The free-thinking Princess Mathilde has a completely different personality from the Württemberg family. Her mansions on Gratian or Rue Cussel hosted a small group of literati and artists. Sainte-Beuve, the aestheticist poets Gautier, the Goncourt brothers, the literary critic Tanner, and the memoirist Vière? Castel was a guest. Thus, from the Goncourt brothers' "Daily News" to Proust's "Reminiscences", the noble princess has become a frequent character.

She was both an admirer, a patron, and a lover of Flaubert, and most importantly, she was bent on marrying her cousin Napoleon III, but she ended up marrying the Russian tycoon Dmidov under her father's arrangement, and by the time she returned to Paris after the divorce, Eugénie had already taken the lead - she had hundreds of millions of reasons to hate the queen who had taken her love, so she was always surrounded by a group of raunchy liberal literati who liked to speak against her.

Garian remembered that Baudelaire had told him to visit Flaubert in Rouen before leaving, and now he finally understood what he meant.

If you want to get a pass to the Parisian literary scene, then the easiest way to let Princess Mathilde see your talent.

It is not wrong to read more books before crossing over, and perhaps the literati of the 19th century had no idea that the shameful things they had done would be written down and printed for sale.

The servant brought a cup of coffee to the three people in the living room, and Flaubert, leaning back on the sofa while listening to the recent anecdotes in Paris, sighed when he heard that "1984" had been seized by Mérimée at the instigation of the censorship department, "I am deeply sorry to hear that '1984' was seized by the authorities." Mérimée was a misguided man of letters, and he should not get too close to politics. This was tantamount to a death sentence for his literary career, which was now more concerned with the trivial details of his private life, so that he could be disparaged at any time. The sign of the member of the Académie Française always associates people with a dog with its head bowed and hunched. ”

For the first time, Garion learned the great writer's method of scolding, took his coffee, and added, "Perhaps for Monsieur Mérimée, art is equivalent to leading people to a workhouse, and what is its usefulness is far less than the elegance and nobility that a court dinner brings to man, or perhaps literature is in his eyes merely a tool for gaining fame." ”

Flaubert, with sharp teeth, continued, "yes, so Monsieur Mérimée's alopecia always occurs too early—either because of the lack of moderation in his youth, or because he thinks about grand problems. But I believe he's the former, maybe he's only going to the toilet now with the sound of an unscrewed faucet, ticking, ticking. ”

Flaubert specifically used onomatopoeia.

When Garian heard this, he coughed violently, choking on the hot coffee in his throat. Flaubert's scolding was always so revealing that he even collected all the words that were subtle and elegant and harmful, and compiled them into a "vulgar dictionary".

"Are you alright? Garion? ”

Flaubert patted him on the back with concern and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Galion, you shouldn't have talked about it while you were drinking coffee. ”

Garion was standing in Flaubert's living room when he suddenly heard a rough knock on the door. Flaubert asked the servant to open the door, but as soon as he opened it, he heard a shrill shout.

"Flaubert, I have one more thing to say to you! Don't think I don't know what you've done......"

The uninvited guest broke into the living room, and Madame Gallow, who ran back in a rage, glared at him, apparently with the exception of Garion, the other two were suppressed by the image of a woman.

Sensing that something was wrong, Garion quickly stood up and pushed Verne and Zola away. And waved his hand, and said, "Monsieur Flaubert, I think we will take our leave." Let's talk slowly! ”

Flaubert lost the sharpness of his fangs and mouth, so he could only nod helplessly, waved his hand to let them out, and then turned his head to look at the other party with a farewell face.

The three of them walked briskly out of Flaubert's house, and then breathed a sigh of relief. Verne drew a cross on his chest and said with palpitations, "May God bless my friend." ”

Zola waved his hand at the flower-filled villa and said, "Good luck, Monsieur Flaubert." ”

Even after the three of them got into the carriage, Zola still looked complicated, and the atmosphere in the carriage seemed a little silent, and Garion provoked the topic.

"By the way, what is Monsieur Verne going to do next?"

Verne thought for a moment and said, "I'm going to travel to Norway and Scandinavia next year to find inspiration and material for my next book." ”

"Hmmm......"

Verne said, "By the way, Lord Garion, I have also seen your "1984" before, and although I don't know much about the political depictions in it, I am very interested in the way you describe the way of life of the people in the future - you said that in the future there will be a 'television' that will show continuous moving pictures, and a mechanical car that can replace the horse-drawn carriage, and a series of prophecies such as continuous rifles, do you really think it will come true? ”

Garion paused, unexpectedly that everyone was paying attention to his political metaphors, but Verne was keenly aware of the surreal technology that Garion described in the text.

"It will happen."

Garion said to the future father of science fiction sitting in front of him, "Does Lord Verne also want to write about future events?" ”

Verne scratched his head and said with some hesitation, "Well, I just have some immature ideas in my head, so I want to discuss them with Mr. Garion." There is a question about how to describe the changes that will occur in the world in the future. I'm sorry, but my insight limits my imagination. I really can't come up with a brilliant idea. ”

"No, no, no, you're mistaken."

Garion shook his head and said, "Mr. Verne has to look at things differently. ”

Verne's face showed confusion, and he asked further, "Change your thinking, like how to change your thinking?" ”

"You need to look outside the box to see things."

"For example, would Monsieur Verne believe that an art student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna who failed the list would become a head of state in the future?" Will it be believed that a Georgian robber will become the master of Russia in the future? Would you believe that a black president would become president? Do you believe that in the future, France will die a whole generation of young people because of the war? ”

After listening to what Garion said, Verne gasped and questioned, "Gallian, my friend, what you said is too exaggerated, and the novel would not dare to write it like this!" ”