Chapter 517 516 [The Biography of Wells and Yinying]

London.

Churchill received a follow-up manuscript of "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" from China, with a content of about 50,000 words. He was even more depressed after reading it, because there were too few updates in the novel, and he didn't know when he would be able to read the following chapters.

Due to Churchill's voluntary request, Zhou Hexuan's novel manuscripts were sent directly to him, and they were not delivered to the magazine until he finished reading them.

It was impossible for Churchill to do such a trivial matter by himself. He exchanged a servant and ordered: "Send the manuscript to the "Science School" magazine."

After the servant left with the manuscript, Churchill began to write a letter to his pen pal Wells, and sent it with a newly published "Scientology" magazine.

Three days later, Wells, who had just returned from an interview in Geneva, received a letter from Churchill.

"Dear Mr Wells:

I haven't written with you for a long time. I heard that you went to Geneva to cover the League of Nations meeting. I don't know what's new there...

Recently, I read a science fiction novel called "Legend of Galactic Heroes", written by the famous Chinese author Zhou Hexuan. This sci-fi work is very interesting. For example, it mentions concepts such as "subspace jump navigation method" and "electronic computer". Especially the idea of ​​the Star Warship, which is very similar to your work "Star Wars"..."

Wells is over sixty years old. He is the founder of British science fiction. Now he rarely writes long stories, but has changed his career as a political theorist and journalist.

Wells is very familiar with Zhou Hexuan, because he is also a historian and once wrote the book "Outline of World History".

"Outline of World History" was introduced to China during the Northern Expedition, and quickly developed into various versions, and even a classical Chinese translation. Before Zhou Hexuan compiled "General History of the World", many world history textbooks in many Chinese universities were compiled based on Wells' book.

Therefore, Wells is also a great figure, he seems to have a foot in every field, and often achieves amazing achievements.

Let’s talk about Wells’ achievements in the field of science fiction first. In his 1914 work "The World Freed", he invented the term "atom bomb" in the book. People use the energy released by atomic fission to create the ultimate weapon. , causing hundreds of cities to be reduced to ashes in the atomic explosion. He wrote "Land Armor" before World War I, predicting the emergence of armored tanks; and in "Star Wars", his Martians use "hot wire" as a weapon, which is very similar to the laser discovered decades later. similar.

This gentleman is currently writing a novel called "The World of the Future", which predicts that a world war will break out in the 1940s. The Great War was characterized by the widespread application of aerial warfare, inflicting devastating damage on the world's major cities, and leading to the emergence of a benign dictatorship to govern the globe after the war.

As early as 1895, Wells wrote "The Time Machine", expounding the theory of "four-dimensional space", conjecturing that human beings can travel through time and space at will-at that time, Einstein was still in middle school.

However, such a master of science fiction literature is keen on political theory and historical research. He and Bernard Shaw were good friends, both members of the Fabian Society, and also the proponent and supporter of progressive socialism.

Well, Wells is actually a science student. He studied physics, chemistry, geology, astronomy and biology at the university, got a bachelor of science from Imperial College, and was a professor of biology at the University of London when he was young.

Looking at Wells' life, it's a shame, because he was born in a poor family, and both his parents were humble servants. Because his family was too poor, Wells started working part-time very early, as an apprentice in a draper, a pharmacist assistant, a primary school teacher, a university teaching assistant... Anyway, he has done everything. Money to pay tuition.

Wells put away Churchill's letters, opened the "Scientology" magazine, and read it with great interest.

Like Churchill, Wells smiled knowingly when he saw the description of the tyrant Rudolph at the beginning of the chapter. He also saw the danger of the spread of fascism, and was writing a book about the world war, so it was very easy to see the allusion to Hitler in the book.

It's a pity that the serial content of the magazine is very little, only a prologue, and Wells felt unsatisfied after reading it.

Wells wrote back to Churchill: "Dear Winston, I have received your letter. The situation about the League of Nations meeting is very disappointing... The "Legend of Galactic Heroes" is indeed interesting, but the content is too small. Do you have any follow-up manuscripts in your hand..."

Churchill's reply was "yes", and then he threw over tens of thousands of words of manuscripts. Wells finished reading the follow-up manuscript, a little disappointed, but still eager to read the back.

Although Wells is the founder of British science fiction, he is actually a realist writer dressed in science fiction. His works have been discussing practical issues, criticizing the decadent capitalist system, and advocating the utopian future socialism.

Although "The Legend of the Galactic Heroes" also has a certain degree of realistic criticism, it is essentially a "hero novel" or a "knight novel". The original book is a hodgepodge. Rudolph borrowed from Hitler, and the escape of the rebels borrowed from our party’s Long March. The overall world structure was born out of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". The seemingly gorgeous interstellar war is actually no different from "Feng Shen Yan Yi".

The book repeatedly emphasizes that the two protagonists are smart and superhuman, but they actually give the supporting characters a halo of mental retardation. For example, the overlord Rubinsky has no shining point at all.

Zhou Hexuan was still copying the first few chapters, but the more he copied it, the more it felt wrong, so he thought about modifying the plot, at least to improve the IQ of the main supporting characters. As a result, the writing speed has slowed down a lot, and there is no guarantee that I can write 10,000 words in half a month.

Perhaps the writing of Japanese writers is relatively long-winded, and there are too many argumentative nonsense in the original work. Zhou Hexuan can delete it anyway, and it is estimated that tens of thousands of words will be deleted.

In any case, "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" has started serialization in the UK, attracting a lot of sci-fi fans.

Wells himself wrote a review: "I have read about 60,000 words in the book "Galaxy". Apart from the entertainment elements, it can be regarded as a work of political metaphors. The author seems to want to explore the national regime, ideology and The relationship between individuals, trying to find a model that is most suitable for the survival and development of human beings. The author showed strong creative ambitions and designed a grand narrative framework. After more than a thousand years, human beings have realized the pioneering of the Milky Way. The despicableness and political corruption of the novel have not changed...Because the current serial content is too small, I can't make a more in-depth evaluation, but I am very much looking forward to its follow-up plot, and it may become a cosmic epic in the future of mankind."