Chapter 580: The Greatest Laugh
Lin Weimin glanced around and said in his usual voice, "The jury said that I had won two awards in a row, and if I won again it would affect the fairness of the award. Then they selected seven winning novels, one of which was Liu Feiyu's. It's unheard of for the judges' works to be involved in the award. It's simply ridiculous!"
When he finished speaking, a sneer appeared on his face.
Wang Meng originally wanted to ask in a low voice, but he didn't expect Lin Weimin to be so open with everyone present and his words were even more hurtful. He hesitated and didn't dare to ask any more.
At the same time, the eyes of everyone around were focused on Lin Weimin. It seemed that this matter was not as simple as the rumors!
If what Lin Weimin said is true, he has won the award twice in a row before, so winning it again will indeed affect fairness. After all, the Yanbing Literature Award is held every three years, and there are three to five works in each award. If Lin Weimin wins it for three consecutive years, he will occupy three award places, and those who originally had the chance to win will naturally have no chance.
If both parties discuss it carefully, it will not be difficult to reach a consensus on this matter.
If you don't want him to be a contestant, then let him be a judge. Once he becomes a judge, isn't it natural for his work not to be included in the competition?
Everyone thought of the recent rumors again.
It is said that the Writers Association intends to let Lin Weimin be a judge, but only for the next session. In fact, it is the best choice to invite him to be a judge for this session, so that his works will not take up two shortlisted places.
But then again, the fact that the Writers Association specifically took down Lin Weimin's works this time definitely has nothing to do with his previous withdrawal from the Writers Association, right?
Yes, it definitely doesn’t matter.
When people thought about Lin Weimin being a judge, they naturally thought of Liu Feiyu and his award-winning novel.
This is really disgusting!
Now that the award results have been announced, some details about this year's awards have gradually spread over the past few days.
This year's Yanbing Literature Award was delayed for nearly three years, and there were a large number of entries. The reading class stayed in Beidaihe for half a year, and in the end, a total of 16 works were submitted to the jury and five works were provided for the judges' reference.
After the list of works was submitted, one judge proposed and two judges seconded, and Liu Feiyu's work jumped the queue and entered the final award list.
Because Liu Feiyu is both a judge and a contestant, the jury adopted a judge recusation system, that is, the judges must choose whether to continue to serve as judges without having their works judged, or to have their works judged without the author serving as a judge.
Liu Feiyu decisively chose the latter.
The work of Liu Feiyu had a similar experience to that of "Urban Romance" submitted by Zhijiang Literature and Art Publishing House. The two works did not follow the established procedures in their submission, and both won awards, which became the most criticized aspect of this year's Yanbing Literature Award.
Although "Urban Romance" was proposed by the judges, the author was not a judge after all, so the controversy it caused was not that great. Now the focus of debate in the literary world is on Liu Feiyu and his award-winning novel.
Lin Weimin said a few words to Wang Meng, and seeing that everyone's eyes were on him, he said, "Today is a seminar on Yu Hua's works, and I shouldn't have mentioned such trivial matters as mine. But I see that everyone is quite interested, so I will say a few more words.
These days, I'm sure everyone has heard some rumors about me and the Yanbing Literature Award. I believe that anyone with a discerning eye can tell the truth from the false.
Regarding my personal controversy, I would just like to say that I, Lin Weimin, have won many awards for writing novels. Unlike some people, I would not make a big fuss over the Yanbing Literature Award.
I do not approve of the results of this year's Yanbing Literature Award. This does not mean that I deny all the winning works and their artistic achievements, but because some individuals on this year's jury, out of selfish interests, formed cliques and factions, openly undermining the fairness of the award."
Lin Weimin openly criticized the Yanbing Literature Award Jury in front of everyone, causing an uproar in the conference room, with everyone whispering and discussing.
He did not pause at all and continued, "Everyone knows that I am Mr. Wan's student. In 1982, the Dramatists Association held the National Drama, Opera and Opera Outstanding Script Award. I wrote a script for the People's Art Theater that year and it was well received by the audience. But at that time, Mr. Wan was the chairman of the Dramatists Association. In order to avoid suspicion, we, the teacher and the student, tacitly chose not to participate in the award.
It was not until 1987, after my drama works had won numerous awards overseas, that I felt that it would no longer cause gossip, and I calmly accepted the award for outstanding script.
I give this example not to say that I, Lin Weimin, am a noble person, but I just want to illustrate a point.
The Yanbing Literature Award was established in accordance with Mr. Yanbing's last wish. It has only been three sessions and ten years since its establishment. Any comrade with a little awareness and style would not do such a thing as participating as a judge.
It's only the third session and they dare to do such shameless things. I can't imagine what this award will become in ten years?
As for withdrawing from the jury, it's like being a whore and trying to be a virtuous woman. She withdrew from this session and will be on the next one. How shameless is that?
You all should know who I am targeting. You can spread what I said today as much as you can, and it is best to spread it widely."
After saying these words, Lin Weimin paused and looked at the people present. "I was so angry that I said a few more words. Today is a work seminar, and I have gone off topic."
Everyone looked disapproving and said that they would never believe that he had not deliberately picked today to attack the jury and Liu Feiyu.
There were more than fifteen critics, writers, and scholars in the literary world who attended the symposium this year. They were all well-known figures, and when they came together they were enough to have a strong influence in the literary world.
Lin Weimin didn't expect that all of these people would stand on his side, but as long as they could serve as a mouthpiece, that would be enough.
When intellectuals quarrel, they never use violence. They just want to see who can occupy the moral high ground.
No matter how much you explain, there is no clear explanation for Liu Feiyu's participation in the Yanbing Literature Award as a judge. Some people want to take advantage of the opaque rules of the award and use some tricks to slander and discredit him. Now the rumors have been fermenting for nearly half a month, and Lin Weimin feels that the time is almost up and it is time to overturn the table.
Today is a symposium on the work "To Live". Originally, the focus of discussion should have been on Hua and his "To Live", but after Lin Weimin's impassioned speech, the limelight was completely stolen by him.
The attention of many critics, writers and scholars attending the conference had obviously shifted, and they were even absent-minded when they were trying to flatter.
Yu Hua saw it and was worried.
After the work seminar ended, Yu Hua was depressed and unhappy.
Lin Weimin called him into his office and handed him a publishing contract.
Yu Hua was originally in a depressed mood, but he instantly became excited after seeing the numbers on the contract.
"10%? Give me 10% royalties?" he asked excitedly.
"Isn't it written very clearly? How is it? Are you satisfied this time?"
"Satisfied! Satisfied! Very satisfied!" Yu Hua kept nodding his head, his mouth almost unable to close.
I was in a good mood and the depression I felt just now had long disappeared.
Teacher Lin is still good to me!
Two days have passed since the symposium on the work "To Live". The words spoken by Lin Weimin at the symposium have quickly spread throughout the Yenching literary world through the mouths of many participants that day, and have gradually spread to the domestic literary circles, causing quite a stir.
Colleagues and literature lovers who also expressed dissatisfaction with the results of the Yanbing Literature Award were very supportive of his remarks.
The fact that judges participate in the judging of awards goes beyond everyone's understanding of judging awards. No one does this. Even if you are a judge and recommend a student or old official to judge the award, people will not be so excited. But to personally take part in the judging is really shameless.
Wherever there are supporters, there are opponents. There are probably three reasons why opponents oppose Lin Weimin.
One is that they believe that Lin Weimin's motives are impure. His work did not win the Yanbing Literature Award this time, so they bombarded the jury and the judges. These people believe that they have reason to doubt Lin Weimin's motives and legitimacy.
Second, out of respect and protection for Liu Feiyu, his status and qualifications in the domestic literary world can be seen from the fact that he served as a judge for the Yanbing Literature Award for three consecutive terms. Just look at who served as a judge for two or three consecutive terms, Ding Ling, Zhang Guangnian, Chen Yong, Feng Mu, Chen Huangmei...
Third, it is out of protection of the Yanbing Literature Award. The establishment of this award was Mr. Yanbing's last wish. As Mr. Yanbing's best friend, Ba Lao has devoted all his efforts to this award. Although Lin Weimin's move is against an individual, the award itself will also suffer huge negative impact.
Whether this group of people acted out of selfish or public interest motives, the public opinion wave against Lin Weimin they stirred up was not small. However, they simply could not clarify the fact that the judges' works were nominated for awards, so they could only keep trying to smooth things over and change the subject.
The voices of debate between the two sides gradually appeared in newspapers across the country and became increasingly intense.
During this period, the Literary Association and the jury remained silent, and it seemed that they were planning to handle the matter coldly. After a period of time, when public opinion cooled down, the matter would naturally be forgotten.
Lin Weimin could probably guess what the other party was thinking, but he did not add fuel to the fire.
He didn't want to keep things quiet, he just felt that there was no point in just arguing.
The reason why the award jury removed him from the list was simply because there was a conflict regarding the previous writers' group's visit to France, and Lin Weimin withdrew from the Writers Association, leaving the Writers Association with a completely lost face.
The term of office of the current Writers Association has not been long. Old acquaintances such as Zhang Guangnian have retired to the second line. Lin Weimin is no longer considered one of their own, and their friendship has faded. It is most appropriate to sacrifice his interests.
The reason they gave was very legitimate, saying that he had won too many awards and if he won again it would affect fairness, and all of a sudden many writers were pulled over.
If he is removed, he will not be able to get angry even if he wants to. The words "sour talk about not winning the award" are enough to make Lin Weimin fall into the whirlpool of public opinion.
But the other side’s mistake is that they are self-righteous and have committed the error of bureaucracy and elitist thinking.
As a judge, Liu Feiyu's work not only was nominated, but also won a prize. How could the knowledgeable people and enthusiastic readers in the literary world turn a blind eye to such obvious favoritism and fraud?
The Yanbing Literature Award will hold an award ceremony at the People's Hall on March 29. There are still four days before the award ceremony. Lu Yao called Lin Weimin in the evening.
"Ordinary World" became one of the winning works of this year's Yanbing Literature Award. This award is something Lu Yao has been longing for for a long time.
According to Lu Yao's personality, he should have arrived in Yanjing by now, ready to receive the award.
But he did not go to Beijing this time. The reason was naturally because Lin Weimin was currently in conflict with the jury.
"You should come to receive the award! Isn't this the award you have been waiting for for a long time? It can also be regarded as a vindication for your novel! I heard that in this award, "Ordinary World" ranked first.
The conflict between me and the jury is not directed at you. "Ordinary World" deserves the Yanbing Literature Award and it is well-deserved.
If you don’t come, I will offend a lot of people, and it will be confirmed that I am criticizing the award because I didn’t win it, so you must come.”
It’s not that Lu Yao doesn’t want to receive the award. After all, "Ordinary World" is a work he put a lot of effort and energy into creating. It has not been well received by critics before. Now that he has finally been recognized by the award, how could he not want to receive the award?
But at the same time, Lin Weimin was his best friend, who had given him strong support in his writing career and selfless help in life. Lin Weimin had a conflict with the jury, and if Lu Yao went to receive the award as if nothing had happened, he himself would not be able to get over it.
Lin Weimin understood Lu Yao's feelings very well. He had never thought of dragging anyone into the dispute between him and the jury. If someone had to passively participate in a dispute just because he was his friend, he would feel uneasy.
After communicating with Lu Yao, Lin Weimin put the matter aside and wrote a novel in the study for a while. Just as he was about to wash up and go to bed, the phone at home rang again.
(End of this chapter)
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