Chapter 627 Strega Prize
Cheng Zaochun blocked Lin Weimin at the door of Li Xin's office with a happy look on his face. He knew at a glance that something good must be going on.
"What's going on?" Lin Weimin asked.
Cheng Zaochun said, "Just now a comrade from the WS department called me. Last night, the Italian Strega Literary Prize announced this year's shortlist. Your two novels, "Burning" and "Life is Beautiful Anyway," were both shortlisted for the Strega Literary Prize."
The Strega Prize was created in 1947. In 1944, the writer Maria Bellonci organized a literary salon, which was named "Sunday Friends" because the salon was often held on weekends.
While they were having dinner in a restaurant, Maria Bellonci's husband, Goffredo Bellonci, told a young businessman from Benevento, Guido Alberti, about a plan to establish a new literary competition.
Alberti was convinced by the idea and he funded the prize with a generous prize of 100,000 lire.
In 1947, the Strega Literary Prize, named after Strega, a famous herbal liqueur produced by the Alberti family, was officially established.
According to the rules, the Strega Prize is awarded to twelve artists who select the best book from twelve books recommended by themselves, which becomes the best work of the Strega Prize that year.
Since then, the award has been held every year and has gradually developed its own influence. Now, more than 40 years have passed, and the Strega Prize has not only become the most important literary award in the Italian literary world, on par with the Goncourt Prize, but is also one of the most influential literary awards in European literature.
Works such as Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose and Paolo Giordano's The Solitude of Prime Numbers became popular in the Italian and European literary circles only after they won the Strega Prize.
It can be seen from this that the Strega Prize’s ability to create stars should not be underestimated.
Hearing the news, Lin Weimin's expression remained indifferent.
“It’s just being shortlisted, not winning the award.”
"The point is not being shortlisted, but that two works were shortlisted. Do you know what this means?" Cheng Zaochun asked.
"What's the meaning?"
Seeing his casual expression, Cheng Zaochun said helplessly, "There are only twelve judges for the Strega Prize, and the only novels that can be shortlisted each year are the first twelve novels recommended by everyone. The fact that "Burning" and "Life is Beautiful" are both shortlisted proves that at least two judges on the jury are supporting you to win the award. Your chances of winning the Strega Prize are almost the highest this year."
Lin Weimin didn't think much about it when he heard he was shortlisted. It was only after listening to Cheng Zaochun's analysis that he realized there was such a behind-the-scenes story.
Last year, Albert Mondadori, on behalf of Mondadori Publishing House, obtained the publishing rights for seven of his works, including "The Lover", "Farewell My Concubine", "The Horse Catcher", "The Chaser", "The Burning", "Life is Beautiful Anyway" and "The Hunt".
Within one year, seven works were published in Italy, which is a very high efficiency.
It is precisely because of this that there is the strange phenomenon of Lin Weimin being nominated for two works at the same time.
This is the first time in the history of the Strega Prize.
A smile appeared on Lin Weimin's face, and then he thought of another question.
Logically speaking, shouldn't Albert Mondadori have told me this news? Why did a colleague from the WS department call me first?
"Tsk tsk tsk! If you win the Strega Prize this time, it will be the second heavyweight award in the European literary world. I can't imagine it!" Cheng Zaochun exclaimed.
"It's too early. Now we are just shortlisted."
Lin Weimin was in a good mood, but after all, he didn't win a prize, so he still had to restrain himself.
"Keep working hard! With these two awards as a foundation, you are not far from the Nobel Prize in Literature."
Cheng Zaochun patted him on the shoulder, spoke earnestly and placed high hopes on him.
"You keep exaggerating. You're making something so ridiculous sound like it's true."
Among the famous European literary awards, France's Prix Goncourt, Italy's Strega Prize and Britain's Booker Prize belong to the first tier. For a writer, winning any of these three literary awards is a supreme honor. Many previously unknown writers have become famous through such channels.
Around the world, the only awards that can be compared with these three are probably the Pulitzer Prize for Literature and the National Book Award in the United States. Among the three major literary awards in the United States, the National Book Critics Circle Award is the most open, but it is also the one with the weakest influence in the world.
In addition to these awards, there is also a Swedish Nobel Prize in Literature, which is a bit out of the ordinary.
No matter how hard you little brothers try to catch up, Nobel remains calm and stress-free.
No matter what, it is a happy event that the two novels were shortlisted for the Strega Prize. Lin Weimin and Cheng Zaochun chatted and laughed for a while and were in a good mood.
Writing a novel is not entirely for the purpose of winning an award, but winning an award is better than not winning an award. Of course, now it is just a shortlist, and nothing is certain.
The news that Lin Weimin's two novels were shortlisted for the Strega Prize spread at a rapid speed within the Guowen Publishing House, and then continued to spread and spread.
Then, people kept congratulating Lin Weimin, including colleagues in the office and friends far away who wrote letters and called to congratulate him.
Lin Weimin has long been accustomed to this situation. Whenever his works won awards in recent years, he would always become the focus of attention among his colleagues, friends and even national public opinion.
What is a little different about the Strega Prize this year is that the top twelve shortlisted writers are announced at the end of March each year, and the prize is awarded on the first Thursday of July each year.
He is now shortlisted. If Lin Weimin wins the award in July, we will have to congratulate him again.
As the media paid attention to the news that Lin Weimin was shortlisted for the Strega Prize, more and more readers also learned about this through media reports.
Last year, Lin Weimin did not win the Yanbing Literature Award. Just after the award results were announced, news came from the United States that Lin Weimin had won the National Book Critics Circle Award, causing many readers to question and ridicule the Yanbing Literature Award.
It is March again this year, and news came that Lin Weimin was shortlisted for the Strega Prize.
The media that reported this incident also specifically gave readers some information about the value of the Strega Prize. This time, Lin Weimin had two works shortlisted, creating a history for the Strega Prize.
Many readers once again dug up last year's Yanbing Literature Award, mocking, ridiculing and abusing it.
This behavior is becoming a routine among Lin Weimin's readers. Whenever Lin Weimin wins an award, the third Yanbing Literature Award will always be brought up by this group of readers to vent their hatred.
"Two-time winner of the Yanbing Literature Award" is obviously not as impressive as "three-time winner of the Yanbing Literature Award", and this is three consecutive times.
Just because of the selfishness of some judges, Lin Weimin missed out on such a brilliant achievement that was unprecedented and probably will never be repeated.
This incident is enough to make many loyal readers of Lin Weimin never forget it and hate those judges for the rest of their lives!
The news of being shortlisted for the Strega Prize continued to spread. This weekend, Lin Weimin once again met with Xu Feng and Michael Phillips in the cafe of the Yanjing Hotel, but there was one more person at the party today.
"Teacher Lin!" Cheng Kaige arrived at the coffee shop early. When he saw Lin Weimin coming in, he quickly stood up and shook hands with him.
"Kaige, we meet again!"
"Yes, it's been a long time since we last met. The last time I saw you was in 1987 when we were filming The Last Emperor."
Lin Weimin smiled and said, "You played the role of the chief guard that time, and you wanted to study abroad, right?"
Cheng Kaige nodded. "After that, I went to the United States for exchange and study for three years. In 1989, I heard that you went to the United States and planned to visit you, but it was a pity that I was a step too late."
The two chatted for a while, and Xu Feng introduced Cheng Kaige to Michael Phillips.
After Cheng Kaige agreed to let Xu Feng direct "Farewell My Concubine" that day, he has been in contact with the behind-the-scenes team. It took a few days for the main behind-the-scenes staff of the crew to put together a rough outline. Today, Cheng Kaige has come here specially to report the situation to everyone.
"As for the screenwriting, Ms. Xu said that Mr. Lin doesn't have time. I think I can just put my name on it, and the specific writing can be done by my friend Lu Wei, who is a very capable screenwriter..."
Lin Weimin was doing a "no-cost business" this time. He would not get much remuneration even if he really wrote the script for the crew, so he turned down the idea of writing the script.
Cheng Kaige found the original screenwriter and he was happy to see it succeed.
As for the photographer, Cheng Kaige chose Gu Changwei.
Just like the talented class of 1978's Directing Department, the class of 1978's Photography Department of Yanying also produced several great photographers, and Gu Changwei was one of them.
Over the years, he has appeared in films by Cheng Kaige and Zhang Yimou.
Cheng Kaige mentioned several names of people behind the scenes, but Lin Weimin didn't pay much attention because he was waiting for one name.
"Teacher Lin, Mr. Phillips, there is one more thing I need to tell you. I invited my father, Mr. Chen Huaikai, to be the art director of Farewell My Concubine. My father is a famous director in China and a senior teacher at the Yanjing Film Academy."
The second half of Cheng Kaige's sentence was explained to Michael Phillips.
Lin Weimin had some communication with Yan Ying, so he naturally knew Cheng Kaige's family background.
Michael Phillips was satisfied with the fact that Cheng Kaige asked his father to endorse "Farewell My Concubine". The fact that father and son joined together showed that they valued this movie.
This situation also happens frequently in the American film industry.
Lin Weimin, who was standing aside, was completely relieved this time.
There has been a saying in later generations that "Farewell My Concubine" was filmed by Cheng Kaige's father Cheng Huaikai.
There are two reasons for everyone's doubt. One is that Cheng Huaikai is indeed the art director of the film. The other is that the artistic level of "Farewell My Concubine" is indeed unique among Cheng Kaige's works, which is a bit unreasonable.
The filming of "Farewell My Concubine" cost 4 million US dollars, which is an astronomical figure in the domestic film industry.
In 1986, Xie Tieli planned to shoot a film version of "Dream of Red Mansions". Yanying Studio invested more than 10 million yuan, setting a record for investment in domestic films, which was less than 3 million yuan in rice dollars.
His son Cheng Kaige is going to direct a movie with a budget of 4 million US dollars, so it is only natural for his father to come out to lend a hand.
Anyway, regardless of whether it is true or not, everyone has high hopes for the performance of "Farewell My Concubine". It is better to have it than not, and it is like taking out another insurance policy!
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
