Why didn’t I understand Chapter 245?
After entering June, Lin Weimin's work and life became busier. He took a few days at the beginning of the month to accompany Arthur Miller, and then he would visit the People's Art Theatre from time to time.
The most important purpose of Mr. Wan's invitation to Arthur Miller to the People's Art Theatre was to introduce a group of representative "foreign operas" to the Theatre.
Arthur Miller is a representative figure in the American theater world. His masterpiece "Death of a Salesman" is a classic on the stage. It became the first foreign play introduced by the People's Art Theatre and was directed by Arthur Miller himself.
Lin Weimin seemed to have returned to the time when he first started working with the People's Art Theatre. Whenever he had free time after work, he would go to the theatre's rehearsal hall.
In the arrangement of Death of a Salesman, the People's Art Theatre put forward its own requirements to Arthur Miller.
Although the story is a foreign one, it still needs to be localized.
The actors do not deliberately play the role of foreigners, do not wear fake headgear or stick on fake noses, and do not use translation accents in their language. They try their best to use spoken expressions that are closer to Mandarin.
Arthur Miller was a great dramatist and naturally understood the importance of localizing drama, so he agreed to the People's Art Theatre's request.
Lin Weimin watched in the rehearsal room as a "foreign opera" that had been born in the United States for decades gradually took on a local style on stage through the continuous processing and polishing of the front and back stage staff. One day, he and Yi Shizhi stood together and joked: "I think the People's Art Theatre can open up a new style, which can be summed up in four words: 'foreign opera with local performances'."
When Yi Shizhi heard his words, his eyes lit up, "Your description is so accurate, a foreign play with local performances, that's right, a foreign play with local performances!"
Lin Weimin never expected that his unintentional remark would eventually develop into the unique comedy style of the People's Art Theatre decades later - "foreign plays with local performances".
In addition to shuttling between the People's Art Theatre and his unit, Lin Weimin's most important job throughout June was to plan the "Contemporary" Novel Creation Seminar, which had been planned by the Guowen Publishing House since last year.
It's really frustrating that a good literary club has to have such a name. Fortunately, such names were very common in the 1980s and the style is not too incongruous.
What is the most important thing about a writing conference?
Of course it’s people!
No matter they are senior figures in the literary world or rising stars, as long as we can invite them, no one will be let go. The more people come, the more articles will be written to praise the writing club.
Once there are more articles, they will naturally be published in newspapers and magazines. Wouldn't that increase your reputation?
The Taihu Writers' Meeting was held, and Zhongshan took advantage of the opportunity to rise. Huacheng became famous because of the Pengcheng Writers' Meeting...
This is what writers' clubs across the country do.
"Contemporary" is now poised to be on par with "Harvest" among the mainstream literary magazines in China, so holding a writers' conference there cannot be shabby.
Lin Weimin planned to call everyone who could be moved to Yantai, even those who couldn't be moved...
It’s not a big problem, just carry it onto the train.
For more than half a month, Lin Weimin's daily work basically consisted of writing letters, replying to letters, making phone calls, and returning phone calls.
"Weimin, how's the contact going?" Meng Weizai called Lin Weimin that day.
"There are now sixty-two people confirmed to be able to come."
This number is far from the standard in Lin Weimin's mind.
Meng Weizai nodded, "Yes, this number is fine."
"Leader, we have finally managed to get this done, so of course the more people we have, the better."
Meng Weizai smiled and said, "Quality of people is more important than quantity."
Lin Weimin nodded. The list of participants in this "Yantai Writers' Conference" was indeed impressive.
The Guowen Society was mobilized in full force.
As a heavyweight publishing house, the foundation of Guowen Press is unquestionable.
Many editors in the company are also translators and writers, from the earliest Feng Xuefeng and Lou Shiyi to the current Yan Wenjing, Wei Junyi, Qin Chaoyang and others.
Then there is the network of authors accumulated since its founding in the 1950s, and the restoration of order in the late 1970s. In recent years, there are the young and middle-aged writers who have been cultivated and contacted, such as Ma Jicai, Jiang Zilong, Gu Hua, Lu Yao, Cheng Zhongshi, Huang Anyi, Liu Xinwu, Liang Xiaosheng, Ma Yuan, Yu Hua, Mo Yan, etc.
To put it bluntly, in the domestic publishing field, if we only rely on connections, apart from the China Literary Association, no publication can compete with the China Literature Publishing House.
"It's enough if the number of people is about right. The most important thing is how much results can be produced during the writing conference and the subsequent impact. You need to work hard in this regard." Meng Weizai reminded.
"knew."
"By the way, how's the contact with Yantai going?"
"The government is very cooperative, and the accommodation is tentatively set at Dongshan Hotel. I will go to Yantai in a few days to inspect it in advance. The club has already arranged the basic activities. I will go there to finalize everything and then come back to meet with everyone."
Meng Weizai heard Lin Weimin's clear and organized speech and patted his shoulder with satisfaction.
“Well done!”
Lin Weimin complained in his heart, but this has ruined the free time for you and Lao Tan.
Two days later, Lin Weimin set off for Yantai for an inspection and returned to Yanjing only after finalizing all the accommodation, food, transportation and activities involved during the writers' conference.
After returning, he spent another day documenting the entire writing process and handed it to Meng Weizai.
Meng Weizai flipped through the documents in his hand and nodded with satisfaction, "You really put a lot of effort into the people! If I give this document to Old Yan, he will definitely receive praise."
Lin Weimin looked tired. "As long as you are satisfied, that's all. I will take a rest for the next two days. I have been running too hard these days, so I need to slow down."
"no problem!"
Old Meng waved his hand and readily agreed to Lin Weimin's request for leave.
After resting at home for two days, Lin Weimin finally regained his spirits. The first thing he saw when he returned to work at the Guowen Publishing House was the sample copy of "The Horse Tamer" on the table.
"Hey, it's finally out."
It has been nearly half a year since "The Horse Tamer" was published in January this year, and it is finally going to be published.
"Hey, Weimin, how many copies were printed in the first print run?" Liu Yin asked curiously.
"Five hundred thousand copies!"
The number of subscriptions to post offices and bookstores across the country reached a staggering 350,000 copies. The year before last, when Lu Yao's "Life" was so popular, the number of subscriptions was only 130,000 copies.
"No wonder the society treats you as a treasure now!" Liu Yin sighed.
The first print run was 500,000 copies, with the goal of selling millions of copies. Liu Yin didn't know how to describe the publishing house's behavior.
Isn't this confidence a bit too blind?
But if you think carefully about Lin Weimin's performance in the past two years, it seems very reasonable.
"You're such a monster!"
Lin Weimin didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Hey! Look what I have in my hand?" Zhu Changsheng walked into the office with an excited look on his face, waving a booklet in his hand.
"What?" Everyone looked over curiously.
Zhu Changsheng put the booklet in his hand on the desk, and everyone realized it was a magazine.
"Youth Literature?"
"That's right, our great writer Lin's rebellious work was published here." Zhu Changsheng joked.
Everyone laughed when they heard this. The so-called "rebellious work" naturally referred to the avant-garde novel "Chasing the Murderer" that Lin Weimin handed over to "Youth Literature". This issue of "Youth Literature" had just been on the market for only two days, and no one had time to read it yet.
The editors in the editorial department read an astonishing amount of books every day, so naturally there has to be a standard for balance. For a publication like "Youth Literature", people may not be able to read it until half a month after it is on the market. Zhu Changsheng bought the magazine so early this time, purely out of curiosity about what Lin Weimin's novel was about.
Zhu Changsheng took out "Youth Literature" and showed it off for a while before putting it away. Naturally, he wanted to have a sneak peek at the magazine he bought.
Since he had nothing to do in the morning, he made himself a cup of tea and turned the magazine directly to the page of "Chasing the Murderer".
Time passed by unknowingly. Zhu Changsheng didn't know how much time had passed before he suddenly woke up. When he looked at the time, it was already ten o'clock in the morning.
He looked up at his colleagues, and saw that everyone was busy with the work at hand.
Then he looked down at the magazine in his hand. How come I didn’t understand this novel after reading it for such a long time?
Zhu Changsheng hesitated.
How about watching it for a while longer?
Anyway, work also involves reading manuscripts. Am I not reading manuscripts now? Even though it has been published.
Thinking of this, he felt much more at ease.
I'll just watch it for a while, and then I'll stop watching it once I understand it.
Zhijiang, Haiyan County.
On the street in front of the cultural center, Yu Hua was dressed coolly, had a sloppy hairstyle, and looked sleepy.
Seeing his image, people can't help but think of the overly decadent work of the cultural center.
"Haiping!" Yu Hua waved to an equally decadent figure not far away.
The two of them met together, each with a bowl of Beijing rice noodles, and ate their breakfast in silence.
"I heard that Contemporary Magazine invited you to Yantai to attend a writers' conference?" asked the young man named Haiping.
"Yes, Teacher Lin called and insisted that I go. I'm so busy at work..."
Haiping looked at Yu Hua speechlessly and said, "If you can chat for a while, then chat for a while. If you can't, then hurry up and eat breakfast."
"Well..." Yu Hua also realized that his pretense was very unnatural, "Have you read the novel in Youth Literature?"
"Which one?"
“The one written by Teacher Lin!”
“I have.”
Yu Hua looked expectantly, "How is it? How is it?"
Claiming to be Mr. Lin's number one fan, Yu Hua attaches great importance to every work of Mr. Lin.
He not only reads, but also analyzes Lin's ideas during the creative process. It is with this method that Yu Hua has made rapid progress in just over a year. He has a deeper respect and admiration for Lin Weimin and often feels that his progress today is all thanks to Lin.
He also attaches great importance to the reading experience and evaluation of Teacher Lin's works by people around him. Every time Teacher Lin's works are published, he always recommends them to everyone and listens to everyone's feelings and evaluation after reading them.
He felt that this would help him look at Teacher Lin's work objectively, and not lead him into blind admiration because of his excessive love for it.
Haiping's tone was a little hesitant, "How should I put this?"
First update, second update at noon.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
