Volume 1: A sound on Wall Street, Xinxiang City is busy copying books Chapter 268 Literary Quality
Subtitle of this chapter: Who cares about that? I think it’s enough to just listen to Inchuis.
"Believe me, Helen. You will have many more readers in the future than the few people here combined!"
Miss Brown, whose self-confidence was greatly shaken, asked weakly with tears in her eyes, "Really?"
Our Master Yuan nodded affirmatively and said, "Of course it's true. When have I ever lied to you?"
He patted his chest and said, "Your Majesty, I, a fool, can guarantee that you will be famous, your novels will be famous, and the movies and stage plays adapted from your novels will be even more popular! You will become a true queen, the queen of romance novels."
In fact, the "little fairy in the forest", who had been fooled by "Dionysus" many times without knowing it, believed these words again. She said excitedly: "Master Fool, I believe you!"
"I'm going home now to finish writing Titanic!"
"I won't come to see you until I finish writing!"
"Yes!" Yuan Yan nodded approvingly, "This is my Queen!"
He winked at Mr. McCall and said, "Your Majesty, Christmas is coming soon. I don't have anything to do these days, so you don't have to come over so often."
John, the smart man, nodded in understanding. He knew that Neo wanted him to spend more time with Helen and urge her to finish writing the novel.
"So, my Lords, see you at Christmas."
Master Yuan sent the Emperor and Empress away and returned to the living room. As soon as he entered, he heard Master Ai Shouyi arguing with Mr. Fitzgerald. Unfortunately, Master Ai Shouyi's eloquence was definitely not as good as his writing skills, and he was completely suppressed by the eloquent Mr. Fitzgerald.
As the host of the literary salon, he quickly interrupted and said , "Everyone, I'm sorry to have left you just now. By the way, what were you talking about?"
Lord Ai Shouyi was relieved to see him, and said first: "Neo, we are 'discussing' whether Miss Brown's novel has...Literariness."
This is what happened in the living room just now. After everyone listened to the beginning of "Titanic" recited by Miss Brown, they immediately figured out what it was about. In fact, the future "Queen of Romance Novels" had no talent for writing, and her social experience was even more shallow and pitiful. Therefore, the things she wrote were inevitably a little pretentious and a little empty and pale.
These professional writers really didn't know how to "evaluate" the novel for a moment, and the atmosphere became a little awkward. At this time, Mr. Fitzgerald, in order to "livelyn up" the atmosphere, spoke frankly and "praised" the novel, saying that it would definitely be popular among the elementary school girls.
"Helen of Manhattan" was also a daughter of a wealthy family. When she heard such "praise", she felt embarrassed and angry and simply ran out of the door.
Mr. Ai Shouyi has been getting along well with this kind-hearted and humorous girl recently. So he started to defend his colleague's work. As a result, the two of them got to the topic of "Literariness".
"Oh, so you are discussing literary quality."
Hearing this word, Master Yuan frowned. The definition of literary quality was a century-long topic for literary criticism and theory in the entire 20th century. Even after a hundred years, there is still no final conclusion, and instead, it has become more and more complicated due to various people.
In simple terms, the so-called "literariness" refers to the nature of a text that makes it literature. In plainer terms, what kind of text can be considered literature in the true sense?
However, the simpler the question, the more complicated the answer is often. For example, a female poet named Zhao in later generations wrote a poem called "Alone in Tennessee". The poem has only one sentence: There is no doubt that the pies I make are the best in the world.
So is this kind of text considered literature?
Ordinary people may regard this poem as a joke, but if it is related to literary theory, it will definitely be a bit confusing. So in the end, people in the literary theory circle tacitly retreated to the definition of "textism", that is, "any form of speech that is fixed in words is called a text." This attitude is equivalent to giving up the pursuit of the definition of literary nature.
In order to ease the atmosphere among the crowd, Mr. Dresser asked at the right time: "Neo, what do you think about this issue?"
"My opinion..." Master Yuan smiled and said, "In fact, I think that literary quality is not important for novels. The purpose and means of every novel is to express the author's feelings. For some novels, the purpose is the reason for their existence; for other novels, the purpose is the standard they should achieve..."
He didn't want to be stuck in a question that had no answer, so he changed the subject.
"In short, everyone has different opinions on Inchushiting, so everyone's evaluation of the novel is different. A novel only needs to make some people feel that it is Inchushiting, and there is no need to deliberately please all readers."
In fact, a public intellectual named Wang in the true sense said something similar in later generations. In order to avoid "pika pika", Yuan Yanshu slightly modified it.
He pointed at Mr. Dreiser and Ms. Cather and said, "For example, your novels. One showed me the true face of American cities, and the other made me experience the wildness that I had never seen before. So both of your novels are very interesting to me."
"And Mr. Fitzgerald..." He walked up to the young writer and said, "Like many writers, your debut novel, This Side of Paradise, can be considered semi-autobiographical."
The protagonist of "Heaven on Earth" is a typical "Lost Generation". Born into a wealthy family, he became selfish and arrogant. His college years at Princeton further intensified his rebellion against the vulgar etiquette of the middle class.
Just when the protagonist almost lost his life goal, he left his alma mater and went to the battlefield. During the war, his mother died, and his friends were either killed or missing. After the war, he lost his lover, his job, and his mentor for many years also passed away.
The protagonist finally returns to Princeton and finally realizes that this is life. No matter what he lacks along the way, at least he has understood himself.
Master Yuan patted Mr. Fitzgerald on the shoulder and said, "So I learned from your book what my American peers think about life. This is enough for Inchuis to listen to."
"As for Mr. Ai Shouyi..." He turned around, smiled at everyone and said, " Ladies and gentlemen, you really should read his novels. They are really very interesting!"
Yuan Yan suddenly thought, as to whether your SAN value will be reduced to zero, that is none of my business.
