In the distant capital, Jiang Yulou's manuscript was finally mailed to the editorial department of "Contemporary" magazine.
The editorial department is located inside the People's Literature Publishing House at No. 166 Chaonei Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing.
After years of wind and frost, a boxy five-story building facing the street is already quite old. This can be seen from the gray exterior walls that have lost their original color.
There are rows of closed windows on the wall, which are the earliest iron windows. The iron windows are stained with rust, showing the traces of time.
The courtyard wall of the People's Literature Publishing House is not high. It has wall piers and iron railings. Most of the buildings in the capital in the early years were of this style.
The outermost building that people can see is the main building of the People's Literature Publishing House. Passing through the corridor of the main building and entering through the back door is the backyard of the publishing house.
There is also a red brick building here, which is newer and brighter than the front building, but it was built in recent years.
The red brick building has four floors, similar to most office buildings of this era. There are offices on the north and south, and a corridor in the middle. The walls are painted with white gray, and the skirts are painted with light green paint.
There is a blackboard hanging on the wall in the corridor, with some content written on it. The blackboard newspaper is nothing more than the content that everyone knows.
After all, it is the editorial department, and we must pay attention to it ideologically.
The office of the editorial department of "Contemporary" is a south-facing room. There are several tables placed by the window and wall of the office. Each table is filled with manuscripts, and there is also a pile of papers on the floor. A thick brown paper bag containing the manuscript tied with a rope, with the name of the manuscript written on it.
There is a wall directly on the left side of the office with portraits of teachers hanging on it. There is also a wall on the right side with several pieces of paper pasted on it. One of the pieces of paper contains the names, positions, etc. of the editorial staff.
On another piece of paper is the editorial department's schedule and duty schedule.
There were not many people in the office at this time, only two people, and the other editors were probably busy with other work.
After editor Zhu Shengchang finished handling the manuscript reminders for the old authors, he dug out the manuscripts submitted to "Contemporary" magazine and carefully read each manuscript.
Since it is a newly established literary magazine and a large-scale literary journal sponsored by People's Literature, submissions from domestic writers are enthusiastic. Basically, we receive more than a dozen manuscripts every day.
However, the magazine's editorial manpower is not sufficient, and there is currently no influx of new blood. Only these old comrades in their forties and fifties are doing the job.
There are few manpower, a large number of manuscripts need to be reviewed, and the work intensity is very high.
However, in order for the first issue of the magazine to be published smoothly, the old comrades sacrificed their rest time and had to work every day, and could only arrange for two or three people to get off work on time every day.
He is only responsible for the preliminary review of the manuscript. While reading the entire manuscript, he pays attention to the structure, grammar, and quality of the article. As long as these can meet certain standards, it will be handed over to the review editor for review.
Today is an era of literary renaissance. There are many enthusiasts with passion for writing, but there are not many truly high-level manuscripts. Those manuscripts of varying quality made Zhu Shengchang shake his head after reading them.
Suddenly, Zhu Shengchang let out a soft sigh. His eyes lit up as he was leaning lazily on the chair, and he sat up involuntarily. He wiped his somewhat blurry glasses, put them on, and focused all his energy on the manuscript in his hand.
The handwriting of this manuscript was ordinary, green but neat. It was not difficult for him to read, unlike some manuscripts sent by authors, which were full of typos, and some of them required him to guess to understand.
After a cursory reading, he knew that the author was writing a novel and that it was still telling stories about the Qing Dynasty.
The content of the story is probably the growth history of Li Fanggui, later known as Li Shisan. It is said to be a history of growth, but it can also be seen as the fact that he devoted himself to writing plays after landing in China. He wrote eight plays and two excerpts in his life, which is called the "Top Ten Plays" by folk custom.
Later, in order to preserve the folk skills, Li Shisan did not hesitate to sacrifice his own life when the royal family sent troops to suppress him, but also to preserve the script so that the folk art could be passed down from generation to generation. Behind the awe-inspiring righteousness was the unyielding spirit of the Chinese rural literati. Tame and strong character.
There are three stories in the whole book, about more than 20,000 words. The author uses a few words to show Li Shisan's poor but tragic life in front of readers.
After reading it through, Zhu Shengchang looked at the title of the novel "Li Shisan Pushing the Mill".
This novel is very well written, organically blending historical allusions and rural legends, and cleverly interweaving national customs and heroic complexes into his concise and lively narrative. Although it does not conform to the realism style of "Contemporary", it is new. The first issue of the magazine called for submissions, but there were no strict requirements on the subject matter.
Such a good manuscript cannot be missed!
After putting the manuscript in his hand on the table, Zhu Shengchang took a deep breath. From this book, he felt the unique atmosphere from the Loess Plateau.
Full of generosity and sadness, full of feelings for home and country, full of heroic spirit!
This reminded him of an old writer who had passed away, that is, Liu Qing, a famous contemporary writer from Shaanxi.
The deceased old writer had always been deeply involved in life. He had lived among farmers for decades and had a rich accumulation of life. Most of his novels took rural life as the theme.
Could it be that this author is a disciple of Mr. Liu?
Even if he is not, he is probably a well-known writer in Shaanxi.
He probably also knows some writers from Shaanxi.
Zhu Shengchang subconsciously turned to the envelope. He guessed that it was probably a contribution from a well-known writer, but the address on the envelope denied his guess - Jiang Yulou, a third-year high school student in Yangping County.
Zhu Shengchang was stunned when he saw the name. He would still understand it if it was a famous author. After all, although the manuscript text is a bit immature, it is not something that ordinary literature lovers can handle.
But it turns out that the author of this manuscript is a senior high school student in Yangping County, Shaanxi Province?
It wasn’t even written by a Chinese language teacher!
When will domestic high school seniors be able to write at such a high level?
Is it because he has not paid attention to domestic education for too long recently and does not know the domestic education level, or is it that the teaching level of Yangping County high school teachers is too high and he can teach a high school student with the power of a writer?
This unexpected discovery left editor Zhu Shengchang a little confused. Could it be that he had written it wrong?
For example, Jiang Yulou is not actually a student, but a teacher, or a staff member?
But no matter how much he searched, there was no Shaanxi author named Jiang Yulou in his mind.
Zhu Shengchang scratched his head, put down the manuscript, stretched his neck and asked the old editor opposite, "Old Meng, do you remember that there was an author named Jiang Yulou in Yangping County? Oh, or maybe the whole province of Shaanxi is called by this name."
Maybe the author from other places in Shaanxi came to Yangping County to work as a temporary teacher, happened to teach the third year of high school, and then wrote this submission.
It is common for many authors to go out to collect works. Some authors have connections and can take temporary posts in provinces or counties to facilitate their writing. For example, some people work in government offices, some work in factories, and some work in schools.
Some authors are of such high standards that it is not a problem to teach a third-grade student.
"Jiang Yulou? No impression? Why do you suddenly ask about this?" Meng Guowei, the old editor, thought for a while and said, he had never heard of this name.
Meng Guowei was also senior. He had been an editor at Workers' Daily and later at People's Literature. He knew countless authors, but he had no impression of the people mentioned by Zhu Shengchang.
Didn't even Lao Meng have an impression?
Zhu Shengchang scratched his head, but still handed the manuscript over, "Lao Meng, this is a submission to our magazine. The level is quite high. After reading it for the first time, I thought it was a new work by the famous writer. I read There's no problem with it. Although it doesn't quite fit the style of our "Contemporary" magazine, it's still a good work. I think it can pass the review. You can take a look at it and make comments."
The issuance and publication of a novel must go through three reviews and three proofreadings. The final decision on publication requires a meeting of the editorial department, with the editor-in-chief making the final decision.
It doesn't work if he approves it, it still needs to be approved by other editors, and finally it has to go to a meeting.
Meng Guowei also has the right to review, even because of his seniority. If he has read it and there are no problems, it is basically equivalent to passing the test. He can directly hand the manuscript to Qin Zhaoyang, the director and editor-in-chief of the editorial department. If he can pass this test , as long as Editor Qin does not object, this manuscript will basically be published.
Then just go through the process at the meeting.
Zhu Shengchang's behavior was a bit unruly. Generally speaking, he would read a batch of submissions and then hand all the approved manuscripts to him for review. However, occasionally when encountering an outstanding manuscript, it was not impossible to make exceptions. Meng Guowei took over. After reading the manuscript carefully, I was fascinated by it.
After a long time, he raised his head and praised: "Lao Zhu, this manuscript is indeed a rare masterpiece. Although the writing style is still immature, especially the first and middle chapters, after reading the second chapter, the author felt compassionate Emotions express the spirit and temperament of the characters through the dramatic reversal and mutation of the storyline, making this tragic story particularly poignant. Although Li Shisan's fate is miserable, the love that bursts out of him It is warm and heroic, but it shines with the brilliance of humanity, which is moving to read. Throughout the whole text, the Chinese rural national spirit and temperament revealed in the novel are indeed worthy of our deep thought."
"Then... Lao Meng, do you think this manuscript can be published?" Zhu Shengchang added: "There is nothing wrong with the manuscript, but the style..."
There was nothing to say about the writing and story, it was fully qualified for publication, but the style of the novel was what he was worried about.
It would be fine if he didn't see this submission, but he did and thought it was very good. It would be a pity if it couldn't be published.
Sometimes the editor is the person who knows the author best. The author has a good story and wants to break it into pieces and show it to readers.
And what about editors?
He knows what readers like and what kind of content is more pleasing.
Without such ability, how can we select truly good works from thousands of manuscripts.
And when an editor sees an article selected by him published, his sense of accomplishment is no less than that of the creator of these articles.
After Meng Guowei put down the manuscript, he tapped his fingers on the table and said thoughtfully: "From my point of view, it is definitely not a problem, but whether it can be published or not depends on the editor-in-chief."
Then, he placed the manuscript on the pile of manuscripts on the right hand side. The left hand side was where he kept the manuscripts that had not passed the review, and the right hand side was where he stored the manuscripts that had passed the review.
"Since you have read it and there is no problem, it seems that this manuscript can pass." Zhu Shengchang laughed after seeing his actions.
However, there are quite a few manuscripts that have passed the second review.
After thinking for a moment, Zhu Shengchang said again: "Lao Meng, you have a lot of manuscripts that have passed review. Why don't you take them to the editor first?"
He was scratching his head like a cat, eager to see the results quickly.
It's been several months since the essay competition began, and it's time for the results to come out.
"Don't rush, don't rush. I still have some manuscripts on hand that I haven't read yet. Maybe some of them will pass. Let's hand in the manuscript tomorrow. It won't take more than an hour and a half. Don't be impatient. As long as the manuscript is written well, None of us will get stuck on purpose." Meng Guowei knew that the old man was anxious, so he comforted him with words.
Zhu Shengchang thought so and stopped urging.
