no doubt

"The Mystery of Roger" sold out.

Even Lu Shi didn't understand why this was happening.

The book was also questioned a lot when it was first published, and it wasn't until it was brewing for a while that sales began to rise sharply, and it became a hit for Sha Po.

The current situation is truly unexpected.

……

The next day,

Jasmine Wood of the Royal Publishing House came to the door.

Natsume Soseki served a cup of black tea.

Wood took off his hat and gloves, and reported the results to Lu Shi with excitement on his face:

"Professor Lu, the first 6,000 copies of your "Roger's Mystery Case" have all been sold, and the owners of all the bookstores are crying and asking for reprinting, and our printing press has been started, ready to supply another 10,000 copies."

The unit price of "Roger's Mystery" is six pounds and two shillings,

The first edition of 6,000 copies, with 10,000 additional copies......

"Hiss......"

Natsume Soseki gasped.

We looked at him curiously, arching our heads over the palms of our hands.

Natsume Soseki showed a shocked expression,

"My generation, you ......"

He looked like an old father with a relieved expression, and he was about to wipe away tears.

Lu Shi couldn't help but snicker, and said in his heart that Natsume Soseki was really easy to settle, and he was moved like this by my generation.

Wood looked at us curiously,

"Did you raise this?"

Lu Shi nodded,

"Well, to help Natsume write."

As soon as he heard about writing, Wood immediately became interested,

Because of the miracle of Lu Shi, he was now curious about scholars from East Asia, so he asked, "What type of works did Mr. Natsume write?" Will I have the pleasure of reading it? ”

Natsume Soseki scratches his head,

"The speed of my creation is not as fast as that of landing, and I haven't finished writing yet~"

Wood leaned forward,

"It's okay, just look at the beginning."

Natsume Soseki looked at Lu Shi with some embarrassment.

Mr. Wood was introduced by the queen before he began to cooperate deeply with Lu Shi.

In other words, this is Lu Shi's personal relationship, and recommending "I Am a Cat" is to consume Lu Shi's affection.

Natsume Soseki didn't want to let Lu Shi and Mr. Wood get separated because of himself.

What's more, Mr. Wood is the editor of the Royal Publishing Bureau, and the Royal Publishing Bureau strictly reviews the content, especially the popular, and generally does not publish.

"Roger's Mystery" and "No One Survived" are special cases among special cases.

Natsume Soseki asked, "Is it appropriate?" ”

He values the brotherhood with Lu Shi very much and doesn't want to be troubled.

Lu Shi said: "Don't worry, I'm very optimistic about your works." "I Am a Cat" is a good book. ”

Before the time travel, "I Am a Cat" was a super masterpiece.

Natsume Soseki nodded gratefully, straightened out his manuscript, and handed it to Wood.

Wood glanced at it,

"The story of Japan?"

Natsume Soseki nodded a little embarrassedly and replied, "I originally wanted to create a work based on London, England, but ...... Alas, I wasn't as comfortable as I was in London, so I decided to put down roots in my own culture. ”

It's hard to say right or wrong with this choice,

It's right because Natsume Soseki's creation has really become handy,

As he said, if London is the background, I am afraid that I will not be able to hold back five words in six days;

To say that it is wrong is to consider it from the perspective of sales.

Wood said, "With Japan as a background, I'm afraid I won't be loved by gentlemen and ladies." ”

Japan is too far away, too small,

For the vast majority of Britons, it was a place they had never heard of, a place where even if there was news in the newspapers, it would only be mentioned in a passing paragraph.

Natsume Soseki nodded helplessly,

"I'm sorry."

Wood waved his hand again and again,

"No, no, no, no, what's there to be sorry about? It is our British arrogance. ”

Lu Shi laughed and said, "Mr. Wood, you are really a peculiar Englishman, it is not easy to know that you are arrogant. ”

As soon as these words came out, all three people in the room laughed.

Lu Shi said: "Actually, there is no problem with the arrogance of the British now. This is the British Empire, the center of the world, the center of the universe, what is wrong with the arrogance of the British? ”

Wood continued to laugh,

"Professor Lu, my heart is different~ You are in "Yes! That's not what it's written in Prime Minister. ”

The three laughed again.

Lu Shi can clearly feel that as his works gain a foothold in London, these white people's attitudes towards themselves have changed significantly.

At first, Doyle looked down on him, and Scott and Cooper didn't trust him.

And now?

People seem to be showing goodwill to Lu Shi,

Even Lu Shi's roommate Natsume Soseki can be cared for because of this, and he is not well-known in London, and his first English work can be appreciated by an editor like Wood.

has never been impoverished and difficult to become an adult,

Once famous, the world knows.

Nothing more than that.

Lu Shi said, "Mr. Wood, will you take a look first?" ”

Wood nodded, and began to read the previous chapters of I Am a Cat.

He frowned at first,

"This ......"

Natsume Soseki's heart lifted and asked, "Mr. Wood, is there any problem?" ”

Wood said, "Does Mr. Natsume have no experience in writing in English? How do I feel that there are some ...... in your article Forehead...... There are some that are very ...... Very low-level errors, such as tenses, how can you use the present tense here? ”

Natsume Soseki blushed.

He is really not good at writing in English, which leads him to first conceive the original Japanese text in his mind and then "translate" it.

In this case, of course, there will be grammatical errors.

"Sensation your intimate Marseille!"

Natsume Soseki apologizes.

Wood: ????

He didn't understand the etiquette of the Japanese.

Lu Shi chuckled and said, "Mr. Wood, Natsume is apologizing to you~"

Wood let out an "oh", and said in his heart that the Japanese are really interesting, how can they be so justified when they apologize,

usually speaks softly, but apologizes so loudly.

He waved his hand,

"It's okay, it's not in the words, it's in the story."

Wood continued to read back.

He thought that "I Am a Cat" had so many grammatical problems, and the content would not be very good.

What I didn't expect was that after removing those low-level mistakes, this turned out to be a good book.

Except for some special Japanese culture that I can't understand, it is very smooth to read.

Most importantly, the book is humorous.

When Wood read it, he felt like he was admiring Japanese ukiyo-e or a set of witty manga depicting the Japanese market, which was very interesting.

After reading the first chapter, he couldn't help but comment: "Good book! ”

Hearing him say this, Natsume Soseki's eyes lit up,

"Mr. Wood, you ......"

Wood nodded,

"The title of the book is 'I Am a Cat', but I didn't expect to really use a cat as the first person."

As he spoke, he turned his gaze to my generation and smiled,

"You guys have a cat that's the right choice. In this book, the cat's movements and moods are simply vividly written. And those mental activities, I read as if the kitten really had that in his mind. ”

My senior: "Meow? ”

It sensed that the humans were discussing themselves, but they couldn't understand it.

Lu Shi stretched out his hand and touched the head of my generation,

My generation immediately made a sound of "purring~".

Wood put the manuscript down,

Still, the book has obvious weaknesses. First of all, there are the two I just mentioned, one is that there are a lot of low-level errors in the text; Second, it depicts Japan. ”

The first point is very easy to change,

Major publishing houses have powerful editors, so let them polish their manuscripts.

It's really not good, you can also ask Lu Shi to go out,

As a professional translator, Lu Shi's goal is to be faithful, attainable, and elegant, so he is very good at dealing with such problems.

But the second point......

Natsume Soseki said helplessly: "I'm sorry, Mr. Wood, although I want to move my background to London, but I don't have enough pen power, and I don't know much about the high life in London. ”

Wood nodded,

"But it's a good book anyway. I think you should still publish it, and there is no problem in selling 2,000 copies, and this part of the royalties will make you live a very good life. Moreover, you can also rewrite it in Japanese and sell it back to Japan. ”

This idea is very quintessential.

Just like in modern times, many "antiques" and "cultural toys" are taken abroad, appraised in private museums abroad, and then sold back to China.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Japanese admired the foreign and flattered the foreigners, and they ate this set very much.

Lu Shi secretly gave Wood a thumbs up.

Wood continued: "I have to admit that you Asians are really innovative. "I Am a Cat" is created from a first-person perspective of cats, which should be the first in the world, right? ”

This is a question that Natsume Soseki, the author, can't answer.

He couldn't help but scratch his head,

"This ...... I don't know if it's the first of its kind. ”

Wood said, "It should be." As an editor, I still read a lot and don't remember any similar works. ”

As a result, as soon as his voice fell, he was interrupted by Lu Shi: "No, this is not Natsume's initiative. ”

Wood looked shocked,

"Are there any other works like this?"

Lu Shi shook his head,

"It's not similar. But if you want to say that the cat is used as a first-person perspective, there is, and Hoffman's "Moore's View of Life of the Male Cat" is written in this way. ”

(Whether or not Natsume Soseki plagiarized Hoffman's work is an open question.) ）

Wood looked surprised,

"Is it the German writer Hoffmann?"

Hoffmann is one of the most problematic and controversial writers in the history of German literature.

The great international controversy that revolved over the writer's ideological tendencies, artistic techniques, and historical status was protracted.

So, having heard of Hoffman is nothing,

After all, this is a great writer on a par with Goethe, Schiller, and Heine.

What really surprised Wood was the amount of reading that Lu Shi read.

He asked, "Does Professor Lu know German?" ”

Lu Shi coughed lightly,

"No, I just ...... Forehead...... A little bit of understanding, a little understanding. ”

God's special meow's "a little understand, a little understand",

Wood has a feeling that Lu Shi doesn't understand slightly, but really understands.

So, a question lingered in his heart,

He couldn't help but ask: "Since works with cats as the first-person perspective have "The Male Cat Moore's Outlook on Life", then, like "Roger's Mystery", ...... Not...... That peculiar way of writing, is there also a previous work? ”

Lu Shi was curious,

"Why do you ask this?"

Wood replied, "Because it's because I'm going to send a book review to promote Roger's Mystery." The slogan is 'a precedent for a certain genre', or 'after a certain work, another masterpiece of such and such a genre', the former is far more gimmicky than the latter. ”

Lu Shi understood,

The Royal Publishing Bureau is going to use its strength to continue to push "The Mystery of Roger".

Wood is clearly knowledgeable and knows what works can be pushed more and more popular.

Lu Shi said: "That kind of writing is called narrative trickery. ”

Wood's eyes are one,

"Good! What a 'narrative trick'! is so named, it really sums up the characteristics of "Roger's Mystery Case". ”

As he spoke, he lowered his voice again,

"Professor Lu, tell me the truth, have you had any similar works before?"

This is a concern for land time reference.

In fact, "Roger's Mystery" is indeed the pioneering work of narrative trickery,

But the fame of this book is just too great,

Before Lu Shi crossed, many college classmates "fell for it" in this book.

Some saw half of it, and turned to the last chapter with a broken hand;

Some read dozens of pages and searched for Sha Po's character profile on the web, but the results were all spoiled by the core ruse, and they were dizzy on the spot;

Some watched piracy on their mobile phones, only to find that someone had taken notes at the beginning;

……

Thinking of the past, Lu Shi couldn't help laughing.

"Before Roger's Mystery, there really wasn't any narrative trickery," he said. But similar writing is not uncommon, such as "The Hound of the Baskervilles", there is complete information asymmetry, and the key information in the book to crack the truth is completely absent from Watson's side, and if Holmes does not say it, the reader will not know. ”

"Poof!" ×2

Natsume Soseki and Wood burst out laughing on the spot.

They all felt that Lu Shi was seeking personal revenge by using Doyle as an example.

Lu Shi is helpless,

"Both, I'm serious."

The tone was very serious.

Wood was slightly surprised, but also changed to a serious expression, and asked, "You mean, you were inspired by Dr. Doyle?" ”

Of course, Lu Shi was not inspired by anything,

He just copied Sha Po's original work.

He said, "No, I'm just ...... Alas...... I can't tell. ”

Wood chuckled,

"Many people have said, 'After the work is written, it has nothing to do with the author', so it seems that Professor Lu also feels this way, no wonder he can't explain it clearly."

In saying this, it is obviously a misunderstanding of Lu Shi's meaning.

Lu Shi felt that he still didn't defend himself,

Save more and say more wrong.

Wood muses,

"Then, Professor Lu, are you interested in writing a book review for your "The Mystery of Roger"?"

Before Lu Shi could answer, Natsume Soseki on the side asked: "The author writes a book review for himself, won't he inadvertently spoil it?" ”

This is indeed a problem.

Wood asked, "But apart from Professor Lu, can anyone explain clearly what narrative trickery is?" ”

A sentence stopped Natsume Soseki.

When Wood looked at Lu,

"Professor Lu, although I just said that 'the work is finished, it has nothing to do with the author', but that is just a joke. It's up to you to explain the narrative trick, and you're going to have to explain it yourself, right? ”

It's okay to write a book review.

But

"Spoilers in advance, it will affect sales, right?"

Lu Shi is puzzled,

Since the purpose of posting book reviews is to increase sales, why do things that contradict them.

Wood laughed,

"Professor Lu, Professor Lu, you are a 'narrative trick' and an 'information asymmetry', and you are so professional, how many readers will seriously study your book reviews? So, just go ahead and send it, no problem. ”

In other words, reading Lu Shi's book review, everyone will know that "Roger's Mystery Case" is very good,

But how good it is, you still have to read the original text to know.

The beginning of the 20th century was, after all, not the modern age of an information explosion, and even if the narrative ruse was explained thoroughly, the reader would not necessarily understand it.

Lu Shi nodded,

"Okay, then I'll write it and give it to Mr. Scott when I'm done."

Wood smiles,

"I believe that 'The Mystery of Roger' will make history."

More precisely, Roger Mysteries is making history.

(End of chapter)