Hong Zicheng, Xie Mian and others stayed at Tao's house for almost two hours, chatting until about three o'clock in the afternoon before leaving with unfinished content. Today's conversation will inevitably produce several reviews or papers after a while.
In front of them, Lin Chaoyang was just like the BOSS in the game, purely used to gain experience.
After a few people left, Tao Yucheng said with wonder in his tone: "As soon as "Crossing the Guandong" was published, Chaoyang's reputation seems to have reached a new level!"
"There is no level of quality. It's just that everyone is curious about the work and wants to talk to me."
Tao Yucheng said: "Don't be humble. I have heard a lot of discussions about your novel in our school, and it has received rave reviews.
When the trend of root-seeking literature became popular a while ago, some students in our school scolded you. This time, as soon as "Crossing Guandong" came out, there was no movement at all!"
Tao Yushu asked doubtfully: "What else is there?"
"Isn't that right? As students, you can follow the wind. Some time ago, there was a fierce quarrel in the root-seeking literature. Some people simply wanted to be new and different, and they wanted to join in the fun and criticize Chaoyang.
In the past few days, as soon as "Crossing the Guandong" came out, everyone said that "Crossing the Guandong" was the first work of root-seeking literature, and those who opposed it couldn't find an angle to criticize it from.
It’s really well written, I’ve been reading it recently.”
Tao Yumo echoed: "Originally, Yanjing Publishing House published "One Hundred Years of Solitude" this month, which caused a stir among the students in our school. Almost everyone who loves literature has a copy.
But this time after my brother-in-law's "Enter the Guandong" was published, "One Hundred Years of Solitude" caused less commotion among the students in our school, and all of them were discussing "Enter the Guandong"."
The publication of "Enter Guandong" suppressed the discussion of the just-published "One Hundred Years of Solitude", which of course does not mean that the former is better than the latter.
No matter how popular "One Hundred Years of Solitude" is, it is only a work by a foreign writer. The reader base accumulated by Lin Chaoyang in the years since his debut is definitely not comparable to that of "One Hundred Years of Solitude".
However, from the perspective of public opinion dissemination, the influence displayed after the publication of "Crossing the Guandong" has indeed exceeded the level that ordinary contemporary literary works should have, and even exceeded the impact of any previous works by Lin Chaoyang.
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For example, after the end of May Day, an article appeared in "Yanjing Literature" titled "Crossing Guandong: A Shocking Art Peak", and the article was signed by Li Tuo.
This article was written by Li Tuo after reading the full version of "Crossing the Guandong" at Lin Chaoyang's house. The full text is filled with uncontrollable love for this novel and is full of praise. For Lin Chaoyang, the author, he is even more fond of it.
It is praised to the extent that it makes some people feel uncomfortable.
"...This is a grand national epic, a colorful and magnificent historical picture, with a full text of more than 600,000 words spanning from the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China to the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, spanning the two historical stages of the feudal era and the democratic republic.
In the past thirty years, the world has witnessed vicissitudes of life, political turmoil, warlord separatism, and bullying by foreign powers... Ancient China has experienced cruel and tragic hardships one after another.
Xu Lingjun condensed this era of great turmoil and change into the rise and fall of a family between white mountains and black waters, with exquisite conception, ups and downs, and intertwined hatred of family and country.
On the historical stage carefully constructed by Xu Lingjun, scenes of thrilling and enlightening human life dramas were performed on the ancient land.
As far as the author is lucky enough to have an overview of the full text in advance, "Crossing the Guandong" is undoubtedly an excellent literary work that combines historical depth, grand narrative and national cultural value...
All of this is of course inseparable from the contribution of the author Xu Lingjun, who has a profound understanding and unique insights into traditional Chinese culture, which has been fully demonstrated in his works.
He fully combined complex history with folklore and local customs, showing a profound cultural heritage.
His superb narrative skills make the story rich and fascinating, the text smooth and natural, and the structure rigorous, allowing readers to gain great enjoyment during the reading process...
The success of "Crossing Guandong" proves that Xu Lingjun has stood at the forefront of contemporary Chinese literature. He has profound thoughts, rich emotions, and full of humanistic feelings. He has contributed an outstanding treasure to the treasure house of Chinese literature and set a good example for contemporary Chinese literary circles.
It has reached an insurmountable artistic peak and deserves to be cheered by all readers!"
The content of "Crossing Guandong: A Shocking Art Peak" undoubtedly has a strong subjective color on the part of the author. For many ideal writers and critics, Li Tuo's actions are obviously unfair.
So much so that it will make everyone feel a little disgusted, and it simply has no literati character.
For the vast majority of simple readers, they feel an inexplicable sense of refreshment after reading it. This refreshment comes from a strong sense of identity with consistent values ​​and aesthetics.
But while they felt refreshed, readers were also dissatisfied. Many readers wrote letters to the editorial board of "Yenjing Literature" to express their thoughts.
Only a small part of the letters praised the content of the article. Most of the remaining letters mainly accused Li Tuo of spoiling the second half of the novel in advance in the article. Letters from readers were full of dissatisfaction and indignation.
"Crossing Guandong" was published in "Flower City" in two issues. Readers have only read half of the content now and will have to wait until June 20 to see the complete content.
The full text of "Crossing Guandong: A Shocking Art Peak" has tens of thousands of words. Although most of the content is explanatory, it inevitably mentions a little bit about the plot of the novel. There are more than 100 words that summarize the second half of the novel.
The plot of the department.
The novel was originally published in two installments, and readers were looking forward to seeing the second half soon, but Li Tuo suddenly made such a move, and those readers who had read the first half felt sicker than eating flies.
Spoilers for this kind of thing, you either don't show any of it, or you show it all, like a constipated donkey dung egg, half-covered, who are you disgusting with?
Letters like snow flew to the editorial office of "Yenjing Literature", and the readers' resentment and anger pierced everyone through the letter paper and words.
"Li Tuo has really stirred up a hornet's nest this time, everyone is scolding him!"
Zhang Dening's tone contained a bit of schadenfreude, and the current situation was really bizarre.
"Enter Guandong" is very popular, and Li Tuo also praised the novel and the author when he wrote the novel. Logically speaking, it should be welcomed by readers, but now all the letters from readers are scolding.
Liu Heng said with a smile: "I said you should ask him to delete the part describing the plot. Now is the best."
"I want to delete it, but he has to agree to it! Asking him to delete it is like killing him. I think he is almost becoming Chaoyang's bitch."
Zhang Dening has a cheerful and carefree temperament, but her jokes went off the rails a bit. Zhou Yanru coughed and reminded her: "Don't talk nonsense, pay attention to the impact!"
Comparing a well-known writer to a bitch would be very offensive if word spread.
Zhang Dening realized that he had made a mistake, so he immediately shut up and changed the subject: "Looking at the reactions of these readers, the impact of "Crossing Guandong" is indeed not that big this time. It only revealed a little bit of the plot."
Wang Jie said: "From our professional perspective as editors, there is no doubt that this novel is good. However, the strong response from the readers is indeed a bit exaggerated. I remember that the same was true for "Song of Youth" that I edited back then.
It became popular across the country, but it didn’t cause such a wave.”
"It was different. At that time, it was said to be popular across the country, but in fact the audience was still small, and the literacy rate had not improved.
In recent years, the number and enthusiasm of literary lovers has far exceeded that of that time. Chaoyang's novel has been highly anticipated and has been clamoring for two or three months in the literary circles and reader groups.
Now that it has finally surfaced, and with its extraordinary quality, it has not disappointed everyone, this sentiment will naturally go further." Liu Heng analyzed rationally.
Wang Jie nodded, "Speaking of which, the current situation is not something that ordinary works can handle. There was a lot of buzz before it was published, and readers' expectations have been raised so high."
"Yes, I can only say that the quality is too outstanding."
The discussion about "Crossing the Guandong" within the editorial department of "Yanjing Literature" is a microcosm of today's domestic literary circles and reader groups.
Guangzhou at the same time, inside the old building in Dashatou.
Li Shifei, editor-in-chief of "Flower City" and editor-in-chief of Huacheng Publishing House, is having a conversation with president Su Chen that may change the fate of the publishing house.
"This is a big step!" Su Chen sighed, with a look of melancholy on his face.
Li Shifei advised: "Lao Su, this is also a measure to adapt to the market-oriented economy. Now that Lin Chaoyang is the pioneer, it is an excellent opportunity for us."
Seeing that Su Chen was silent, he continued to persuade: "Reforms have always been carried out only when they have to be forced to do so, and in the end they often have to experience the pain of the skin.
In fact, we can think about the problem from another angle. Why can't we carry out reforms when we are at our peak?
This will certainly bring great resistance, but the labor pain will undoubtedly be minimal."
Su Chen looked at him, "Since it is reform, there will be successes and failures. Have you ever thought about what will happen if you fail?"
Li Shifei said fearlessly: "What else can be done? The worst is that I, the editor-in-chief, will quit!"
"You said it's easy. Where's the unit? How do we explain to the superiors and how do we explain to the subordinates?"
Li Shifei shook his head and said: "Lao Su, I think you take this matter too seriously. In the final analysis, the royalty system is for the publishing house and the writer to share risks. Don't you know the basic royalties + print-run royalties model?
Are there any disadvantages?”
When he said this, a somewhat depressed look appeared on his face, "Not counting the magazines "Flower City" and "Essays", the company publishes nearly a hundred kinds of books a year. How many books can really make money?
When a book is published, the writer will get as little as one or two thousand, or as much as three to five thousand. For books that sell less than ten thousand or twenty thousand copies, we can't even make back the royalties paid to the writers.
Isn’t there a risk?”
"You don't understand!" Su Chen frowned, as if he had something to hide.
"I understand very well!" Li Shifei said decisively, "Isn't it just to take into account the influence of public opinion? Lao Su, after all our Huacheng Publishing House is at the forefront of reform and opening up, are we still afraid of being the first to lead the world?
You have seen this issue of "Flower City". It's only half a month, only half a month, and the sales volume is about to reach 1 million copies. You know what this means!
"Crossing Guandong" was published in two issues, and the sales volume created for "Flower City" will not be less than 5 million copies. This is almost the sales volume that could only be created in the past year and a half. Sales volume is the benefit!
Will the sales of such a work be poor?
I wrote to Chaoyang and talked about it. The total sales volume of "Garland Under the Mountain" has now exceeded the 10 million copy mark.
With the potential shown by "Enter Guandong" now, even if it does not reach the terrifying sales volume of 10 million copies, it will always have sales of 3 to 5 million copies.
We have finally reached a cooperation with Chaoyang. Do you want to watch this opportunity slip away from your hands?
This kind of opportunity is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our publisher!"
Li Shifei stared at his old partner and spoke loudly.
Su Chen looked at him, his eyes gradually changing from hesitant to firm, "It doesn't matter. I'm an old man, so just do whatever you want. Just do what you want."
He paused and said, "Yanjing, I'll go with you!"
Chapter completed!