British writer

Chapter 232 Quick Gunner and Sharpshooter

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were already many fantasy novels describing the future, and they even sprouted in China, where modern literature developed relatively late.

For example, "The Future of New China\

,"This is a work published by Ren Gong in 1902. It is ingenious and very interesting.

But there is too little science fiction and too much politics in it.

And it is bound to be acclimatized in Europe.

"It's troublesome..."

Lu Shi stretched himself.

If I had known better, I wouldn't have come to Paris to be a judge for this raison d'être.

Verne chuckled,

"Lu, we believe you."

Lu Shi complained: "You left your job to me and became the boss yourself. Can you not believe me?"

Verne spread his hands,

"Who said I'm going to be a hands-off shopkeeper? If you have any questions, you can consult me~"

This guy is so thick-skinned.

Lu Shi was speechless,

"..."

Wells on the side pondered,

"First of all, we need to clarify the type of "New France"."

Lu Shi said: "It's a dystopia."

Wells's eyes lit up,

"This summary is very accurate."

Utopia is the most beautiful society in human consciousness,

There, everyone is equal, there is no oppression, and it is as beautiful as a paradise on earth.

Verne held his chin and recalled: "If I remember correctly, is there a fictional travelogue called "Utopia"?"

Wells nodded,

"The author was Thomas More, an Englishman."

"Tsk..."

Verne was speechless and said: "No wonder you remember it so clearly. What is the content of the book?"

Wells spread his hands,

"Then you have to ask Professor Lu. I can't remember the details."

So, the two of them looked at Lu Shi together.

Lu Shi happened to have seen it and introduced: "On an island called 'Utopia', there are 54 cities evenly distributed. All cities have a common style, language, customs and laws. Each city is divided into..."

He paused slightly,

"Do we need to talk about it later?"

Wells and Verne briefly exchanged glances,

They both said at the same time:

"Need not."

Based on the sentence "All cities have a common style, language, customs and laws" and the title of the book "Utopia", you can roughly guess what follows.

Moreover, they have all read this book and have some impression of it.

Verne said: "If utopia is idealistic and constructive, then dystopia is critical, negative and deconstructive. "New France" does belong to the latter, but it only touches upon it and is not profound."

Lu Shi was a little curious,

"Why don't you think it's profound?"

Verne shrugged,

"In "New France", French citizens allow a man who is married to a woman who is twenty-four years older than him to be the prime minister. Moreover, this woman was once the prime minister's high school teacher. Isn't this nonsense? That's it. Strong denial makes the novel less convincing."

Lu Shi: "..."

He understood:

At the beginning of the 20th century, New France was a dystopia;

At the beginning of the 21st century, "New France" is a realist criticism.

It's really outrageous.

Lu Shi coughed lightly and asked, "Mr. Verne, don't you think that the French are described as being very selfless, and their process of making France great again is even more ridiculous?"

Verne shook his head after hearing this.

"Nonsense? No, no, no, no. I think Mr. Pergaard created it with a serious attitude. It is precisely because of this seriousness that we define "New France" as a dystopian theme rather than an absurd novel. "

Hey, French.

Lu Shi had nothing to say.

Verne was still unfinished and continued to comment:

"But Mr. Pergaard is still young after all. The plots he wrote are not even as worthy of scrutiny as "Gulliver's Travels" 180 years ago."

Lu Shi was speechless,

After being reminded by the other party, he realized that the bizarre countries Gulliver traveled to, such as the Kingdom of Adults, the Kingdom of Lilliput, the Flying Islands, the Kingdom of Witches, and the Kingdom of Horses, all had a strong sense of utopia or dystopia.

Wells coughed lightly,

"Ahem... you two, now is not the time for literary criticism."

He looked at Lu Shi,

"Professor Lu, now that the theme has been determined, how are you going to create it?"

Lu Shi's ammunition depot is sufficient;

The most famous is undoubtedly the trilogy of dystopian novels:

"us\

,""1984\

,""Brave New World".

Take out any book and it will kill Pergo's "New France".

But are these books appropriate for the early 20th century?

Let’s talk about “We” first. The author Zamyatin adopts an epistolary style and constructs the novel with 40 diary entries.

This method is not suitable for newspapers.

Let's talk about "1984" again. Orwell painted an image of a totalitarian society where people live under universal surveillance.

Tsar Nicholas II:? ? ?

If Lu Shizhen wrote this, dystopia might be regarded as realist criticism.

Finally, let’s talk about “Brave New World”.

This book is really science fiction, but as a work written in 1932, Huxley used a lot of black technologies that were traceable at the time but could not be seen in the early 20th century.

For example,

Electrical control intelligence,

Chemical drugs regulate mood,

…

Too much!

It is possible to change it, but it is too time-consuming and labor-intensive.

and,

"The three novels are all over 100,000 words long..."

Lu Shisheng has no love.

Verne was surprised,

"What? What did you mean by 'a novel of more than 100,000 words' just now? Do you have an idea?"

Lu Shi shook his head,

"No, it's nothing."

He is not a diligent person, and copying long articles is really difficult.

Verne said "hmm", always feeling that he missed something.

Lu Shi continued to think and locked the length in the middle chapter.

Soon, a book title came to mind——

"Animal Farm".

Both are works by Orwell,

However, it's not even science fiction, but a political allegory.

It tells the story of the animals on the farm who successfully carried out a "revolution", driving out the human masters who exploited them from the farm, and establishing an equal animal society.

However, the animal leader, the pig, eventually usurped the fruits of the revolution and became a more totalitarian ruler than his human counterpart...

"Animal Farm" and "1984" are actually two versions of the same novel:

The former is a (dark) fairy tale version;

The latter is the reality version.

Of course, changing "Animal Farm" is also very troublesome.

Because it animalizes certain historical figures, as if they behave like animals, it is extremely ironic and to the point.

Of course Lu Shi couldn't write like this,

But the good thing is that "Animal Farm" is a novella.

Everything is based on word count!

The number of words is small, but it is God!

There is only one thing left to consider now:

How to reduce the political elements and add the right amount of science fiction elements to this fable?

Lu Shi fell into deep thought,

After a long time, he made up his mind that some settings from "Brave New World" could be used, so he rummaged around the conference table.

Verne asked: "Are you looking for pen and paper?"

Lu Shi said: "I have a pen. What I need now is a blank piece of paper."

When he said this, he had an idea.

Verne and Wells looked at each other and then searched frantically.

I’m so lucky to see Lu Shi’s creation live!

Half a minute later,

"Here I am...I found it!"

Wells yelled.

Lu Shi looked up and saw Verne and Wells with hot and red faces, sweating profusely and panting. He couldn't help but be shocked.

"You two just..."

Wells stuffed the paper over,

"Leave us alone! Write quickly! Hurry!"

Lu Shi was a little confused.

"you……"

Before the words fell,

"Quick!"×2

The other two people almost shouted in unison.

Lu Shi's head was full of black lines,

￣□￣｜｜

I thought to myself, "These two guys are too weird." I lowered my head and recorded my thoughts on paper.

Wells and Verne came up,

A few seconds later, Wells asked: "Professor Lu, what is this 'Soma'?"

Lu Shi said: "You can understand it as a hallucinogen without side effects... Hmm... How should I explain it? In short, it is similar to nicotine... Well... let me think about it..."

He was thinking about how to explain it,

Verne on the side said: "Lu, just focus on your own creation, there is no need to talk to him!"

Lu Shi shrugged.

"All right."

He continued to immerse himself in ideas.

In less than a minute, Verne spoke,

"Lu, what is this 'kill immediately after birth'..."

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Wells next to him: "Jules, you are playing double standard with me, right!? How can you be like an American?!"

Verne blushed,

"I don't have double standards!"

"Then why can you ask but I can't?"

"You're asking about a scientific definition! What I'm asking about is the basic setting of the entire novel! Can it be the same?"

"What's the difference?"

"What's the same?"

…

The two actually quarreled like children.

Lu Shi: "..."

Wow——

He pushed the chair away and stood up,

"I'm back!"

Wells and Verne stopped arguing instantly and said in unison: "We will send you off!"

Lu Shi quickly raised his hand to stop him.

"No! Just let me clean up!"

He left the conference room in a hurry.

…

the next day,

early morning.

Collège de France, in a certain dormitory villa.

"Shit!"

Wells suddenly sat up from the bed,

"Can't sleep at all."

He glanced at the bright sky outside, and simply stopped going back to bed and tossed and turned. He didn't even wash up, just put on his clothes and went out.

Since the Collège de France is a research institution and there are very few people there, there is a nice tranquility at this point in time.

The breeze blew gently, taking away the chill of the night and bringing in the breath of winter.

Wells wrapped his coat around himself.

At this time, a milk carriage slowly passed by,

There is a cloth bag at the back of the carriage, which contains stacks of newspapers.

Wells immediately thought of Pergo.

He raised his voice,

"Old man, please give me a newspaper."

The driver obviously heard it,

He stopped the carriage, turned around, and looked over suspiciously.

Wells suddenly understood and mumbled in French: "Newspaper. I want Le Figaro."

The coachman leaned forward on his seat,

"I'm sorry, sir. These newspapers are ordered by the gentlemen of the college. There are no extras. I can't give them to you."

Wells couldn't help it;

"Oh well."

The coachman apologized again, then urged the horse to leave.

Wells watched the shadow of the carriage disappear,

He hesitated a little,

On the one hand, he wanted to go to Lu Shi's dormitory and read new works as soon as possible;

On the one hand, his duty as a judge urged him to leave the academy and buy a copy of "Le Figaro" to see what Pergaud would do.

Eventually, responsibility took over.

Wells hurried out the door.

As soon as I left the college, the noise outside rushed into my ears.

At the same time, the shops facing the street exude a light aroma of coffee, mixed with the aroma of freshly baked bread and the scent of morning dew, which makes people feel comfortable.

Wells murmured:

"It smells better here than in London."

He ran to a nearby bookstore,

"Boss, please give me a copy of Le Figaro."

The boss looked at him and said,

"Londoner?"

Wells was surprised,

"How did you know?"

The boss smiled and said, "It's really easy to recognize French with your accent."

As he said that, he handed over a newspaper,

"Look at page three. Big scandal."

"scandal?"

Wells narrowed his eyes.

He turned to the third page and found Pergaard's words:

“Regarding the Jules Verne Award, I don’t know which judge rejected my work, but no matter who it was, they are bound to regret it.”

The font size is very large, even in cursive fonts.

Below, there are a few lines of small print:

——

The above is what one contestant said.

"Le Figaro" promises to follow up and report the entire event, supervise the Jules Verne Awards, and ensure that they are fair, just and open.

We will publish the contestant's work,

At the same time, we also welcome other contestants who failed to win the preliminary round to actively publish their works.

——

Wells's face darkened and he cursed in a low voice:

"Fxxk!"

Just yesterday, news came from Verne's insiders that this matter would only appear on the seventh page.

As a result, today is the third edition.

Others are even welcome to make their work public…

Isn't this provoking trouble?

Wells sighed,

"Newspapers around the world have no integrity."

The owner of the bookstore echoed: "Of course! Moral ethics cannot be eaten! What's more, the "Le Figaro" prints full-page advertisements, which is shameless in the first place."

But his words suddenly changed,

"However, I still support "Le Figaro" in this matter. There is most likely an inside story in this matter."

"Tsk..."

Wells was speechless.

Verne's estimate was indeed correct.

In old revolutionary areas, the citizens’ favorite after-dinner activity is to fight against authority.

Even if it's just catching wind and shadow, it still has to be counter-intuitive.

Wells said: "After all, there is no evidence, so don't rush to conclusions, right?"

The bookstore owner was stunned.

"Too."

He put on a mysterious and gossipy expression,

"Do you know about the Nobel Prize? It is said that this year's Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Russia's Leo Tolstoy. I don't appreciate his works, so I am not very convinced that he won the prize... "

Omit the next two hundred words.

Wells: "..."

He quickly paid the money, walked quickly back to the Collège de France, and went straight to Lu Shi's dormitory.

As soon as he entered the door, he said: "Professor Lu, what's wrong, today's...! @* # ￥%..."

The following words became garbled characters.

Because Verne covered his mouth.

Verne covered his mouth with his right hand and pointed in the direction of the desk with his left hand.

"Keep your voice down."

Wells cast his gaze,

Lu Shi was seen lying quietly on the desk, covered with a quilt, snoring slightly, sleeping like a stone sculpture.

His head rested on his left arm, while his right hand held a pen, and his fingers occasionally twitched unconsciously.

Wells also experienced that kind of convulsion,

Caused by holding the pen for too long while writing.

He winked at Verne frequently.

The latter understood and withdrew the hand covering his mouth.

"how?"

Wells asked in shock: "Professor Lu didn't use a typewriter?"

Verne replied: "Used. Broken."

There are only two words in total, but they can create a story that makes people imagine endlessly.

Wells couldn't help but smile bitterly,

"That is to say, for a 'quick shooter' like Professor Lu, it is impossible for others to break the typewriter."

Verne sighed,

"Lu Ke is not just a 'quick shooter'."

After saying that, he handed over the manuscript and commented seriously: "It's still a 'sharp shooter'."

Wells asked: "Has Professor Lu written another masterpiece?"

Verne said "Huh", but after thinking about it, he felt that something was wrong, so he corrected the other person and said: "A masterpiece. You will know after reading it."

Wells was stunned,

"Masterpiece?"

This evaluation comes from the mouth of the science fiction master Verne, and it is no joke.

He threw away "Le Figaro" and took over the manuscript with the feeling of pilgrimage.

Book title:

"Animal Farm".

Wells began to read,

——

The "revolution" takes place at Manna Manor.

That night, Mr. Jones, who was very drunk, mixed soma with the feed and staggered across the yard towards the farmhouse.

…

——

Wells read manuscripts very quickly;

It didn't take long for him to understand that "Soma" is a chemical that can regulate the emotions of animals and make them disappear from joy, anger, sadness and joy.

In addition to soma, there are also various tools,

For example, Verne mentioned yesterday "killing immediately after birth\

,"Humans use instruments to measure the meat yield of animals. Those with low meat yields will be directly mashed into feed.

This "competition" is undoubtedly cruel;

So it is "killed immediately after birth".

There are several other ways to improve productivity.

Wells was a little confused,

Isn’t this approach the right of humans standing at the top of the food chain as the masters of all things?

However, when he read further and saw a pig named "Old Major" speaking and calling other animal companions "comrades", he couldn't help but be horrified.

"Is this written like...a real animal?"

Verne chuckled,

"What do you think?"

"Gu..."

Wells swallowed and couldn't look away from the manuscript.

As the story develops, the animals' "revolution" succeeds and drives away humans.

However, the leader, the pig, has mastered the high technologies of mankind and instead uses them on his "comrades".

Wells was stunned;

"A masterpiece...a real masterpiece..."

Which "Animal Farm" was written by Professor Lu?

This is clearly "Human Society"!

Moreover, this human society has become a group of destined slaves under centralized power and strict scientific control.