shadow of britain

Chapter 139 The First British Literary Critic

Arthur held the manuscript and flipped through it page after page.

Although he was very familiar with the manuscript, this time he was reading not the printed form, but the original handwriting of Charles Dickens.

He looked very slowly, not only to express respect for Dickens, but also to recall the past time and another world.

After an unknown period of time, Arthur put down the manuscript, leaned back on the chair and joked, "Perhaps this manuscript should be displayed in the British Museum instead of being placed on my desk. After all, this thing is a rare collection made in Great Britain."

Dickens blushed hotly: "Arthur, you are here again. You always flatter me so much, but you will make me believe it."

Arthur shook his head and said, "How could I be flattering you? Aren't the two short articles "Mr. Mings and His Cousin" and "Scotland Yard" published in the "Monthly Magazine" a while ago very well written? I said, Charles, you will become a great writer sooner or later. This novel "The Pickwick Papers" will make you a lot of money, and it will even be more successful than your previous two short articles."

"really?"

Dickens was a little excited at first, but then he was not very confident in the blink of an eye. "Arthur, tell me the truth. I really want to hear your opinion. You know, I used to be busy with my livelihood, working to pay off debts and so on, so I haven't had many friends. And among my few friends, I think you are the only one with literary taste. Seriously, Arthur, come and find fault with me. I just wrote the beginning and part of the plot outline. If you want to change it, it's still too late."

Arthur just smiled when he heard his insistence, and then picked up the manuscript and flipped through it: "If I have to say that there is something I can't see, it may only be here."

"Where?" Dickens took the manuscript and carefully read the place pointed by Arthur: "Are you saying that this place is inappropriate for the liar Ginger to lure Miss Wardle to elope? Readers don't like this kind of plot? Or is it not in line with the moral values ​​of pious believers?"

"No, no, you misunderstood me."

Arthur smiled and said, "Readers like to read this kind of thing. As for morality, there is no such thing as morality these days. After all, the best-selling London tabloids are full of 'love stories' that make people blush at a glance. I mean, after finding out that his daughter had eloped with the liar, Mr. Wardle actually decided to pay 120 pounds to keep the liar away from his daughter. This is a bit surreal."

Dickens was taken aback when he heard the words: "Where is it surreal?"

Arthur laughed and said: "What is written in the novel is, give you as much as you want, and leave my daughter. But in reality, it is all about giving me as much as you want, or leave my daughter. But this is actually nothing, Charles, after all, it is a novel. Maybe there are people like Mr. Wardle."

Hearing this, Dickens couldn't help biting his lip and thinking for a moment. He dragged his voice and said, "No... Arthur, what you said seems to make sense. How about I change Miss Wardle into Mr. Wardle's younger sister? We have been dependent on each other since we were young, so we have deep feelings for each other. This is why I can't bear to let my sister's illusions be disillusioned, so I secretly gave the liar Ginger a sum of money to keep him away from Miss Wardle?"

Arthur shrugged his shoulders: "It doesn't matter what you think you can do with it. Because in my opinion, your novel already has enough elements for success."

Dickens looked hesitant, perhaps because of his repeated failures over the years, this young man seriously lacked self-confidence.

"Arthur, is it really that good?"

Seeing his appearance, Arthur had no choice but to encourage him: "It's not that it's good, but that you're good. Have you forgotten what I told you? Charles, you are destined to become a literary giant. If the royalties you get after the publication of "The Pickwick Papers" are less than 1000 pounds, Charles, you can come to me to make it up for you at any time, I'm so confident.

If you don't believe my vision, you can wait another month. I guarantee you that a novel called "The Count of Monte Cristo" will become popular in the streets and alleys of London in one month. I also help to review that novel.

Perhaps that novel will be even more popular than your Pickwick Papers, for you will find few blemishes from a popular literature point of view, except that the author is French. "

When Dickens heard this, he immediately became interested: "The Frenchman you are talking about, shouldn't it be the one you rescued from the high seas? Mr. Alexandre Dumas?"

Arthur smiled and nodded: "It seems that the kidnapping of the fat man is a blessing in disguise, at least he is quite famous in London now."

Dickens was a little discouraged when he heard the words: "Mr. Dumas' fame is partly due to the kidnapping, but part of it is his "Henry III and His Court", which was popular in London for a while last year. Mr. Dumas is also a well-known playwright. It is only natural that he can create great works, but I..."

Arthur shook his fingers: "No, Charles, don't look at it that way. Maybe your money-making ability is worse than him, but the things written by that fat man usually have no profound connotation and cultural significance. In terms of the status of literature and art, he can't even securely win the contemporary Victor Hugo.

Although the fat man may not be sad because of this, after all, accepting failure calmly is one of the few good qualities of the French.

And I just learned that maybe his biggest dream was to be a first-class French cook, and his second dream was to continue his old job, to be a French artilleryman.

But you are different from him. You are completely overwhelming a large group of people in Britain in this era.If you want, your words may still have a certain impetus to this era, and in the entire history of British literature, you can also say that you are sitting on the sidelines. "

Dickens almost didn't listen to Arthur's words of flattery. He looked at Arthur eagerly, as if hoping to get some substantive evidence from his mouth.

Dickens fell into deep self-doubt: "I've been wanting to ask this question for a long time. Arthur, why are you so optimistic about me?"

Arthur also fell silent when he heard this, and he was thinking about how to answer this question to Dickens.

Suddenly, he raised his eyes and aimed at Agares who was cleaning his glasses at the table, as if he was using the same question to torture the devil's mind.

Seeing his gaze, the Red Devil couldn't help taking off his glasses, covered his mouth and smiled.

"Where are there so many reasons? I am optimistic about you because you can do it. Only the strong are worthy of my company, and only the weak will fall into self-doubt. So, Arthur, stop mixing with these cowards, it will corrupt your bones and nerves.

Think about why you set up that Bureau of Temporary Survey and Statistics for the London area. If you can't make the world love you, it's better to make the world fear you.The way you use Jones is very appropriate, why should we reason with them?

In the past, you had to reason because you had no power. Now that you have power, you should try to be as unfair as you can.Please forgive me, your useless kindness will only make you suffer more attacks. "

When Arthur heard this, he just smiled and shook his head: "The best way to show a person's character is to see what he is laughing at. You think you are laughing at others, but in fact you are laughing at yourself."

Dickens was taken aback for a moment, and he asked, "Arthur, what are you talking about?"

"Nothing." Arthur took out a few magazines from the desk drawer and put them on the table.

That was a couple of literary review magazines like Monthly Review Blackwood.

In order to investigate Disraeli's experience earlier, Arthur went to the second-hand bookstore and bought all the issues that attacked him.

I thought that these things would be useless after the investigation, but I didn't expect to use these magazines to show some extra value in front of Dickens today.

Arthur casually opened one of the magazines, pointed to the words on it and said.

"Don't you know that fashion novels are very popular among the citizens of London, especially the middle class recently? Today's accomplished writers who want to make a lot of money usually don't describe the psychological activities of any male protagonist, but focus on his dressing, trying to portray him as a typical fashion person as much as possible, and then use him to say a few witty words.

When describing the heroine, I will list the address of the high-end clothing store she often goes to, and try my best to pay attention to some details of life, such as telling readers that upper-class people eat fish with silver forks.

Perhaps it is because the distance between the middle class and the upper-class aristocrats is getting closer, so when they have a little money, they start to care about the behavior of the upper-class people, learning their gestures, eating habits and so on.

All in all, the more detailed and refined you write about this aspect, the more readers will love it.Besides, your "Pickwick Papers" also contains elopements, elections, banquets, prisons, and a lot of plot reversals. I really can't think of a reason why this book failed. "

When Dickens heard this, he gradually gained some confidence.

He looked at Arthur, hesitated again and again, and suddenly mustered up the courage to speak: "Arthur."

"what happened?"

Dickens stared at Arthur, and earnestly asked: "Since you are so optimistic about my book, why don't you write a preface for me?"

Arthur froze at first, then raised his eyebrows lightly, and said half-jokingly, "Are you sure? I'm a Scotland Yard policeman, not a literary critic."

Dickens blinked, touched the back of his head embarrassedly and said with a smile: "If this book is really as good as you said, why should I worry about the identity of the person who wrote the preface for me? If you write the preface for me, if you make money at that time, I can share some of it with you."

"Oh... Arthur..." The Red Devil covered his mouth and sneered, "Look, what did I say? Your little kindness will only hurt yourself. Maybe this guy came here in the first place... A book with a preface written by the Superintendent of Scotland Yard must be easy to publish, right?"

Arthur glanced at the devil with jealousy. He pulled out a blank sheet of paper, and then took out the quill in the ink bottle to splash ink. While writing, he muttered, "If this can be regarded as harming me, then I would rather he would harm me once every book. After all, fools know that this may be more profitable than buying Rothschild stocks."

(End of this chapter)