At the beginning of the 20th century, there were many fantasies describing the future, and even in China, where modern literature developed late, there were sprouts.

For example, "The Future of New China",

This is a work released by Ren Gong in 1902, and it is very interesting and cleverly conceived.

But there's too little science fiction and too much politics in it,

And in Europe, it is bound to be uncomfortable.

"Troublesome ......"

Lu Shi stretched,

I knew that I wouldn't have come to Paris to be a judge of this Rausch.

Verne laughed,

"Lu, we believe in you."

Lu Shi complained: "You left me the job and became the shopkeeper yourself, can you not believe me?" ”

Verne spreads his hands,

"Who said I was going to be a shopkeeper? If you have any questions, you can consult me~"

This old brother is also thick-skinned.

Lu Shi was speechless,

“……”

Wells on the side groaned,

"First of all, we need to clarify the genre of 'New France'."

Lu Shi said: "Dystopia." ”

Wells's eyes lit up,

"That's a good summary."

Utopia is the most beautiful society in human ideology,

There, everyone is equal, free of oppression, and beautiful as paradise.

Holding his chin, Verne recalled: "If I'm not mistaken, is there a fictional travelogue called Utopia? ”

Wells nodded,

"The author is Thomas More, an Englishman."

"Tsk......"

Verne was speechless: "No wonder you remember it so clearly. What is the content of the book? ”

Wells spreads his hands,

"Then you'll have to ask Professor Lu. I don't remember exactly. ”

So, the two looked at Lu Shi together.

Lu Shi happened to see it and introduced: "On an island called 'Utopia', there are 54 cities evenly distributed, all with a common style, language, customs, and laws. Each city is divided into ......"

He paused slightly,

"Do you need to talk about it later?"

Wells and Verne briefly made eye contact,

Both said at the same time:

"No, you don't."

With the phrase "all cities share a common style, language, customs, and laws", and the title of the book, Utopia, you can guess what follows.

And they have all read this book and are somewhat impressed.

Verne said, "If utopia is idealized and constructive, then dystopia is critical, negation, and deconstruction." "New France" does belong to the latter, but it is only superficial, not profound. ”

Lu Shi was a little curious,

"Why don't you think it's profound?"

Verne shrugged,

In "The New France," a French citizen allows a man who has married a woman twenty-four years older than himself to become prime minister, and who has also been the prime minister's high school teacher. Isn't this nonsense? Such a strong denial makes it unconvincing. ”

Lu Shi: "......"

He understood:

At the beginning of the 20th century, The New France was dystopian;

At the beginning of the 21st century, The New France was a critique of realism.

It's outrageous enough.

Lu Shi coughed lightly and asked, "Mr. Verne, don't you think that the French are described as selfless, and they make the process of making France great again even more nonsense?" ”

Verne shook his head when he heard this,

"Nonsense? No, no, no, no. I think Mr. Pergau created it with a serious attitude. It is precisely because of this seriousness that we define "New France" as a dystopian theme, not an absurdity. ”

Oh, French.

Lu Shi had nothing to say.

Verne was still unsatisfied and continued to comment:

"But Mr. Pergau was still young after all. The passages he wrote are not even as worthy of scrutiny as "Gulliver's Travels" 180 years ago. ”

Lu Shi was dumbfounded,

After being reminded by the other party, he realized that the bizarre countries such as the Great People, the Lilliputians, the Flying Islands, the Witch Kingdom, and the Equestrian Kingdom that Gulliver traveled to all had strong utopian or dystopian overtones.

Wells coughed lightly,

"Ahem...... Two, now is not the time for literary criticism. ”

When he looked at Lu,

"Professor Lu, now that the subject matter has been decided, how are you going to create it?"

Ammunition depots are abundant on land,

The most famous is the dystopian trilogy:

"We",

《1984》、

Brave New World.

Any one of them can be taken out and Pergau's "New France" can be brutalized.

But are these books appropriate for the early 20th century?

Let's talk about "We" first, the author Zamyatin uses the epistolary style, which will be constructed with 40 diaries,

This is not suitable for newspapers.

In 1984, Orwell portrays the image of a totalitarian society where the people live under universal surveillance.

Tsar Nicholas II: ???

Lu Shizhen wrote this, and dystopia might be criticized as realism.

Finally, "Brave New World",

This is really science fiction, but as a work in 1932, Huxley used a lot of black technology that was traceable at the time but could not be seen at the beginning of the 20th century.

For example

Electrical Control Intelligence,

Chemical drugs regulate mood,

……

Too much!

It can be changed, but it is too time-consuming and labor-intensive.

And

"The three are all more than 100,000 words long......"

Lu Shisheng has nothing to love.

Verne was amazed,

"What? What is the '100,000-word long story' you just said? Could it be that you have an idea? ”

Lu Shi shook his head,

"No, nothing."

He's not a diligent person, and it's too bad to copy a long story.

Verne let out an "um", always feeling like he was missing something.

Lu Shi continued to think and locked the length in the middle part,

Soon, a book title came to mind -

Animal Farm.

It's Orwell's work,

However, it is not even science fiction, but a political allegory.

It tells the story of the animals in the farms who successfully carried out a "revolution" to drive the oppressive human owners out of the farms and establish an equal animal society.

However, the animal leader, the pig, eventually usurped the fruits of the revolution and became a more totalitarian ruler than the human proprietors......

Animal Farm and 1984 are actually two versions of the same part:

The former is a (dark) fairy tale version;

The latter is the realistic version.

Of course, "Animal Farm" is also very troublesome to change,

Because it animalizes certain historical figures, as if they were acting like livestock, extremely ironic, to the point.

Of course, Lu Shi can't write like that,

But the good thing is that "Animal Farm" is a novella.

It's all about the number of words!

If you have a small number of words, you are God!

Now there's only one thing to consider:

How do you reduce the political element and add the right amount of science fiction elements to this fable?

Lu Shi fell into deep thought,

After a long time, he decided that some of the settings in "Brave New World" could be used for it, so he rummaged around the conference table.

Verne asked, "Are you looking for pen and paper?" ”

Lu Shi said: "I have a pen." All you need now is a blank piece of manuscript paper. ”

He just had an idea when he said that.

Verne and Wells looked at each other, and then they also searched like crazy,

I am so lucky to be able to see Lu Shi's creations on the spot!

Half a minute later,

"With me...... I found it! ”

Wells shouted.

Lu Shi looked up and saw Verne and Wells blushing, sweating, and panting, and couldn't help but be shocked.

"You two just ......"

Wells shoved the paper through,

"Leave us alone! Write quickly! Come on! ”

Lu Shi was a little confused,

"You ......"

The voice did not fall,

"Quick!" ×2

The other two almost roared, in unison.

When the land is full of black lines,

￣□￣｜｜

muttering to himself, "These two old brothers are too strange", he lowered his head and recorded his ideas on paper.

Wells and Verne came up,

After a few seconds, Wells asked, "Professor Lu, what is this 'instigation'?" ”

"You can understand it as a hallucinogen, which has no side effects...... Well...... How can this be explained? In short, it's similar to Niko...... Forehead...... I want to think about ......"

He's thinking about how to explain,

Verne on the side said: "Lu, you only have to create by yourself, there is no need to deal with him!" ”

Lu Shi shrugged,

"Okay."

He continued to think about it.

In less than a minute, Verne opened his mouth,

"Lu, what is this 'birth killing'......"

Before the words fell, he was interrupted by Wells next to him: "Jules, you play double standard with me, right!?" How can you be like a bird like an American?! ”

Verne's face flushed,

"I don't have a double standard!"

"Then why can you ask and I can't?"

"You're asking about something that is scientifically defined! What I'm asking is the basic setting of the whole book! Can it be the same? ”

"What's the difference?"

"What's the same?"

……

The two quarreled like children.

Lu Shi: "......"

Whoop -

He pushed the chair away and stood up,

"I'm going back!"

Wells and Verne instantly stopped arguing and said in unison: "We'll send you!" ”

Lu Shi hurriedly raised his hand to stop,

"Don't! Just let me be clean. ”

He left the conference room with a puff of smoke.

……

The next day,

Early morning.

Institut de France, in a dormitory villa.

“Shiit！”

Wells sat up from the bed abruptly,

"I can't sleep at all."

He glanced at the bright sky outside, simply stopped going back to bed and tossing and turning, didn't even wash, just put on his clothes and went out.

Since the Collège de France is a research institution with very few people, there is a wonderful tranquility at this point in time.

A gentle breeze blows through, taking away the chill of the night while bringing the breath of winter.

Wells wraps his coat.

At this time, a carriage carrying milk slowly drove by,

There was a cloth pocket in the back of the carriage with stacks of newspapers.

Wells immediately thought of Pergau,

He raised his voice,

"Old man, please give me a newspaper."

The coachman obviously heard,

He stopped the carriage and looked back at it with a puzzled look.

Wells stumbled in French, "Newspaper." I want Le Figaro. ”

The coachman owes himself in the saddle,

"I'm sorry, sir. These newspapers were ordered by the gentlemen of the academy and were not superfluous. I can't give it to you. ”

Wells can't help it,

"Okay then."

The coachman apologized again, and then urged the horse to leave.

Wells watched the shadow of the carriage disappear,

He hesitated,

On the one hand, he wanted to go to Lu Shi's dormitory and read new works as soon as possible;

On the one hand, the judges' duties urged him to leave the academy and buy a copy of Le Figaro to see what Pergaard would do.

Eventually, responsibility prevailed.

Wells briskly ran out of the gate.

As soon as I left the academy, the noise outside rushed into my ears,

At the same time, the shops on the street exude a faint aroma of coffee, mixed with the smell of freshly baked bread and the smell of morning dew, which makes people comfortable.

Wells muttered to himself:

"It smells so much better here than it does in London."

He ran to a nearby newspaper store,

"Boss, here's a copy of Le Figaro."

The boss looked at him,

"Londoners?"

Wells was surprised,

"How do you know?"

The boss smiled: "Your French accent is really easy to recognize." ”

As he spoke, he handed over a newspaper,

"Look at the third edition. Big scandal. ”

"Scandal?"

Wells narrowed his eyes.

He flipped to the third edition and found Pergau's quote:

"I don't know which jury brushed off my work, but whoever it is, it's doomed to regret it."

It used a very large font size, and it was even a flower font.

Below, there are a few lines of small print:

——

The above is from the words of one of the contestants.

Le Figaro promised to follow the whole story and monitor the Jules Verne Prize to ensure that they were fair, just and open.

We will publish the work of the participant.

At the same time, we also welcome other participants who have not been selected in the preliminary round to actively disclose their works.

——

Wells's face darkened, and he scolded in a low voice:

“Fxxk！”

Just yesterday, news came from Verne's insiders that this matter would only be on the seventh edition,

As a result, today it is the third edition.

Others are even welcome to publish their work......

Isn't that provocative?

Wells sighed,

"Newspapers all over the world don't have a discipline."

The owner of the newspaper shop chimed in: "Of course! You can't eat it as a meal! What's more, "Le Figaro", which is a full-page printed advertisement, is shameless in the first place. ”

But as soon as he changed his words,

"Still, I support Le Figaro in this matter. There is most likely an inside story about awards. ”

"Tsk......"

Wells was staggered.

Verne was right,

In the old revolutionary area, the citizens' favorite after-dinner activity is anti-authority.

Even if it's chasing the wind, it's going to be anti-special.

Wells said: "After all, there is no evidence, don't rush to conclusions, right?" ”

The bookstore owner was stunned,

"Yes."

He put on a mysterious, gossipy expression,

"Do you know about the Nobel Prize? It is said that this year's Nobel Prize in Literature was given to Tolstoy of Russia. I can't appreciate his work, so I am not very convinced that he won the award......"

Two hundred words are omitted at the end.

Wells: "......"

I quickly paid the money, walked briskly back to the Collège de France, and went straight to Lu Shi's dormitory.

As soon as he entered the door, he said, "Professor Lu, it's not good, today's ......!" @*#￥%……”

The latter words became garbled characters,

Because Verne covered his mouth.

Verne covered his mouth with his right hand and pointed his left finger in the direction of the desk,

"Be quiet."

Wells cast his gaze,

I saw Lu Shi lying quietly on the desk, covered with a quilt, a slight snoring sounded, and he slept like a stone sculpture.

His head rests on his left arm, his right hand holds a pen, and his fingers occasionally twitch unconsciously.

That kind of convulsions, Wells has also experienced,

Writing is caused by holding a pen for too long.

He winked at Verne at high frequency.

The latter understood, and withdrew the hand covering his mouth,

"How?"

Wells was shocked and asked, "Professor Lu didn't use a typewriter?" ”

Verne replied: "Yes." It's broken. ”

There are only two words in total, but they can construct a story that makes people infinitely reverie,

Wells couldn't help but smile wryly,

"That is, a 'fast gunner' like Professor Lu, it is impossible for others to break the typewriter."

Verne sighed,

"Lu is not just a 'fast gunner'."

As he spoke, he handed over the manuscript and commented solemnly: "It's still 'sharpshooter'." ”

Wells asked, "Did Professor Lu write another masterpiece?" ”

Verne let out a "hmm", thinking about it and feeling that it was not quite right, and then corrected the other party: "God." You read it and you'll find out. ”

Wells was stunned,

"God's work?"

This assessment comes from the mouth of the science fiction master Verne, and it is not a joke.

He threw away Le Figaro and took it on a pilgrimage.

Title:

Animal Farm.

Wells began to read,

——

The "revolution" took place at Manna Manor.

That evening, Mr. Jones, drunk, mixed the flax in the feed, and staggered across the yard toward the farmhouse.

……

——

Wells reads the manuscript very quickly,

It didn't take long for him to understand that "instigation" is a chemical that can regulate the emotions of animals, so that the joy, anger, sorrow and happiness of animals disappear.

In addition to instigation, there are also various tools,

For example, Verne's yesterday mentioned "birth kills",

Human beings measure the meat yield of animals through instruments, and the low ones will be directly mashed into feed.

This "competition" is undoubtedly cruel,

Therefore, it is "born and killed".

There are several other ways to increase productivity.

Wells was a little puzzled,

Isn't this the right of human beings at the top of the food chain to be the masters of all things?

But when he read back and saw a pig named "Old Major" speak and call other animal companions "comrades", he couldn't help but be horrified.

"That's ...... Is it really written as an animal? ”

Verne chuckled,

"What do you think?"

"Goo......

Wells swallowed, his eyes already on the manuscript.

As the story progresses, the animals succeed in the "revolution" and drive away the humans,

However, the leader, the pig, has mastered the high technology of mankind and uses it for the "comrades".

Wells was stunned,

"God's work...... A true masterpiece ......"

What is "Animal Farm" written by Professor Luk?

This is clearly "Human Society"!

Moreover, this human society has become a group of destined slaves under centralized power and strict scientific control.

Wells said in a low voice: "Wouldn't human beings become animals by instigating hemp to destroy human nature?" ”

Verne asked, "What do you think?" ”

Wells sighed,

"Don't talk about 'New France'. Even my work is vulnerable in front of Professor Lu. ”

He looked down and saw the newspaper he had discarded,

I was still making a fuss before,

It's true that I haven't seen the world.

(End of chapter)