"Well, you said yes, right?" Luo Ge nodded uncertainly, but when he saw Yang Yi smiled and nodded on the title page of a book on the bookshelf next to him, he also Just understand - even if it is for their own interests, Citigroup Random House will spare no effort to help Yang Yi to wave the flag. Will readers on the other side of the ocean forget Yang Yi and his "Collapse of Empires" 》, you have to ask them first if they agree. "So, isn't that enough? Let's not talk about Random House. In fact, after Columbia University stood up and responded to readers' requests, to a certain extent, they are already our allies. They and this year's general election When the Lizzie Prize is mentioned once, "Collapse of Empire" and I will also be thought of at the same time. It's a business that won't lose anything, so why should I be anxious" And the actual situation is also what Yang Yisuo expected. It was exactly the same, or it was exactly the same as what the boy had seen in his previous life. In the next more than half a month, just because of the decision made by Columbia University, according to the information obtained by Random House through certain channels According to the news, the former received no less than a thousand letters from readers, almost all of them protesting that they excluded "Collapse of Empire" from the selection of this Pulitzer Prize. The reason why there is such a large-scale reader protest is not because of the shills hired by Random House, but because of the real readers who really protested against Yang Yi and his works - "Collapse of Empire" was published in the previous life. Inside, it won the Pulitzer Prize two years later with an undisputed vote, both in terms of the main story line and the characters in it. Or maybe the countless details of life in Citiland that fill every corner of the book make a considerable number of readers feel that they have read this novel. And I felt the bits and pieces of my own memory again, and because of these touches. Therefore, they firmly believe that the book "Collapse of Empire" is a good work worthy of the Pulitzer Prize. Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that there were large-scale protests. In addition to these ordinary people who can only express their support for Yang Yihe's "Collapse of Empire" through protest letters, there are also some people with special identities among the huge readership base who are dissatisfied with the Columbia University Pulitzer Prize Review Committee. People, such as Puel Rafa, the special columnist of the Chicago Post. This literary critic, who is well-known in the American literary circles and even in the entire European and American literary circles, published his opinions in the Chicago Post the day after Columbia University issued the final announcement. Europeans and Americans, especially Citizen with their own unique culture, are always relatively more direct in expressing their opinions, and Puel Rafa always makes comments that are sharp and almost mean. And famous in literary circles and even ordinary people. Whether it is the East or the West, literature has always been a relatively high-brow affair. Perhaps there are many people who like to read. But there are very few people who pay attention to the in-depth dissection of literary works by literary criticism. Don't read Puel Rafa's column is an exception, because this reviewer is either a pure literary work or a popular best-seller. They are all very concerned, after paying attention. Most of them will be accompanied by a sharp review. Readers may not have the patience to finish reading a purely literary book such as Whitman's poems. But he must be interested in Pu Ai's comments. When he was once elected as the most popular columnist of the "Chicago Post" by a high vote, the reason why he won the award was explained clearly by an audience member who attended the live event: "Perhaps I will never be able to express my gratitude to Emily Dee. I am interested in Jinson’s works, but as long as I read Rafa’s column, it is almost the same as reading the author’s original work, and the latter’s comments are more helpful for us to choose reading objects. ” With this kind of evaluation and reading. reputation, so once Puel Rafa expresses his opinion on a certain current work, at least it means that the sales of this work will increase slightly - half of this situation occurs with works that have been treated viciously by this person. , everyone wanted to see what kind of rotten thing Puel ridiculed like. And once it is a book that he has praised, it is almost certain that sales will increase. And his evaluation of "Collapse of Empire" is exactly the latter, full of positive praise: "Columbia University's final decision will become the most serious misstep since the establishment of the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, and will forever regret it - Well, actually I want to say that this decision of theirs will be a stain on the Pulitzer Prize. God knows, maybe they have stayed in the best humanities higher education position in the country for too long. The professors here (Columbia), I have forgotten how to define whether a work is excellent or not" Because of this multi-faceted protest and momentum, they announced their decision at Columbia UniversityAfter being finalized, the book "Collapse of Empires" actually set a record of a total sales volume of 870,000 copies in half a month at Citi's Christmas book market, with a total sales of more than 17 million US dollars - a literary book Christmas sales record. This data is not too far away from the sales record of 920,000 copies in two weeks and fourteen days by James Patterson, the best-selling book king in Citigroup. The most important thing is that the latter's work is an out-and-out commercial bestseller, while "Collapse of Empire" is a literary novel aiming for the Pulitzer Prize. "A foreigner has captured our Christmas book market? Unbelievable, right? If you have this idea, then I suggest you read this novel first. "Collapse of Empires" is a work that must not be missed this year. Why can an author from China write about things that even a native American writer cannot describe? The small town on the Knox River in Maine once had vaguely identifiable lumber camps, small handicraft workshops, and textile factories. Each of these events, taken individually, can evoke long-lasting memories for the people of Maine, and when the author mixes so many factors together, what we see is not a hodgepodge, but a hodgepodge. A very familiar dusk style. For this reason alone, that young gentleman is definitely qualified to compete for this year's Pulitzer Prize" - This is still the "New York Times" on Sunday Editorial in the literary section. "Well, since the Pulitzer Prize must adhere to its own tradition, then maybe we have nothing to say, but Mr. Myers, can you consider extending the loose conditions for historical works in the literary category to In the entire literary category, all poems and novels that describe life in Citizen are eligible to participate in the competition?" - After deciding on Columbia University and the Pulitzer Prize Fund Management Agency, and Niu The Los Angeles Daily News from across the continent also gave its own suggestions. And with this kind of public opinion raising the popularity again, "Collapse of Empire" has confirmed its position in the top ten bestsellers in North America this year when it just started in 2001. In addition to this book, Yang Yi The name also spread further. There is a phenomenon called flowers blooming inside the wall and fragrance outside the wall. Although the current situation of boys cannot be completely described in this way, it has more or less the same flavor - at least in the first decade of the new century, The self-confidence of all classes in the country is actually not quite enough. They are still accustomed to the previous view that "foreigners say good things are really good." Yang Yi was also a genius best-selling author before he was young. Compared with the same person in his previous life, The racing driver students during that period still had many more achievements, but in fact his popularity was not much higher. Naturally, there were reasons for the boys' own choice, but after the founding of New China, readers often only knew about his works. The inability to communicate with the author himself is also an important factor. But when the heated discussion about "Collapse of Empire" broke out in Citigroup, and there was extreme curiosity about Yang Yi, China was also full of interest in this young writer whose name suddenly resounded throughout Citigroup and even North America. Out of curiosity, numerous media outlets immediately began to take notice and found Yang Yi Culture in various ways, requesting an interview with Yang Yi. After the domestic New Year's Day holiday, in the next week, the most common question faced by Yangyi Culture's front desk and telephone operators at the President's Office was, "We are reporters from xx media. May I ask, Yang Yi, the author of "The Collapse of the Empire" , is he an author under your publishing house?" Or if he knows more about the inside story, his attitude will be more friendly and enthusiastic, "Is Mr. Yang here, can we make an appointment with him?" This kind of pursuit and curiosity became more and more intense. Seeing that Yang Yi was about to become a national topic, "Youth Literature and Art" in Beijing suddenly issued an argument and question that was completely opposite to the mainstream public opinion: "We see that now in China, In the book market, the most popular thing is not the works of our Chinese authors, but the magical novel "Harry Potter" by a British author. At the same time, Yang Yi, who is regarded by many readers as a genius writer, has He spent all his energy on writing works such as "The Twilight Saga" and "Collapse of the Empire". Although the latter two works have also been recognized by countless overseas readers, the previous "Song Dynasty" which is full of Chinese flavor "Those Things", "The Shennong Code", "Ghost Blowing the Lamp", where did these works go? Does culture also have to worship foreigners and favor foreigners? "(To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novels will be better and updated faster? !