British writer

the next day.

morning.

As soon as Lu Shi arrived at the "Mirror" newspaper office, he was blocked by Wodehouse.

Brother is very excited,

"Lu, enrollment has ended!"

Lu Shi didn't understand.

"Enrollment? What enrollment?"

Wodehouse explained: "Of course it's Lu Shiwen College! Have you forgotten what you promised me yesterday? Hey! You can't go back on your word!"

Lu Shi was confused.

One day, we planned to establish the college, and the next day, we completed the enrollment.

Is this something a normal person can do?

He asked: "Old John, it's only the beginning of November, not long after the fall semester started. Where did you recruit people?"

Wodehouse walked out the door as he pushed the landing,

"Don't worry about it!"

The two got into the carriage.

The main campus of University College London is on Gower Street,

The campus was built in 1827 and is famous for its unique architectural style and long history.

Upon entering the campus, Lu Shi felt that the atmosphere was a little strange.

The students whispered,

"Is that Dr. Doyle just now?"

"It looks quite similar. Besides, I seem to have met Bernard Shaw."

"Really? Where? Did you read that right?"

"Right in Wilkins Hall."

…

They were chatting, and when they passed by Lu Shi, their footsteps stopped for a moment, and they looked at each other in shock.

Apparently he recognized Lu Shi.

Lu Shi quickly lowered his head and passed quickly.

Wodehouse tried not to laugh, took off his bowler hat,

"Do you need it? You can cover it up."

Lu Shi rolled his eyes at him,

"Where are we going?"

Wodehouse nodded in the direction of the headquarters building and said, "Let's go to Wilkins Building."

After saying that, he quickened his pace.

The main building of University College London is quite impressive and has a large internal space.

The two walked along the corridor for a while and came to a classroom door.

Wodehouse grasped the doorknob;

"Lu, there are the first batch of students from Lu Shiwen Academy inside."

Lu Shi was suspicious,

"Are you sure you are really enrolling students? We just discussed it yesterday. No matter how fast you act, you still won't... Moreover, where is the organizational structure of the college? Where are the classes? Where is the enrollment brochure? We don't even have it."

The corners of Wodehouse's lips curled up,

"Do not worry."

He nodded slightly towards the inside of the classroom,

"You will definitely be satisfied with the students inside!"

Lu Shi: "..."

Faintly, a possibility came to mind.

He slowly opened the door.

The classroom is like a social place,

I saw those so-called "students" gathering together in twos and threes, saying things like "Long time no see" and "Your recent book was very good."

Their age distribution is very wide,

From an old man in his 70s to a young man in his 20s;

The same is true for careers,

Writer, professor, journalist, student...

Even politicians like Churchill were there.

It was a good thing that Edward VII was not interested in writing, otherwise there would have to be a king among these people.

But no matter what, they can be said to be the most powerful collection of written expressions in London.

Lu Shi's head was full of black lines,

￣□￣｜｜

He looked at Wodehouse and said, "Brother, is this the 'enrollment' you are talking about?"

Wodehouse nodded seriously,

"You know, Lu Shiwen College is going to gather the entire London University Alliance..."

"Stop it!"

Lu Shi raised his hand to interrupt,

"I saw a lot of bull and sword professors in the crowd. Look there, isn't that Professor James?"

Montague James seemed to hear it,

He cast his gaze,

"Sir Lu!"

Lu Shi greeted him warmly, and then looked at Wodehouse sternly.

Wodehouse took out a coin from his pocket.

"Lu, Britain is such a small place, and the literary world is naturally not that big. Therefore, if I make any move in London, the news will spread like wildfire. What's more, you don't know that our King is a big mouth. .”

If the Faculty of Arts wants to unify the power of the London University Alliance, it must report to Edward VII.

And how out of touch he is, he understands everything,

If he knew it, all England would know it.

Lu Shi was speechless.

"But the School of Liberal Arts is recruiting students. Why do you invite a bunch of professors?"

Wodehouse spread his hands,

"They did it voluntarily."

As soon as he finished speaking,

"Yes, we did it voluntarily."

Bernard Shaw also came over and whispered: "Lu, you are willing to teach those French guys, why aren't you willing to teach us?"

Lu Shi:? ? ?

"Where did I teach them?"

Bernard Shaw sighed,

"You still said you didn't teach me? They have already established the Olympiad Society! They even use your setting collection as a teaching material."

Lu Shi: "..."

I was speechless.

Bernard Shaw continued: "What's more, we are willing to be your students! Isn't there a saying in China? Understand the truth in no particular order!"

He probably wanted to memorize "Shi Shuo":

"Therefore, the disciple does not have to be inferior to the master, and the master does not have to be better than the disciple. There is a priority in learning the Tao, and there is a specialization in the art, that's all."

Bernard Shaw added: "Moreover, there are not only old guys like us here, but also young people~"

He stretched out his hand and crossed it from left to right, as if he wanted to encompass the entire classroom.

"Look, isn't that what it is?"

Lu Shi couldn't help but complain: "After counting, there is only one young man! And... well..."

He was speechless,

Because he had some impressions of that young man,

After staring for a while, he suddenly remembered,

It was actually James Joyce, the master who wrote "Ulysses".

Calculating the time carefully, it is normal for Joyce to appear in London.

In June 1902, he graduated from University College Dublin with a bachelor's degree in modern languages. On October 2, he registered to take courses at St. Cecilia's Medical College, but was forced to give up due to financial difficulties.

The corners of Wodehouse's lips curled up,

"Lu, don't think so much. Does it matter whether you are a student or a professor? The current students may be professors in the future; the current professors may also be your students."

This actually sounds a bit philosophical.

Lu Shi pondered,

"All right."

He stood on the podium.

The others immediately found their seats and sat down, listening intently like primary school students.

Lu Shi smiled and said,

"Everyone, I didn't expect it to be like this. Because many of you here are famous writers. What I noticed... Mr. Yeats, why are you here too?"

William Butler Yeats, Irish poet, playwright and essayist.

He reluctantly responded:

"Frankly, I don't like London."

Lu Shi nodded,

"Yes. The Irish generally dislike London."

The scene burst into laughter, especially from Bernard Shaw, Joyce and others.

They are all Yeats's fellow Irishmen.

Lu Shi said: "I have promised Sir Wodehouse to teach more technical things when teaching in the School of Liberal Arts. But this is the first time, and I still hope to give an overview."

All the "students" responded one after another,

The current scene is more like an organization like a literary association holding an event.

Lu Shi thought about what to say.

After the industrial revolution, literature ushered in great development and prosperity, and various schools sprung up like mushrooms after a rain.

However, the real emergence of works sharing writing skills had to wait until after the middle of the 20th century.

There are many works among them,

"The Thing of Writing" by Stephen King;

Harvard University's "Harvard Nonfiction Writing Course - How to Tell a Story" is written by authors who are winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Oscar, Emmy Award, National Book Award, etc.;

Japan also has "My Profession is a Novelist" by Haruki Murakami;

…

In addition to these, Chinese, a language with relatively late development of modern literature, also has famous works.

Like Yu Guangzhong's "Translation is the Great Road\

,"This seems to be a guide on translation and learning English, but it is a hidden gem of the authors.

There are important points in the book——

Get rid of the literary poisons of "malignant Westernization", such as translation accents and Europeanized long sentences, and regain authentic and beautiful Chinese expressions.

After reading this book, you can often "cure the disease with medicine."

Lu Shi believed that the advantages of these books should be combined,

He asked: "Everyone, you have become famous in the literary world. Now you might as well think back on how you started on the path of writing."

Everyone present has a lot to say about this topic.

"Most people should like reading, right?"

"That's right! Reading can stimulate imagination and creativity, and also allow people to find the joy of life."

"There are also family reasons."

"I agree with this. My wife's influence on me is also a booster for me to become an excellent writer."

"Dr. Doyle, are you excellent now?"

"Shiit! @* # ￥%..."

…

The classroom was noisy.

These great writers and scholars are no different from ordinary students, and they don't pay attention to classroom discipline.

Lu Shi clapped his hands,

"Everyone, do you still remember the first book you published? The first part of the book must be your own 'resume'. Do you still retain the impression?"

Normal publishing houses will introduce the author when publishing a newcomer's work.

Some even ask newspapers to interview the author.

Therefore, the preface or conclusion of the book will contain the author's autobiography.

The self-narrative content is often the author's review of important moments in his life, or his introduction of his family, experience, work, and writing feelings...

The classroom is quiet,

Everyone seemed to be lost in memories.

After a while, Bernard Shaw said: "There must be someone here who has no publishing experience, right?"

He looked at Churchill.

Churchill shrugged.

"Sorry, I have published a collection of poems and the sales are pretty good."

Wodehouse immediately broke the story and said: "The sales volume is good? Then why is it not reprinted? Let me tell you, you bought those books yourself~"

Churchill's face turned red, and the veins on his forehead popped out, and he argued: "So what if I bought it myself? That's for sale too! It's sold out!"

The scene erupted in laughter.

Lu Shi coughed slightly,

"Everyone, let's get down to business..."

Just as he was talking, Joyce suddenly said: "Sir Lu, I have never published any works. However, I know very well what I want to create for in the future."

The young man's words immediately attracted everyone's attention.

Joyce was very calm,

"My purpose is to write my own chapter in the moral and spiritual history of our country."

The "our country" he mentioned had nothing to do with Britain, but Ireland.

In Yes! In "Prime Minister", Lu Shi started with "The British have always been unworthy of others\

,"The people who know this sentence best are not the British colonies, but the Irish.

Joyce was very radical;

He believed that Ireland was an hopeless country under the control of Great Britain, and Dublin was the "center of paralysis."

Yeats applauded,

"Okay! Well said!"

Several other Irish writers joined in the applause.

Lu Shi was worried that Joyce would say something shocking again, so he quickly said: "Let's not talk about those big topics. Now, let's talk about the key points of writing."

He stretched out his right index finger,

"I believe everyone agrees that in novels, story and plot are the most important and first priority. As for the themes and symbols reflected in the story, they are all added values ​​that are slowly revealed as the story develops."

There is no need to say more about this, as all the writers present agreed,

With only theme and no plot, the novel will become completely formalistic and no fun to read.

Wodehouse said: "Lu, please talk about the skills."

Lu Shi said, "Okay. For English writing, you need a toolbox, with the most commonly used things like vocabulary, grammar, style elements, etc. on top."

Someone has already taken out a pen and recorded "swish-swish-".

Bernard Shaw asked: "Lu, you just mentioned a phrase - the elements of style, which is rare."

Actually, this is the name of a book,

"The Elements of Style" was published by Professor Strunk at his own expense in 1918.

More than 100 years later, although this writing rule has become an "aristocratic custom", it is still considered a model work.

Lu Shi said: "There are many elements of style. For example, you need to remove redundancy and keep the sentences concise and clear, 'I saw a red car' rather than 'I perceived a vehicle of red color.'"

The two sentences are translated as "I saw a red car\

,"The former is more direct and readable.

Lu Shi continued: "Also, the road to hell is paved with adverbs. Adverbs must be used with caution."

This is a famous quote by Stephen King that has been regarded as a guideline by countless writers.

Everyone was thinking,

They can roughly guess why.

Bernard Shaw whispered: "Using too many adverbs will limit the reader's imagination."

Lu Shi said: "That's right! Just like an iceberg, it is majestic because only one-eighth of it is on the water. In literary works, words and images are the one-eighth, while emotions and thoughts are Seven-eighths. The first two are concrete and visible, and the latter two are contained in the first two."

This iceberg theory is Hemingway’s point of view,

In "The Old Man and the Sea", he took it to the extreme and rarely used adverbs when describing dialogue.

Lu Shi picked up the chalk,

"Let me give you an example."

He turned around and wrote an example sentence on the blackboard,

——

"No,"

The old man said,

"You've got a lucky boat. Stay with them."

——

This is the original sentence of "The Old Man and the Sea".

Lu Shi asked: "If it were changed to 'the old man said firmly', would the effect be better? What if it was changed to 'the old man said firmly, expectantly and with concern'?"

The whole scene was filled with the recording sound of "rustling--".

After a while, everyone finished recording,

Churchill spoke up,

"In news reports, we use adverbs a lot. This can help readers to be lazy and let them understand the content based on the reporter's subjective description. If you think of it this way, the reporter is the intermediary between the reader and the article."

Of course, this can be included in news reports, because the media is supposed to guide.

But it wouldn’t be advisable to put it in a novel.

The addition of intermediaries will lengthen the distance between readers and the plot.

Lu Shi nodded,

"There are many more techniques. For example, use less descriptive sentences, which is the same as using less adverbs; another example is writing with closed doors and revising with open doors. Creation is a person's business, but after the creation is completed, you need to find someone to help. Finding fault..."

In the next period of time, he output like crazy.

Everyone was dizzy after hearing this.

Before I knew it, it was noon.

Lu Shi said: "There are too many things to talk about about writing. I am going to go back and compile a book, which should be used as a textbook for the liberal arts college."

This kind of thing is easy for him,

Just go back and compile those writings.

Wodehouse nearly burst into laughter.

Thought,

Asking Lu Shi to open a liberal arts college was indeed the right choice!

He said: "Lu, I heard Mr. Bergson say that the word 'zi' is used as an honorific in China to express people's admiration and respect for certain figures."

"Ah this..."

Lu Shi's face darkened.

"Brother, please don't mess around."

Wodehouse nodded,

"Don't worry, I know that Confucius and Laozi are all great philosophers, just like Shakespeare in Great Britain. Modern people are insulting themselves by calling you 'Lu Zi' Yes. However, it won’t be certain in a hundred years.”

Lu Shi said, "We'll wait until a hundred years later."

Wodehouse asked again: "In Chinese, how do you generally call scholars or teachers?"

Lu Shi thought for a while,

"'Master'."

Wodehouse nodded and said in mixed Chinese and English: "Thank you, Mr. Lu, for giving the lecture!"

Others stood up,

"Thank you Master Lu for giving the lecture!"

Lu Shi: "..."

I was left speechless by the performance art of this group of people.