is really a trouble for happiness...
Fang Yan couldn't help laughing and said: "I think, can we make better use of this resource? ”
"For example?"
Wang Meng said with interest.
“For example, we can create a ‘double headline’ to enhance the quality of the novels in People’s Literature.”
Fang Yan said: “For another example, the headline style of each issue must not only be Differences, it is best to make contrasts, just like when you talked about your future prospects at the beginning of the year, you hope that "People's Literature" can adjust the possibilities of various types of creation and show the diversity of literature..."
"These sound like great ideas!"
Wang Meng admired it and said: "The greater the change in style, the more it can reflect the difference in literary possibilities. However, this will test the level of drafting and editing. Just like a restaurant must not only cook a single dish well, but also the entire dish." If it matches well, it’s really good.”
"With this kind of side dish technique, each issue of "People's Literature" can form a new highlight, allowing many novels to quickly become the focus of social attention after being published, just like this time about the May 19th Incident. "The Tilt Football Field"
Fang Yan said with a grin.
"There is also the article "Theme without Variations" that you unearthed. The two manuscripts can be published in two issues."
Wang Meng said: "In addition, there is one more thing. I hope you can lead the comrades in the editorial department to do it before leaving for Xiangjiang.”
After asking, Fang Yan found out that according to his idea, he planned to imitate the West Lake Conference and invite dozens of the most active young writers from all over the country to hold a national symposium in Yanjing in the name of the editorial department of "People's Literature".
Wang Mengdao: "Whether it is avant-garde literature like Ma Yuan and Yu Hua, or maverick youth literature like Liu Sola and Xu Xing, whether it is the high-profile root-seeking literature like Acheng and Zheng Yi, Pai, or Ke Yunlu, Zhou Meisen, etc. in their respective literary works As long as they are the most cutting-edge young writers in the literary field, we will invite them all.”
“This is a big project.”
Fang Yan raised his eyebrows, greatly surprised.
“Yes, it is People’s Literature, another huge literary conference after the West Lake Conference!”
Wang Meng vowed: "I plan to use this conference to make "People's Literature" the standard bearer of the massive new wave novel movement." Then he turned his head and said, "Yanzi, what do you think?"
Fang Yan pondered for a long time, "If this is the case, this Yanjing Conference must be one of the important events in the history of contemporary Chinese literature."
Wang Meng nodded. Said: "It's just like the 'West Lake Conference' jointly organized by us and "Harvest" last year, except that this time the Yenching Conference will be hosted by "People's Literature" alone. In this way, I think it will definitely set off a wave of enthusiasm in the literary world. There are quite a lot of thoughts and waves, right?”
Fang Yan did not agree immediately, but carefully asked about the time, location, number of people and other specific details of the meeting.
“I plan to arrange it in the second half of the year like the West Lake Conference.”
Wang Meng asked him to draw up a charter plan before going to Xiangjiang, and then organize and prepare well when he came back from Xiangjiang.
"Yes, editor-in-chief!"
Fang Yan responded. After all, he was just a humble social instrument, holding the results of others' careful consideration. (End of this chapter)