Although the 5th Mao Award still serves as the director of the Mao Award Committee, in fact, this part-time job is just a name.

The award committee of the 5th Mao Award is presided over by three deputy directors.

After the shortlisted works of the preliminary evaluation were newly released, the three deputy directors sat together to discuss the list.

The preliminary list is also to be announced, but this list now seems to have certain problems. What's the problem? That is, the young writer Xiao Fei was shortlisted for 5 works alone.

This is unprecedented.

Generally speaking, a writer can publish two novels in a Mao Award cycle, which is already a rare high production.

However, Xiao Fei has created and published several novels in just over two years, and each of them has caused a sensation.

This time, the three deputy directors of his 5 works that entered the preliminary evaluation have also seen them, and they are indeed rare masterpieces, and it seems regrettable to remove any of them.

They originally thought that after all, it was only a preliminary evaluation, which was really nothing, and being shortlisted for the preliminary evaluation just meant that they had the qualifications to participate in the evaluation.

Since Xiao Fei has so many excellent works in this award cycle, why not include them all?

But after really listing all the nearly 260 shortlisted novels, the three deputy directors of the judges became entangled again.

One of the problems they are entangled in is: it always feels strange for a person to be shortlisted for the preliminary evaluation of so many works, and when public opinion learns of this situation, I am afraid that there will be an uproar.

There is another question that makes them tangled up: Is "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty", which was officially shortlisted, really a novel genre?

It's hard to say.

"Those Things in the Ming Dynasty" has character portrayal and the flow of the storyline, and many of his elements are really elements of the novel.

But you really think of it as a novel. It also has a lot of non-fiction features, and it does not rely on vivid details to move people like traditional historical romance novels. It is just an expanded commentary on a complete history of the Ming Dynasty.

At best, "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty" borrows a lot of novel techniques, that's all!

Three deputy directors. Zhang Kai, Deng Youmei and Zhang Jiong discussed for a long time, and finally they reached an agreement: domestic literature is now very sluggish, which also leads to the selection of the Mao Award receiving much less public attention than in previous years.

Xiao Fei has 5 works shortlisted for the preliminary evaluation this time, and a plausible work such as "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty" is also shortlisted, which are all good hype topics.

Just release it like this, and let public opinion stir it up.

Anyway, pay attention to the selection of the next nomination awards, don't make a fuss about the results of letting many of Xiao Fei's works enter the nomination awards, then everything is easy to say.

As a result, the shortlisted works for the preliminary evaluation of the 5th Mao Award were released in this way.

"China Youth Daily" reporter Meng Xidong has been paying attention to this dynamic all the time, after the results came out. He got his hands on it the first time.

As soon as he saw it, Xiao Fei's 5 works were shortlisted for the preliminary evaluation, and even the historical work "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty" was shortlisted.

Meng Xidong suddenly felt very funny.

When "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty" was published, it was not published as a novel, was it good? When the book was first published, it was published according to academic categories.

It's good now, it's actually a novel, and it's shortlisted for the preliminary evaluation of the Mao Award.

This is definitely big news.

So, Meng Xidong wrote such a news: Strange thing! "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty" was shortlisted for the preliminary evaluation of the Mao Award as a novel!

To write this news, he interviewed many scholars in the field of history, literary critics and writers.

The opinions of the experts and professors he interviewed were divided into opposing sides: one group believed that "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty" had no novel pedigree at all, and could barely be regarded as a popular historical book; The other school of thought believes that "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty" is an innovative variant of the novel genre. It is another epoch-making change in the development of the novel to the modern era, and it should be included in the genre of the novel.

In short, experts are sharply opposed to this.

The debate is endless.

In addition to "Huaxia Youth Daily", there are also other media that broke the news of the preliminary evaluation results as soon as possible.

Time.

Xiao Fei has 5 works shortlisted for the preliminary evaluation of the Mao Award!

Xiao Fei's suspected novel historical work "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty" was also treated as a novel and put in the preliminary evaluation results of the Mao Award for the judges.

Xiao Fei has become a big favorite to win the Mao Award......

News like this is all over the place.

A lot of media. A lot of writers, a lot of readers, got involved in the discussion.

Everyone argued inextricably, and neither of the opposing sides could convince anyone.

Thereupon. Some media found Xiao Fei and wanted to ask Xiao Fei to express his views. Public opinion hype. It must be constantly unearthed with new content before it can continue.

Xiao Fei accepted an exclusive interview with China Youth Daily.

The following is a transcript of the interview:

Meng Xidong: Xiao Fei. You have a total of 5 works shortlisted for the preliminary evaluation of the Mao Award this time, which is a record that no one has ever created, what are your feelings now?

Xiao Fei: I'm in a good mood, thank you readers for your support, and thank the judges for their recognition of me. The selection of the Mao Award is much more difficult than crossing a single-plank bridge, and only the final award can be regarded as a real winner.

Meng Xidong: Everyone is arguing about whether your "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty" is a novel, do you think "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty" is a novel?

Xiao Fei: I think that no matter what genre it is, don't frame it to death, the more rigid the restriction, the more it will not be able to innovate and develop, why can't novels be mixed with essays, reviews and historical papers? In my own opinion, if it is defined by the current novel, strictly speaking, "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty" is not a novel. However, if one day in the future, the development of the novel breaks through certain limitations and reaches a new stage, or it will also be regarded as a novel.

Meng Xidong: Do you tend to think of it as a novel?

Xiao Fei: No! I don't have any inclinations, I'm just trying and experimenting, and looking at it now, my attempts were successful, as long as the reader likes it, that's fine.

Meng Xidong: You mean, when you create your work, you start from the needs of the largest number of readers?

Xiao Fei: Yes, I strive to make my writing readable and interesting, so that readers can enjoy reading it rather than pain!

Meng Xidong: Last question, what do you think are the chances of winning the Mao Award?

Xiao Fei: Such an estimate is meaningless, but deep down, I definitely hope that I can win 100% of the awards. (Laughs) (To be continued.) )