Chapter 846 Lin Weimin's Literary Thoughts Shine
"Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow" was published in "Contemporary", which finally brought huge popularity and topics to this long-dormant publication.
Letters from readers poured into the editorial office in large numbers, all praising the works and criticizing the authors.
The editors had anticipated this situation. The quality of the novel "Ming" is impeccable. Lin Weimin's writing maintains the same high standard as always, and the novel switches between sadness and joy freely, playing with the readers' emotions. His skills are so sophisticated and exquisite that they are perfect, but not boring, just like an antelope hanging a horn.
There was a lot of criticism of the author Lin Weimin in the numerous letters from readers, and everyone read it with great interest, since it wasn't them who were being criticized after all.
The harsher the criticism, the deeper the readers' love for the novel. This is all praise from readers to the author and the novel.
With a relaxed and happy smile on his face, He Qizhi delivered packages of readers' letters to Lin Weimin's office.
"Lao He, why are you so happy when I scold you?"
"Misunderstanding, misunderstanding. I just read a manuscript. I haven't seen such an excellent manuscript for a long time. I am happy!" He Qizhi argued.
Lin Weimin was too lazy to expose him and asked, "How are the sales of this issue of Contemporary?"
When it comes to the topic of sales, He Qizhi's smile becomes even wider, almost reaching his ears.
"Great, that's great! It's only been ten days and one and a half million copies of the magazine have been sold out. This issue's sales will at least exceed two and a half million copies, maybe even three million."
He Qizhi sighed as he spoke, "Things are different now. Even many popular literature magazines have a hard time breaking through 2 million copies. The good results our Contemporary magazine can achieve are inseparable from your work!"
Lin Weimin did not take He Qizhi's flattery to heart, but instead reminded him: "It's just a flash in the pan, don't be too happy."
"It's good to have one issue. Besides, this issue can boost sales of the following issues. At least the sales in the first half of the year will be very good."
"Relying solely on this one work of mine is not a long-term solution. You publications must also work hard!"
Lin Weimin couldn't help but put some pressure on He Qizhi. This might be a sequelae of being a leader for too long. When he saw his subordinates being relaxed, he felt like a primary school student seeing stones on the roadside and always wanted to kick them a few times.
"You are right."
Having just boosted sales with his leader’s work, He Qizhi was very docile.
While the two were talking, in the office of Tongwen Press, Yu Hua was facing a newspaper with a smug look on his face.
He was reading the latest issue of Literary Gazette. This newspaper, sponsored by the Literary Association, has a huge influence in the domestic literary world. Its seventh edition publishes literary review articles on numerous literary works all year round. From time to time, heavyweight writers and critics will express their opinions on a certain work, which is one of the biggest highlights of this newspaper.
The seventh edition of this issue of Literary Gazette is somewhat different from usual ones.
There was nothing new about the newspaper's layout. It was still the same as usual, with several commentary articles scattered throughout the entire page.
But the difference is that the title of each article is related to "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow", which was published not long ago.
"A man's heart is as strong as iron until his death - a review of Lin Weimin's "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow"" "The successful creation of the image of Lao Shitou in "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow"" "The profile of the development of New China from "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow"" "On the sense of suffering in "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow""...
Literary Gazette is a major newspaper in the domestic literary field. It is not wrong to say that it is the number one newspaper. There are review articles in every issue, but it is extremely rare for an entire page of articles like this one to be devoted to the same work.
This has happened before, but it was basically only for the heavyweight works of a very small number of highly respected literary masters that such high honors were given.
The reason why Yu Hua was so proud was mainly because one of the articles in this edition of the newspaper was written by him.
"On the Consciousness of Suffering in "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow"."
"Literary writers often control the real time and space in their literary works by drilling holes in the wall and borrowing light from the fleeting past. For them, 'today' is mostly a day of confused values, an abyss of human nature filled with various unknown choices, and an unspeakable lack of basis and judgment of future possibilities.
Compared to 'today', the 'yesterday' recalled by Lin Weimin in "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow" is full of suffering and torment. Lao Shitou's childhood and youth were so difficult and bumpy, but there was no lack of intimacy of existence.
The use of flashback to tell the story makes the structure of "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow" more ingenious. Compared with the flashback and double narrative of "To Live", the method of "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow" is more concise, and makes the story more fluent and natural. The simple and natural creative method allows readers to better integrate into the plot and empathize with the characters.
Another difference between this work and "To Live" is that "To Live" pursues a kind of "emotional zero", and its ending is closer to the state of "the four elements are empty" as the Buddhists say.
What "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow" pursues and strives to depict is the magnificence of life's last desperate blow, and the most gorgeous sublimation of the word "love"..."
In the past, Xiao Tong always took the lead. This time, Xiao Tong was transferred to Wenhua, and his reaction seemed to be slower than before. Yu Hua was naturally happy that he got there first.
In the article, of course, there is Yu Hua’s heartfelt flattery, but he thinks he is much smarter than Tong Zhonggui.
Xiao Tong is a bit dull, and the same is true when he writes articles. He is always one-track-minded when praising people, and he does it blatantly.
Although what you said is true, it has been a habit since ancient times for scholars to look down on each other. People will inevitably look down on you in their hearts, thinking that you are flattering without any moral principles.
In comparison, Yu Hua felt that his approach was much smarter. He only talked about the content and not the people. It was not excessive to praise this thing as much as he wanted. After all, the content of the novel was there and could not be erased.
Not only that, Yu Hua also used some clever tricks when writing the article.
The plot setting of "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow" is similar to that of "To Live", and he also knows that many people will compare this novel with "To Live" after reading it.
So I just did it myself and started analyzing the similarities between the two works.
This is not only to promote Teacher Lin by lowering himself, but also to take advantage of the popularity. Teacher Lin's works have always been incredibly popular.
Comparing the two works together, there will definitely be many readers who will be interested in "To Live", which may boost the sales of "To Live".
And to be honest, Yu Hua felt that he was much more kind than Teacher Lin.
At least in the ending of "To Live", Fugui and his old ox were still alive. Teacher Lin was really cruel and killed all the protagonist's family.
When he read the middle and later part of the novel, he thought that Lao Shitou would gain the will to survive in the warmth of the Ouyang family.
If this is the way it is handled, it is actually not bad.
Yu Hua also thought about letting Old Shitou gain the will to live and then giving him an accidental death. He was very proud of this idea and thought it was a very black humorous idea.
But Mr. Lin’s books are often so unique. The final ending that Yu Hua saw was that Lao Shitou received the warmth of Ouyang’s family at the last moment of his life. He saw the beauty of life and the kindness of human nature, but he still went to his death generously without any nostalgia.
This ending gave Yu Hua a huge shock!
He thought of the ending he had designed for Fugui. In the end, Fugui depended on the old ox for companionship. He looked at everything indifferently. The purpose of living was no longer to pursue all external things, nor to pursue all metaphysical things. Living was living itself.
He once thought that this was a very good design, as it included the impermanence of life, nothing to gain, and nothing to care about. It gave him a sense of enlightenment as described by Buddhists.
But in "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow", Lao Shitou's choice made Yu Hua see another kind of indescribable beauty.
It is a kind of relief and freedom after encountering the beauty of life and the kindness of human nature, as well as seeing the impermanence of fate and the sorrows and joys of life.
That is not the Buddhist state of selflessness, but the ardor of pursuing one's true self without fear.
I love my family, even if there is hell or the endless abyss ahead, I will not regret it even if I die nine times.
This is truly a man of great courage!
After reading the whole novel, Yu Hua had a very strong feeling. This novel reminded him of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" and "The Butterfly Lovers".
But he feels that "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow" is more cleverly designed than these two works in some places.
It does not simply write about "love", it even deliberately avoids touching this topic, but Teacher Lin uses a superb ending to sublimate the hidden theme of "love" to an unprecedented height. It is so full and hot, like a handful of slowly flowing magma, making the readers who are deeply trapped in it completely unable to resist.
Yu Hua believes that the vast majority of readers will have the same feelings as he does after reading the novel. Even if they cannot express it, the resonance will definitely be the same.
After appreciating his own masterpiece, Yu Hua began to read the contents of several other articles.
Compared with his own article, the positions of the other people were much more rational. They analyzed the creative techniques of the novel and the author's various ideas throughout the article. They really praised the novel, but Yu Hua felt that there was still a big gap between these people and himself.
However, he also discovered that these people always implicitly expressed their dissatisfaction with the ending of the novel at the end of the article.
For example, a passage from the article "The Successful Creation of the Image of Old Stone in "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow":
"The choice of Lao Shitou is cruel. The author attempts to use this cruel choice to stir up the readers' emotions, but it inevitably falls into the trap of deliberate sensationalism. From the author's perspective, for the sufferings of the world, more original emotions should be mobilized. Instead of publicizing the naturally generated emotions and making a futile call.
When people’s emotions are restrained and their internal fission is released to a very small extent, it can be turned into a silent cry that is not publicized. This silent cry is more powerful than the seemingly cruel choice. "
Yu Hua fully understands the contents of the article. Critics are also human beings and everyone has subjective opinions.
Mr. Lin’s handling of the ending is almost the optimal solution in literature, and it almost gives the novel an enduring classic status.
But from the reader's perspective, this way of handling the problem is still too cruel, especially for those readers with strong sense of empathy and empathy, it is simply excruciating.
Yu Hua himself wrote "To Live", and he was criticized countless times for this novel. Of course, he understands the painful feelings of readers after reading Teacher Lin's novel.
But there is nothing we can do, because Teacher Lin writes so well.
Yu Hua could imagine the scene of those readers crying, wiping tears, cursing, and flipping through the books.
He couldn't help but think back to that afternoon several years ago.
At that time, he was still a small dentist at the Wuyuan Town Health Center in Haiyan County, Zhijiang Province.
He studied the newly published "Farewell My Concubine" for a long time, and finally realized the true meaning of literary creation.
For so many years, he always thought that he had surpassed his predecessors in torturing the protagonists. After all, the protagonists of the several novels he wrote over the years were all miserable.
But today he finally realized that the reason he was able to find the shortcut to literary creation in "Farewell My Concubine" was not because of his own talent, but because the light of Teacher Lin's literary thoughts was shining on him!
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
