Chapter 358 A novel that cannot be adapted
Li Tuo kept his promise. He got drunk the night before and showed up at the editorial office of People's Literature early the next morning.
For no other reason than to write a review article on "The Ming Dynasty 1566".
After spending three days in the editorial department of People's Literature and going over the manuscript several times, Li Tuo finally wrote a long review of nearly 20,000 words.
"The Ming Dynasty under Fission - Thoughts after reading "The Ming Dynasty 1566"".
After Li Tuo finished writing this review, he submitted the article to Literary Gazette.
Three days later, this review article was published on the front page of Literary Gazette.
Such efficiency is rare for the Literary Gazette.
In addition to the extraordinary excellence of the novel "The Ming Dynasty 1566" itself, Lin Weimin's current close relationship with the Literary Association is also one of the reasons.
Li Tuo's love for the novel "The Ming Dynasty 1566" is deep-rooted, but he is not blindly and irrationally praising the novel.
On the contrary, in this review article, Li Tuo analyzed the novel "The Ming Dynasty 1566" thoroughly from the inside out with a rigorous attitude.
From the creative style, techniques, structure to character creation, plot arrangement, and contradictions and conflicts, the story is comprehensive, and every sentence makes sense and every word is precious.
"The wonder of this novel is that it describes a historical event in the style of official history, yet it does not give people a sense of disharmony, and it allows readers to feel the weight of history and the turbulent politics.
Rather than saying this is a historical novel, it is better to say that it is a political allegory written by the author Lin Weimin..."
In a classroom at Yanshi University, Zhang Jianjun was reciting a review article from the Literary Gazette with excitement on his face. When he finished reading, he couldn't help but applaud.
"Great! It's so well written! It really captures the essence of Mr. Lin's novel!"
After hearing this, several classmates around him also showed some excitement and said, "I really want to see the second half of the novel as soon as possible."
"That's right, why can't it be released in one issue? It has to be divided into two issues, which really keeps people on suspense."
Zhang Jianjun listened to everyone's complaints and said, "Everyone has to understand. Teacher Lin has been working on this for a year and has come up with a big book. If we only publish "The Ming Dynasty 1566" this time, there is no need to publish other works."
"I understand it, of course, but it's just not enough to watch!"
"You have no idea. I got goosebumps after reading many passages in it. I used to think that people's hearts were complicated, but I didn't expect them to be this complicated. Those who get involved in politics are even more terrifying. It's really chilling."
"Didn't you notice? You need to read some of the dialogues and descriptions in this novel twice. Really, you need to read it twice to understand the deep meaning of the characters in the book. I really can't figure out how Teacher Lin wrote such a thing. It takes a lot of intelligence to write such a novel!"
"It's not surprising that Mr. Lin could write this novel. After all, not everyone can write "Chasing the Murderer."
The last sentence touched everyone's heart.
Indeed, from "Chasing the Murderer" to "The Ming Dynasty 1566", when reading novels, people often feel that their IQ is repeatedly rubbed on the ground by Teacher Lin.
Just when everyone was discussing most intensely, the door of the classroom was pushed open and a boy wearing glasses as thick as the bottom of a bottle came in.
"Musen, you're here just in time!"
Zhang Jianjun greeted the boys and waved a copy of People's Literature. "Have you read Teacher Lin's new novel?"
Mu Sen said: "I saw it!"
"How do you feel?"
"Okay!" Mu Sen seemed to be a man of few words, and his words were concise and to the point.
Zhang Jianjun said, "How about we stage a play based on this novel?"
Mu Sen's face turned surprised. "Are you going to stage a play based on this novel?"
Zhang Jianjun and his group are not only literature lovers, but also drama lovers.
Most people in school are members of both the literature club and the drama club.
They would go to the Yuetan Erqi Theater to watch "The Red Nose", go to the Dongsi Foreign Performance Company rehearsal hall to watch "The Caucasian Chalk Circle", go to the Capital Theater to watch "The Intouchables", "Farewell My Concubine", "Death of a Salesman", "Camel Xiangzi", and "Tea House", and they would also go to the Central Academy of Drama in Dongmianhua Hutong to watch the plays rehearsed by the students.
Mu Sen, like Zhang Jianjun, is a student of the class of 1981. Mu Sen is a drama enthusiast, and his greatest hobby is reading various drama books, magazines and performances.
Two years ago, students from the Drama Academy directed and performed in Teacher Lin’s "Farewell My Concubine", and also toured various universities in Yenching, making the drama club jealous.
So they also began to try to rehearse a play themselves.
Compared with the group of students who specialize in drama in Dongmianhua Hutong, Mu Sen and his classmates' level is very immature, but passion can overcome everything.
They find their own venues, make props, act as actors, and solve any difficulties on their own.
It was precisely because of this passion that they officially brought "Classroom Composition" written by German writer Erwin Weickerd to the school auditorium last year, which was warmly welcomed by students.
Mu Sen shook his head and said, "It's too difficult!"
Mu Sen is the director in the drama club and everyone listens to him during the rehearsal of the drama. When they heard him say that it was difficult, everyone became a little discouraged.
Zhang Jianjun asked, "What's wrong with it being difficult? Can't we arrange it if it's difficult?"
Mu Sen patiently explained: "It's not that we can't line up, but we can't line up. We don't have the strength."
Zhang Jianjun has a reckless personality. The more he heard him say this, the more impatient he became. "Didn't we also arrange "Classroom Composition"? Why can't this novel be arranged? Does the People's Art Theatre have to arrange this novel?"
Mu Sen shook his head, "Even the People's Art Theatre may not be able to win it!"
Zhang Jianjun sneered when he heard this, "You are really good at bragging!"
“I really can’t take it down!”
In the rehearsal room of the National Theatre of China, Ouyang Shanzun and Lin Zhaohua were sitting in the director's seat chatting, and he said with a look of regret on his face.
"Lao Lan and I studied the novel for several days and found that it would be difficult to shorten it to a size that could be adapted for the stage."
After listening to Ouyang Shanzun's words, Lin Zhaohua looked a little depressed. "Then what do you think the shortest time we can compress it to is if we follow our drama creation habits?"
Ouyang Shanzun hesitated for a moment and said, "If the second half of the novel keeps this pace, it will start at ten hours."
Ten hours?
Lin Zhaohua was silent.
Not to mention ten hours, even if it was shortened by half to only five hours, it would already be very long for a drama, and Ouyang Shanzun said it would start at ten hours.
"What a pity such a good novel is lost!" Lin Zhaohua sighed.
He was promoted to vice president of the National Theatre of China last year and was determined to achieve some results.
Lin Weimin has always been a major producer of plays in the academy. As soon as his novel was published this time, Lin Zhaohua immediately took notice of it.
But after reading it, he began to have doubts in his heart. It would be extremely difficult to adapt this novel into a drama.
So he specially came to find Ouyang Shanzun, who had worked with Lin Weimin several times, to hear his thoughts.
But now it seems that Ouyang Shanzun holds the same opinion as him.
It is too difficult to adapt this novel into a drama!
Guowen Publishing House, editorial department of People’s Literature.
Zhu Wei is reading readers' letters again. This is the 64th reader's letter he has handled today.
The October issue of People's Literature has been on sale for nearly half a month. Starting four or five days ago, a flood of letters from readers began to pour into People's Literature.
As a junior in the editorial department, Zhu Wei was naturally suited to this kind of work.
Zhu Wei sighed as he opened the letter, "How long will it take to finish opening this letter?"
Xie Mingqing raised his head and joked, "Don't worry. When Lin Weimin first went to Contemporary Magazine, he was doing the same job as you. Look at him now. Isn't he the editor-in-chief?"
Zhu Wei glanced at Xie Mingqing and said, "Teacher Xie, Teacher Lin was promoted to deputy editor-in-chief in just two years, and I have also been in the editorial department for two years."
Xie Mingqing laughed and said, "You have quite a bit of ambition. You can't compare them like that. Contemporary Magazine is like a monkey who claims to be king when there is no tiger in the mountain!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a voice came from the door.
"I just stood at the door and heard someone framing me!" Lin Weimin walked in from the door.
Xie Mingqing immediately changed his expression and said, "Can you compare with Teacher Lin? You don't know what you are doing!"
Zhu Wei was speechless.
"Good job, Old Xie. You're almost as good as a chameleon." Lin Weimin said jokingly.
After a few jokes, Zhu Wei stood up and handed him a package of readers' letters specially addressed to Lin Weimin.
I took the letter back to the office, opened it, and read every letter, reading ten lines at a glance.
If you have serious needs, just reply with a few words and put the rest aside.
In the past few years, Lin Weimin has personally opened at least 100,000 to 80,000 letters, and replied to at least 3,000 to 5,000 of them.
If he reads all the letters carefully before replying, he will never be able to finish replying even if he goes back to heaven.
It took me more than an hour to process a packet of letters from readers, and it was time to get off work.
Lin Weimin first went to the Shizhu Courtyard on Xi'anmen Street in Tuanjiehu, unlocked the door and entered the courtyard, opened one of the rooms in the east wing, and placed the readers' letters he brought neatly on the bookshelf.
After doing this, Lin Weimin left the room and went to the basement.
In May this year, the antique calligraphy and paintings in the second courtyard next to the Forbidden City were moved to the Shizhu Courtyard and stored in the basement.
During this period of time, Ma Dudu continued to help Lin Weimin search for treasures, and now most of the space of more than 200 square meters on the upper and lower floors of the basement has been filled.
At this rate, this basement will no longer be enough by early next year at the latest.
After taking a walk around the basement and finding that the temperature and humidity were normal, Lin Weimin walked out with peace of mind. He now comes here to check on the environment almost every month.
After all, there are so many antique calligraphy and paintings, and if something really goes wrong with them, it would be enough to make him feel distressed for a while.
After locking the gate, we drove back to the Shichahai courtyard.
Tao Huimin had just returned from the People's Art Theatre. As the filming of "Legend of a Female Doctor" was about to start, she went back to the People's Art Theatre to study.
"Today I heard from Teacher Zhu Lin that the People's Art Theatre is studying how to bring your play, The Ming Dynasty 1566, to the stage."
Lin Weimin chuckled and said, "Put it on stage? That would be like starting over from scratch. We might as well just write a new one."
Tao Huimin was shocked. "Is it that difficult?"
"It is definitely difficult. The only suitable form of adaptation for this novel is a TV series. Only the size and format of a TV series can accommodate this novel."
"But I think everyone doesn't like TV dramas very much."
Lin Weimin nodded and said, "That's normal. When talkies came out, Chaplin even boycotted them! Art is just a form, and what's more important is the content. Some people stick to conventions and follow the old ways. It's hard for them to break away from their inherent thinking, and in the end they will be eliminated by the times."
Tao Huimin looked at Lin Weimin with a bit of obsession. What she liked most was the way her boyfriend talked endlessly and eloquently, which made people involuntarily indulge in it.
"By the way, when will your TV series start filming?" Lin Weimin suddenly remembered as he was talking.
"The day after tomorrow." Tao Huimin answered, and then she said, "By the way, do you know who the male lead of our TV series is?"
"Who is it?"
(End of this chapter)
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