Chapter 639 Curly-haired Baldy
The awarding of the Strega Prize is very different from that of the Goncourt Prize. The French are very enthusiastic and seem to respect literature very much. During the award ceremony, the Touon restaurant in Paris was packed with enthusiastic readers and citizens.
When Lin Weimin stood on the second-floor balcony of the restaurant, he was like a crowned prince, enjoying the cheers and support of thousands of readers.
In contrast, the day of the Strega Prize award was more like a party. There were not so many enthusiastic readers, the ceremony was simple and casual, and the atmosphere was relaxed and happy.
Especially the dinner on the open lawn at night made Lin Weimin feel like he was having a banquet.
When it comes to the atmosphere during the award ceremony, he prefers the Goncourt Prize; when it comes to the banquet after the award ceremony, he still prefers the Strega Prize.
The brilliant day came to an end. Lin Weimin was exhausted when he returned to the hotel and fell into a deep sleep before he even washed up.
The next day, Lin Weimin had two more interviews. Yesterday's interview was mainly with newspapers and television media, while today's was an exclusive interview with two magazines, one of which was "Prospect" controlled by Mondadori Publishing House, and the other was "Literary Criticism", a famous Italian literary review magazine.
The two interviews took up the entire morning, followed by a reader meeting in the afternoon.
It was free time in the evening. Lin Weimin originally wanted to visit the night view of Rome accompanied by an interpreter, but was asked out for dinner by Roger Strauss.
There is no such thing as a visitor without a request. Although the United States and Italy are almost half a globe apart, he still came to receive the Strega Prize, of course, for Lin Weimin's work.
So far, his FSG Publishing House has published three novels by Lin Weimin, "The Hunting", "The Sound of the Wind" and "Life is Beautiful Anyway". Except for "The Sound of the Wind" which received mediocre response in the United States, "The Hunting" and "Life is Beautiful Anyway" have achieved good results.
In the past two years, it has been occupying the middle position of the New York Times bestseller list, showing a trend of long-lasting popularity.
In order to promote these novels, Roger Strauss specially did public relations with several heavyweight literary review magazines such as "Page", "The New York Review of Books" and "Writers", and he put a lot of thought into it.
After the book reviews were published in several magazines, Roger Strauss specially mailed them to Lin Weimin.
Lin Weimin was of course clear about the purpose of Roger Strauss's doing this. After the work was done, it had to be sold well.
This is also the confidence that Roger Strauss has in negotiating subsequent cooperation. Random House is a large and powerful company and definitely does not have the kind of attitude that he has in supporting it wholeheartedly.
Roger Strauss chatted with Lin Weimin for a while about the weather and today's award ceremony, then went straight to the point and proposed to continue publishing Lin Weimin's works of the past two years.
The hot sales of "The Hunt" and "Life is Beautiful Anyway" made him taste the sweetness of working with Lin Weimin.
Unlike ordinary pure literature writers, Lin Weimin's works are always unexpectedly popular. When working with him, there is no need to worry about losing money.
In addition, with the competitor of Random House, Roger Strauss kept a low profile.
As a work by a non-local writer, "The Hunt" won the National Book Critics Circle Award twice. Roger Strauss deserves credit for this. After all, it's collaboration with anyone.
They really put their heart and soul into their work, which is better than Random House.
However, in the past two years, Lin Weimin has only published "No One Less" and "Promotion". The stories of both novels are very Chinese. Lin Weimin is very curious about which one Roger Strauss wants to introduce, or even both of them.
Roger Strauss quickly gave the answer, "Not One Less!"
Lin Weimin was a little surprised. The story of No One Left Behind is very Chinese and rural. "Roger, although it is a good thing for the novel to be published in the United States, do you think American readers will like this kind of work?"
Roger Strauss's answer was very confident, "Lin, you still don't understand your fame in the American literary world and among literature lovers."
He continued with a smug look on his face, "I've read the stories of Not One Less and Going Up. Going Up is indeed too Chinese. It involves ideological issues, which is difficult for us Americans to understand. But Not One Less is different. You wrote this novel for the Hope Project, right?"
Lin Weimin nodded, "That's right."
"I heard that Project Hope has built more than 1,000 rural primary schools in China, allowing children in poor areas to go to school for free?"
Lin Weimin nodded again.
As the name "Project Hope" has become deeply rooted in people's hearts, the China Youth Education Development Foundation has not worried about donation issues for a long time.
In the past two years, the Hope Project has developed rapidly, with four to five hundred new Hope Primary Schools built every year, and a total of more than 1,300 Hope Primary Schools have been built.
"Lin, you don't know what a great thing you have done!" Roger Strauss praised.
Lin Weimin understood what he meant and asked, "Roger, do you mean to use this as a publicity gimmick to introduce Not One Less?"
"That's right. 'The world's largest donation to support education', 'two-time National Book Critics Circle Award winner donated tens of millions of dollars to establish it', 'benefiting more than one million out-of-school children', how about that? Aren't such slogans very inflammatory?" asked Roger Strauss.
Lin Weimin does not think that Roger Strauss is using the reputation of the Hope Project for publicity. After all, he actually did these things, and there is no falsehood at all.
"Are you sure the Americans will buy it?"
Roger Strauss shook his head. "You, you still don't understand the hypocrisy of the Americans. We really care about this world."
Roger Strauss was not soft-spoken when he criticized his own country, and Lin Weimin couldn't help but laugh.
Well, Roger Strauss’s perspective on the issue is indeed very tricky. To put it simply, he has grasped the American people’s mentality of “watching the fun”.
Coupled with the gimmick of "charity", it is indeed very likely to attract a group of readers who are interested in the two topics of "education" and "charity".
Since Roger Strauss had already thought out the propaganda direction and strategy, Lin Weimin naturally had no reason to disagree.
Having received his approval, Roger Strauss happily clinked glasses with him.
"Lin, there's something I need to tell you." After drinking two glasses of wine, Roger Strauss put on a complaining expression.
"What's wrong?"
"Why not let John Lone play in Farewell My Concubine?"
Um?
Lin Weimin looked surprised, "You still care about this?"
"It's not just me. Book fans all over the United States are concerned about this matter!" Roger Strauss said seriously.
Michael Phillips was not an investor for nothing. After returning to the United States, he used his connections to leak information to the media that "Farewell My Concubine" was about to be filmed.
This information immediately attracted the attention of some American media and then caused a response among readers.
It has been nearly ten years since "Farewell My Concubine" was published in the United States, with sales exceeding 7 million copies. Its readership base is no less than that of many world classics known to the world.
In 1989, the play "Farewell My Concubine" was brought to the Broadway stage, causing a sensation among American readers and drama audiences. To date, it has attracted more than 1.6 million viewers and the box office has reached 130 million.
When "The Intouchables" and "The Kite Runner" were suspended one after another and Lin Weimin could only occasionally earn a few million dollars by selling copyrights, "Farewell My Concubine" supported a large part of his overseas income.
Of course, a larger part comes from "The Phantom of the Opera", which has grossed over 290 million US dollars in less than four years since its premiere on Broadway.
As the largest investor in this opera, Lin Weimin also reaps the most lucrative returns, earning more than 20 million dollars almost every year.
Roger Strauss continued, "Zun Long is very suitable for the role of Cheng Dieyi. Why did you choose a Hong Kong actor for this movie?"
"There are two main considerations. One is that Zunlong's facial lines are too hard and not soft enough. The other is that Zunlong put forward too many conditions, which annoyed the investors."
"Angered the investors?" Roger Strauss didn't expect that there would be such a scene in the casting of "Farewell My Concubine". "Please tell me in detail."
Gossip is indeed human nature, so Lin Weimin told the story about all the troubles that Zun Long's agent had caused.
After listening to this, Roger Strauss laughed and said, "This Miss Chen really has a bit of the flavor of those Hollywood celebrity agents. What a pity, Zun Long is actually very suitable for the role of Cheng Dieyi."
"Come on, how many Chinese actors do you Americans know? If I say that The Kite Runner is going to be made into a movie, I'm afraid you will also say that John Lone is suitable, right?"
Roger Strauss was a little unhappy, "Lin, you can't tarnish a book fan's love for the character."
Lin Weimin was speechless, "Okay, I apologize!"
After dinner, Lin Weimin returned to the hotel to rest.
On the third day in Italy, he still had to attend two reader meetings, which were of the nature of book signings.
Because of the news media reports, the Strega Prize has become the most concerned issue among Italian literature lovers in recent days. Lin Weimin, the winner who broke many records, has also aroused the interest of these literature lovers. Coupled with the readers who already like Lin Weimin's works, the reader meetings in the past two days have been crowded and lively.
Lin Weimin's shoulders ached and his hands were numb from signing, and the smile on his face became extremely stiff by the end.
After a busy day, Lin Weimin finally had time to rest at night, but he still had to keep an appointment.
Before the Strega Prize, he and Bertolucci had made an appointment to get together after coming to Italy. Tonight, they finally had some time, so Bertolucci specially arranged a party.
Bertolucci's home is located in the Prati district of Rome, a famous wealthy area in Rome. It has a typical Romanesque architectural style. The villa is surrounded by a wall to form a private residence. The trees and shrubs are scattered in the courtyard, dotted with green grass and fountains.
Bertolucci is good at robbing investors, but he is never stingy with his own money.
The climate in Italy in July is pleasant, with the highest temperature during the day not exceeding 25 degrees and just 20 degrees at night.
The party was also held on the lawn outside. As soon as Lin Weimin arrived, he was pulled in front of the many guests by Bertolucci.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome my good friend, Mr. Lin Weimin, the new winner of the Strega Literature Prize and one of the screenwriters of The Last Emperor!”
The guests gathered on the lawn gave rounds of applause out of respect, and some who loved the fun whistled unrestrainedly. It felt as if they had seen a beautiful woman rather than a writer.
Among the guests who whistled the loudest, Lin Weimin noticed a little bald man with curly hair at a glance.
(End of this chapter)
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