Back to 80: My Literary Life

As soon as he returned to Xijing, Fang Minghua went to work the next day. He first handed Wang Shuo's "Stewardess" to Li Tianfang, who promised to publish it in the next issue of "Yanhe" magazine. Everything was done according to the process, 10 thousand words. Yuan.

Fang Minghua no longer worries about this matter. His current focus is on the poetry group.

As the saying goes, "There are three things a new official needs to do when taking office." Now that I have become the deputy editor in charge of prose and poetry, I have to take some action, right?

There were relatively few editors in the poetry and prose group. Originally, there were only four editors occupying two offices, and Dong Mo had a separate room.

After he resigned as deputy editor, he took the initiative to move to the office next door and left a private room to Fang Minghua. Since he had resigned, he could not occupy that room. He also said that the four of them would have fun together.

Of course Fang Minghua declined, but he had no choice but to let him go.

As soon as he got to work today, Fang Minghua went next door and invited Dong Mo to his office. After personally filling Dong Mo's enamel teapot with water, he asked with a smile:

"Editor-in-Chief Dong, how are the submissions from our team during this period?"

After more than ten days in Yanjing, Dong Mo was still in charge of the poetry and prose group.

After listening to Fang Minghua's question, Dong Mo replied: "There are still a few poetry manuscripts. After all, our "Yanhe" is not a specialized poetry publication like "Poetry Magazine" and "Stars", and poetry is not "Yanhe"." The focus of "River"."

This is something Dong Mo regrets after being a poetry editor for so many years.

Except in the mid-1950s, not long after the magazine "Yanhe" was founded, the poetry group "snatched" the poem "Back to Yan'an" written by He Jingzhi and it became brilliant for a while. The poems on " are in a tepid state.

Fang Minghua could understand the old editor's mood. He immediately took out a stack of poetry manuscripts from the drawer and handed it to Dong Mo: "Editor Dong, take a look at these."

Dong Mo took it and put on his reading glasses to look carefully.

"Looking at the Starry Sky in Hargai", "Autumn Sound", "Al's Sun", "Asian Copper" and "If Time Could Turn Back".

These are all good poems.

Let’s look at the authors: Nishikawa, Haizi, and Gu Lirong have never heard of them.

"Editor Fang"

"Editor Dong, you'd better call me Xiao Fang. I'm not used to calling me Editor Fang." Fang Minghua interrupted Dong Mo with a smile.

"Then let me call you Minghua." Dong Mo said with a smile.

In the magazine, fewer and fewer people call Fang Minghua "Xiao Fang". Except for President Huang and a few other elders who still call him "Xiao Fang", even Chen Zhongshi, Lu Yao and Jia Pingwa call him "Minghua". "The younger one calls him Editor Fang, but now he calls him Editor Fang.

"Minghua, where did you get these poems from? I have never heard of these authors." Dong Mo asked.

"These are written by the backbones of the literary societies of Yenching universities such as Yenching University, Tsinghua University, and Yanjing Normal University." Fang Minghua told Dong Mo about going to Yenching colleges and universities to contact him.

"This is the first batch, and there will be more poems sent later." Fang Minghua said.

"Great! Minghua, you have gained a lot from this trip. It seems that it is right for me to step down and let you be the poetry editor, but..."

"Just what?"

"You also know that each issue of the magazine leaves a maximum of four pages for poetry. You suddenly found so many excellent poems that you can't finish them all. I don't know how many issues it will be divided into."

At this time, Dong Mo felt happy and sad.

If there are no good poems, there will be sorrow, but if there are too many good poems, there will be sorrow.

Fang Minghua smiled after hearing this: "Editor-in-Chief Dong, why are you waiting for several issues? Why don't you just wait for one issue?!"

"Published together? So many?" Dong Mo was stunned, and suddenly thought of something: "Minghua, do you want to make a special issue? Just like the "Qin Province Young Writers Novel Issue" in 1981?"

"Yes, just do it like that!"

After the launch of the "Qin Province Young Writers' Novel Issue", it caused great repercussions in the literary world. At that time, it also published his first novel of this era, "Into the Dust".

It was followed by two novellas, "Youth" and "The Sun Also Rises", which directly entered the ranks of Qin Province's first-class novels, alongside such literary giants as Chen Zhongshi, Lu Yao, and Jia Pingwa.

Therefore, after Fang Minghua got these poem manuscripts, he was the first to think of using this method.

But Dong Mo shook his head after hearing this: "Minghua, you have a good idea, but there is no plan for a special issue of our poetry group this year. Even if we want to publish a special issue, we will have to wait until next year."

Special issues are not books, and they are not published casually. Because it is equivalent to the magazine publishing an extra magazine.

A large part of magazine distribution in this era relied on readers, including some units, to subscribe and pay newspaper fees in advance.

Therefore, the magazine company must make plans and arrangements in the previous year, and clearly explain it to readers when ordering magazines at the end of the year. There will be a supplement next year. The price will be determined by readers in advance whether to subscribe or not.

Otherwise, the special issue can only be retailed in Xinhua Bookstore, missing a large number of readers who subscribe throughout the year.

Fang Minghua naturally understands this truth.

He said calmly: "Editor-in-Chief Dong, didn't you plan last year to publish an additional issue of literary criticism and creative theory this year? We might as well suggest that the editorial department change it to a dedicated issue on poetry."

"So this is your idea?" Dong Mo laughed: "Go and ask Wang Yu if he agrees? I guess he will kick you out of his office directly after hearing what you said."

Wang Yu is another deputy editor in the editorial department, in charge of literary criticism and creative theory.

"Hasn't Editor Wang always wanted to start a "Novel Review" magazine? In the future, the entire magazine will publish various novel reviews and literary theories. Do you still care about this supplement?"

Fang Minghua muttered.

He's right.

The magazine company does have such a plan. It wants to run a literary academic journal specializing in reviewing various novels and creative theories at the same time as Yanhe magazine.

This is due to the "big explosion" in the domestic literary world after entering the 1980s, with various novels emerging one after another and conceived against the background of a prosperous scene.

However, Fang Minghua is not optimistic.

The 1980s were almost halfway over. In the 1990s, with the rise of popular literature and the tide of market economy, the future of purely literary journals was bleak.

But this is not what he is thinking about now, now he is how to get this special issue.

"Editor-in-Chief Dong, I'll go and talk to President Huang in private first to hear what he means." Fang Minghua said his method.

Although President Huang is only an administrative leader in name and does not care about the editorial department, he is still the top leader of his unit no matter how he says it.

It turns out that after the retirement of the novel team leader Ho Hongjun, a tough deputy editor who liked to quarrel with him, the current novel team leader Li Tianfang is considered a junior with a relatively gentle personality, so it is impossible to argue with him.

The editor-in-chief Zhang Pixiang is a good old man who is about to retire and is not very interested in taking care of things. President Huang's influence began to penetrate into the editorial department.

You know, deputy editors like Li Tianfang and Fang Minghua were all promoted by him!

Of course Dong Mo knew what Fang Minghua was thinking, and said with a smile:

"Okay, you go talk to President Huang and get to know him. If President Huang agrees that I go to Wang Yu, and I still have some friendship with him after working with him for many years, let's have a poetry group!"

"Okay, if you, Editor Dong, are here to help, you can take the lead!" Fang Minghua immediately flattered me a little.

"What? Old Dong, you said that this year's special account will be given to your group?" When Wang Yu heard Dong Mo say this, he felt like he was hearing a fantasy.

Wang Yu is about fifty this year and is also an "old man" in the community, so after hearing the news, he refused without even thinking:

"No, absolutely not!"

"Old director, we are also old friends. I won't talk about the big reasons. Do you also know how much I wasted in front of Editor Zhang and President Huang for this year's special account? Besides, you have already retired and will retire in two years. , why don’t you enjoy the happiness? Why are you meddling in such things?!" Wang Yu said bitterly.

There was some silence in the room.

After a while, Dong Mo spoke: "Just because I am about to retire, I don't want to leave any regrets before retiring. You also know that our poetry column in "Yanhe" has been in a tepid state. Now I have a chance to be brilliant. Of course I do."

After saying this, Dong Mo took out a stack of poems from his briefcase and handed them to Wang Yu: "Look, these are all collected by Minghua from major universities in Yanjing this time."

Wang Yu took it and turned it over, and couldn't help but praise: "This guy is quite capable. Don't tell me that the quality of these poems is quite high."

"Minghua said that poem manuscripts are coming in one after another, so we can do a special account. So Lao Wang, even if I beg you, let me do it once, ah?"

Seeing Dong Mo like this, Wang Yu was silent for a while and suddenly said: "I can give this special account to you, but you have to agree to one condition."

"I know, we will discuss whether to establish the "Novel Review" magazine in the future and vote for it, right? Don't worry, I will definitely vote!" Dong Mo said.

"In addition to you, there is also Fang Minghua. That boy is now President Huang's favorite, and his opinions are very important."

But no, this guy went to President Huang and asked him to give this year’s special title to the poetry and prose group. President Huang agreed without saying a word!

"This is easy to handle. I'll tell him that he will definitely support you in this matter!" Dong Mo agreed.

The magazine is going to have a special poetry issue this year!

This news quickly spread throughout the magazine, and everyone was talking about it. Unexpectedly, this guy would make such a big move just after taking office!

The editors of the poetry and prose group were all extremely excited. After being marginalized for so many years, they were finally proud and proud today!

Today, several editors from the poetry group met in Fang Minghua's office to discuss how to handle the special account.

"Comrades, the club has agreed to hold a special issue of college students' poetry this year. It depends on everyone how to run it well."

Fang Minghua sat behind his desk and looked at several colleagues with a serious face: "I brought back 12 poem manuscripts from Yanjing, and everyone circulated them to each other. Some poem manuscripts will be sent one after another, but it is not enough! "

"On the one hand, everyone must review the poetry manuscripts sent in, and we cannot lower the requirements; on the other hand, as a special issue, there must be at least 60-70 poems, but in terms of quantity, it is still far from enough, so we will Let’s start from the front and look for excellent poetry manuscripts in major universities in Xijing!”

Fang Minghua stated the purpose of this meeting.

"Editor Fang, I'm going to Qin Normal University!" A young girl said first.

Her name is Zhang Yanqian. She graduated from the Chinese Department of Qin Normal University last year and was assigned to be an editor in the editorial department of "Yanhe" magazine. She loved poetry in college and once served as the president of the famous Mu Feng Literary Society in Qin Normal University.

"Okay, it's absolutely fine for you, the former president, to step in and tell your friends not to hide their secrets. The fee for poetry this time is definitely not low, based on 30 yuan per thousand words!" Fang Minghua said with a smile.

"Oh, so high?" Zhang Yanqian looked surprised.

This year (1984), the country once again raised the fee standards for various publications. Poetry follows the unwritten rules in the industry: 20 lines count as one thousand words, so the calculation is 1.5 yuan per line, which is equivalent to the fee standards for famous poets. !

"I must take this news back and ask my fellow students to submit their articles as soon as possible!" Zhang Yanqian said.

Everyone laughed after hearing this.

Zhang Yanqian is the youngest in the poetry group, youthful and lively, and is loved by everyone.

"Yan Qian, it's not just Qin Normal University, but also the nearby Foreign College, School of Political Science and Law, and Jiaotong University. You can run around. I think when you were the president of the literary club at Qin Normal University, you must have interacted with the literary clubs of these universities. Yes." Fang Minghua expressed his opinion.

"That's right, editor Fang, leave this matter to me!" The girl agreed.

"Editor Fang, how many schools should I go to, including Western University, Western Polytechnic University, and Western Military University?" The speaker was a man in his late thirties named Zhao Muchun, who was transferred from Qin Provincial People's Publishing House.

"I have entrusted Editor Bai Miao from Western University. He was a teacher at Western University and knows many people." Fang Minghua said, "Didn't you go to university in Nanjing? Contact your alma mater, Nanjing Normal University, and others. Go to other colleges and see if you can find some high-quality poetry manuscripts."

"No problem. I also have a friend who lives in the same dormitory and teaches at Chongqing University. He also likes poetry very much. I can ask him to help contact the literary societies of major universities in Chongqing and Chengdu." Zhao Munchun replied.

"Then I'll trouble you." Fang Minghua said, then looked at the middle-aged man sitting opposite him, and said in a kind tone: "Editor Liu, why don't you go to NPU and XJTU?"

Unexpectedly, the other party was a little embarrassed: "Editor Fang, I haven't gone to any university, and I'm not familiar with the literary societies of those universities. Why go to such trouble? Isn't it easier to submit a call for papers in a newspaper?"

"We must put it up for publication in newspapers. This has already been approved by President Huang and Editor Zhang, but wouldn't it be more effective if we all do it in person?" Fang Minghua replied.

"Hey, Editor Fang, I've caught a cold recently, and the doctor said it's best not to run around." Editor Liu suddenly covered his head and looked in pain.

Editor-in-chief Liu is called Liu Weimin. He was a worker, peasant, and soldier college student in the 1970s. In fact, he was not a serious university, just an ordinary technical secondary school.

After graduation, he was assigned to a magazine as an editor. His ability was average and he was not good at work, but his advantage was that he did not compete or grab. In the words of later generations, he was a "lay-down" type of cadre.

There are such cadres in every unit, and the leaders are helpless. They keep making big mistakes and small mistakes, so what can you do to them?

Fired?

They are official employees!

Removal from editorial position?

It is said that he has a certain background, and President Huang will not offend such people.

I have just taken office, so there is no need to provoke such people.

Therefore, Fang Minghua also followed Dong Mo's approach and "cold treated him."

So he said: "Since you are not feeling well, then take more rest." Fang Minghua looked kind.

Don’t review the manuscript either.

There will definitely be an increase in submissions from college students in recent times. Fang Minghua is worried that given his level, some good poems should not be buried.

"Then thank Editor Fang for your concern." Liu Weimin smiled.

I'm not allowed to review the manuscript, which is just fine.

I just like to go to work every day with a cup of tea, a pack of cigarettes, and a newspaper to read.

There will be another update later today