Chapter 847 Worse than Yu Hua
Since 1980, Lin Weimin has written more than a dozen novels.
Over the years, his novels have won countless readers at home and abroad, and every publication of his works is almost a feast for the literary world and the readership.
The full-page review article in "Wenyi Bao" was like a clarion call, and various review articles and reading reflections on "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow" were published in literary journals across the country like mushrooms after rain.
The review articles by professional writers and critics are fine. They basically analyze the works from a fair and objective perspective, and the vast majority of them are positive. At most, someone secretly expresses dissatisfaction with the way Lin Weimin handled certain plots in a certain paragraph of the article.
But this is not the case with many of the book review articles published in newspapers. These articles are basically contributed by readers, and newspapers do not demand professionalism and objectivity, as long as the content is meaningful.
As soon as these articles were published, readers praised the works a lot, but they also criticized Lin Weimin even more harshly.
Praising the work and scolding the author may sound a bit divisive, but it is not contradictory at all.
Yu Hua’s favorite thing to do every day recently is to look through various newspapers to check out readers’ submissions about “Don’t Knock on the Door Tomorrow”.
Watching Lin Weimin being scolded, he felt a sense of pleasure in his heart for some reason, as if all the scolding he had received because of his novel had been shifted to Lin Weimin.
This morning, as he was reading the newspaper, he couldn't help but burst into laughter, which attracted the attention of his colleagues in the editorial department.
Realizing his own gaffe, Yu Hua immediately restrained his expression, but just after a few seconds of seriousness, his eyes glanced at a certain paragraph on the newspaper and he couldn't help but reveal a happy smile on his face.
"In terms of abusing the protagonist, Lin Weimin is even worse than Yu Hua, and is a repeat offender with a long history of bad deeds!"
Yu Hua deeply agreed with this passage. I didn’t write novels like I do now before. If I hadn’t learned from Teacher Lin, how could he have ended up in this situation today... Bah, bah, bah, it is such an outstanding achievement.
It was almost time for lunch, and several colleagues around me stopped their work and started chatting. They talked about the sales of several publications in the company.
"Hey, I heard that the sales of this issue of Contemporary Magazine has exceeded two million copies?"
"You are talking about old news. The 600,000 extra copies were just sent out yesterday. This is going to be 3 million copies."
"Wow, it's only been on the market for a few days!"
"I don't think even three million copies will be enough to stop the sales this time."
"This is amazing! I'm confused. The president's novel is so good, but why is it so popular?"
Several colleagues were discussing this topic seriously, and Yu Hua couldn't help but put down the newspaper and join in.
"Your question is interesting. Where does Teacher Lin get such terrifying appeal among readers? I think everyone is curious about this question," said Yu Hua.
His colleagues saw that he was confident and seemed to have a plan in mind. "Editor-in-chief, you are familiar with the president. Please tell us about it!"
"This has nothing to do with whether you are familiar with it or not. In fact, if you think about it carefully, you will understand. Let me ask you first, how many novels has Teacher Lin written in all these years? Let's just talk about medium-length and long novels, short stories don't count."
After Yu Hua asked the question, several colleagues immediately answered it seriously.
"Insidious, Cliff, and The Sound of the Wind, a trilogy of spy novels."
"The Story of Stealing an Official" and "The Story of Being Promoted."
“The Horse Catcher, The Lover, and The Murderer.”
…
They didn't notice it before counting, but when they really started counting, everyone's expressions gradually became surprised.
19 medium-length and long novels!
A total of 19 medium-length and long novels!
It turns out that Lin Weimin has created so many works.
Among the 19 works, except for the novella "Lush", the rest are all real novels.
Even if we calculate that each novel has 200,000 words, the output is nearly 4 million words, not to mention that there are large works such as "The Horse Catcher", "The Ming Dynasty 1566" and "God Bless America" with 500,000 words or more.
"I have counted this number. Including the recently published "Don't Knock on the Door Tomorrow", it is a total of 5.19 million words."
Yu Hua's tone sounded somewhat proud, as if he had done something great.
Several colleagues were immersed in surprise at Lin Weimin's high productivity and did not think that Yu Hua's doing this was boring.
In the past, they only knew that Lin Weimin had a high yield, but they had never counted it. Now that they heard the specific figures from Yu Hua, they could not hide their surprise at all.
"Isn't the president 40 yet?"
"Born in 1960, I am only 37 years old this year."
"37 years old! He remembered that he started to emerge in the literary world in 1980, and it has only been 17 years. He has written 5.19 million words. Is this number of words almost catching up with Ba Lao?"
"It's different. Ba Lao's works are of various types. Although I haven't counted them, the volume of Ba Lao's novels is definitely much smaller than that of the president."
"You can't count it that way. Prose and essays are also works!"
"But have you ever seen an author who can produce one or two works every year in the past twenty years without interruption? Moreover, all of the president's works are excellent, and some of them are internationally renowned classics!"
Several colleagues argued about the value of Lin Weimin and Ba Lao's works, but they couldn't come to a conclusion. Since ancient times, there has been no best in literature, and arguing about such things will lead to no results.
"Haha, you've been counting for a long time, 19 works, 5.19 million words, this output is very high, right? What about the sales volume?" Yu Hua asked.
"Sales? Need I tell you? Spirited Away has sold nearly 22 million copies, and it's only been a few years. There are also Farewell My Concubine, The Lover, and The Ming Dynasty 1566... Oh, I can't count them all. There are too many. The president has too many popular books."
Yu Hua nodded slightly. "There's no need to talk about the best-selling works. Everyone is familiar with them. Let me ask you, do you know which book has the lowest sales among all the president's works?"
Everyone looked a little hesitant when they heard this, and someone spoke up first, "'Chasing the Murderer', right? I remember when this novel first came out, everyone was complaining that it was too demanding to read, and many people couldn't get into it."
"No, no. Chasing the Murderer is a classic work of avant-garde literature and was extremely popular at the time. At that time, regardless of whether you could understand it or not, it was fashionable for everyone to hold a copy of Chasing the Murderer, just like when everyone followed the trend and bought The Ming Dynasty 1566."
"I think it's "Promotion". Political satire novels have never had a large audience. This novel sold well when it was first published, but it didn't seem to sell so well later."
It is true that Lin Weimin's works are hot-selling, but not everyone pays attention to every work from beginning to end, so we only have a vague idea of the sales of many works many years after publication.
Several people guessed for a long time, but Yu Hua denied all the names he came up with by shaking his head.
"What you said is not true. The novel with the lowest sales is "If You Want To Talk Nicely"."
Two colleagues seemed a little surprised. "No way? I read this novel when I was in high school. It's really well written! And didn't the movie make nearly 100 million yuan at the box office last year? It's so popular!"
"'If You Are the One' was published in the early 1980s. You were all still in school at that time and didn't know the inside story." Yu Hua gave them some basic knowledge. "At that time, scar literature and reform literature were popular, and root-seeking literature was in its infancy. The style of 'If You Are the One' was unique at the time. Everyone was suffering and hating each other, but Teacher Lin suddenly told a story that focused on urban life and about communication between people. It was not well received by some critics and writers at the time."
After listening to Yu Hua's explanation, several young colleagues nodded. They had no idea that "If You Are the One" had such an experience back then.
"Of course. The reviews of the novel "If You Are the One" are not bad, it's just that the style is quite unique. This novel has been published for more than ten years, and the sales volume last year was 1.8 million copies."
1.8 million copies is already an extremely good result for most works of most writers.
But among Lin Weimin's works, this sales result is at the bottom.
“Let’s go back to the question we asked earlier: Why are Mr. Lin’s works so popular?
Think about it, starting from "The Hidden Corner", which of Mr. Lin's works has not maintained extremely high literary and artistic standards?
Over the years, how many loyal readers has he accumulated through the accumulation of good works?
Take you young people for example, have you ever read his novels?
Many people, even if they didn't like watching it before, can't help but watch it when there are people around them.
Do you remember "The Ming Dynasty 1566"? It was said that it was a bedside reading for the elderly, and millions of copies were sold in a rush. Who among those working in the government and public institutions, especially the leading cadres, did not have a copy at home?
And "God Bless America", you have all heard of the comments of the leaders, right? Not to mention those who like reading, even those who don't like reading should find a copy to read.
In addition, there are also many major awards that Teacher Lin has won overseas. These are so many times he has brought glory to the country!
I don’t know if you pay attention to foreign literature, you can collect a few literary magazines or literary review magazines from European and American countries to have a look. Teacher Lin’s popularity in overseas countries may subvert your imagination…”
When Yu Hua said this, someone interrupted him and said, "I think it's more than that."
"It is indeed an honor for the president to win glory for the country. But the thing that left the deepest impression on me was his donation of 10 million RMB to the Hope Project. At that time, I was still in college and my monthly living expenses were only 20 RMB. 10 million RMB, I would never have dared to think of this figure in my dreams.
When the news came out, our classmates in the dormitory and class were in an uproar.
On the one hand, everyone marveled at the president's wealth, and on the other hand, they also respected his broad-mindedness and magnanimity even more.
That's 10 million US dollars, which is more than 80 million RMB now. If you take inflation into account, I think it must be 200 to 300 million. Anyway, I would definitely not be willing to donate it.
I was particularly impressed by what a classmate in our dormitory said at that time, and I still remember it to this day:
They donated 10 million dollars just like that, they deserve to make money.
After he said this, he went to the bookstore and bought all of Teacher Lin's books. He spent more than a month's living expenses. Many people in our class went to buy them. "
"What you said is true now that I remember it. That year, the Hope Project was widely publicized in the news, and our school also organized a donation of a lot of money. The president's donation was really unforgettable. At that time, my father's salary was just 100 yuan."
Recalling their past shared experiences, everyone talked about it with particular enthusiasm, and the content gradually deviated from the original topic and began to discuss Lin Weimin's current wealth.
While a few people were chatting, they heard chaotic footsteps in the corridor.
Yu Hua raised his hand and looked at his watch. "Oh! It's already 11:30. Let's not talk about it for now. The cafeteria has braised lion's head for lunch today. If you go too late, it will be gone."
After saying that, he ignored everyone else and rushed out the door first.
The others immediately stood up after hearing this. Chatting is not as important as eating!
If you miss this lion head meal, you will have to wait another week.
(End of this chapter)
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