Li Jianxin
Recently, on an online auction platform, I saw a batch of letters and materials received by writer and publisher Li Qingxi, including a letter written to him by the writer Mr. Wang Zengqi in September 1986. The letter is not long, and is recorded as follows:
Comrade Li Qingxi:
Jin Lan has already handed over to you the manuscript of the humble work "Evening Cui Wen Talk", I don't know what opinions are there after reviewing it? Have an opinion to complain, or sue me directly.
The third series of this collection (the miscellaneous part of the opera) is still missing, and it is hereby sent to it, if available, please list it at the end of the third series.
Desecration, i.e. waiting
Be safe!
Wang Zengqi
September 15
Wang Zengqi sent a letter to Li Qingxi
This letter was written in 1986 and was not included in the new edition of the People's Literature Publishing House's Complete Works of Wang Zengqi.
In March 1988, Wang Zengqi's first collection of essays, "Late CuiWen Talk", was published by Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House, and Li Qingxi was one of the responsible editors. Around 2009, in order to collect Wang Zengqi's letters, I contacted Mr. Li Qingxi and asked him if he had passed the letter with Mr. Wang. Mr. Li replied that because of the loss of things due to the move, the letters were lost, including Wang Xin. I don't want to see this letter online more than a decade later.
"Evening Cuiwen Talk", Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House, March 1988
Earlier, in December 2003, also on the online auction platform, I saw a letter from Mr. Lin Jinlan to Li Qingxi, the photo was obscured, and I could only see the content of the first page:
Comrade Gyeongseo:
Letter received. After the collection of essays is compiled, please send me the catalog for reading.
Wang Zengqi said that after you read the manuscript of the "Late Cui Collection", you wrote to him saying that "most of them are available", which is a bit unexpected, Wang Zengqi's articles are all respected by you, nearly seventy years old, and I am afraid that there will not be many future collections. Originally, together with Mr. Wen, I said in my house that I would not delete it. Then I will help Wang to compile it, please think about it more, it is best to follow it, and you can only pick out individual chapters that are not important. "Mostly available" is not appropriate.
……
The date of payment was November 8, 1986, after the letter quoted above. It is easy to infer from the contents: after wang Zengqi's manuscript of "Late Cui Wen Talk" was transferred from his old friend Lin Jinlan to the Zhejiang Literature and Art Society, he wrote to Li Qingxi, supplemented an article, and inquired about the situation by the way; Li replied to Wang, saying that "most of them are available" after review, and Wang relayed the opinions of the publishing house to Lin; Lin hurriedly wrote the above letter -- from the tone of his tone, it can be seen that Mr. Lin Jinlan, who has a peaceful personality, is indeed a little anxious, worried that Wang's book will not be published smoothly, or will be deleted too much.
The publication process of Wang Zengqi's "Late Cui Wen Tan" was quite tortuous. In November 1982, Wang Zengqi was invited to Changsha to give a lecture at the Hunan Writers Association's "Furong" literary workshop, during which the Hunan People's Publishing House asked him to collect and publish articles on his creations. On August 11, 1983, Wang Zengqi wrote to Hongzheng that "in Changsha, the publishing house asked me to compile an article on creation into one episode. Before the end of October, I will compile a collection of novels I have written in the past two years for the People's Literature Publishing House, and I need to compile them after November. If the materials are not put together, it may be delayed until next year." In a letter written to Zhu Dexi on December 24, 1984, Wang Zengqi also mentioned the publication of the editorial article, "After the New Year, I want to collect the reviews, and the collection is called "The Collection of Frequent Talks". As for the publishing house that took over, there may be a change. Cheng Shaoguo's "Literary Double Bi" Cloud:
"Evening Cui Wen Tan" was originally compiled at the request of the Beijing Publishing House, but it was not adopted after it was submitted. The responsible editor was reluctant and embarrassed to reject the manuscript, and consulted with Lin Jinlan, and his eyes were red. Lin Jinlan said, "Leave it to me." It was slightly sorted out, and two new works were added, which Lin Jinlan introduced to the Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House and published.
From Lin Jinlan's letter to Li Qingxi, it can be seen that Wen Xiaoyu, a writer who was then the editor-in-chief of the Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House, discussed Wang's manuscript at the Lin family and had a specific agreement.
On April 8, 2013, the Qianjiang Evening News published an article titled "In the Old Paper Pile, the Old Editor Finds The Poems Written by Wang Zengqi for Hangzhou", which wrote that Mr. Xu Zhenglun and Wang Zengqi, who had been deputy editors-in-chief of Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House, passed the letter. On the same day, I contacted Mr. Xu through the newspaper and wanted to ask me to copy the letters, but Mr. Xu was old and inconvenient to take pictures and scan, saying that he would wait until his son abroad came back to help deal with it. After a small talk on the phone, I learned that Mr. Xu was the second instance of "Evening Cui Wen Talk". I made another phone call later and still couldn't get the letter. Until November 2017, Wang Chao, the younger daughter of Mr. Wang Zengqi, received nine letters from Xu's hand, which were later included in the "Complete Works of Wang Zengqi and Letters". The nine letters, which began on April 2, 1987 and ended on March 29, 1988, were all about the publication of The Late Cui Wen Tan, and were very specific about the details of the editing of the articles, the binding design, and the purchase of books. In the last letter, Wang said with gratitude: "When I look at the copyright page, the print number is only 2700, I am very uneasy, this book will undoubtedly make the publisher lose money." It is I who should be thanked. I pay deep tribute to Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House for being willing to do this kind of loss-making transaction. ”
The number "2700" has been lingering for about Wang Zengqi. On April 3 of the same year, he wrote to Peng Xiong, the editor-in-charge of the "Wang Zengqi Self-Selected Collection" of Lijiang Publishing House, asking about the number of orders, and he was still worried: "How tragic is the number of self-selected collections?" I published a copy of "Evening Cuiwen Talk" in Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House, only 2700 copies were printed, and the publishing house lost money for this, and I was very uneasy in my heart. Li Jiang is afraid that he can't lose this money, he knew this, he really shouldn't have published this book. ”
As a simple collection of essays, "Late Cui Wen Tan" is indeed a limited reader, and zhejiang literature and art publishing house does not seem to have reprinted it later. But "Wang Zengqi's Self-Selected Works" is a good long-selling book, and the first edition was printed six times.
In the autumn of 1995, Wang Zengqi and the writer Lin Jinlan (left) were in Wenzhou
Lin Jinlan did a lot of work for the publication of "Evening Cui Wen Tan", and the publishing front was also very long. It's just that more details are not known today. On November 24, 1987, Wang Zengqi, who participated in the Iowa International Writing Program in the United States, wrote a letter to his wife, mentioning that someone helped him publish books overseas, charging two percent of the fee, and comparing Lin Jinlan: "Anyway, this is the case abroad, friendship is friendship, money is money. Like Lin Jinlan, he negotiated with Zhejiang on "Evening Cuiwen Talk", and there was no door. "The Late Cuiwen Talk" will not be officially published until March of the following year.
Editor-in-Charge: Zheng Shiliang
Proofreader: Liu Wei