Chapter 413 “Traveling Far Away at the Age of Eighteen”

“This comrade is incredible!”

Hearing Cong Weixi’s sigh, Yao Xiaoyu nodded in agreement, “Among this group of young writers, he is the best.”

Cong Weixi smiled and said, “Let alone young writers, how many of us old comrades can compare to him? It’s just that…”

Seeing that Cong Weixi was hesitant to speak, Yao Xiaoyu wanted to ask but didn’t dare to speak. In the end, it was Cong Weixi himself who said quietly:
“Well, it’s not something that can’t be discussed. I’m just worried that Jiang Xian will follow the path of Comrade Wang Meng.”

“Following the path of Comrade Wang Meng?”

Yao Xiaoyu didn’t quite understand, “Editor-in-chief, isn’t it better to follow Comrade Wang Meng’s path?”

“It’s naturally good for him personally, but it’s a great loss to the literary world,” Cong Weixi explained.

Yao Xiaoyu quickly understood what Cong Weixi meant.

Nowadays, there is a comment on Wang Meng in the literary world that he is becoming more and more like a good editor rather than a good writer.

This phenomenon has become more obvious since Wang Meng became the editor-in-chief of People’s Literature.

During the time he served as editor-in-chief, there was almost no work of note.

Just a year or two ago, Wang Meng was one of the most popular writers in the literary world.

His energy shifted too much to editing work, and his creative level declined.

This is what Cong Weixi was worried about.

He was worried that Jiang Xian had spent a lot of effort to create a good magazine, but the literary world had lost a good writer.

“I think your worry is unnecessary.” Yao Xiaoyu chuckled and said, “Editor-in-chief, you may not know that the latest issue of Huacheng has a new article by Jiang Xian.”

“New manuscript?”

Cong Weixi became curious, “What manuscript?”

“It’s called Journey at the age of eighteen.”

“Going on a long journey at the age of eighteen?”

Cong Weixi thought for a few seconds, “Why does it sound like a travel biography?”

“That’s not true.”

Yao Xiaoyu said: “It reads a bit like Western modernism, very similar to the article “LS River Goddess” written by writer Ma Yuan that caused a lot of discussion in the literary world not long ago.”

“Have you seen it?” Cong Weixi raised his head and looked at Yao Xiaoyu.

Yao Xiaoyu nodded, “I’ve seen it.”

“how do you feel?”

“It’s against rationality and common sense.”

Yao Xiaoyu thought for a few seconds and used these two words to express his feelings about the novel “Eighteen Years Old”, “I guarantee that more than 90% of writers cannot write such a novel.

Sometimes it is very realistic, and sometimes it seems careless, but the beauty lies in this carelessness, the feeling of sliding freely and suddenly into extreme absurdity. “

Although he said it in a somewhat euphemistic way, one could tell from Wei Xi and Yao Xiaoyu’s comments that he had a high appreciation for the novel.

You know, Yao Xiaoyu was once famous for his strict manuscript selection in their publishing house. The publishing house jokingly gave him the nickname “Judge Yao”, which meant that the manuscripts in his hands were generally not up to his standards and would be rejected.

At this moment, Cong Weixi saw that even Yao Xiaoyu, the “Judge Yao”, thought that Jiang Xian’s “Eighteen Years Old” was well written, so his concerns seemed a bit redundant.

“Old Yao, which issue of “Huacheng” this year? Please find one and bring it to me.” Cong Weixi said.

“Editor-in-chief, do you want to see it?”

Cong Weixi nodded. “Not only do I want to read it, I also think I can try to write a literary review.”

“You write a review?” Yao Xiaoyu was surprised.

Cong Weixi is famous as a writer. After he returned to the literary world, he first broke through the forbidden area of ​​subject matter with an article “Red Magnolia Under the Big Wall”, opening up a new field of literary creation in the new era – “Big Wall Literature”.

Later, his recent work “Distant White Sails” won the Outstanding Novella Literature Award in the 1984 Second National Novel Awards with nearly unanimous votes.

In the literary world, his main identity is a writer and he rarely writes reviews, but that doesn’t mean his reviews are bad.

Previously, Cong Weixi had written a literary review of Jiang Xian’s “Red Sorghum” entitled “Rowing a Light Boat Under the Five Old Peaks”, saying that his new work “opens up new ideas on old themes” and is a chic work that “suddenly sees a small boat” on the theme of war.

The review was very beautiful and is still a masterpiece that is often mentioned in literary criticism circles and when talking about the novel Red Sorghum.

“What? Are you afraid that I can’t write a good literary review?” Cong Weixi teased.

Yao Xiaoyu quickly waved his hands, “Editor-in-chief, you know that’s not what I meant.”

Cong Weixi smiled and explained, “We had previously misjudged the sales of People’s Digest. Jiang Xian and his team didn’t say anything about this, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have any objections. Of course, it could also be that I was judging others by my own standards.

But I still feel sorry for this matter and for Jiang Xian. I wrote this literary review thinking that I would risk my reputation to promote his novel. I hope Jiang Xian can give me some face because of this and stop being upset about the first print run of the magazine. “

“.”

Listening to Cong Weixi’s words, Yao Xiaoyu couldn’t help but be moved by the old writer’s dedication to Writer’s Publishing House.

But then his expression turned strange again.

He held back a word:

Perhaps after reading this novel, your plan to write a review will change from a passive act of self-sacrifice to an active urge to write.

“By the way, Lao Yao.”

Cong Weixi called Yao Xiaoyu back and said, “Go and select a few representative works of Jiang Xian and include them in our ‘Literary Rising Stars’ series.”

“Okay, editor.”

This “Literary Rising Star Series” was planned by the Writers Publishing House to collect and publish works by the most representative young writers today.

The publication of this series of books can be said to be the top publishing task of Writer’s Publishing House at present. The novels that can be included in this series have been carefully selected and the selection is extremely strict, and the works must be highly representative in the literature of the 80s.

According to the plan, there may be only a dozen young writers in the country whose works will be eligible to be included in this “Literary Rising Star Series”.

Every spot can be said to be extremely precious.

And from Wei Xi’s words, Jiang Xian was included in the plan for the series of books.

In Yao Xiaoyu’s opinion, there is nothing wrong with this.

That’s how it should be!

As a leading figure among today’s young writers, Jiang Xian must and will be included.

Yao Xiaoyu could even say that Jiang Xian does not need this series of books to prove how excellent his works are, but rather this series of books needs Jiang Xian’s works to prove how excellent the selection of manuscripts in this series of books is.

A handsome man wearing leather boots and long hair came to Li Tuo’s house today. He looked very unique.

“You are Ma Yuan.”

Li Tuo looked the young man up and down and felt that he was extremely arrogant and had a strong personality.

Ma Yuan had come to the capital not long ago. Through an introduction, he heard of the famous Li Tuo in the capital and decided to talk to him about novels.

This is how Ma Yuan’s visit to Li Tuo’s home came about.

“Let me introduce you.” Xie Xiang, the friend who brought Ma Yuan, said with a smile: “This is Li Tuo, known as ‘Master Tuo’ in the world.” “This is Ma Yuan, the most talented young writer today!”

“Oh, the most talented? You gave that title.” Li Tuo teased.

Xie Xiang still insisted on his statement, “This is absolutely true, you guys talk to him first, and you will know after you talk to him.”

Ma Yuan’s behavior was just like his appearance. He sat down at the door and immediately declared:
“The greatest writer in the world is Hawthorne!”

The tone was simply unmistakable.

Li Tuo frowned, “This is a bit absolute.”

This guy actually replied immediately: “Humph, you don’t understand novels at all!”

For some unknown reason, after hearing such words, Li Tuo did not kick him out.

Xie Xiang reminded at this time:

“Ma Yuan, didn’t you come here to get the manuscript?”

“What manuscript?” Li Tuo asked.

Ma Yuan said, “I heard that you have a way to publish the manuscript of the novel I wrote recently. Can you publish my manuscript?”

Li Tuo frowned and said, “Bring it here for me to see.”

“This is it.”

Ma Yuan took out a stack of manuscripts and handed them to Li Tuo. The manuscripts were not thick, with about 70,000 to 80,000 words.

Li Tuo glanced at the title of the novel on the first line: “The Temptation of Gangdise”.

“Let me consider.”

He decided to help Ma Yuan look at the novel.

It is also out of curiosity about this new literary figure who wrote “LS River Goddess”.

I want to see what kind of work he can write after “LS River Goddess”.

As for making friends, Li Tuo basically had no intention of doing so.

He had been in the world for many years and was well-informed. He knew very well that it was not appropriate to make close friends with people like Ma Yuan, or it was difficult to make close friends with them.

This type of people have low emotional intelligence, or rather, they disdain the ways of the world.

They are conceited and stubborn.

You can become friends with him for a short time because you happen to share the same ideas, but when you disagree with each other, he will immediately become your enemy.

In short, although it was only a brief contact, Li Tuo had already formed a judgment about Ma Yuan:

“He’s as ruthless as his novels.”

It took Li Tuo more than an hour to finish reading “The Temptation of Gangdise”, which tells the story of a group of Han people entering Tibet.

“Have you finished reading it?” Xie Xiang, who was chatting in a low voice with Ma Yuan, noticed that Li Tuo put down the manuscript in his hand.

Li Tuo nodded, “I’ve finished reading it.”

“What do you think?” Ma Yuan asked.

Li Tuo did not answer immediately.

To be honest, he was amazed the first moment he finished reading it.

At the beginning of this novel, Ma Yuan actually stated: “I turned over these old stories just to write a novel or something.”

In the following narration, he reminds the readers at any time that he is writing a novel: “I really don’t want to use the flashback method. Why do I have to start my novel with a sentence – At that time?”

This kind of narrative style is extremely rare in the country.

Li Tuo has seen “God’s perspective”, “self-narration” and “other narration”. However, Ma Yuan uses personal pronouns arbitrarily in the text, and breaks up time and space and reprocesses them at any time.

He had never heard of or seen this kind of writing perspective.

In just a moment, Li Tuo made a judgment.

Once this novel is published, it will surely shock the literary world.

“It’s very good. The beginning is very impactful. In the field of avant-garde novels, at least in my opinion, your novel can be at the forefront.” Li Tuo commented.

“Front?”

Xie Xiang waved his hand and said, “Master Tuo, you are being too conservative. Looking at the domestic situation, who else can write a novel like Ma Yuan, besides him?”

Li Tuo ignored what he said and looked at Ma Yuan, “Why did you want to write a novel like this?”

Ma Yuan scratched his head and said something very dreamy:
“I hope I can be closer to my soul and a little further away from real life.”

Li Tuo was amused. “Your answer is too exaggerated.”

“It’s not floating.” Ma Yuan said, “For example, our mouths talk, eat, and chew every day, over and over again. So, I hope that literature can bring some supplements to the non-material part of life, to the spirit, and to the soul. Just eating is not enough, just wearing beautiful clothes is not enough, there must be something else.”

Li Tuo smiled and said, “Your answer reminds me of a novel.”

He kept it a secret, took a sip of water from the jar, and then said quietly, “Jiang Xian’s “Chess King” also writes about this: people need something else to live with.”

“Jiang Xian ah”

Hearing Li Tuo mention this name, Ma Yuan seemed to be thinking about something. Xie Xiang, who had always regarded Ma Yuan as the number one person, also became much quieter.

Li Tuo looked at the two of them and suddenly thought of an interesting question.

He asked Ma Yuan: “Not long ago, Jiang Xian published an article titled “Going on a Long Journey at the Age of Eighteen.” Did you know that?”

Ma Yuan nodded, “I saw it on the train when I came here.”

“This is also a pioneering novel. Like your LS River Goddess, it has the shadow of Western modernism. What do you think of his Eighteen Years Old?”

Li Tuo asked while observing Ma Yuan’s reaction.

Ma Yuan is a writer who definitely has his sights set high. The fact that he can write a novel like “Gangdise” proves that he is qualified to do so.

I just don’t know what the geniuses or lunatics in the literary world think of Jiang Xian’s novel.

Ma Yuan did not directly answer Li Tuo’s question, he turned to talk about other things:
“I have discussed this with others before, and we regard today’s literary world as four generations of writers working on the same stage.

The first generation of writers include Wang Meng, Zhang Xianliang, Lu Wenfu, and Cong Weixi, who have experienced 20 years of hardships. The works of this generation are characterized by their childlike innocence.

The second generation of writers are those who emerged after Buzz Buzz Buzz, including Zhang Jie, Chen Rong, Liu Xinwu, Jiang Zilon, and Feng Jicai. This generation, no matter how they write, even if it is just one word, has traces of social responsibility.

The third generation of writers are educated youth writers, such as Shi Tiesheng, Kong Jiesheng, Zhang Kangkang and Ye Xin, who write about the lives of educated youth.

The fourth generation of writers has only emerged in the past two years. I consider myself to be part of this generation of young writers. Our generation writes a lot of different things because our sense of literary innovation is the strongest among the four generations of writers. “

After Ma Yuan finished speaking, he mentioned Jiang Xian’s name.

“I didn’t mention Jiang Xian just now, because in my opinion, he is among the four generations of writers.”

At this point, he paused:
“The most restless existence.”

(End of this chapter)