Chapter 186 New Inspiration
The novel about friendship that Lin Weimin and Shi Tiesheng talked about was inspired by a movie he saw later, The Kite Runner
This movie was released in 2007. It was adapted from the novel of the same name, "The Kite Runner", which was published in 2003. It was on the New York Times bestseller list as soon as it was released and remained on the list for 103 weeks.
It was later translated into 61 languages, published in 152 countries and regions, and sold 30 million copies worldwide.
The protagonist of the novel, Amir, was born into a wealthy family in Afghanistan. He and Hassan, the son of the family's servant Ali, were close friends who grew up together and the two often played and played games together.
Amir is an excellent "kite fighter" who is good at using his own kite to cut the strings of other people's kites. Hassan is also an outstanding "kite chaser", because according to the Afghan tradition, the kite that falls when the string is cut belongs to the person who catches it.
During his adulthood, Hassan came into conflict with his fellow tribesmen in order to protect Amir, but the cowardly Amir did not stand up for him.
Amir couldn't face Hassan and wanted his father to fire Ali and Hassan, but his father refused. So Amir framed Hassan on his birthday night, saying that he stole his birthday present.
Hassan knew everything and admitted to the theft.
After the war broke out, Amir and his family moved to the United States, and the family was left to Rahim Khan to take care of. After graduation, Amir became a writer and married a daughter of a famous family.
But his childhood best friend Hassan and his wife died in the war, leaving only a son, Sohrab.
Rahim Khan, who is old and terminally ill, calls Amir, hoping that he can take care of his friend's son Sohrab, but Amir is unwilling. Rahim Khan then tells him the truth: Hassan is actually the illegitimate son of Amir's father.
Out of inner guilt, Amir overcame numerous obstacles and finally found Sohrab, but Sohrab, who had been severely hurt since childhood, did not accept him.
After Amir took great pains to bring Sohrab to the United States, and after a long period of getting to know each other, Sohrab finally smiled at Amir after a game of kite chasing, and all their grudges were forgotten with a smile.
Shi Tiesheng asked Lin Weimin whether the friendship in this novel is pure. Of course it is pure, but the greater core of this novel is about Amir's redemption of conscience. It is also mixed with elements that Amir is extremely interested in, such as ethnic conflicts and the Afghan War. It is no surprise that it has become a regular on the New York Times bestseller list.
Lin Weimin planned to revise this novel because of its wonderful plot setting and dramatic tension.
The original author, Khaled Hosseini, is an Afghan-American. The novel is set during the Afghan War, but Lin Weimin plans to set the background to the Anti-Japanese War.
Kite chasing is a very important point in the novel, and Lin Weimin plans to set this point as the Mongolian people's horse lassoing.
After the magical changes, the plot setting is roughly like this.
The protagonist of the novel, Bayin, was born into a wealthy family on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. His father was a big businessman on the grasslands. Bater was the son of a worker under his father, and the two grew up together.
On the grassland, lassoing horses is a game for the brave. Bayin has been timid since childhood, so his father often took him to lasso horses and hunt in order to train him. However, he never showed enough courage. On the contrary, Bater, the son of a worker, showed courage and passion, which won his father's appreciation.
When he was about to become an adult, a horse-catching competition was held on the grassland. In order to win his father's favor, Bayin mustered up the courage to participate in the competition, and with the help of Bater, he successfully won the championship of the horse-catching competition.
The two were in high spirits, but on the way back they had a conflict with their opponents in the game. In order to protect Bayin, Bater stepped forward and cut his fellow tribesman with a machete.
His fellow Mongolians angrily called Bater a traitor. The reason they came to cause trouble for Bayin was because Bayin was not a Mongolian.
His Mongolian identity was just a cover-up for his father to facilitate his business on the grassland. His family was actually Han Chinese.
The angry fellow tribesmen gathered more people to block Bayin and Bater. Bater stayed behind to help Bayin, but Bayin cowardly ran away.
Afterwards, Battelle had a limp in one leg.
Bayin was unable to face Bater due to guilt, so he suggested that his father give Bater and his son some money to fire them, but his father refused. So Bayin came up with a way to frame Bater.
In the end, Bayin succeeded, and Bater and his son left his home.
After the Anti-Japanese War broke out, the Nihong people invaded the grasslands, and Bayin moved to the southwest with his father's family, leaving the house to the servants. After graduation, Bayin became a writer and married the daughter of a general.
However, his childhood best friend Bater and his wife died in the Anti-Japanese War, leaving behind only a son, Alaifu.
During the War of Liberation, an old and dying servant sent someone to contact Bayin, hoping that he could take care of his friend's son, Alaifu. However, Bayin was unwilling to do so due to his inner guilt. The servant had to tell the truth: Bater was actually the illegitimate son of Bayin's father.
In order to make up for his inner guilt, Bayin overcame numerous obstacles and finally found Alaif. At this time, Alaif was drafted by the Kuomintang and was about to follow the troops to the other side. He was seriously hurt mentally in the war. Bayin bribed the Kuomintang officers to keep Alaif.
After a long period of getting acquainted, Bayin brought Caoyuan to take Alaif to experience horse lassoing again. Finally, after he helped BYNE to lasso a horse successfully, Alaif smiled at him, and Bayin's conscience was comforted.
Lin Weimin spent several days sorting out the plot, and only started writing after he felt he had complete control of it.
This time, Lin Weimin still wrote very slowly.
Lin Weimin plans to change his previous habit of creating day and night. After all, life is only once, and he doesn't want to be like Lu Yao and work himself to death.
It's just writing a novel, it's not necessary.
While writing the novel, Lin Weimin did not give up his work, and he also did not forget to occasionally go to the People's Art Theatre to perform his work as a screenwriter.
The craze for watching "Farewell My Concubine" has finally eased under the dual measures of the People's Art Theatre. The performance at the Capital Theatre has ended, and the performance at the Youth Palace will also come to an end in a week.
"Farewell My Concubine" will be staged again in a year.
That day, Yi Shizhi told Lin Weimin a good news that Shanghai invited Yanjing People's Art Theatre to perform "Farewell My Concubine".
You know, there is also a People's Art Theatre in Shanghai. The fact that Yanjing People's Art Theatre received an invitation from Shanghai is enough to show the influence of "Farewell My Concubine" in the city of Shanghai.
When the novel Farewell My Concubine was first published, the response in the south was generally better than that in the north. The premiere of the play Farewell My Concubine became a phenomenal cultural event in the area around Beijing, with various newspapers, magazines, radio stations and television stations competing to report on it. A lot of information was also reprinted and spread to some provinces in the south, including Shanghai.
As the domestic economic center, Shanghai has always been at the forefront of keeping up with fashion. The craze caused by the drama "Farewell My Concubine" naturally aroused the curiosity of the people of Shanghai. Coupled with the support of readers of the novel with millions of sales, inviting Yanjing People's Art Theatre to perform became a matter of public interest.
After telling Lin Weimin about this, Yi Shizhi's face was full of pride.
People's Art Theatre is a big name, and there is a People's Art Theatre in almost every province across the country, but the only ones that truly have national influence are Yenching People's Art Theatre and Shanghai People's Art Theatre.
Now, the plays of Yanjing People's Art Theatre are about to enter the Shanghai People's Art Theatre's stronghold, and he has no reason not to be proud.
"Weimin, thank you so much. It is a blessing for our National Theatre to have you!"
"Teacher Yu, please don't say that. The good effect of the drama is not just my credit."
After a few polite words, Yi Shizhi invited Lin Weimin to go to Shanghai with him when he performed in the future. Lin Weimin would definitely not be involved in the performance at that time, so he could just think of it as a trip to Shanghai for fun, which was also a benefit for him as a screenwriter.
Lin Weimin thought about it and declined Yi Shizhi's proposal since he had to work on weekdays and was also writing a novel.
Shi Yizhi felt a little regretful. This was a good opportunity to deepen his relationship with Lin Weimin. What a pity.
"Then next time, there will be a chance next time."
"OK."
The next day at work, Lin Weimin was stopped by his colleagues from the modern literature editorial department and talked about the publication of "The Sound of the Wind" and "If You Are the One", "Let's Talk It Out".
Needless to say, "The Sound of the Wind", a long spy novel published in "People's Literature" last year, has maintained the high standard and quality of Lin Weimin's spy novels as always. Once published, it won praise and compliments from readers.
But this novel is a genre novel after all. Lin Weimin’s "The Cliff" was published less than a year ago. Considering the time interval, the publishing house decided to publish it this year.
"If You Have Something to Say, Say It Nicely" is also a long novel, with a total of 220,000 words. Lin Weimin originally promised Yu Zhaohuai that it would be a short story, but as he wrote it, it turned into a long novel, and was finally submitted to "Zhongshan" for publication.
Since its publication in May, it has caused quite a stir.
But this novel reflects contemporary urban life, with an absurd and joyful style, which is somewhat out of place in the current literary atmosphere of bitterness and hatred.
So even though it maintains a high standard in terms of reader reviews and word of mouth, it is not very popular in the critic circle.
Because of this relationship, the social impact that the novel can generate is incomparable to that of novels like "Farewell My Concubine".
"I have no objection to this matter. It's fine as long as the publishing house pays me for the manuscript." Lin Weimin expressed his opinion.
A colleague laughed and teased him, "Never forget your royalties. How many times has Farewell My Concubine been reprinted this year? Did The Cliff also have an additional print run?"
Thanks to the popularity of the drama "Farewell My Concubine", the novel has been reprinted for the fifth time, with the total print run reaching 1.5 million copies.
"The Cliff" was also reprinted this year, and the total print run has reached 600,000 copies.
According to feedback from post offices and bookstores across the country, sales have remained good and there is almost no need to worry about inventory backlogs.
Because of these two reprints, Lin Weimin also received nearly 8,000 yuan in royalties.
This time, "The Sound of Wind" and "If You Are the One" are about to be published, and the royalties will inevitably be several thousand yuan.
Together with the more than 20,000 foreign exchange coupons from the publication of Farewell My Concubine in the United States, the royalties Lin Weimin has earned in the past six months are enough for his colleagues at the Guowen Press to earn for several lifetimes.
While my colleagues were teasing me, they were also full of envy and jealousy.
There was a problem with the name display, and Battelle's son's name was changed to Alaifu
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
