Chapter 648 647 "The Tide Turns, and Next Year It Will Be My Turn."

The weather is good today. The winter sun is warm on people. Fang Minghua is sitting in the courtyard drinking tea. Bai Miao is sitting opposite him.

He seems to be in a good mood.

"Bai Miao, you are doing a good job as editor-in-chief. Why do you suddenly quit?" Fang Minghua asked.

Bai Miao put down the teacup in his hand and looked at Fang Minghua: "Minghua, don't you notice that I have aged a lot in the past few years?"

Fang Minghua looked carefully and found that he had white hair on his temples.

In fact, Bai Miao is only 35 years old this year, only two years older than Fang Minghua.

"The job of editor-in-chief is really not for humans." Bai Miao sighed again.

"Bai Miao, your words are mean. You scold me, you, and Chairman Chen." Fang Minghua laughed and scolded.

Bai Miao was not the president and editor-in-chief of "Yanhe" due to health reasons. As a result, the higher-ups sent a new president, and the editor-in-chief position was temporarily held by Chen Zhongshi.

History returned to its original trajectory.

Bai Miao laughed and said, "I'm telling the truth. I went to the hospital for a checkup some time ago, and the doctor said I have severe neurasthenia and anxiety."

"Anxiety? So serious?" Fang Minghua was shocked.

"Do you think I'm pretending to quit because of illness? Seeing the magazine's sales declining day by day, how can I not be anxious? At the beginning of every month, I can't sleep all night. I can't get good manuscripts, and I can't make the editor-in-chief's recommendation for the next issue. I'm anxious." Bai Miao sighed deeply.

"It's not your fault. Now all the major serious literary magazines, whether it's "Contemporary" or "People's Literature", are not doing well. The golden age of pure literature has passed." Fang Minghua comforted.

"So, while the sales of Yanhe are still acceptable, I will resign and come to the Writers Association to write some articles and study jade as a way to retire.

At the Fourth Congress of the Provincial Writers Association, Bai Miao was also elected as the Vice Chairman of the Writers Association. In addition to being an editor and writing articles, he also has a big hobby, which is to study jade and is also very interested in jade culture.

After hearing what Bai Miao said, Fang Minghua smiled and said, "Bai Miao, you are only two years older than me and in your prime, and you actually want to retire? How about this, the second World Chinese Literature Award is about to start preparations, how about you come and help me?"

"Okay, doing this is my strong point, and more importantly, it is not like running a magazine, there is not much pressure!" Bai Miao agreed immediately.

"Then let's talk about it. "

According to Fang Minghua's plan, the Preparatory Office for the Second World Chinese Literature Award will be established around the Spring Festival. From April to July, submissions will be solicited from literary enthusiasts around the world, and all literary works that meet the selection criteria in the two years of 1992-1993 will be collected.

Then the reading class and the jury members will review and discuss the manuscripts one by one, and the awards will be presented at the end of the year or the beginning of next year.

It is not difficult for Bai Miao to set up a preparatory office and hire members of the reading class and the jury.

The temporary seconded personnel are naturally seconded from the Writers Association and Yanhe Magazine. He is now the vice chairman of the Writers Association and has served as the president and editor-in-chief of the magazine. It is very simple to find a few capable people to help.

As the president and editor-in-chief of the magazine for nearly five years, he has a certain status in the literary world and has established good relationships with many domestic writers, literary critics and even peer editors. , now it is not too difficult to invite the right person to participate in the selection of the grand prize.

The first World Chinese Literature Award caused a great sensation in the literary circles at home and abroad, which is conducive to the smooth development of the second literature award.

More importantly, the reading class and the jury members are given a lot of work subsidies, which also makes many people happy to be invited.

Bai Miao actively participated in this activity and took the initiative to take on this job, which Fang Minghua was very happy to do.

In fact, according to his idea, it is best to pay for it himself. If you let others do it, of course you have to find someone who is both capable and trustworthy.

Bai Miao is the best candidate.

As the two were chatting, the doorbell rang again. Fang Minghua went to open the door and found that Lu Yao was standing at the door with a black briefcase in his armpit.

The artificial leather that was peeling in the early years has now been replaced with real leather.

"Brother Lu, come in." Fang Minghua greeted warmly.

"Haha, come and take a look if you have nothing to do. "Lu Yao smiled as he entered the courtyard, and saw Bai Miao sitting on a rattan chair drinking tea leisurely.

"Hey, Bai Miao, why are you drinking tea here with Minghua? I said you are doing a good job as the editor-in-chief, why did you resign?"

"If I don't resign, how can I have the time to drink tea here?" Bai Miao said with a smile, and asked back:

"Lu Yao, look at what you said, as if the editor-in-chief of "Yanhe" must be me? Then I ask you, the organization asked you to be the chairman of the Provincial Writers Association, why don't you do it?"

"Then ask Minghua, why doesn't he do it?" Lu Yao also asked back.

"You two are arguing, why do you involve me?" Fang Minghua said: "Brother Lu, wait a moment, I'll let Xiaoqin get you a chair."

Without Fang Minghua shouting, the little nanny had brought a rattan chair from the tea room, and Fang Minghua took a porcelain cup and poured a cup of tea for Lu Yao, and the three of them started chatting.

"Lu Yao, do you have something to do with Minghua? "Bai Miao asked casually.

"Nothing serious, just chatting for a while." Lu Yao said as he took out a magazine from his briefcase.

"Zhongshan published a literary review written by Minghua, called "On the Aesthetic Style of New Realist Novels", have you read it?"

"I read it, why didn't I read it? I complained to Minghua, why didn't you publish such a good article in Yanhe? But he said that the editor-in-chief of Zhongshan, Zhao Benfu, was so kind, so he couldn't refuse it." Bai Miao said.

"That's right." Fang Minghua interrupted.

"Hey, hey, I didn't come here today to listen to you two arguing." Lu Yao said: "This article has benefited me a lot."

"Lu Yao, is it because of the long novel "Collapse" you are writing?" Bai Miao sensed something.

Now many people in the Writers Association know that Lu Yao has almost closed the door to visitors in the past two years, just like he wrote "Ordinary World" ten years ago, and he is wholeheartedly engaged in creation.

"In today's society, serious literary creation is not popular, especially realistic novels, and it is not easy to write. If you don't write well, others will say that you are doing the traditional realistic works of the past "high, big and complete" set, or entertainment or vulgarization. So I think Minghua's article is very well written, and it is very instructive for writing realistic novels at this stage." Lu Yao said.

"Brother Lu, stop praising me. How is your article "Collapse" going?" Fang Minghua asked with concern.

"The first draft is basically finished, but I am not satisfied with it and need a major surgery." Lu Yao explained.

This is how Lu Yao and Chen Zhongshi write, and no one is surprised.

"Hey, Minghua, do you think this new realism can become popular?" Bai Miao asked a question.

"Of course it can. Look, the avant-garde literature has obviously receded. Except for Canxue who is still persisting, new writers like Yu Hua, Su Tong, and Ge Fei have begun to change their writing styles. In fact, only Liu Zhenyun, Liu Heng, and Chi Li are playing new realist novels. This type of novel is inherently limited and is destined not to be too popular."

"Then what to write? Either write history, like Zhongshi, Su Tong, Yu Hua and others, or write about the present, which is new realism."

"It's really a matter of time. It's my turn next year." Thinking of the endless emergence of various schools in the literary world over the past decade, Lu Yao couldn't help but sigh.