Reborn Bao Guowei, I really didn’t want to be a great writer!

Chapter 451: Go Forward! Orwell! My Apprentice!

To be honest, the time on a cruise ship is very suitable for creating works like "No Longer Human".

A cruise ship looks like a moving high-rise building, but the passengers' activities are still limited to the cabins and decks.

Being in this kind of environment for a long time will inevitably produce a sense of being trapped and depressed, as if existing in a mobile cage.

When they first boarded the cruise ship and sailed on the sea, not only Zhang Nianyue and Cao Yanhai, but even Bao Guowei felt it was novel.

He had taken a ferry in his previous life, but this was his first time on a long-distance cruise.

But after the initial novelty, the return voyage seemed much more boring and tedious.

As far as the eye can see is the boundless sea, and the blue tone where the sea and sky meet has almost no change.

Occasionally you can see seabirds flying by, but they are just a fleeting embellishment.

Recently, the sky has even become gloomy, which has added to the feeling of depression.

There is a lack of entertainment facilities on the cruise ship, and boredom and sleepiness are the theme songs here.

Coupled with the ever-changing weather at sea and the constant shaking of the ship, dizziness and nausea are common.

Taking a cruise in this era is ten thousand times more difficult than in later times.

Of course, this environment happens to fit Bao Guowei's creative path.

The return route was basically the same as the return route, so Bao Guowei and others gave up the idea of ​​getting off the ship.

For a whole week, Bao Guowei was immersed in his creation.

He would work on "The Condor Heroes" during the day, and at night, when it was quiet, he would listen to the sound of waves hitting the deck and sink deeply into the tragic world constructed by Dazai Osamu.

Once you have an idea, it becomes easy to create.

The novel "No Longer Human" is not too long, with only about 250,000 words. The novel is narrated in the first person, through the protagonist Yezo's perspective, showing his complex inner world and his thoughts on human nature.

The most prominent feature of the novel is the large number of psychological descriptions and monologues, which allow readers to strongly feel Ye Zang's loneliness, fear, confusion and pain.

Although there is no way to prove whether the author Dazai Osamu committed suicide due to depression.

But in Bao Guowei's opinion, in a sense, this literary giant who committed suicide five times must have been suffering from tremendous pain in his heart, so much so that he had to use extreme methods to relieve it.

The reasons for this may be inextricably linked to social trends or the original family.

But it cannot fully explain why Dazai Osamu was so painful.

Perhaps depression is a big factor.

Therefore, Bao Guowei simply described the protagonist in his novel as a depressed patient who could not receive treatment, in order to increase the drama and conflict of the novel.

Of course, the boring monologues and psychological descriptions also need some modifications.

If Bao Guowei wants to make this novel popular in Japan, he must lower the reading threshold.

After a week of writing, Bao Guowei couldn't help but look carefully at the beginning he had written.

He said this self-deprecatingly while stroking his chin.

"If readers in China see this work, they will definitely be shocked, right? They will think this is not my work?"

The reason why Bao Guowei made such speculation is mainly because the main background of this work is set in Japan, and in order to increase the audience, he even added some pornographic and violent parts.

In fact, Bao Guowei has always been very restrained in using these elements in his works.

On the one hand, being in the domestic cultural background, the works are naturally relatively conservative.

On the other hand, Bao Guowei naturally made some harmonization efforts in order to let students and young people see it.

However, "No Longer Human", a work that will be released for the Japanese audience, naturally does not have such concerns.

There has never been a lack of erotic and violent elements in literary works.

For example, in ancient Greek mythology, Zeus's various strange love affairs and sexual fetishes are full of erotic innuendos.

There are also stories about medieval knights' love for noble ladies and demons torturing humans.

Shakespeare's play "Macbeth" is also full of blood and violence.

Boccaccio's "The Decameron" also contains straightforward descriptions of sex.

If these works appeared on online literature platforms in the future, they would probably be censored.

In a sense, erotic and violent elements can enhance the authenticity of a work to a certain extent and deeply reflect social issues.

Or it may reflect the avant-garde nature of the work. For example, French writer Georges Bataille once expressed that he wanted to explore the taboo areas of human beings, break the traditional moral and aesthetic concepts, and trigger humanistic thinking through this extreme expression of eroticism and violence.

Bao Guowei didn't understand these things, and didn't know whether adding pornographic and violent elements had any so-called artistic value.

He only knows one truth.

Sourness is the primary productive force!
Since it is a work written for the Japanese, how can it not be astringent?
How can the Japanese like it without the bitterness?

"Squeak~"

The door to the room was pushed open.

Bao Guowei vigilantly put the manuscript aside and hid it.

He did not tell anyone about the creation of "No Longer Human", and even Zhang Nianyue always thought that Bao Guowei was still creating "The Return of the Condor Heroes".

Considering the content and scale of "No Longer Human", Bao Guowei naturally didn't want Zhang Nianyue to see it.

However, the person who came in was not Zhang Nianyue, but Cao Yanhai, who was beaming with joy.

As soon as he saw Bao Guowei, Cao Yanhai smiled and said.

"Master, don't stay in the room. The foreign students outside are quite interesting. Come play Mahjong with them to relieve the boredom of the journey. Let me tell you, there are several pretty female students~"

During the Republic of China period, mahjong was generally called "sparrow".

Bao Guowei looked at the other person speechlessly, and then said jokingly.

"You're not going there to play mahjong, are you just coveting the body of a female student?"

Cao Yanhai was a man who cared about his reputation after all. His face suddenly turned red and he spoke in a whisper.

"Master, how can you slander someone's innocence out of thin air?"

Bao Guowei didn't bother to talk to him and warned him.

"Behave yourself on the boat and don't cause any more trouble for me! If you do anything weird again, I'll break your legs!"

Bao Guowei felt a little heartache when he thought about Cao Yanhai carving words on the butt of the statue of Queen Victoria in the British Palace.

Fortunately, they escaped danger and were not discovered by the British.

Cao Yanhai chuckled, scratched his head and said, "Master, don't worry. I have learned my lesson now. I just couldn't stand the arrogant look of those British guys before, so I wanted to vent my anger for you."

"I want you to vent my anger for me?" Bao Guowei felt his fists harden.

"Master, please don't get angry." Cao Yanhai shrank his head awkwardly and explained. "I went to play mahjong not just to see the female students, but also to find out if there were any suspicious people eyeing us."

Bao Guowei asked doubtfully, "Really? How's the investigation going?"

“So far, no one has been found, except for some British missionaries and diplomats, and our domestic students.

The crew captains are all engaged in long-term
The crew on this ship is quite clean, the students know each other, and the missionaries and diplomats are famous, so it is unlikely that they are temporarily placed here. " Originally, he was a little skeptical, but after listening to Cao Yanhai's explanation, Bao Guowei's expression eased.

This guy must have put in a lot of effort.

It seems that there is no danger on this ship?
That's true. After all, it was Churchill who helped introduce it, so it should be more reliable.

Churchill was not a good man, but he dared to love and hate. Since both parties made a deal, generally speaking, he would not cheat himself.

Thinking of this, Bao Guowei felt a lot more relieved.

With his skills and Cao Yanhai's, the two of them would be able to fight unless they were ambushed right away.

There's no need to worry so much.

After thinking for a while, Bao Guowei said, "I won't play sparrows anymore. I can't show my identity to others."

"That's right." Cao Yanhai said with a grin. "These students are obsessed with you, Master. Apart from playing mahjong and reading, they also pass around your works, including "Rural Teacher" and "To Live". You are really famous all over the world now."

"roll roll roll!"

Bao Guowei ignored Cao Yanhai's flattery and waved his hand to let him go.

After sending Cao Yanhai away, Bao Guowei no longer had the heart to continue writing. He left the cabin and walked towards George Orwell's room.

A few days ago, in order to pass the time during the journey, Bao Guowei assigned the other party some "homework".

Historically, it was five or six years later that George Orwell really became famous for his writing.

At this moment, George Orwell was still a newcomer in the literary world and had just completed his debut work.

Therefore, George Orwell's writing style and ideas are still a bit immature.

Bao Guowei, who wanted the other party to create "1984" and "Animal Farm" as soon as possible, had to give up this idea temporarily and instead give the other party some topics to work on.

George Orwell was quite obedient. After boarding the ship, he stayed in his room and did his writing. A week had passed, so Bao Guowei, the "teacher", naturally wanted to take a good look at it.

As soon as he reached the door, Bao Guowei heard an angry voice coming from the room.

"Damn it! Damn it! It's not enough! It shouldn't be like this!"

"George, George! You can't keep sinking into despair like this. You'll only become a burden to Mr. Bao if you continue like this. You have to cheer up and create more perfect works!"

“When using animals to represent different social groups and classes, it is important to give the characters distinct characteristics and representativeness when creating, so that readers can easily match the characters with real-life groups and character types. Mr. Bao is worthy of being able to come up with such a wonderful idea!”

Hearing George Orwell talking to himself in the room, Bao Guowei couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.

"Animal Farm" actually became my own idea. Is this considered as usurping the magpie's nest?
But the passion and seriousness shown by George Orwell is amazing.

Perhaps, this is the quality necessary to become a great writer?
Thinking of this, Bao Guowei knocked on the door.

George Orwell's slightly irritable voice came from inside the house.

"Who is it? Don't disturb me, I'm busy!"

Apparently, George Orwell had gone into a state of rage because he couldn't write a satisfactory plot.

Bao Guowei coughed and then spoke in a calm tone.

“George Orwell is me, Bao Guowei.”

Then there was a burst of chaotic noises in the house. After a while, George Orwell stumbled open the door and said with surprise on his face.

"Mr. Bao? It's you! Why are you here?!"

Bao Guowei smiled and said, "Didn't I tell you a topic last time? I wanted to come and take a look after a week."

Hearing this, George Orwell immediately showed shame on his face.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Bao. My ability is really limited and I can't perfectly present your great idea."

Bao Guowei patted the other person's shoulder and said comfortingly.

"It's okay, let's take a look at your manuscript first."

He was like teaching a student who was trying hard but couldn't improve his grades.

After briefly reading George Orwell's description of part of the plot of "Animal Farm".

Bao Guowei couldn't help but sigh: "It has about 50% flavor."

"Sir, is this my way of comforting myself?" George Orwell said with shame. "This is already my fifth draft, and it still cannot show the degree to which you want to use Animal Farm to reflect on the social system, let alone reach your five-point level."

Bao Guowei originally wanted to say that the article reached 50% of the flavor of the original work, but he did not expect that George Orwell understood it as reaching 50% of the flavor of Bao's literature.

This is hard to explain, so Bao Guowei simply doesn't explain it.

He looked at the contents of the manuscript and said with a smile.

"George, you don't have to be too frustrated. Writing has always been a process of accumulation. No one can achieve success overnight. Even genius needs accumulation."

George Orwell nodded like a well-behaved student.

"Mr. Bao, I remember it!"

Privately, George Orwell had long regarded Bao Guowei as his idol and worked hard to follow in his footsteps.

I want to become a legendary writer like Bao Guowei!
A great writer who can influence many aspects of politics, economy and culture!

George Orwell did not believe that literature had this power before, but now he truly saw it in Bao Guowei.

Bao Guowei could only continue to act like a teacher.

Everything is for the future of the people of the world!

He motivated himself in his own heart.

So Bao Guowei continued, "George, you haven't forgotten what I told you before about the points to pay attention to if you want to create a work like "Animal Farm", right?"

Under the dim oil lamp, there seemed to be stars twinkling in George Orwell's eyes.

He said, nodding vigorously.

“Dear teacher, I have not forgotten.

The core of "Animal Farm" lies in the profound discussion of power system, autocratic rule, and even revolution.

Use different animals to represent different groups of people, and avoid the uniformity of each character.

The introduction, development, turning point and ending are also the most important parts of the story.

From animals' desire to rebel when they are oppressed, to the establishment of a new order, and then to the formation of a new despotism.

This process must be consistent with the development of real history and politics."

Bao Guowei nodded and said, "This young man is teachable!"

This sentence is in Chinese.

George Orwell could not understand Chinese, but he could feel the meaning.

He said with his fists clenched.

"Under your guidance, sir, I will definitely write these two masterpieces!"

(End of this chapter)