Chapter 637: Unreliable Italian

The next day, Lin Weimin received a letter from the United States, written to him by Richard Yates.

In the past two years, Guowen Publishing House has successively introduced several works of Richard Yates. Thanks to Lin Weimin's strong promotion, these works have achieved good sales in China.

Although it is not a bestseller, it is not difficult to sell 20,000 to 30,000 copies a year. The best-selling book is still "Revolutionary Road". As Richard Yates' most famous work, the cumulative sales of this novel have exceeded 150,000 copies.

Due to the continued sales of his works, Richard Yates's reputation has gradually become known to the Chinese literary community and readers. They know that on the other side of the ocean, there is a great writer who defined the "Age of Anxiety" in the United States.

In the letter, Richard Yates told Lin Weimin about his recent situation.

His tuberculosis became more serious and he was hospitalized twice in the past six months. He had difficulty breathing, kept coughing and wheezing, and had to use an oxygen mask to breathe.

But even so, he did not quit smoking and drinking.

He wrote about his lifetime of loneliness and loss, which, coupled with family changes, had already left his heart broken. Only these two things could numb his heart and allow him to continue writing.

"Lin, I think I won't live long. Recently I've been organizing all my creations. It's a bit regrettable. I've been writing novels for decades, and countless famous writers in the literary world have praised me highly. However, not only are my novels selling poorly, but I've also received very few awards.

Whenever I think of this, I always feel intense pain. I have a request that you help me publish a collection of all my works. I will collect and organize the manuscripts of these works and mail them to you.

If you cannot publish it, then these manuscripts will be my last gift to you!"

After reading Richard Yates' letter, which sounded like his last words, Lin Weimin was somewhat moved. On the one hand, it was because of his deteriorating condition, and on the other hand, it was because of his trust in himself.

Of course, part of the reason for this trust is also due to Lin Weimin's efforts in introducing and promoting his works over the past three years.

Compared with the cold reception he received in the United States, the recognition and welcome Richard Yates felt in China warmed his broken heart.

Richard Yates' request was not a difficult matter for Lin Weimin. On a personal level, the two had some friendship; on a public level, his works sold well, so at least he did not lose money. If he published a collection of his works, the sales might be even better, and Guowen Publishing House would not suffer any loss.

Immediately, Lin Weimin wrote back to Richard Yates, first asking about his health, comforting him, then agreeing to publish the collection and asking him to mail the manuscript as soon as possible.

A few days later, Lin Weimin received a call from Albert in Italy, still talking about the shortlist of top twelve for the Strega Prize.

The Strega Prize announced the top five finalists in June, eliminating seven of the twelve shortlisted works.

Among the seven eliminated works, Lin Weimin's "Burning" and "Life is Beautiful Anyway" successfully advanced.

The five works that made the final list have already won the Strega Youth Award, whose jury consists of 600 students from 60 secondary schools in Italy and abroad.

Lin Weimin, who had already received this news from Bertolucci, was not surprised. He just thought of the fancy talent shows in later generations, which were all played by Italians!

Ten days had passed since the announcement of the top twelve to top five list, and Albert Mondadori finally remembered to call Lin Weimin.

When Lin Weimin asked him why he didn't inform him when he was shortlisted last time, Albert's answer was that he was too happy and drank too much on the day the shortlist was announced and forgot about it.

Lin Weimin opened his mouth, but in the end had nothing to say. He just kept in mind to avoid dealing with this guy because he was too unreliable.

The reason why Albert thought of calling Lin Weimin was to remind Lin Weimin to apply for a passport and visa.

If it weren't for this, Albert probably wouldn't have remembered to contact Lin Weimin.

Albert was an unreliable person, but he was a professional editor who had been in the Italian literary world for a long time. He specially analyzed the various competitors for this award for Lin Weimin.

Finally, he said, "It's a good thing that Burning was eliminated this time. Otherwise, when your two works are shortlisted, the votes will have to be split. Now that only one work has been shortlisted, a large part of the votes for Burning should go to Life Is Beautiful Anyway, which increases your chances of winning."

Two days later, the invitation letter issued by the Strega Literary Prize Organizing Committee was delivered to Lin Weimin through the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Special matters were handled promptly and the visa was processed quickly.

A few days later, in the first week of July, the winners of the Strega Prize for Literature were about to be announced, and Lin Weimin was about to set off for Italy.

The afternoon before, Tao Huimin went to Hongdu Clothing Company. Although she might not win any prizes, she had to prepare her outfit for the award ceremony in Italy. Before that, she took Lin Weimin to Hongdu Clothing Company to order a high-end suit.

After taking the suit back and trying it on, he found it fit him perfectly and was very decent, in no way inferior to the luxury ready-made clothes that Lin Weimin bought abroad.

The next morning, Lin Weimin flew to Rome, Italy, accompanied by staff from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture.

The two ministries attached great importance to the Strega Prize this time. After all, it is a top literary award in the European literary world. In addition, five years ago when Lin Weimin won the Goncourt Prize, the Chinese and French cultural circles quickly gained popularity. Therefore, the two ministries specially sent two comrades to escort Lin Weimin to Italy this time.

It was already evening when the plane landed. The bus from the Chinese Embassy in Italy came to pick up Lin Weimin. The embassy had already arranged a hotel for Lin Weimin to stay in during his stay in Italy.

Albert, who was supposed to pick him up at the airport before departure, was nowhere to be seen. No one knew what he was doing. Lin Weimin was not stupid enough to wait for him, so he went straight to the hotel.

After a night's rest, Lin Weimin contacted the Strega Literature Prize Organizing Committee through the embassy to discuss matters related to attending the award ceremony.

After communicating with the organizing committee, Albert’s call finally came.

"Lin, my friend, I'm so sorry. My car broke down and I didn't have time to pick you up. The organizing committee just called me and said you have arrived in Italy."

Lin Weimin didn't know how sincere Albert's apology was, nor did he want to care. Anyway, he had already lost confidence in this guy.

The Strega Literature Prize award ceremony will be held tomorrow morning. The two chatted briefly and Albert had already received the award results in advance. Lin Weimin's "Life is Beautiful Anyway" ranked first among the five works with 216 votes.

After receiving this news, Lin Weimin felt more calm about tomorrow's award ceremony.

Then he called Bertolucci again to tell him that he had arrived in Italy, and the two agreed to find time to get together after the award ceremony.

After spending a night in the hotel, Lin Weimin packed up the next morning, had breakfast, got on the embassy car, and set off with several staff members.

The Strega Prize is held in the Villa Julia Museum in Rome. The artifacts on display here are all cultural heritage left by the Idallarians who laid the foundation of urban civilization in the Apennines from the 8th to the 6th century BC.

When Lin Weimin arrived at the venue, it had already been under closed management. With the invitation letter, Lin Weimin and several accompanying staff members successfully entered the museum.

Today, the Villa Julia Museum is filled with posters of the Strega Prize. These posters have one thing in common: they all contain "witch" elements.

"Strega" means witch in Italian, so the Strega Prize for Literature is also known as the "Witch Award", and posters over the years have been related to witches riding broomsticks.

The style of the Strega Literature Prize award ceremony is completely different from that in China. A podium is set up inside the museum and surrounded by a red cordon.

The award ceremony was more than half an hour away from starting. The podium was already surrounded by people. Lin Weimin first found Albert, who came today on behalf of Mondadori Publishing House.

Albert took Lin Weimin to several judges and greeted them, and they seemed to be extremely familiar with each other.

Not only the judges, but even people from other publishing houses seemed to have a good relationship with Albert.

The judges were relatively old, and the editorial department was mostly composed of people in their 40s and 50s, with very few young people. Lin Weimin looked a bit out of place among them.

Albert whispered in Lin Weimin's ear: "Lin, do you know that if you win the prize, you will break the record of the youngest winner of the Strega Prize for Literature?"

Lin Weimin was slightly surprised. He was already 32 years old this year, which was not considered young. How could he be named the youngest winner?

After asking Albert, he found out that there had been nominees younger than him in the history of the Strega Prize, but unfortunately they had not won the prize in the end.

The winners of the Strega Prize are almost always monopolized by Italy's five major publishing houses. The judges and editors are all the same group of people. The only difference is that among the writers who win the award every year, young people have very few opportunities to stand out.

There is a rule in the Strega Literary Prize that after an author wins the award, he or she is not allowed to win the award again within three years. This avoids the situation where an author wins the award consecutively.

In addition to the many judges of the Strega Prize and editors of various publishing houses, guests attending the award ceremony today include past winners and nominees of the Strega Prize, many writers in the European literary world, critics, media reporters and cultural officials of the Italian government.

More than 200 people gathered in the Villa Giulia Museum, surrounding the rostrum within a circle of red cordon. Outside, staff from Italy's TV3 were setting up cameras. Today's award ceremony will be broadcast live by TV3.

Albert took Lin Weimin around among the crowd like a socialite, doing it with ease, completely different from the unreliable person he was before.

Lin Weimin no longer remembered how many people he had greeted, and he didn’t remember any names anyway.

"Hi, Lin!"

Someone patted Lin Weimin on the shoulder. He turned around and saw that it was Roger Strauss.

"Roger, why are you here?" Lin Weimin hugged him in surprise.

"The Strega Prize is such an important event, of course I have to come and see it. I heard that you are the favorite this year!" Roger Strauss teased.

The two hadn't seen each other for three years. After exchanging a few words of greeting, the award ceremony was about to begin and Lin Weimin was invited to the podium.

The podium for the award ceremony was not high, less than 30 centimeters, and it did not have the majesty of conferences held in China.

Joining him on stage were four other writers whose works were shortlisted. Four of the five were destined to be runners-up. The camera lens was facing them all, and everyone had a faint smile on their face, as if they were sure of victory.

(End of this chapter)