Faced with the sudden arrival of the novel manuscript, not only the editors were surprised, but even Li Shifei, the author, was at a loss.
Is this the manuscript he asked for? A "One Hundred Years of Solitude" style work?
Li Shifei really wanted to call Lin Chaoyang and ask. It was promised for three to five years, but you finished it in less than a year. Did you mean to fool me?
But looking at the thickness of the manuscript, he silently retracted the idea.
Which writer can write hundreds of thousands of manuscripts by fooling around?
There is such a thick stack of 500-square manuscript paper. According to Li Shifei's experience, this novel should have at least 600,000 words.
Not to mention anything else, this word count alone is not something that ordinary writers can write.
Li Shifei still remembered that he wrote a letter to Lin Chaoyang at the beginning of the year. Lin Chaoyang also said that he would go to his hometown to collect information and collect materials. Later, he wrote another letter. He probably only started writing this novel in May or June.
In less than nine months, a masterpiece of 600,000 words was written. What kind of level is this?
Li Shifei is an editor as well as a writer, and he is well aware of the difficulty involved.
Not to mention other things, even copying 600,000 words from a novel, 10,000 words a day, would still take two or three months, not to mention that Lin Chaoyang constructed such a grand narrative from scratch.
The works come.
When Li Shifei received the manuscript of the novel, he recalled his correspondence with Lin Chaoyang this year. Apart from revealing some of the plot and character concepts to him, Li Shifei never emphasized the progress of the creation.
He had previously thought that such a work would take three to five years, but only after receiving the manuscript did he realize that he had underestimated Lin Chaoyang.
Not only did he underestimate his creative ability, but he also underestimated his creative efficiency.
Looking at today's Chinese literary world, there are probably very few people who can stand shoulder to shoulder with such efficient creation.
Lin Chaoyang sent the manuscript over without any advance notice, which really gave him a huge surprise.
After the initial surprise, Li Shifei directly "appropriated the manuscript" and used the power of editor-in-chief to preview it.
He just wanted to see what the quality of the "One Hundred Years of Solitude" style work that Lin Chaoyang spent nine months writing would be like.
Recalling this, Li Shifei showed a wry smile on his face. What a big surprise!
But Lin Chaoyang's surprise for him was far from over.
At the beginning of the manuscript appointment, Li Shifei had the idea of ​​​​"take it from the top and get it from the inside". But after he read the entire novel, Li Shifei's idea was completely changed.
This is not "take it from above, get it from it", but truly "get it from above, get it from above".
Chaoyang, Chaoyang, you really gave me a big surprise.
Li Shifei's eyes couldn't help but turn to the manuscript. Three big characters were written on the front page - "Crossing Guandong".
The term "Crossing Guandong" is not unfamiliar to the Chinese.
In a broad sense, people from Shanhaiguan and beyond have left Shanhaiguan to make a living, which can be said to be "traveling to Guandong".
In a narrow sense, it refers to the history of the people in Guandong who came to Guandong to make a living due to drought, famine, war and other disasters during the historical period from the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China.
The "Crossing the Guandong" in the novel "Crossing the Guandong" is the "Crashing the Guandong" in the narrow sense.
The novel tells the story of the protagonist Zhu Kaishan and his family, who came to Baishan and Heishui from their hometown in Shandong due to war and famine in the late Qing Dynasty.
They earned their first pot of gold through gold panning and ginseng picking. They also dealt with bandits, government officials, fellow travelers, and feudal leaders. They escaped from death time and time again, and finally had their own farm.
However, the local wealthy gentry regarded them as "foreigners". After a difficult struggle, the Zhu family and the locals became life-and-death brothers.
In order to seek development, Zhu Kaishan led his family to Harbin. However, they were squeezed out and bullied by the "Rehe Gang" businessmen. After paying the price for the struggle, both parties realized that only by working together can EMI prosper.
Later, in order to follow the trend of the times of industrial power, Zhu Kaishan took the lead in opening coal mines. In order to safeguard national interests and national sovereignty, he fought with Japanese colonists and killed Japanese officers.
Finally, under the fire of the "September 18th Incident", Zhu Kaishan's family embarked on a new road of adventure.
The novel has a grand perspective and a time span of an astonishing thirty years. It describes a majestic epic of thirty years of social changes among the white mountains and black waters of Northeast China. Such depth and breadth of creation are extremely rare in today's Chinese literary world.
of.
The work also has ups and downs in the story design, with thousands of twists and turns. It stands to reason that for such a large work, there will inevitably be some straightforward narratives in the novel.
But after Li Shifei finished reading the novel, he felt that every part of the novel was wonderful and attractive, and there was no sense of cumbersomeness from beginning to end.
The character creation in the novel is even more outstanding. Zhu Kaishan, Wen'er Tainiang, Zhu Chuanwen, Zhu Chuanwu, Zhu Chuanjie, Xian'er, and Na Wen's named characters are all vivid and vivid.
Even the characters that are mentioned briefly, such as Old Bat, Tian Waitian and other characters, have distinctive personalities and are unforgettable.
After reading the novel, Li Shifei can say with certainty that when it comes to writing about characters in the Chinese literary world, no one can write better than Lin Chaoyang.
Li Shifei recalled the specific plot in the novel. If he wanted to summarize it, he could probably use three words to describe it - big, new and strange.
Big - means the subject matter is grand, the content of the story is large, and the ideological connotation is big;
New - the creative concept is innovative. At least in Li Shifei's impression, there has never been a work in the Chinese literary world that has described in such detail and richly the history of ethnic migration that has almost been sealed into history books;
Strange - is the legend, the strange. Gold diggers, theater troupes, platoon gangs, bandits, stragglers, ups and downs of the business world, national struggles, hatred between the country and the family, can accommodate such rich elements and content in a novel, and make people read
Lai Jinyouwei's writing skills alone make him, a thirty-year veteran editor, admire him.
The subject matter, concept, story, characters, connotation, and every aspect of the literary work are outstanding.
Combining the folk customs outside the pass with the vast white mountains and black waters, it depicts not only a colorful, desolate and tragic historical picture, but also the tenacious vitality, tenacious endurance, and unyielding struggle of the Chinese nation against hardships and hardships.
national spirit.
Thinking of this, Li Shifei couldn't help but feel sincere admiration for Lin Chaoyang. It was hard for him to imagine that such a work full of historical heritage and epic magnanimity was written by Lin Chaoyang within nine months.
It is truly a magnificent masterpiece!
With a sigh in his heart, Li Shifei put pen to paper.
"This is a solid, rich novel that is both readable and historically profound. It is a good work that has both cognitive and aesthetic value.
1. This work embodies a more realistic view of history. It can be said to be highly vivid and truly depicts the historical environment and political tide from the late Qing Dynasty to the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War.
2. This work reflects the appearance of China's rural and urban areas in Northeast China from the late Qing Dynasty to the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War through the complex entanglements between two generations of the Zhu family. It is also accurate and in-depth.
There was a period in the past when we used the simple view of class struggle to rule everything, but facts have proven that this is not consistent with historical reality.
"Crossing Guandong" shows the author's calmness and courage at this point, and as a literary work, it appears to be fresh, profound, and accurate..."
A review review contains a thousand words, and Li Shifei hardly stops writing. In his more than thirty years of editing career, he has only written review reviews of such length a handful of times.
After writing this review review, he still had some unfinished ideas.
The review comments are written from the editor's perspective. In order to reflect professionalism, they must not contain too much personal emotions and subjective emotions.
After Li Shifei put down his pen, he thought about it, turned over another page of manuscript paper, and picked up the pen.
This time, he wanted to express his love for the novel "Crossing Guandong".
As he was writing this, he lost track of time, and even more so his wife's advice. By the time he stopped writing, the sky was already turning white.
Li Shifei felt bad and thought about sneaking back to bed and pretending to sleep for a while. He didn't want to sit for too long that night and his legs were already numb.
The friction between the chair and the floor made a piercing whine, and his old waist, which was in disrepair, went into strike due to the sudden movement.
"Ouch!"
My wife, who had been a light sleeper, was awakened by his movements. When she got up, she saw him staggering and leaning against his desk.
Seeing her getting up, Li Shifei immediately showed a flattering smile on his face.
"Oh! I didn't want to wake you up, but it's a pity that this old waist is useless."
He held his waist and exaggerated the three-point pain into seven-point pain, which indeed extinguished the complaints and nagging that his wife was about to say.
He Xian helped him back to the bed, rubbed his waist, and finally couldn't help but said: "Tell me, why are you messing around during the New Year? It's better this time. You don't have to go out to pay New Year greetings. You can wait for others to give you at home.
Happy New Year!"
Li Shifei smiled and said: "This is good. It saves red tape and worries."
"Okay, don't talk nonsense. I haven't slept all night, so go get some sleep. Someone will definitely come to pay New Year's greetings later."
He Xian felt sorry for her husband and pressed Li Shifei down to let him sleep.
Sure enough, before eight o'clock, guests came to the house to pay New Year's greetings.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, it is a courtesy for people to come to pay New Year greetings. Even if Li Shifei sprains his waist, he still has to say a few auspicious words to others.
Lin Xianzhi of the editorial department was transferred to "Flower City" by Li Shifei from the countryside. Therefore, Lin Xianzhi has always regarded Li Shifei as a teacher and a father over the years, and he was the first to come to pay New Year's greetings early.
When Lin Xianzhi saw him twisting his waist, he couldn't help but expressed some concern, and Li Shifei then talked about "Crossing the Guandong".
"Is this novel really as good as you say?"
Lin Xianzhi was a little incredulous when he heard Li Shifei's high praise for "Into the Guandong". In his impression, the editor-in-chief had never spoken so highly of any novel.
Li Shifei said with emotion: "Maybe it's because this is a manuscript I asked myself. I have also witnessed the process of this novel coming from scratch, and there may be some personal emotions mixed in it."
Then he said: "But I still insist that this is a masterpiece of magical realism that shows the author's maturity.
Its grand scale is rare among literary works after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and its rigorous structure is not inferior to famous works such as "Midnight" and "In Search of Lost Time".
Everywhere shows real power and exquisite characterization.
To be honest, after reading the novel last night, I couldn’t stop crying.
Life is so rich and complex that no great work can exhaust its richness and complexity.
But the contribution of "Crossing Guandong" in revealing the richness and complexity of life is groundbreaking and successful.
I have said so much, but the most successful aspect of this novel lies in the depth of its thoughts. This is a masterpiece that explores the essence of life.
Of course, I dare not say that it is flawless. Every literary work has its advantages and disadvantages, but I am certain of one thing.
"Crossing Guandong" may have weak writing, but it is definitely not a failure. On this point alone, it is better than 99% of the works we have seen.
By the end of reading it, it was actually hard for me to distinguish what style it was.
Magical realism? Critical realism? Or realism?
I can’t care about that much. I only know that it is a good work, an excellent work, and it is an excellent work that will hopefully leave its name in history.
It is majestic and charming.
In the future, when Lin Chaoyang aspires to be named 'Master', this work can be used as a jade pillar to support the sky."
Li Shifei was leaning on the head of the bed, talking endlessly, as if he was singing praises.
If others recommend a work to Lin Xianzhi in this way, he will definitely sneer at it. No matter how good a literary work is, it is written by people. There are still many famous works that do not live up to their reputation. How can a contemporary writer write something good?
But now he is facing Li Shifei, the man who brought him into the palace of literature. Even if Lin Xianzhi does not believe in his own aesthetics, he will not distrust his judgment.
What's more, there is the pearl of "Crossing the Boat" in front of me.
Lin Xianzhi rubbed the manuscript in his hand and his eyes fell on the title of the book on the first page.
The three words "Crossing Guandong" seemed to have a kind of magic power, firmly imprisoning his mind.
"Xianzhi!" Suddenly, Li Shifei grabbed Lin Xianzhi's wrist tightly. His eyes were serious and he said to Lin Xianzhi word by word:
"You and I are witnessing the historical process of contemporary Chinese literature!"
As soon as these words came out, Lin Xianzhi was shocked.
Chapter completed!