Chapter 568 Who the hell taught you to write a novel like this?
The editorial department performance appraisal system was the first thing Lin Weimin did after taking office as editor-in-chief of Guowen Publishing House. He received support from the president and secretary, so there was no pressure to implement it.
He plans to promote it throughout the entire company in March, and will first conduct a pilot program in the editorial department of Contemporary Magazine in January and February to give colleagues in the company time to prepare mentally and adapt.
Contemporary was where Lin Weimin started his career at Guowen Press. It was a perfect place to serve as a test field because of its familiarity and harmonious atmosphere.
After the document was promulgated, the editorial department of Contemporary became the place most frequented by many colleagues from Guowen Press. Everyone wanted to see what an editorial department that implemented a performance appraisal system looked like.
Those who come to see the foreign sight are destined to be disappointed. Apart from a few more rules and regulations and charts posted on the office walls, everyone's work is still the same as usual, with no difference.
Everyone returned disappointed and couldn't help but grumble about the policies that were about to be implemented.
The young people in the company basically support this policy. The company has implemented a performance appraisal system, and the biggest beneficiaries should be the editors who work diligently and willingly. In the past, these young people in the company had to work twice as hard, either actively or passively, because of their status, but sometimes after the work was done, they had nothing to do with the honor, let alone more work, more pay.
The middle-aged people have a relatively indifferent attitude towards the policy. This group of people are already the backbone of the society. Their salary and benefits are not bad, and there are some bonuses for them in performance appraisals, but overall they are not given much in terms of benefits. Of course, there is no trigger, and everyone can't find any reason to oppose it.
Among the older gay community, this policy has caused a much more lively response.
The more conscious old comrades expressed their support for Lin Weimin's enterprising spirit. Some law-abiding old comrades felt that Lin Weimin was just messing around, while some other old comrades felt that Lin Weimin was targeting them.
Not many old comrades felt that Lin Weimin was targeting them, and this group of people was right; Lin Weimin was indeed targeting them.
These people may have the ability, but they like to take advantage of their seniority and do not complete much of their own work. They always force young people to help them with work, and the young people in the community suffer greatly from this.
Lin Weimin did not have the power to fire them, but he had the power to cut off their hands from taking advantage.
Feeling Lin Weimin's blatant discrimination against them, this group of few old comrades whispered to each other in private and spoke ill of Lin Weimin.
They also went to talk to the leaders in a group. The director level would definitely not be effective. The leaders of the community, Li Cheng Zaochun and Lin Weimin, were in the same boat. So they turned their attention to Secretary Zhou, one of the three leaders.
Secretary Zhou had already had a tacit understanding with Cheng Zaochun and Lin Weimin. Faced with this group of old comrades who came to his house and chattered incessantly, he entertained them with good tea and cigarettes and responded with a smile, fully making the old comrades feel respected.
But the old comrades soon felt that something was wrong. This Old Zhou was not doing his job!
The old comrades did not find a sense of existence here with the leader, and became somewhat discouraged. They turned around and spoke ill of Lin Weimin even more frantically, intending to ruin his reputation in the Guowen Society.
That day, He Qizhi came to Lin Weimin to discuss several issues that had arisen after the performance appraisal system was implemented in the editorial department of Contemporary. After finishing the business, He Qizhi said, "Weimin, have you heard?"
"What did you hear?"
"Your reputation in the club isn't very good lately!"
Lin Weimin smiled when he heard this and asked, "Have you ever seen a leader with a good reputation?"
He Qizhi gave him a thumbs up and said, "Not bad, being a leader is really different. My awareness has improved immediately."
Lin Weimin naturally knew where all the recent rumors about him came from. The more these things spread, the more it proved the correctness of his reforms. How could the team run without clearing out the bad apples in the team?
"Let's not talk about this." Lin Weimin waved his hand and asked, "How is the reputation of this issue of Contemporary?"
The first issue of "Contemporary" in 1991 has been on the market for nearly half a month. As the last issue of "Contemporary" hosted by Lin Weimin, he is naturally concerned about it.
He Qizhi said: "The reputation is quite good, and the sales are also very good. It should not be a problem for this issue to break 2.2 million copies. Everyone has a very high opinion of Hua's "To Live."
After waiting for several months, Yu Hua's "To Live" was finally published in the first issue of this year's publication.
As a work that Lin Weimin is optimistic about, "To Live" enjoyed the treatment of being on the headlines, in large print, and published in one issue. These three treatments have now gradually become a tradition of "Contemporary".
To receive such treatment is not only an honor for the writers, but also means that their works are likely to be popular in the domestic literary world under the promotion of Contemporary Magazine and become classics that are enthusiastically sought after by millions of readers.
"Ordinary World", "Dust Settles", "White Deer Plain"...
There have never been any accidents involving any work that has enjoyed this kind of treatment in Contemporary.
The response after the publication of "To Live" did not disappoint the editorial department's expectations for this work. Like its predecessors, this novel caused a strong response within a short period of time after its publication.
Yu Hua, who started out as a pioneer in literature, has gradually developed his own unique style after years of continuous practice.
In his early years, Yu Hua wrote avant-garde novels and was good at and happy to analyze the evil and cruelty of human nature, but in "To Live", Yu Hua's style characteristics changed.
In "To Live", there are more misfortunes but fewer evils; there are fewer heroes but more virtues.
Through To Live, critics and readers can clearly see Yu Hua's growth as a writer.
For critics, this kind of growth makes them happy, as it seems that the Chinese literary world will have another great writer.
But for readers, Yu Hua's growth is extremely painful.
Along with the hot sales of "Contemporary", "To Live" had millions of readers in a short period of time.
Letters from readers like snowflakes quickly piled up in the corner of the editorial office, and most of them mentioned the novel "To Live".
Readers generally have very high opinions of "To Live". To be honest, it is a very good novel.
But it is precisely because of this goodness that readers feel so painful.
Dad is dead, mother is dead, wife is dead, daughter is dead, son is dead, son-in-law is dead, grandson is dead.
Chinese literature lovers are not inexperienced. They think that if a few people die in a literary work, what's a big deal? If the protagonist suffers a little, what's a big deal.
But the thing is, you can't just harm one person!
Among the numerous letters, a considerable number of readers wrote with only one purpose, which was to denounce the author of the novel, Yu Hua.
Everyone's opinions can be summed up in one sentence: Who the hell taught you to write novels like this?
But complaints aside, it's just like the audience loves to watch sad dramas. The more abusive the plot is, the more the audience loves to watch it, and they watch while cursing. After watching it, they still have to say with tears in their eyes: It's so damn well written.
To some extent, readers' complaints can be regarded as an affirmation of Yu Hua and the novel "To Live".
Compared with the readers' reaction, the critics' reaction was much simpler.
Many critics are pleased with Yu Hua's growth. In the eyes of many critics, avant-garde novels are considered to be unconventional. The publication of "To Live" this time makes them see that Yu Hua is gradually moving closer to traditional literature.
The identification with farmers and villages reflected in "To Live" is different from Yu Hua's previous works. The status of farmers in Chinese history has always been insignificant. Yu Hua uses the image of Fugui to show the values he wants to express, which is the philosophy of Chinese rural culture.
As the bearers of suffering, farmers have no power to resist fate, and they don’t even have any proactive spirit or courage to resist.
According to modern culture, this attitude towards life and destiny is undoubtedly a manifestation of ignorance and backwardness, but it also contains the history and culture carried by agricultural civilization, and has profound reasons for its emergence and survival.
It is precisely because of this passive life logic that China's peasant class has been able to continue to this day.
The tolerant outlook on life expressed in "To Live" touched the hearts of many critics and readers.
The Chinese are a nation that grew out of the land. The word "to live" is full of power in the Chinese context. Its power does not come from shouting or attacking, but from endurance, endurance of the weight that life gives us, endurance of the happiness and suffering, boredom and mediocrity that reality gives us.
It is precisely this simple style, which fits the Chinese people's view of history, life and values, that has made "To Live" recognized by many critics and loved by countless readers.
He Qizhi recalled the strong response that To Live had recently caused in the literary world and among readers, and smiled brightly, "The influence of a work is indeed very helpful in stabilizing sales. This time, Yu Hua's To Live looks like another work with a wide influence."
Lin Weimin nodded with satisfaction, "That's good. The quality of manuscripts is the foundation for the survival of a publication. Mo Yan's new novel should be almost finished, and you should also think about asking more about Er Yuehe's novel."
"Okay, I'll contact them later."
"There are several good talents among the students of the National Academy of Arts these past few years. You should all pay more attention to them and keep in touch with them."
…
Lin Weimin had worked at Contemporary for ten years. He always habitually said a few more words about the work he had just done. After he finished speaking, he felt something was wrong and said with a bit of apology on his face, "Old He, just do it according to your own ideas."
He Qizhi smiled indifferently, "I understand."
After he left, Lin Weimin went to Cheng Zaochun's office and first talked to him about the effect of the editorial performance appraisal system after more than half a month of trial implementation in the Contemporary editorial department. Then he prepared to start his second move as a new official.
Chapter 2 is under review, please wait
(End of this chapter)
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