British writer.

Chapter 269 A book sold next to a dictionary

the next day.

Lu Shi got up, washed briefly, had breakfast, and then prepared to go to Palace Street.

Natsume Soseki went to school,

Therefore, Lu Shi wants to take me with him.

The little guy was very conscious and jumped into the cat cage with a "meow~" sound, then yawned and lay down peacefully.

Lu Shi chuckled and said, "Master, shall we set off now?"

My generation: "Meow~"

It actually has a bit of flair.

After Lu Shi finished feeding Xiaolan, he picked up the cat carrier and set off.

Unexpectedly, as soon as I opened the door, I bumped into people outside.

He raised his eyes to observe the person coming,

"Mr. Wood? Why are you here?"

Jasmine Wood, Editor-in-Chief of the Royal Publishing House.

Wood pushed the landing back to the house and said, "Fortunately, Sir Lu, I blocked you!"

Lu Shi was surprised,

"Did something happen?"

He put down the cat carrier,

I got out of it, circled around Lu Shi's feet, and then ran under the table and crouched, my big bright eyes flickering.

Wood said: "I heard that you have a new work, but you are going to let Little Herzel in Paris publish it first. How can that be done? Great works cannot be exclusive to those French guys."

Lu Shi: "..."

I secretly complained that Churchill and Wodehouse were big mouths.

He nodded,

"It's not exclusive, but I'm ready to test the waters first, like in "Hunting"."

Wood reassured: "Why should Sir Lu worry? The Royal Publishing House can even keep a word of "Animal Farm" which mirrors the British, and other novels can also..."

Lu Shi quickly interrupted the other party,

"It's not a reflection of Great Britain."

Wood nodded,

"Haha, yes, yes, yes, it's not Da Ying. But at that time, nothing like that happened in Russia. I really had to bear the pressure."

You can't blame him for this.

The current world is indeed a bunch of sleeping dragons and phoenixes.

Wood glanced across the table,

The typewriter has disappeared, but the manuscripts are piled up.

The sunlight shines through the window and onto the scrawled handwriting, seeming to give life and vitality to the story.

He couldn't help but be curious,

"Sir Lu, are you writing by hand now?"

Lu Shi said: "This book is a bit...forget it, just read it. You will understand it after reading it."

He handed the manuscript over and poured a glass of water.

Wood was not polite and continued to read.

Soon, he was attracted and completely addicted.

When I looked up again, two hours had passed and I had finished reading the first four chapters.

Lu Shi poured another glass of water for the other party.

"how?"

Wood excitedly said: "Of course it must be published! This novel has unique characteristics and can help readers become real 'imaginary people'. In terms of 'becoming others', it is absolutely subversive!"

This sentence sounds very mysterious to ordinary people.

But Lu Shi understood.

Influenced by culture and morality, human thoughts and behaviors seem to be placed in a framework and constrained.

Take role-playing video games as an example.

Like "Baldur's Gate 3" and "The Legend of Knights", there will be evil lines and good lines. Players can be outstanding gangsters or selfless knights.

But according to statistics, very few people choose the bad line.

This is the constraint of the invisible framework.

Such influences also apply to writers’ creations,

Whether it is Flaubert's "Madame Bovary" or Zola's "Nana", their perspective belongs to that of "normal people".

But "Lolita" is different,

The first person is a complete pervert, and the writing is very realistic.

Lu Shi chuckled,

"Everyone is different, but there are commonalities. When encountering something bad, you should be angry and how you should be angry; when you encounter something happy, you should be happy and how you should be happy... These are even invisibly restricted. .”

Wood was more and more impressed,

"Sir Lu, you are truly amazing."

He didn't say that as a flattery.

Because "Lolita" is the kind of work that breaks commonality,

The protagonist Humbert is an outlier in human society;

And using him as the first person to narrate the story, the final result is like "Lolita",

The writing is extremely gorgeous;

Extremely hypocritical at heart;

Morality is extremely corrupt.

Lu Shi spread his hands,

"In fact, there have been many similar attempts. Those great painters left aside and talked about literature. Mr. Flaubert's "Madame Bovary" used the imaginary dirty world composed of liars, hooligans, and barbarians as a Create based on reality.”

"Forehead……"

Wood scratched his head awkwardly,

"That...Sir Lu, isn't that the real Paris?"

Lu Shi: "..."

"No matter how bad Paris is, it won't be like that!"

Wood was even more embarrassed,

"Ok."

I always thought "Madame Bovary" was quite realistic.

He quickly brought the topic back,

"But "Lolita" goes a step further, using Humbert's first-person perspective, trying to create memories and then manipulate reality. Sir Lu, your writing is too real. If I didn't know that you are a normal person, I would even I doubt you...ahem..."

Wood coughed covertly.

Lu Shi was speechless,

"..."

Mr. Lu Xun wrote "Diary of a Madman" well, and he is not a madman.

Wood glanced at the manuscript again, and then said: "This Humbert is really shameful. He is cowardly, incompetent, conceited and arrogant...well...I even think he is a bit like a child."

Lu Shi also felt the same way,

When he first read "Lolita", he was in junior high school.

When I saw Humbert locking the diary in the cabinet, I thought that this old bastard was like a junior brother. He didn't dare to be blatant and only dared to be secretive.

There is even a sentence in it:

"

'I just want to be able to look at her all the time, no matter what the cost. ’

"

How big a hole must be in your mind to write such thoughts in your diary?

What’s even more outrageous is that the girl’s mother discovered it.

For another example, Humbert was cold and violent towards his ex-wife, causing her to be afraid of him. When he learned that his ex-wife had met a tragic end, he was even very excited.

This kind of thinking is also very naive.

Wood said sincerely: "Sir Lu, I think this book should be published in London. After all, it is written in English. Of course, the background of the novel does not need to be changed. It is better to arrange it in France. Because the French have a higher probability of producing such scum." .”

Lu Shi spread his hands,

"But I have already made an agreement with Mr. Hetzel before."

Wood couldn't help but frown,

"Is that so? It doesn't matter. We at the Royal Publishing House don't mind sharing you with him."

"Sharing" by Shente Meow.

Lu Shi's head was full of black lines,

￣□￣｜｜,

No sound.

Wood, however, got it wrong and quickly said: "Sir Lu, you don't have to worry about remuneration. We can give you a better royalty share. Do you think..."

Lu Shi waved his hand,

"Okay~ okay~ I promise you."

……

A week later.

Adelphi School for Girls.

Zena walked into the classroom humming a tuneless tune and sat down next to her best friend Ba'er.

Ba'er was looking at a book,

She snorted from her nose and said, "What makes you so happy? You even hummed a song~"

The corners of Zena's lips curled up,

Because Professor Lu invited the Holy See of Canterbury for help, the little girl’s reputation in the school drastically improved.

Coupled with the popularity of "Hunting", she really made a fortune.

Can you be unhappy like this?

But Zena still shook her head with a little green tea,

"No."

What she said was true, but she continued to hum and flick her hair from time to time.

pop-

The hair made a sound as it hit the table.

Ba'er raised her head,

"What are you doing? Interrupting my reading."

Zena couldn't help pouting and said aggrievedly: "You have changed."

Ba'er retched artificially,

"vomit!"

Then, she complained: "Sister, didn't you just change the hairpin? How could I not notice it? Besides, you don't need to show off like this."

Zena chuckled,

"Okay Bar, I knew you hadn't changed."

Bar rolled her eyes and said, "Come on, come on, can you stop saying such disgusting things? If you continue like this, you will soon turn into that little bitch like Clara."

Zena stepped forward,

"What are you looking at?"

Ba'er was a little confused and asked, "You don't know?"

As she spoke, she shook the new book in her hand,

"Lolita".

It looks like an Italian name.

Zena was surprised,

"Should I know?"

Ba'er nodded repeatedly,

"Of course! This is Sir Lu's new book!"

Zena said "Huh?"

Recently, she has been busy with rehearsals and performances of "Hunting",

Home - school - theater,

Three points and one line.

He actually forgot about Professor Lu's new work.

The little girl thought to herself: "Sin, sin, sin."

Then, she hugged Ba'er and said unsteadily: "Okay Ba'er, show me~"

Ba'er was speechless,

"No. I haven't even finished reading it yet~"

As she spoke, she flipped through the book quickly, as if she had the ability to read ten lines at a time.

Zena's face was full of confusion,

"What are you doing?"

Baer spread her hands,

"Sister, have you forgotten the story Sir Lu told us during the last special class? I want to see if what happened between that man and his stepdaughter happened."

"Pfft!" Zena laughed on the spot, then clapped her hands and said: "Okay, okay! I want to see it too!"

The two began to search together.

Moreover, besides them, other girls in the classroom who bought "Lolita" were also doing the same action.

Children are like this, full of curiosity about the adult world.

It's a pity that this "Lolita" is not an adult book, and there is nothing that shouldn't be there.

"Alas..."×2

Sighing in unison,

Both girls felt a little disappointed.

Ba'er muttered: "I don't dare to write anything. Sir Lu is obviously a coward~"

Zena shook her head,

"No, Professor Lu must have a profound intention in creating this. I think we should read the text carefully."

Ba'er follows goodness like a stream,

"Alright."

In fact, she didn't like Lu Shi's books very much.

I won’t talk about historical monographs.

"No Survival" and "Roger Mystery" are a bit scary,

"Chao Wen Tao" and "Hunting" are too profound, making people sweat behind their backs while watching them.

The only thing Bar likes is "Roman Holiday",

Although the reporter and the princess were not together in the end, the process was sweet.

Wouldn’t it be great for Sir Lu to write about love?

However, this "Lolita" seems to be about love, so it should be worth reading.

With this idea in mind, Baer began to read,

Unexpectedly, I encountered difficulties in the first sentence.

She poked her best friend in the waist,

"Ozawa, doesn't this 'loin' mean 'waist'? Why did Sir Lu add an 's'? Is it plural? Then how should we understand 'fire of my loins'?"

Because Zena read the script, her vocabulary is indeed higher than that of other classmates.

But she didn't quite understand this kind of detail.

"This... I think I can only understand it. 'Fire of my loins' should probably be translated as 'the desire to urinate'."

Ba'er pondered,

"Indeed. If you hold your urine in for a long time, you will get burned."

After she said this, the two of them were silent for a while.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Ba'er suddenly said: "This is obviously wrong! How much does the 'I' in the novel hate this girl called 'Lolita' to compare her to 'the urge to pee'?"

Zena blushed slightly,

"Maybe this is the adult part of this book? It's normal that we can't understand it."

Bar: Stare——

The sight is like a knife.

Zena could only raise her hands in a military salute and said, "Okay~Okay~I just talked nonsense."

Ba'er complained: "That's right. You can't be too Clara."

This phrase has become a popular saying at Adelphi School for Girls.

Zena whispered: "It would be great if there was a dictionary."

Ba'er said "hmm",

"It's okay. Let's just treat it as an exam. If you don't know how, leave it blank and look down."

"it is good."

The two of them looked down together.

But they soon discovered that if reading "Lolita" was really regarded as a test, the two of them would definitely fail.

In their eyes, the sentences in the book are like this:

My ____ lay against the child's blue jeans.

She was ____;

Her ____ showed ____ of cherry-red ____ and there was ____

……

Even more fragmented than cloze.

Zena: "..."

Ba'er: "..."

The two were confused.

These days, not many girls can go to school, so they call themselves educated people.

Who would have thought that real culture could be so outrageous.

Bar gave up,

"How to do?"

Zena said: "What else can we do? Of course we wait until get out of class is over and go to the library...well...just go to the bookstore."

Ba'er also thinks it makes sense,

Many people in the school have "Lolita", and it is impossible for them to grab the dictionary in the library.

Snapped--

She closed the book,

"I still don't believe it! I must be able to read it!"

As the two talked, the classroom door was pushed open.

Aunt West came in,

Instantly, there was a bustling sound in the room, all of which were female students cleaning up their desks.

West pouted,

"Okay, you don't have to pretend anymore."

As she said that, she took out a book, which was "Lolita", and explained in a deep voice: "I have already browsed it roughly, and there is no such content in it. You can read it with confidence."

As soon as this statement came out, the students below looked at each other.

Suddenly someone said: "Ms. West, when you first got the book, were you looking for those contents?"

"Ah this..."

Grandma felt embarrassed for a while.

Everyone has the desire to gossip,

She was actually curious about what happened to the man and the girl in the story.

Unfortunately……

It's not a "pity", it's a "lucky",

Fortunately, there are no explicit descriptions in the book.

But based on the context, we can also make a rough guess.

Mother West cleared her throat loudly and said in a deep voice: "Why do you look at me like that? Isn't it for your own good that I do that? Sigh... How many children have been poisoned by adult books, how could I Not to nip problems in the bud?”

This statement was not recognized by the students.

Some people even said "tsk...".

West is annoyed;

"Okay, now take out your knitting textbooks for me! Let's start class right away!"

Zena and Ba'er looked at each other and snickered secretly.

……

The earliest independent bookstore established in London——

Watkins Bookstore.

The decoration of the bookstore is simple and elegant.

The black wooden bookshelf and copper nameplate exude a calm atmosphere.

The faint fragrance of ink comes to the nostrils, making people feel relaxed and happy.

The most conspicuous location is a mountain of books.

"Lolita" Mountain.

The cover of the book is simple and concise, without too many decorations and patterns, and the material has a subtle frosted feel.

The title of the book is printed in white font in the center of the cover, concise and clear, without being fancy.

Next to it were stacks of Oxford Dictionaries.

The amazing thing is that people who read "Lolita" did not gather in front of the mountain of books. Instead, they held a book in one hand and a dictionary in the other, looking up and reading.

Some people are annoyed or can’t bear it anymore, so they simply pay for both.

Natsume Soseki and his teacher William Alexander Smith were also present.

Of course, the two of them don't need a dictionary.

Smith sighed: "What a great work. Sir Lu's diction is perfect and makes people feel extremely gorgeous. It's just..."

He chuckled muffledly,

“The more gorgeous a criminal’s self-statement is, the more hypocritical it appears.”

Natsume Soseki nodded with deep understanding.

Smith said: "Have you read this book before?"

Natsume Soseki replied: "Because I have read it before, I can escape from the plot when I read it again."

Smith pondered,

"Out of the plot?"

He said: "In that case, let's talk about Sir Lu's use in this novel. For example, can you read that "Lolita" makes fun of Rousseau's "Confessions" in the text? "the meaning of."

Natsume Soseki pondered,

"There is."

Smith said "hmm" and said, "Then give me another example."

Natsume Soseki whispered: "I think Humbert's first love Annabell comes from the works of Edgar Allan Poe."

Smith agreed,

"continue."

Natsume Soseki then replied: "Also, Lolita used the pretext of theater rehearsals, but actually secretly met with Quilty. This part has the shadow of "Madame Bovary"."

Smith was very satisfied,

"Good. Continue."

"Ah this..."

Natsume Soseki was confused.

"Any more?"

Smith said: "There are too many! The relationship between Quilty and Humbert seems to be appropriating Dostoevsky's "The Double" or Poe's "William Wilson." Of course, Goethe in his autobiography Mentioned that he saw his figure on the road..."

Talked a lot.

Gradually, readers gathered over,

"I see."

"So Sir Lu's designs are all purposeful."

"No wonder it's a bit obscure."

……

Smith looked around and felt that it was not appropriate to give public lectures here.

He winked at Natsume Soseki.

The latter understands,

The two of them squeezed out of the crowd together.

When walking to the counter to pay, Smith asked: "Natsume, what do you think of the relationship between Humbert and Lolita? Is it considered love?"

Natsume Soseki pondered,

"It should be counted."

Even literary giants cannot escape historical limitations;

After all, in this era, child wives are prevalent not only in East Asia, but also in Europe.

Natsume Soseki added: "Of course, Riku himself does not hold this view."

Smith was curious,

"What did he say?"

Natsume Soseki shook his head,

"He didn't say anything. However, when I asked him a similar question, he just shook his head and did not express his opinion. With such a reaction, it is not difficult to guess his true thoughts."

Smith said "hmm" and agreed: "From between the lines of Sir Lu's words, we can indeed vaguely see his point of view."

With that said, the two came to the counter.

The boss looked at the two of them,

"Pay together?"

Natsume Soseki said, "I'll do it."

Relying on the best-seller of "I Am Cat", he is no longer the poor student with limited financial resources. Of course, he also has money to "socialize" to please the professor.

Smith asked: "Boss, is "Lolita" selling well?"

The boss said: "How could it be bad? Lu is a famous brand! And..."

He seemed to have thought of something funny and laughed.

Smith was curious,

"how?"

The boss said: "The second best-selling volume today is actually the Oxford Dictionary. Can you believe it?"

Smith and Natsume Soseki looked at each other,

A good book does have the power to promote a certain language.

There is reason to believe that in the next period of time, "Oxford Dictionaries" will sell very well across Europe.

Smith looked out the window, his thoughts drifting away.

A year and a half ago, he was the one who introduced Lu Shi and Doyle to meet.

Unexpectedly, in such a short period of time, the two of them were no longer writers on the same level.

The boss said: "Speaking of which, Sir Lu seems to have opened a museum. It will open in three days. It is said that the original manuscript of "Lolita" will be on display. If you are interested, you can go and take a look."

Smith asked: "Will the boss go too?"

The boss shrugged.

"I'll definitely go if I have time. I've probably read the book "Lolita", and there are obviously some cuts~"

To read it, it must be the original manuscript.

(End of this chapter)