British writer

The rumor was debunked,

The students were able to calm down and think about Lu Shi's words again.

The scene became extremely quiet.

Lu Shi looked around and said, "I just mentioned that today's theme is the conflict between secular cognition and literary creation. For example, the protagonist of "The Moon and Sixpence" - Strickland, he Not flattering."

More than unpleasant,

Many people even feel a little nauseous after reading the novel.

As a wealthy middle-class man working in the financial industry, Strickland has a happy family.

Who would have thought that he suddenly ran away from home just to pursue a dream that he started in his forties——

painting.

But the reality is cruel,

He could not sell a single painting in Paris, suffered from poverty and illness, and almost died. In the end, he relied on Stroeve's financial support to tide over the difficulties.

What is outrageous is that Stroeve not only provided money, but also supported his wife.

But Strickland was a complete scumbag. With his pants lifted, he continued to pursue art, and finally came to the isolated island of Tahiti and married a local indigenous woman.

He continued to paint and contracted leprosy.

Before his death, he completed a giant mural and left a will to have the house full of murals burned after his death.

Lu Shi asked: "How many people don't like the protagonist? Please raise your hand."

There was silence for a few seconds.

Then, the students slowly raised their hands,

Approximately 70% of the scene.

To everyone's surprise, Lu Shi himself raised his hand.

There were murmurs in the auditorium.

It's not uncommon for writers to dislike their characters.

Lu Shi asked again: "How many people like him?"

This time, the remaining three people raised their hands.

And Lu Shi raised it again.

Immediately, a student said: "Professor Lu raised his hand twice. It seems that your attitude towards Strickland is very complicated."

Lu Shi sighed lightly,

"Yes, it's very complicated. On the one hand, I think Strickland is indeed a person with low moral standards; on the other hand, I somewhat admire his attitude towards life."

The students couldn't help but fall into silence.

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the world had not yet begun to turn left. Not only in East Asia, the vast majority of countries and nations still emphasized a sense of responsibility.

Most of the time, people live for their family or a group,

There's nothing wrong with that.

But people's hearts are still throbbing, and occasionally they want to be impulsive and willful,

Humanistic thoughts also surged.

A professor in the front row said: "Professor Lu, frankly speaking, there are many people in the world who are as persistent in their dreams as Strickland, but how many of them can really become great painters? Moreover, Even Strickland became famous after his death."

Lu Shi nodded,

Just as he was about to admit what the other party said, a student spoke for him below.

"Professor, you don't understand this book."

Cambridge students are also brave and firmly practice the principle of "I love my teacher, and I love the truth even more."

The professor who asked the question was not worried;

He turned around,

"How to say?"

The student replied: "Achievements in the secular sense should not be discussed."

The professor smiled and said, "But Professor Lu described Strickland's artistic success in the novel."

The students still insist,

"But as readers, we must not view this success as motivation for Strickland's choices."

Can't argue with each other,

The two couldn't help but look at each other.

Lu Shi said: "Let me answer the dispute between the two by quoting the original words from the novel. In the novel, 'I' found Strickland in Paris, and a conversation took place afterwards."

He cleared his throat,

"

I asked him: 'If you are a third-rate painter no matter how hard you try, is it still worth giving up everything and starting over? ’

‘I tell you I have to paint, I can’t help myself. If a man falls into the water, it does not matter whether he is a good swimmer or not; he has to fight his way out or drown. ’

This was Strickland's answer.

"

The professor was thoughtful.

He understood,

To Strickland, success or failure is not important;

The reason why he chose to paint was because he had to paint, and the impulse in his heart told him:

“If you don’t paint, you’d rather die!”

Lu Shi further reminded: "In the novel, there is another character that has nothing to do with the main plot, the doctor named Abraham. Do you remember him?"

Abraham was in the limelight after becoming the attending physician.

But he quit quickly, resigned from his position, and went to a small city to live an ordinary life.

And Abraham's successor, even though his abilities were far inferior to him, still took advantage of this gap to rise to the top and achieved success in the worldly sense.

Lu Shi said: "We are already halfway through the plot, so why write about Abraham who has nothing to do with the main plot? The reason is that Strickland's artistic achievements in the novel are too high, which will make readers think that he was chosen for success. painting."

Everyone understands,

Writing about Abraham is to illustrate that failure does not necessarily mean that life is meaningless.

The professor asked curiously: "That's why you arranged the plot to have Strickland burn his masterpiece. Because he does not need external recognition as a criterion for success."

Lu Shi spread his hands,

"Actually, there is another reason. Strickland is terminally ill, and his behavior is not necessarily controlled by the brain."

"Ah this..."

The professor was a little confused.

From previous exchanges, he felt that Lu Shi recognized Strickland.

But the sentence just now "may not be controlled by the brain" seems to be a bit critical.

This is very similar to Lu Shi's attitude towards "Lord of the Flies\

,"Not optimistic about Amano Keiichi;

At the same time, he hates Masato Goto.

Lu Shixiao asked: "If a person's dream is to drink, and he lives and dreams of being drunk every day, has he found the meaning of life?"

Everyone fell into silence.

Frankly speaking, they really can't say anything against their will.

Lu Shi nodded,

"Your silence is not difficult to understand. It can be seen that the key to "The Moon and Sixpence" is to provoke thinking rather than to give a clear answer."

Some students said: "Professor Lu is a little slippery~ I don't believe you don't have a bias!"

Lu Shi couldn't help but laugh,

"Yes, I am biased. You should know that the novel is based on Mr. Gauguin. I love Houses and Crows, so I naturally admire Strickland."

This is very sincere,

The atmosphere at the scene also became a lot more relaxed.

Lu Shi continued: "So, if you want to help me sell "The Moon and Sixpence", don't say anything like 'chasing dreams'. This can easily cause people to misunderstand and read it as an inspirational novel. "

Strickland is a dreamer and a genius.

But he is definitely not a good person.

If you read "The Moon and Sixpence" with the mentality of pursuing inspiration, your three views will collapse.

Lu Shi looked under the podium,

The students seemed to agree with him.

He started the next topic: "Next, let's talk about secular cognition. In fact, the book "The Moon and Sixpence" is not deviant, at least, not compared to my other books."

Because of the emergence of humanism, an idea began to spread:

Most importantly, people only need to be responsible for themselves.

Therefore, life is not a discovery, but an invention. There is no unified and correct way of life.

The most important thing is to invent something that you like and is unique.

As long as you have some exposure to humanism, you can roughly understand the expression of "The Moon and Sixpence" without feeling it is too exaggerated.

James joked: "Indeed. If you ask me, "Hunting" is the most outrageous."

This remark caused a roar of laughter.

The students also started discussing,

"No matter how you think about it, "Lord of the Flies" is more extreme, right? Putting a group of children on an island to kill each other, what kind of bad taste is this?"

"I think "Lolita"..."

"Yes, yes! It has to be "Lolita"! The uncut part of that novel is quite exciting."

"Shiit! I'm studying literature, can you be more serious?"

…

The scene was very chaotic.

Everyone is talking about the Innocence Trilogy.

Compared with Strickland's scumbag behavior, the evil of children does have a greater impact on people.

Not just the 20th century,

Even in modern times, most people cannot accept the latter.

This is worldly knowledge.

Lu Shi pressed his hands down,

"Okay, everyone has talked so much, which shows that there is indeed a conflict between secular cognition and literary creation."

The students below couldn’t help but look at each other,

Because Lu Shi wrote so well,

They all felt that it was not even a simple creation, but almost an adaptation based on real people.

Someone complained: "There is something wrong with children's literature written like this."

They really treat the Childlike Innocence Trilogy as childlike innocence.

Lu Shi waved his hands repeatedly,

"Don't accuse me wrongly! It doesn't mean that the protagonist is a child, but the writing is children's literature. If you really take the books I wrote and read them to children, be careful about them the next day...ah, not necessarily, at least, ‘The Hobbit’ is still okay.”

There was another round of laughter.

Someone joked: "Professor Lu thinks that the Innocence Trilogy is not considered children's literature, is it because at the end of the novel, justice fails to defeat evil?"

"hunting\

,"Lucas is threatened with an arrow from someone on the high ground;

"Lolita\

,"Lolita dies in childbirth and Humbert is imprisoned;

"Lord of the Flies\

,"Masato Goto defeated Keiichi Amano.

In summary, the evil side has the last laugh.

Lu Shi pondered for a moment,

"Actually, the purest children's literature does not necessarily end well. There are too many such examples. "The Little Match Girl", the little girl froze to death on the street; "The Emperor's New Clothes" ended in a farce; "The Sea" "The Little Mermaid's daughter", the little mermaid failed to find love..."

James applauded and said, "I agree with Professor Lu. If the outcome must be justice defeating evil, then what do the children know, 'must be justice' or 'must win'?"

He writes horror stories and fairy tales, so he has a say.

This topic has been discussed.

Lu Shi circled back again and continued to talk about the conflict between secular cognition and literary creation.

"The Childlike Innocence Trilogy is not innocent. The evil of children is pure evil, and the good of adults is complicated goodness..."

Next, no one interrupted me.

After more than an hour, the exchange ended.

Lu Shi was surrounded by people,

The students were still unfinished and continued to ask various questions about literature.

Outside, the sun began to slowly set,

The breeze blows in through the small crack in the open window, caressing the cheeks, bringing a cool feeling and refreshing the mind.

After some time, the students dispersed.

Lu Shi looked at the sky,

What was just the light blue of evening has now gradually become tinged with twilight.

James joked to Lu Shi: "Lu, you spoke so well! I benefited a lot."

Lu Shi waved his hand,

"Just saying what comes to mind, no main idea."

He looked around,

"Where's Mr. School Superintendent?"

James said: "He wanted to talk to you just now, but there seemed to be some problems with the Nobel Prize nomination, and he had to deal with it."

Lu Shi said "Huh?"

"Nobel Prize."

James whispered: "Don't worry, it's not a literature award. Mr. School Superintendent told me when he left."

The two of them walked to the cafeteria while chatting.

Lu Shi might not be able to make it back to London today and would have to spend the night in Cambridge.

James said: "Your children's literature..."

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Lu Shi.

"No. The Innocence Trilogy is really not children's literature. If I read that as a bedtime story to my future child, I'm afraid he will have nightmares."

James laughed.

After calming down his smile, he said: "In fact, even if it is serious children's literature, children may have nightmares after listening to it."

His eyes were full of memories,

"When Eddie was young...ah, Eddie is my son. When he was young, he heard the story of "Cinderella", but I only told half of it, and he stayed up all night. Do you know why?"

Lu Shi shook his head,

"How do I know this? Lao Zhan, please stop being so secretive and just tell me."

James said: "Eddie felt distressed and frightened because Cinderella was abused by her stepmother and sisters."

"puff!"

Lu Shi burst out laughing,

"What kind of excuse is this? The protagonist of "Cinderella" is obviously a girl! Can your son still take the role?"

James sighed,

"When you and Her Highness the Princess... ahem... I mean, when you have children, you will naturally understand. Children have an instinctive attachment to their parents. So, for them, that kind of plot is a test .”

Lu Shi had never considered issues related to the subject of children's literature before.

Now that I think about it, I realize that it’s true,

Snow White’s mother dies;

Hansel and Gretel’s parents are ready to throw them away;

Little Red Riding Hood must go through the jungle alone if she wants to see her grandmother;

…

The hardships set up for the protagonists in children's literature seem to be related to their loved ones.

James said: "I wrote a lot of fairy tales, and then I realized that the most important thing about children's literature is to convey beliefs and make children brave. Just like the example of "The Little Mermaid" you just gave, the ending is not good, but it does not prevent it from becoming classic."

The two of them chatted and entered the cafeteria.

They each took their food and sat facing each other.

James finished chewing the bread, took another sip of corn soup, and then said: "Lu, have you ever thought about writing children's literature?"

Lu Shi said, "I wrote it before."

"The Hobbit" is,

However, at that time he modified his language style to make it more adult;

"Animal Farm" can barely count,

However, due to Nicholas II's sudden illness, the novel's political satire elements have become countless times more than in his previous life, and it has nothing to do with children.

James smiled,

"What? Do you really want to show the Children's Innocence Trilogy?"

Lu Shi said helplessly: "Lao Zhan, you know I'm not referring to those three novels."

James said "Yeah" and put on a serious expression.

"My advice is serious. You also know that those three books are all based on children, and they are very well written, and are highly praised in the literary world. But the general public may... be careful that they regard you as a pervert with a dark psychology. .”

Lu Shi laughed loudly,

"That's better than writing horror stories!"

James rolled his eyes at him,

"Why do you think I started writing fairy tales?"

"Ah this..."

Lu Shi really didn't expect it.

James patted him on the shoulder and said, "I'm joking. However, children's literature is indeed unique and can broaden a writer's creative ideas. At first, I was very disdainful of it and thought it was just for coaxing children. ? But when I actually started writing, I realized that there is a reason why children’s literature can become a serious literary category.”

Lu Shi also understood this truth,

He was deep in thought,

Maybe I really need to write some beautiful works in order to "save my reputation".

Children's literature is a pretty good choice.

James added: "Isn't your "Mirror" famous for its diverse sections? It should be popular if you have a bedtime story section."