dognovel Chapter 67 Symposium
Chapter 67 Symposium
Chen Weidong arrived at the October Magazine office with practiced ease.
"Comrade Weidong is here!"
"Hello, Comrade Weidong!"
"Comrade Weidong, you're here to see Editor Zhang, right? He's inside."
……
As soon as Chen Weidong entered, editors he knew and didn't all greeted him, and he could only respond with a smile.
When he got to Zhang Shouren's side, he felt his face was a little stiff.
"Wei Dong is here. Please have a seat. The meeting will have to wait a while."
Zhang Shouren got up and poured Chen Weidong a cup of hot water.
"fine."
It was Chen Weidong's first time attending a symposium, and he arrived a little early to avoid making a mistake.
"Wei Dong, let me introduce you. This is Liu Xinwu. She used to be an editor at 'October' magazine and now works as an editor in the Literature and Art Editorial Department of Yanjing Publishing House."
Zhang Shouren led Chen Weidong to the conference room and first introduced him to Liu Xinwu. The two seemed to have a good relationship.
"Comrade Weidong, it's a pleasure to meet you. I've watched 'The Herdsman' three times in a row. Shouren said you were young and promising, but I didn't expect you to be this young."
"Editor Liu, I have also read your book 'The Class Teacher,' especially its sections on ideological liberation and artistic democracy, which ushered in a new era for Chinese literature. My book 'The Horse Herder' also drew heavily on these themes."
"Comrade Weidong, you flatter me too much. Just like Shouren, you can call me by my name or Xinwu."
Deep down, Liu Xinwu was quite happy. Although he had heard similar praises many times in the past two years, some even more effusive than Chen Weidong's, he was still very pleased to receive Chen Weidong's compliment.
The three chatted for a while, and more and more people came in. Zhang Shouren then introduced Chen Weidong to each of the literary figures present that day.
"Wei Dong, this is from Weixi, and he just published 'Red Magnolia Under the Great Wall' this year."
"This is Gao Xiaosheng, who just created 'Li Shunda Builds a House'."
"This is Lu Wenfu, he just returned from Suzhou."
"This is Fang Zhi, a writer from Nanshi."
"Wei Dong, this is Chen Huangmei, a literary critic who has just returned to work."
"These two are Lei Da and Yan Gang."
……
The following individuals are all literary critics, some of whom also work as editors for various magazines. Although they rarely write, they still hold a high position in the literary world.
"Comrade Weidong, let me introduce you. This is Feng Mu, the person in charge of the Wenyi Bao (Literary Gazette)."
Having just met many editors, writers, and critics through Zhang Shouren, Chen Weidong was called over by Su Mao again.
"Hello, Editor Feng."
Chen Weidong looked at Feng Mu, who had an ordinary appearance, and was surprised to find that he was the same level of editor-in-chief as Su Mao.
"Comrade Weidong, this is Zhang Guangnian, the editor-in-chief of People's Literature."
"We've long admired Comrade Weidong. We even invited you to write articles, but unfortunately we were too late."
Zhang Guangnian said with regret, "I just heard the news that Chen Weidong has just finished a novel, and judging from Su Mao's words, the quality should be quite good."
"You flatter me. I just returned to Yanjing, and the letter may still be on its way."
"No wonder. We sent the invitation to your old rural post. If you have any suitable manuscripts next time, you can also send them to People's Literature. We accept both novels and novellas."
Zhang Guangnian continued to invite Chen Weidong.
"Comrade Guang Nian, isn't it a bit unruly to poach people right in front of me?"
Su Mao interjected.
"Sister Su, it's my fault. I'm worried about this too. People's Literature is really short of manuscripts lately."
"That won't do. You have to publish an article in 'October'."
"Definitely, definitely."
Chen Weidong watched Su Mao and Zhang Guangnian interact. The two seemed to have a good relationship, otherwise the latter would not have dared to invite him to submit a manuscript to "People's Literature" in front of him.
However, Chen Weidong was somewhat tempted by Zhang Guangnian's invitation, after all, it was People's Literature, and no domestic writer could refuse to publish articles in it.
Although "Trying" is good, it is still a level below "People's Literature".
"Thank you for your kind consideration, Editor-in-Chief Zhang."
"This is Wang Meng, who has previously published novels such as 'Cloth Ceremony' and 'Butterfly'."
"Hello, Comrade Wang Meng. Your novel 'Long Live Youth' is very realistic. I have read it several times."
"Haha, I didn't expect Comrade Weidong to have read 'Long Live Youth,' that's an old almanac."
Wang Meng said with a smile, "You know, 'Long Live Youth' was the first full-length novel I wrote in 1953. More than 20 years have passed since then, and I didn't expect Chen Weidong to have read it."
Men always have a strong impression of their first time.
The meeting was chaired by Su Mao herself. After she gave her opening remarks, everyone began to discuss the topic.
"The novel 'The Herdsman' depicts the reformation experiences of the anti-Japanese faction on a Northwest ranch, touching on the taboo subject of anti-Japanese sentiment. For more than 20 years, no one has dared to write about this period of history directly."
Comrade Chen Weidong possesses courage and a zest for life; this represents a true return to realism.
"It's good that the novel depicts the protagonist maintaining human dignity amidst suffering. But I worry that overemphasizing personal suffering might turn it into 'exposure literature.' We need to expose suffering, but we also need to pay attention to the educational significance of the work."
Another commentator had a different opinion.
"The love scenes in The Herdsman are very moving. In such an extreme environment, people's emotional needs and longing for warmth are a true reflection of human nature. We have been too reluctant to talk about human nature in the past."
An older writer said, "The novel's depiction of the life of the peasants is too 'light'; the grasslands become a haven, which is not in line with historical reality."
Yan Gang: "But it is precisely this 'lightness' that gives readers hope. If it were all darkness, how could literature inspire people?"
"The ending, where Xu Lingjun gives up going abroad, might raise questions among young readers. Why can't he both love his country and study abroad? I suggest strengthening the psychological groundwork in the reprint."
"The novel employs a first-person narrative perspective, interweaving reality and the past, which is artistically innovative. It moves beyond the simple 'three prominences' model and begins to explore psychological description and stream-of-consciousness techniques."
Everyone turned their attention to Wang Meng and Liu Xinwu, who were representative figures in trying out this kind of modern technique. Many of their works used the three-prominent model.
Chen Weidong has recently come to understand the "three prominences" model, which is a new literary technique in the current literary scene. Unlike the traditional model, it highlights positive characters among all characters, heroic characters among positive characters, and the most important central character among heroic characters.
Just like Liu Xinwu's "The Class Teacher," which is a representative work of the three-prominent model.
The novel's character structure is a hero-centric structure with Zhang Junshi as the central figure, surrounded by Secretary Cao, colleague Teacher Yin, and working subjects Song Baoqi, Xie Huimin, and Shi Hong.
The character relationships are mainly portrayed through positive, indirect, and negative perspectives, showing obvious signs of "three prominences" in character development.
……