British writer

Lu Shi did not refuse to go to Paris for an exchange.

There is a very important reason, which is Scott's strong persuasion,

My brother even thought of the title of the headline——

"The Nobel Prize in Literature? Lu Shi: It's just a joke! "

If the "Mirror" starts its publication in this way, it will definitely become popular.

But Lu Shi felt that the title was too offensive, and asked Scott to downplay the individual as much as possible, and instead attributed the incident to a common advance and retreat in the Western European literary circles.

Scott changed his name:

"A second-rate liberal arts school is also worthy of the Nobel Prize in Literature!" ? "

Full of aggressiveness.

Since Scott came into contact with the brand-new concept of tabloids, his whole person has changed, and he has made rapid progress in the popularization of news.

Lu Shi had no choice but to let him go. The only request was not to publish the publication before Lu Shi returned from Paris.

After agreeing on this matter, Lu Shi and Bernard Shaw set off by water.

The ship crossed the English Channel from Dover, England to Calais, France,

The distance between the two ports is not far, and the sea is calm, so it will not take long,

There are a lot of people on board, and there is everything you need to eat, drink and have fun. You can also go to the window to watch the sea, or go to the stern to feel the sea breeze in early spring.

Lu Shi and George Bernard Shaw played chess in the cabin,

In the UK, chess is not as popular as cards, so Bernard Shaw is a pure stinky chess basket,

Of course, so did Lu Shi,

Two people playing chess is about equal to bad.

Lu Shi picked up the chariot, then shook his head and put it down.

Bernard Shaw said, "Lu, you can't do this! Haven't you ever heard of running around?"

It is the rule of chess to touch and move.

In the game, if the chess player touches a certain chess piece on his side with his hand, he must move it. Only when the touched chess piece cannot move at all, can he move other chess pieces.

Lu Shi couldn't help laughing awkwardly,

"This... I really can't."

Bernard Shaw asked suspiciously, "You won't let me?"

Lu Shi shook his head,

"It may not be difficult for a master to deliberately lose, but it is very difficult for a low hand like me."

George Bernard Shaw thought the same,

With Lu Shi's chess skills, it is impossible for him to be flawless.

This kid is really too cool.

Bernard Shaw pushed the chessboard away and complained, "I can't play anymore. The gap between you and me is too great to play."

Lu Shi retaliated: "It seems like you know a lot~"

After speaking, he stood up and stretched himself.

Bernard Shaw said: "How long have we been traveling? Go out now, and you should be able to see the famous White Cliffs of Dover. Let's go out and have a look together."

The two left the cabin and went to the deck.

The spring is cold, and the sea breeze wraps the two of them with salty taste and chill,

Lu Shi tightly wrapped his coat, held the railing with his hands, and stood on tiptoe as if looking into the distance.

Bernard Shaw looked at the sky,

"Lu, for giant ships, tens of kilometers of waterways are fleeting, and we should only spend one day on board."

In the 20th century, everything was slow,

Bernard Shaw's understanding of "transient" is obviously different from that of Lu Shi.

Lu Shi looked at the calm and peaceful sea, and murmured in a low voice: "The breeze is coming, and the waves are calm."

Because it was spoken in Chinese, George Bernard Shaw did not understand.

He didn't ask too much, and instead talked about the Nobel Prize for Literature.

"Lu, this morning, just before we boarded the ship, the Swedish Academy sent another telegram. The telegram said that Mr. Tolstoy voluntarily rejected this nomination, and even commented on his own work as an 'old-fashioned game'. "

The matter of the Nobel Prize in Literature has been heated up, and the literary world is full of discussions about it, and it is impossible not to spread it to Russia.

Lu Shi sighed,

"'Grandpa's game' ah..."

He nodded, then shook his head, without making an immediate statement.

George Bernard Shaw was curious,

"Why do you nod first and then shake your head?"

Lu Shi said: "Of course it's okay for Toon to evaluate himself that way. He's very humble and objective. But the Swedish Academy uses this as a shield... Hehe..."

Bernard Shaw chuckled and said, "Modity and objectivity are contradictory, right?"

Lu Shi turned around, no longer looking at the sea,

He put the elbow of his right hand against the guardrail, and his left hand pressed the hat that might be blown away at any time, and said, "What Toon said should be "War and Peace."

George Bernard Shaw said: "The length of the telegram is limited, and the Swedish Academy did not mention it. Of course, it is also possible that Mr. Tolstoy was too lazy to talk about it when he sent the telegram to the Swedish Academy. It is difficult to talk about the thoughts of great writers." .”

Lu Shi said, "It should be "War and Peace", that's right."

Bernard Shaw also agrees with this.

Tolstoy said "Master's game", in which "Master" naturally refers to the aristocratic class,

And Tolstoy himself is a nobleman, and Pierre and Paulkonsky in "War and Peace" were created based on himself.

Lu Shi chuckled,

"War, refers to Napoleon; peace, refers to Toon himself."

Bernard Shaw was taken aback for a moment, and then he also smiled tacitly.

Because the background of "War and Peace" is the Russo-French War, so Napoleon is equal to war,

In the book, the nobles are hardly affected by the war, playing music and dancing, which is "peace" in a certain sense.

Lu Shi couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "Tuo Weng wrote the side of 'peace' very realistically. It is obviously a novel, but it is like a documentary literature. It almost portrays the luxury and corruption of the upper class to the bone. Compared with Cao Xueqin, it is also... um... "

Bernard Shaw asked curiously, "You just said a Chinese, right?"

Lu Shi nodded, selling to the other party,

"Mr. Chancellor, if I have time, I must translate "The Story of the Stone" for you."

This is actually drawing a big cake,

To foreigners, "A Dream of Red Mansions" reads like a nightmare.

Lu Shi changed the topic back,

"Let's talk about the 'war' in "War and Peace". When Napoleon tore up the peace agreement and swung his army across the Neman River, Bolkonsky's father led the serfs to the battlefield. What happened?"

Bernard Shaw said with a puzzled look on his face, "Of course they won. Whether it's fiction or history, the French army fell apart in the end."

Lu Shi shook his head,

"I'm not talking about the result of the war, but of the serfs."

Bernard Shaw was even more confused,

When he looked at Lu speechlessly, he didn't know what the other party wanted to say.

Lu Shi said: "The corpses were shrouded in horse leather and died in battle, but in the end they didn't even leave their names. But such a group of serfs who were hungry and unstable, in Tuo Weng's pen, they died willingly and generously, which is reasonable. ?"

George Bernard Shaw suddenly realized,

"unreasonable."

Lu Shi gave a "hmm" in agreement,

If Bernard Shaw thought it was reasonable, he would not only recommend "Dream of Red Mansions", but also "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", so that Bernard Shaw could take a closer look at how Wang Hou was killed by Cao Cao.

Lu Shi said: "That's why I said that Tuo Weng's evaluation of himself is objective. After all, experience needs to be accumulated the day after tomorrow."

Tolstoy was only in his thirties when he finished War and Peace.

For a noble brother, you can't be too demanding.

Bernard Shaw was puzzled,

"Lu, since you have the same attitude, why do you use Mr. Tolstoy as a shield to refuse... Ahem... I mean, why do you think he is the only one worthy of the Nobel Prize in Literature?"

Lu Shi replied: "I just said that Tuo Weng is not only objective, but also very humble. The description of the serfs in "War and Peace" is not true, but as a literary work, its skills and ideas are beyond reproach. What's more , Toon and "Resurrection."

Tolstoy's handed down works——

"resurrection".

There are more than 20 Chinese editions of this book, and there are countless editions written by lovers of literature and translation.

The high status is evident.

However, the first edition of "Resurrection" was in 1899, and it was written in Russian, and George Bernard Shaw had not yet read it intensively.

He asked: "Isn't it "Anna Karenina"? I heard that when Mr. Tolstoy was writing this book, he had to revise it 12 times before finishing the draft, and his writing skills have reached perfection."

Lu Shi didn't reply.

George Bernard Shaw asked again, "What about "The Confessions?"

Because Rousseau and Augustine wrote works of the same name, Tolstoy's "Confessions" is not very popular,

But it's certainly a classic too.

Lu Shi smiled and coughed,

"No, in my heart, it's still "Resurrection"..."

Before he finished speaking, a chuckle suddenly came from behind him.

The two turned their heads and followed the prestige.

I saw a middle-aged man in his early thirties standing there,

He has a gentleman's mustache and wears a double-breasted coat with a collar clip exposed at the neckline. His solemn attire looks a bit rigid, but his back is leaning against the outer wall of the cabin, revealing a certain kind of unruly laziness.

Lu Shi felt that this person was somewhat familiar,

He asked, "Sir, are you?"

The man replied: "Russians."

Lu Shi nodded,

"Well, the accent is obvious."

Russians speak English with a strong Russian accent,

Any "R" in English, Russians will say it by themselves as a big tongue trill.

When the man glanced at Lu,

"Your English is very good."

He came over, stretched out his hand to Lu, and introduced himself, "My name is Alexey Maximovich Peshkov."

Lu Shi shook hands with him,

"Hi, my name is Lu Shi."

He only said his name and kept everything else secret.

Bernard Shaw on the other side saw Lu Shi acting like this, so he only reported one surname.

Peshkov looked at the two,

"You were discussing Tolstoy's "Resurrection" just now?"

Bernard Shaw did not speak,

He didn't want to comment on a work he didn't know much about.

Lu Shi said, "That's right."

Peshkov looked at him curiously, and then said: "Mr. Lu, "Resurrection" is not an excellent work. This book is not deep enough."

Lu Shi was stunned for a moment,

"who are you?"

As soon as this remark came out, Bernard Shaw immediately coughed violently: "Ahem..."

He coughed violently and managed to calm down. Then he patted Lu Shi on the shoulder and said in a low voice, "You don't think people are qualified to judge Mr. Tolstoy, so there's no need to be so provocative! Russians will do it if they disagree. of."

Pishkov didn't take it seriously,

""Resurrection" is just a work of Tolstoy's wisdom, far inferior to "Ball of Fat"."

"Tsk..."

Lu Shi was speechless, and said, "Do you still know "Ball of Fat"?"

Of course Peshkov heard Lu Shi's ridicule,

Instead of retorting, he nodded solemnly and replied: "Resurrection is not as good as Ball-of-Fat because the two books also write about prostitutes, and the former's satire is not thorough enough."

The protagonists of both books are prostitutes,

In "Resurrection", the protagonist was devastated, was framed and sentenced to death, and finally died in prison unjustly.

And the "upper people" portrayed in it are all scumbags.

The irony is nothing short of profound.

Lu Shi frowned,

"Where are the two books...uh..."

He slapped his forehead,

"If I remember correctly, the publication of "Resurrection" suffered setbacks?"

Peshkov's expression was shaken, he tried to keep a straight face, and said, "Mr. Lu seems to have some anecdotes."

Lu Shi said with certainty: "It's definitely not an anecdote. "Resurrection" was too spicy, and the tsar threatened to arrest Toon, so the publishing house didn't even dare to publish it. In desperation, Toon had to publish it at his own expense, but many people were castrated. content."

Bernard Shaw was surprised,

"There is such a thing!?"

Lu Shi nodded and said, "Therefore, there is nothing wrong with Mr. Peshkov saying that the satire in "Resurrection" is not thorough enough, because it omits a lot of descriptions of the rulers. This kind of 'not thorough' is the most thorough Satire."

Peshkov's gaze changed when he looked at Lu,

He said approvingly: "I thought the two were arty people, but I didn't expect that they really understood "Resurrection"."

As he spoke, he took off his hat.

The corners of Lu Shi's mouth curled up,

"It seems that you are also a fan of "Resurrection"."

Peshkov corrected: "All Russians should be fans of "Resurrection", only the Tsar can not... hum... Whether the Tsar is considered a Russian, I am not sure. He may not even be a person. "

What this guy said was actually a joke,

When the French executed Louis XVI, there was a famous saying:

"The death of a king is not a loss of a person."

As a playwright, Bernard Shaw quickly remembered this stalk, and couldn't help laughing: "Mr. Peshkov, whose head do you want to chop off?"

This is a word to ease the atmosphere,

Unexpectedly, Peshkov turned out to be extremely serious, and continued to chat along the topic just now: "Mr. Lu should hate the Tsar, right? After all, you just sighed because "Resurrection" could not be published in its entirety."

This is not easy to answer.

Bernard Shaw shook his head imperceptibly towards Lu Shi, signaling Lu Shi not to make a clear statement.

Lu Shi was also a master of Tai Chi, and said, "The tsar you're talking about isn't referring to someone, is it?"

Peshkov smiled,

"You're scared."

His tone was very flat, it didn't sound like a radical method, but a simple statement.

Lu Shi said: "If the tsar you are talking about is not a certain person, but a profession. Then I must say that there are many outstanding rulers among the previous tsars."

When Peshkov looked Lu up and down,

"Mr. Lu is Chinese, right?"

Lu Shi asked back, "Why?"

Peshkov sighed: "No wonder. The Chinese don't...no, let's talk about the topic just now. Are you talking about the great rulers Peter I and Catherine II?"

Lu Shi also looked at the other party for a while,

"You are Russian, but you don't know much about Russian history, and you keep talking about Peter the Great."

Peshkov was a little annoyed,

"You actually said that I don't understand the history of my country? I think you really don't understand! When it comes to successive tsars, who can bypass Peter I? He seized the Baltic Sea from Sweden and established St. Petersburg. It is the key to achieving supremacy!"

Bernard Shaw sighed,

"Mr. Peshkov, are you sure you want to talk about history? Frankly speaking, you can't be Lu's opponent."

As a result, these words only received a vicious look from Peshkov.

Shaw shrugged,

It's so hard to persuade the damn ghost, since the other party wants to give Lu Shi's head, what else can I do to stop him?

He consciously took half a step back,

"please continue."