The New Year had just passed, and Lin Chaoyang was curious about who would want to call him. When he answered the phone, he found out that it was Zhang Guangnian. The old comrade came up and praised "The Death of Van Gogh" first.

"Chaoyang, your creative style is becoming more and more distinctive and diverse. Especially among the younger generation of writers, it can be said that you are unique.

It is really a joy to have a rising star like you in our literary world..."

Zhang Guangnian said a lot of nice things and went around in circles for a long time before finally secretly asking Lin Chaoyang if he had received the letter from "Selected Novels".

""Selected Novels" has just been launched. The purpose of our literary association is to promote those excellent literary works to a wider audience. These novels of yours are all very outstanding..."

Only then did Lin Chaoyang understand the purpose of his call. It turned out to be to make a good deal with him.

After saying a few words of thanks and chatting for a while, he hung up the phone.

After hanging up the phone, Lin Chaoyang was a little confused. After all, Zhang Guangnian was also the head of the Literary Association and a leading figure in the literary world. Why should he do business with him?

When he went home in the evening, he told Tao Yushu about this matter. She thought about it for a moment and then laughed.

"Let me test you. Do you know that the Han Dynasty had two systems for selecting officials?"

Lin Chaoyang pondered and said, "Are you talking about Chaju and Zhengpi?"

The so-called inspection and promotion means that local administrative officials conduct inspections within their jurisdiction at any time, select talents and recommend them to superiors or the central government. After probation and assessment, they can be appointed as officials.

The so-called conquest refers to the emperor or local officials conscripting prominent local people to serve as officials. The emperor's conscription is called "Zheng", and the local officials' conscription is "Pi". Together they are conscripts.

Both of them select and appoint officials. The difference is that the inspection system is a bottom-up selection, while the levy system is a top-down selection.

But no matter which method is used, there is one core element - the person to be recommended or recruited must be wise or talented.

Under this kind of selection system, there is no doubt that there is huge pressure on those in power if there are talented people in the wild. They can easily be accused of being blind and unaware of others.

After Lin Chaoyang said this, he understood what Tao Yushu meant. He thought about it carefully and found that there was indeed some truth in what he said.

"But Lao Zhang is also the head of the Literary and Art Association..." Lin Chaoyang hesitated.

Tao Yushu said: "You are just here in the mountains. Have you ever thought about a question? How famous are you in the domestic literary circle now?"

"It should be quite big." Lin Chaoyang replied.

"Either it should be, or it's big, and it's very big! Very big!" Tao Yushu emphasized.

"De Ning told me that when "The Wrangler" and "Little Shoes" were published in "Yanjing Literature and Art", the sales of their magazines increased significantly. The same was true when your other works were published in other publications.

.

It's been a year since the single book "Little Shoes" was released, and it has sold hundreds of thousands of copies, right?

"Wreaths Under the Mountains" reached sales of 3 million copies in less than a year, which can be said to be unprecedented.

What does this mean? It shows that your appeal among the readership is absolutely huge.

At least I think that among the younger generation of writers in China, the influence of your works is unique.

If you don't join the Association, it will be like a fishbone stuck in the throats of the leaders of the Association, leaving them in a dilemma.

It’s not because there’s anything wrong with whether you join the Cultural Association or not, but because of the impact of public opinion that will torture them all the time.”

Tao Yushu's words made Lin Chaoyang confused and asked, "If I don't join the Literary and Art Association, why would it have such a big impact?"

"Think about it, do you have any writer friends who haven't joined the Literary and Art Association?"

Lin Chaoyang thought for a while. Among the people he knew, not to mention Liu Xinwu and Wang Zengqi, who were famous, even people like Chen Jiangong who were still in school had joined the literary association.

Not only writers, but also many editors have joined the Literary and Art Association in the past two years.

Since the resumption of work in 1978, literary associations have experienced great development and have attracted a large number of new members. All writers who have achieved some fame have been absorbed by literary associations at all levels.

There are indeed very few cases like Lin Chaoyang who are famous all over the country but have not yet joined the Cultural Association.

"So, of course they want you to join the Literary and Art Association as soon as possible, even if you do nothing," Tao Yushu concluded at the end of his analysis.

She added: "I think he will come to you if there is a chance."

"Then we'll talk about it then. Anyway, he didn't mention this topic today." Lin Chaoyang said casually.

A few days later, with the New Year feeling still lingering, Li Tuo ran to the library to find Lin Chaoyang and said that he wanted to invite all his friends to get together before the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

He wanted to set the gathering place at Lin Chaoyang's home. The main reason was naturally that the Overseas Chinese Apartment was large and had good hardware conditions, and Lin Chaoyang was also good at cooking. Lin Chaoyang happily agreed.

On the second Sunday of the first lunar month, in order to prepare for the party, Lin Chaoyang had been preparing food the night before.

Before nine o'clock in the morning, Li Tuo and Zheng Wanlong showed up at his house carrying two bottles of wine.

"Hey! Did you bring something with you?"

Li Tuo smiled and said: "It's Chinese New Year, how can you come empty-handed?"

He entered the kitchen and asked, "Are you preparing meals so early?"

"It's just preparing food. There are so many of you here. If I have to be busy at noon, I won't be able to eat at night."

Lin Chaoyang said to Li Tuo while packing up the hairtail in his hand.

Li Tuo looked at his skillful movements and gave him a thumbs up, "These few times, you really look like a chef!"

After a while, Zhang Chengzhi came in carrying two kilograms of pork and complained: "No matter it is New Year's or New Year's, it is too laborious to buy some meat."

The meat he was carrying was bought fresh from the grocery store in the morning, and he had to wait in line for almost an hour.

He said hello to Lin Chaoyang's family, looked around the house, and said with envy: "This house in Chaoyang is really luxurious!"

Li Tuo said: "That's right! The conditions of the ministries and commissions buildings in Baiwanzhuang are not as good as here. Otherwise, why is Chaoyang's creative efficiency so high? Can't you write faster if you live in such a big house?"

Zhang Chengzhi joked: "Is this why he writes so quickly?"

After joking for a while, Zhang Chengzhi wanted to go into the kitchen to help, but Lin Chaoyang walked out of the kitchen.

"Okay, everything is almost ready. Just wait until noon to start."

After hearing what he said, several people sat down, and the aroma of jasmine tea filled the living room, making people feel relaxed and happy.

Zhang Chengzhi is considered to have more experience among several people. He was a HWB in his early years, and later went to Inner Mongolia to join the ranks and become an educated youth. In 1972, he was recommended to become a worker, peasant and soldier college student in Inner Mongolia, and studied archeology in the History Department of Yenching University.

After graduating in 1978, I was assigned to work in the archeology group of the Museum of Chinese History. In the same year, I was admitted to the Department of Ethnology, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, where I am still studying.

In 1978, his debut novel "Why the Rider Sings His Mother" was published in the 10th issue of "People's Literature", which caused a lot of response. In the following year, he won the first National Outstanding Short Story Award.

I met Li Tuo at the award ceremony for the Outstanding Short Story Award.

He and Lin Chaoyang met at the housewarming party for Li Tuo's move.

Zhang Chengzhi talked about the novels he had been reading recently by Juan Rulfo, which made Zheng Wanlong confused.

Juan Rulfo is a Mexican writer who became famous in the 1950s and is quite influential in Latin America. However, he is a very unknown name in China today.

His works have not yet been introduced into the country, so when Zhang Chengzhi talks about such a writer, Li Tuo and Zheng Wanlong, two "Tubalists", naturally cannot get in the conversation.

Lin Chaoyang had seen an English version of "The Burning Plain" in the Yanda Library, which is a collection of Juan Rulfo's representative short stories, so he could understand why Zhang Chengzhi liked Juan Rulfo.

blessing.

Because there are several short stories in "The Burning Plain" that describe the lives of Mexican peasants, and the novels all end with the disastrous defeat of the peasant rebel army and the disillusionment of revolutionary ideals.

Zhang Chengzhi has a destiny complex in his heart, otherwise he would not have been HWB back then.

Seeing Lin Chaoyang's lucid analysis of the novel, Zhang Chengzhi was delighted to see him and regarded him as a confidant. He caught him and chatted with Juan Rulfo about García Márquez, the author of "One Hundred Years of Solitude".

Although Juan Rulfo is not as famous as Marquez in the world, his influence on Latin American literature is huge. He influenced a generation of Latin American writers, including Marquez.

Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude" was published in 1967, and the first edition of 5,000 copies sold out in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, within fifteen days.

Within a few months, several editions were printed, and demand still exceeded supply. Half a million copies were sold in three years, and it quickly attracted the attention of European and American publishers.

In just a few months, nearly twenty translation and publishing contracts were signed, including those from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Poland, Hungary and many other European and American countries.

In the following years, the novel won literary awards from various countries one after another. The Italian translation won the Chianciano Award, the French translation won the French Best Foreign Work Award, and the American translation became one of the twelve outstanding works of the year.

Marquez himself also won the Gallegos Prize, the most important literary award in Latin America, in 1972 for One Hundred Years of Solitude. Ten years later, in 1982, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Although the Nobel Prize in Literature is not awarded based on works, "One Hundred Years of Solitude" undoubtedly played an extremely important role in the process of Marquez winning the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Marquez became famous in China because after he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982, the literary magazine "Flower City" translated his speech at the Nobel Prize award ceremony.

"Flower City" is one of the four famous literary journals in China. It was the first time that a well-known Chinese literary magazine introduced the Nobel Prize winner to its readers.

This operation of "City of Flowers" instantly made Marquez famous in China, and almost all literature lovers knew the name of the new Nobel Prize winner in literature.

After that, some domestic publishing houses blatantly pirated Marquez's works and sold them domestically without obtaining his authorization.

So much so that when he visited China in 1990, Marquez became furious when he saw pirated books placed in bookstores, and declared that his works would not be allowed to be published in China for 150 years.

It is now 1981. Marquez did not win the Nobel Prize for Literature, most readers in China do not know him, and his works have not been pirated.

Zhang Chengzhi pulled Lin Chaoyang to talk. Li Tuo and Zheng Wanlong on the side couldn't get into the conversation, and felt a little uncomfortable, like two native dogs looking at a golden retriever.

Your English is good and you can read English novels.

Is it great to know English?
Chapter completed!