Chapter 386: He’s twenty-six years old?
The two people who came in were two old men in their fifties or sixties.
Lin Weimin recognized one of them at a glance. Is this Woody Allen?
He was not mistaken, and Arthur Miller introduced the two to Lin Weimin.
The younger one with the big nose is Woody Allen, one of the famous Hollywood directors, while the older one is Dino De Laurentiis, a well-known Hollywood producer.
Woody Allen was filming the movie "Hannah and Her Sisters" in New York during this period. The filming location of "Hannah's parents' home" in the movie was at the intersection of Riverside Drive and 86th Street, not far from San Remo.
People in later generations know Woody Allen because of his great reputation in the world film industry. Since 1960, he has produced almost one movie every year, and the quality of his movies is surprisingly stable.
From "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan" to "Midnight in Paris", his films are not only loved by thousands of fans, but also have won numerous awards, including Cannes, Venice, and the Oscars. His award-winning record is rarely matched in the world film industry.
Woody Allen first entered the American entertainment industry as a screenwriter on Broadway. After entering Broadway, he quickly showed his talent in drama creation. His first play, Don't Drink the Water, was performed on Broadway for 598 shows in two consecutive years.
After that, he wrote, directed and acted in many plays, all of which received unanimous praise from critics and audiences. He and Arthur Miller also met on Broadway.
In the mid-1960s, he began to dabble in comedy films, also achieving remarkable results. After the 1970s, the styles he explored became increasingly diverse, he received more and more honors, and his fame grew.
Before 1986, it had won many awards including the Berlin Film Festival, Oscars, Golden Globe Awards, etc., and was very famous.
Another Dino De Laurentiis is a good friend of Woody Allen and a senior producer in Hollywood. He came to New York to visit the set these days and was brought to the dinner by Woody Allen.
At around six o'clock in the evening, the guests gathered and the chef began to serve the dishes.
The guests sat around the long dining table in Arthur Miller's house. Arthur Miller and his wife sat at the main seat, and Lin Weimin sat on Arthur Miller's right.
Arthur Miller tapped his glass and everyone's eyes turned to him.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Let us welcome my friend, Mr. Weimin Lin, a famous writer and screenwriter from Eastern China!"
After Arthur Miller finished his toast, everyone raised their glasses and drank together.
The dinner officially began, everyone ate and chatted, the atmosphere was relaxed and casual.
Sean Adam asks about the new work of Arthur Miller.
In the 1970s, Arthur Miller's drama creation came to a standstill. In recent years, he only released "The Great Clock" in 1980. Unfortunately, the response to this drama was mediocre.
Since then, Arthur Miller has not released any new works.
He is now over 70 years old and in good health, but his creative ability is not as good as before.
The so-called "new works" are the works of Lin Weimin that Arthur Miller has always mentioned as wanting to introduce.
"I have also discussed this issue with Lin. He has several works, and in my opinion, they are very suitable for the tastes of American audiences. Personally, my favorite is Farewell My Concubine," said Arthur Miller.
Lin Weimin said at this time: "It is too difficult to bring Farewell My Concubine to the Broadway stage without any sense of disobedience. The novel involves various backgrounds such as Peking Opera, war, turmoil, etc. It is difficult to find a similar background that fits completely. If we don't adapt it, it will be difficult for the audience to understand the historical and cultural background of this story."
Arthur Miller nodded and said, "This is indeed a big question. I have been thinking about it."
Because the two people's conversation was about Lin Weimin's work, the others just listened and did not participate.
Arthur Miller frowned and thought for a while, then looked at several friends, "Does anyone have any suggestions?"
Everyone was confused by his question. They all knew that Lin Weimin was a screenwriter from faraway China, but they had never read any of his works. No one expected Arthur Miller to ask this question.
Bloomgarden and Sean Adam have seen "The Intouchables", but when it comes to Lin Weimin's other works, they are also clueless.
Everyone's silence made Arthur Miller stunned for a moment, and then he realized that there was something wrong with what he said.
Lin Weimin also discovered the problem at this time. Since he met Arthur Miller, in their conversations, he had always translated "Farewell My Concubine" as "Farewell My Lover" instead of the title "Farewell My Concubine" published in the United States.
The word "Concubine" is very accurate in describing "Yu Ji", but it is difficult to be considered accurate and elegant when translated into English. Lin Weimin deliberately avoided this word and changed it to "Farewell My Lover", so Arthur Miller has always used this name.
"Have you read the novel Farewell My Concubine?" Arthur Miller asked in a different way.
Woody Allen said, "I have read it. Is that novel written by Mr. Lin?"
As he spoke, he looked at Lin Weimin with a hint of surprise.
Bloomgarden also said: "Of course I have read that novel. It has been on the New York Times bestseller list for a long time, right?"
After listening to what the two said, everyone showed curiosity on their faces.
Before they came, they knew nothing about Lin Weimin. They only knew that Arthur Miller was going to host a special banquet for Lin Weimin, and that he must be a friend he valued very much.
When no one heard Arthur Miller introduce Lin Weimin as a writer and screenwriter, they didn't think much about it.
The novel "Farewell My Concubine" has been on the U.S. book market for nearly four years. In the first two years, it did not make much of a splash, occasionally making it to the tail end of the New York Times bestsellers, but was quickly pushed off the list.
But in the past two years, it has gradually started to gain momentum, from not on the list to the end of the list, and then to the middle of the list, maintaining this position for nearly a year. Its performance was extremely stable. This sales curve is rare in the U.S. book market.
When a new book is released, there are probably several situations.
The first type is that there is no splash at all, let alone the list. You may not even see many of them in bookstores. It is a complete flop. This is not only related to the quality of the book, but also to the distribution channels.
The second type is to become a temporary bestseller, the most typical of which are various success or skill books. With good marketing and powerful distribution channels, it is easy to become a hot seller in a short period of time. However, this kind of hot sale is difficult to sustain, usually not more than half a year.
There is also another type, which is the best-selling books that truly dominate the list. Apart from the special cases where a book becomes famous with just one book, most of these books are works by famous authors, and they are of outstanding quality, have many fans, and have a huge influence.
The above three situations account for the vast majority of the US book market.
There are very few cases like "Farewell My Concubine".
The results in the first two years were not very good, but they helped the publisher make money. Generally speaking, books have sales potential. It is impossible for a book to be sold all the time just by being placed in a bookstore.
In this situation, many publishing houses will be very cautious about reprinting books, because once the sales potential hits bottom, the publishing houses are likely to face the risk of unsalable books.
However, Random House went against the trend and began to reprint and promote Farewell My Concubine on a large scale two years after its publication. As a result, they really hit the mark.
The sales of "Farewell My Concubine" have continued to rise, and the upward curve is stable without any signs of decline. Now, nearly one million copies have been sold in the United States alone. If English-speaking countries are included, the sales have already exceeded the one million mark.
Four years is enough time for "Farewell My Concubine" to cultivate a group of readers in the United States, not to mention its outstanding sales performance in the past two years.
Woody Allen and Bloomgarten both work in the theater field and usually read a lot of novels. Farewell My Concubine has performed well in sales in the United States in the past two years, so naturally they have read it.
After Bloomgarden finished speaking, Woody Allen's eyes became more excited and he asked, "Lin, is that novel really your work?"
Arthur Miller then said, "This is not the only work of Lin that has been published in the United States. The Horse Catcher, The Lover, and The Murderer have all been published. I remember the publisher was Random House, right?"
Lin Weimin nodded, "That's right."
Woody Allen suddenly picked up the napkin on the table, dipped his fork in the sauce and wrote on it: "So, your pen name is WeiMin Lin?"
This pinyin name is the author name used when Lin Weimin's works are published in the United States. It seems that Woody Allen has really read his works. Lin Weimin smiled and nodded.
Lin Weimin's affirmative answer made Woody Allen's face even more surprised. "Oh my God! This is such a coincidence! You know what? I love your movie "The Invisible Man" so much! You are simply a genius! Only a genius can come up with such a wonderful narrative trap!"
Lin Weimin was very happy about Woody Allen's praise, "Thank you!"
Everyone became even more curious after hearing Woody Allen's praise. Among these people, only Bloomgarden had read the English version of "Farewell My Concubine", and the others had not even read a novel by Lin Weimin.
Listening to Arthur Miller's introduction, I learned that Lin Weimin had four works published in the United States. Such treatment is obviously not something that ordinary new writers can have. What's more, Lin Weimin is a writer from a foreign country. It is conceivable how difficult it is to publish four works.
Dino De Laurentiis said excitedly, "Hearing what you said, Ivy, I am really curious about Lin's works. I will buy all these books and read them carefully when I get back."
"Of course you should read it, my old friend! Lin's novels will never disappoint you. He is a talented novelist!"
Arthur Miller also said at this time: "Lin is indeed a genius. The range of his works is so wide that I think few people can do it."
Lin Weimin was a little overwhelmed by the continuous praise from Woody Allen and Arthur Miller, but other people suddenly became interested.
Before, everyone’s enthusiasm for him was more of a courtesy and etiquette. Now that they know that Lin Weimin’s works are so popular in the United States, everyone really starts to take him seriously.
Lin Weimin became the focus of the dinner and everyone kept asking him questions.
At first everyone was asking about his work, but later Li Baoyu couldn't hold it in anymore and asked Lin Weimin a question.
"Mr. Lin, may I ask your age?"
"I was born in 1960 and I am 26 years old this year," Lin Weimin replied.
Twenty-six years old?
Woody Allen suspected he had heard wrongly, and he repeated, "Twenty-six?"
Lin Weimin nodded.
Woody Allen looked at Lin Weimin's face again. It was not inappropriate to say that this face was 26 years old. It was just that everyone had seen Asians in the United States and knew that these people were born with baby faces. Lin Weimin was good friends with Arthur Miller, so everyone subconsciously did not think of his age as too young.
Not only Woody Allen, but everyone in the room, except Arthur Miller who was familiar with Lin Weimin's situation, including his wife Inge Morath, were stunned.
Everyone was completely shocked.
Arthur Miller mentioned the names of a bunch of works earlier, and now you tell me that the author of these works was only 26 years old?
There was only one thought that popped into everyone's mind.
So, how old was he when he wrote these works?
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
