Running a newspaper doesn't happen overnight,

Lu Shi is not in a hurry, what to do, first focus on the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and occasionally write "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli".

Just like that, day by day,

It's the end of February.

……

On February 27,

Wednesday.

Lu Shi wrote a book at his desk as usual.

Natsume Soseki was rubbing my belly while reading the supplement of The Scotsman.

He asked, "Lu, the serialization of 'The Hobbit' is coming to an end in two weeks, and Mr. Cooper hasn't contacted you?" ”

Lu Shi's pen paused,

"Nope."

Needless to say,

Cooper didn't ask, and Lu Shi naturally didn't take the initiative to mention it.

Natsume Soseki knew that Lu Shi knew what he wanted, so he stopped talking about the serialization and talked about the content of "The Hobbit", saying: "After reading the whole book, I think Gandalf is a very attractive character, but I always feel that he wants to play one play." ”

Sometimes, he even thinks that Gandalf is a "human trafficker", abducting the protagonist.

Lu Shi chuckled,

"Don't be so strict with popular logic."

He turned to say: "Your "I Am a Cat" still uses cats as a first-person perspective~"

Natsume Soseki was speechless for a moment.

The two chatted for a while,

At this moment, there was a knock on the door outside.

Open the door when the land is opened,

I saw Montague James, a professor at the University of Cambridge, standing in the doorway with a hesitant expression on his face.

When he saw Lu, he finally breathed a sigh of relief,

"I thought I was in the wrong place."

King's College, Cambridge, provided professors with single-family houses and garden houses, so James could not imagine that he would live in such a difficult and simple place on land.

Just now, he repeatedly confirmed the address given to him by Cavendish

It is indeed Brea Road,

That's when he knocked on the door.

Lu Shi ushered James into the house and moved a chair.

James looked around in shock, and then said, "Professor Lu, I thought you had a good backbone, and it was natural not to come to Cambridge University to teach. However, seeing your current living environment, I really want to persuade you......"

Lu Shi poured tea for each other,

"Professor James, if I wanted to change places, I would have changed them a long time ago."

It's the truth.

With the unit price and sales volume of "The Mystery of Roger", Lu Shi has already made a lot of money from royalties, and it is not a problem to buy a house.

James was curious,

"Then why don't you move?"

Lu Shi said: "Imagine that in the future, people will introduce Blaya Road as Lu's former residence, 'in this dark, cramped little room, the great writer Lu completed one work after another, until the book is full.'" ”

"Poof!"

Natsume Soseki squirted,

Because Lu Shi said what he said.

James laughed,

"Professor Lu, you have such a good sense of humor. Self-evaluation of 'the great writer whose works are equal to his body', hahahahaha......ha

Natsume Soseki's face turned even redder,

He was absent-minded, and RUA's hands were a little light.

My generation: "Meow~"

He flashed his claws at Natsume Soseki.

James said: "Speaking of work, Professor Lu seems to be working on a new book, and I am very much looking forward to it. I just don't know if it's a reasoning like "The Mystery of Roger" or a fantasy like "The Hobbit"? ”

His gaze swept over the table, but immediately looked away.

It doesn't matter when it's land,

"Do you want to see it?"

James' eyes lit up, he didn't expect such a good thing.

He nodded again and again,

"Good! I want to see! ”

A look of urgency and thirst for knowledge.

Lu Shi was not worried that the idea of "The Lord of the Rings" would be borrowed, and handed over the manuscript of "The Fellowship of the Ring".

James read carefully,

Soon, he showed a sudden realization expression, and there were words in his mouth: "I see...... I see......"

Lu Shi asked, "Is there any problem?" ”

James replied while keeping his eyes on the manuscript,

"When I read The Hobbit, I felt like the book wasn't finished yet, and there should be a follow-up. Unexpectedly, Professor Lu did not plan to write a second part, but started another story, making "The Hobbit" a prequel. ”

Lu Shi nodded,

Tuo Lao is a writer with his own system, and his works can be slightly modified, but the expansion is easy to become a dog's tail and continue to mink.

In modern times, the movie "The Hobbit" is such a failure, a book is stunned to make three movies, and each movie has its own extended version,

As a result, the content is unusually thin, even though the length is very full.

(This is the protagonist's point of view, not the author.) ）

Lu Shi said: "I don't want 'The Hobbit' to drag on too much. ”

James chewed on the word "procrastination",

After a long time, he asked: "Listen to your words, this "Lord of the Rings" is the real epic?" ”

"Hiss......"

He gasped,

Obviously, he didn't expect Lu Shi to really have such ambitions.

Lu Shi did not pick up the stubble.

James looked at him like a monster, and after a while he said, "No wonder, this one has similarities with Wagner's opera The Ring of the Nibelungen, and it is only serious that it becomes an epic." ”

The reason for this is that the Ring of the Nibelungen began in 1848 and was completed in 1874, a total of 26 years.

The duration of this creation is very "epic".

And the content of "The Ring of the Nibelungen" is also very strong,

What brothers are on the wall,

What friends betrayed,

What marital confusion,

……

Such a complex relationship, the taste is very positive,

The sense of "epic" came to my face.

Lu Shi said: "I am not Wagner. ”

James was stunned for a moment, and then said apologetically: "It's me who didn't think about it." ”

In "The Ring of the Nibelungen", there are strong racial tendencies and Christian overtones, and Nietzsche broke off with the author Wagner after reading it.

And Lu Shi has a speech "I Have a Dream", nature and Wagner are not the same kind of people.

James continued to flip through,

Suddenly, he stopped his movements and whispered, "1587, A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline." ”

It turned out that the manuscript of "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" was also sandwiched in it.

Lu Shi is not worried when he is discovered,

He is now the "founder of modern historiography", and it is nothing to have historical monographs.

What's more, James doesn't understand Ming history, and he can't see one, two, three, four.

James returned the manuscript, hesitated for a moment, and couldn't help but ask: "Professor Lu, you have a book like "Guns, Germs and Steel", and it is normal to write a historical monograph, but ...... It's not easy to write, is it? ”

Lu Shi nodded,

"Indeed."

"The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" is based on characters.

These include:

The supreme ruler of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Wanli, scholar Shen Shixing, the first assistant Zhang Juzheng, model bureaucrat Hai Rui, liberal intellectual Li Zhen, and anti-Japanese hero Qi Jiguang.

Although it is biased towards chronicles rather than chronicles, it still needs a large amount of historical data to support it.

Lu Shi did know that the original author Huang Renyu had problems citing historical materials, but he was blind about how to modify it.

Without history books, everything is in the air.

James, who studied the Bible, had a deep understanding of similar things.

He said, "Professor Lu, you can go to the British Museum Library, and you should be able to find what you are looking for there." ”

Lu Shi was stunned,

"The British Museum?"

James showed an embarrassed expression and nodded, "Yes, it's the British Museum." There are collections and collections of books from all over the world, but because there are many non-English classics in them, it is difficult to translate, so they have to be shelved. ”

Until the 20th century, the looting of antiquities was not a violation of international law.

But whether this matter is moral or not, anyone with a discerning eye can understand, otherwise there would be no Mr. Hugo's "Letter to Captain Butler on the Anglo-French Expedition to China" in the text.

Lu Shi couldn't help but ponder, thinking about the cultural relics.

Seeing Lu Shi's silence, James became more and more embarrassed, and continued: "Professor Lu, no matter what research you want to do, you can come to Cambridge University, the laboratory, the library, and open the door for you at any time. ”

Lu Shi came back to his senses,

"Is this an invitation?"

Unexpectedly, James nodded and admitted: "I came to you for two things, this is one of them." ”

Lu Shi smiled calmly and didn't say anything.

James had expected this,

Cambridge University made an open invitation, full of sincerity, but Lu Shi did not respond,

This attitude in itself is a rejection.

However, the students from Cambridge to Cavendish and all the colleges wanted Lu Shi to teach at the school, so James had the cheekiness to try again.

Lu Shi said: "What is the second thing? ”

James asked, "Professor Lu once mentioned that Marie Curie would win the Nobel Prize, so he should know about the Nobel Prize?" ”

Lu Shi replied: "Nobel is a famous manufacturer of military equipment and the inventor of diatomite explosives. Of course, chemists, engineers, inventors. Wasn't he already dead four years ago, though? ”

James looked at Lu Shi a little strangely,

When people mention Nobel, the first identity that comes to mind is a Swedish chemist.

Lu Shi is good, first think about the "military equipment manufacturer" and "the inventor of diatomite explosives", which is indeed different from ordinary people.

James said: "Mr. Nobel is indeed dead. However, he made a will to fund the majority of his estate, divided the annual interest into five parts, and established the Nobel Prize, which was divided into five prizes in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace, to be awarded to people from all over the world who have made significant contributions to mankind in these fields. ”

Lu Shi's eyes widened, and then he remembered one thing,

Although the Nobel Prize has been in preparation for many years, the movement is quite big, and people in the academic community know that

But wasn't 1901 the first year the Nobel Prize was awarded?

He stared at James,

"Professor James, you don't mean to say that the Nobel Prize needs me, do you?"

James nodded,

"Yes, I came here to invite you out of the mountain."

Land Hours: ???

studied but cannot comprehend

"I am a Chinese, and the Nobel Committee wants to give me the Nobel Prize in Literature?"

As soon as these words came out, James immediately sprayed,

"Poof! cough cough cough ......"

He coughed violently, quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe his mouth, and it took a while to calm down the heaving of his chest, and said, "Professor Lu, that ...... Forehead ......"

I didn't seem to know how to speak.

Lu Shi said: "It's okay, if you have something to say, you can say it directly." ”

James was sweating on his forehead, and after a while, he said: "Professor Lu, although the Nobel Prize is selected for the first time this year, the prize money of this award is very high, and the influence is also very large, and it has attracted the attention of the world. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is the awarding body for the Physics and Chemistry Prizes, the Karolinska Institute is the awarding body for the Medicine and Physiology Prizes, and the Swedish Academy of Letters is the awarding body for the Literature Prizes......"

Lu Shi waited quietly and did not interrupt the other party's background introduction.

Finally, James said: "All in all, the Nobel Prize selection process is extremely complex. The complexity of the process means that it takes a long time, so you need to nominate as early as possible. And Professor Lu's fame was in November last year, so ......"

The implication is that Lu Shi is not among the candidates at all.

Lu Shi also recalled at this time,

The selection cycle of the Nobel Prize in Literature is very long, which can be described by the word "protracted",

Hundreds of people were selected in the primary election;

Elect another fifteen to twenty people;

The final round is five people.

And the judges of the Swedish Academy even had to read all the works of the last five, which could not have taken a short time.

Lu Shi said: "Also, my works, like "No One Survived" and "The Mystery of Roger", cannot be said to have nothing to do with literature, but can only be said to have nothing to do with it, and they definitely have no chance of winning the Nobel Prize in Literature." ”

Think about the early winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature and their works, which is not full of literature?

The popularity of sales is definitely not playing.

Lu Shi said: "In this case, why do you need the Nobel Prize in Literature...... Not...... Do you want to translate? ”

James nodded,

"Yes, exactly."

Lu Shi was a little surprised,

"If I'm not mistaken, the academicians of the Swedish Academy of Letters should be proficient in many Chinese. It is dominated by Romance and Germanic languages, including German, French, English, Italian, Spanish, etc., as well as Nordic languages such as Danish, Icelandic, and Norwegian. Isn't it enough to use so many languages? ”

Seeing that Lu Shi was so familiar with the whole review, James knew that he was not looking for the wrong person.

He whispered, "There are Indian works." ”

The scalp is numb when landing,

"India? Hindi? How could I do this......"

He complained in his heart, and the other party really regarded himself as a Doraemon who could make a wish come true.

James said "um" and said, "There is a writer named Rabindranath Tagore, who has written a book of poems and plays, and it seems to be called ...... Called "Kings and Queens", it opposes the restoration of the privileges and backward customs of the Brahmin priesthood. ”

Lu Shi was even more speechless,

"Tagore wrote in Bengali, right?"

James said, "You know all this? Do you really know Bengali? ”

Of course, Lu Shi doesn't know Bengali,

He had only read through the English and Chinese editions of Gitanjali, the Birds, the Gardener, and the Crescent, and translated them, so he knew what language the original text was in.

Lu Shi said: "The No-Committee likes Tagore, it won't be because of his drama against Indian feudalism, right? ”

This question directly embarrassed James.

He twisted his beard and smiled, "Professor Lu is really sharp. ”

Lu Shi was helpless, and said in his heart that the Europeans are really the same, and one or two of them like to make some tunes to treat others with themselves.

He said: "Tagore himself studied in England, and let him translate it himself. Besides, if you leave it to me, it will be a translation at most, and how unreliable the translation is, there must be a number of people who do the writing work. ”

James is not a translator, so he is inevitably curious,

"Is the translation really unreliable?"

Lu Shi gave an example: "There is a character in Chinese that is 'Yi', and your British translators don't know where to get the text, so they define it as 'barbarian', but in fact, 'Yi' is just a neutral word that should be translated as 'foreigner'." Because of this, the two countries also used swords. ”

Of course James doesn't understand that,

But when he saw Lu Shi, he swore and was immediately convinced.

He sighed helplessly,

"I thought I could ask Professor Lu for help, but now I think it's too simple for me to think about it."

Suddenly, he sat up straight as if he thought of something, and said, "In that case, then ask Professor Lu to help conduct the preliminary evaluation." ”

Lu Shi asked: "Isn't that the work of the Swedish Academy?" ”

James shook his head,

"No, the Swedish Academy is only responsible for the second and final rounds of review. The preliminary review has to screen hundreds of authors, and there are too many books involved, where can the Swedish Academy be busy? The Nonots Committee selected 15 of the 100 members and submitted the list to the Swedish Academy. ”

Lu Shi muttered in his heart,

That's how the Nobel Prize is awarded?

Or did you cross over and cause the Nobel Prize review to change?

Lu Shi said tentatively: "It seems that Cambridge University has a certain amount of comment. ”

James smiled,

"Professor Lu, I'm sorry for you. The Nobel Prize needs you. ”

(End of chapter)