Chapter 375: Censorship

Chapter 372 The Book Report Censorship
The rain outside the window was getting heavier and heavier, and if I were to describe the pouring rain in the words of Alexandre Dumas, it would be as if God had drunk too much wine last night.

But Dumas, who was always fond of wisecracks, was not in the mood for jokes now.

Ever since he had gotten his hands on the manuscript of The Red and the Black, he understood the reason why the novel had been censored just a year after its publication in France.

It was not because the book was too false, but because it was just too true.

Although his father had been marginalized by Napoleon when Dumas was born, he had at least glimpsed the decadent opulence of French high society at a young age.

And in his formative years, he witnessed the demons and monsters of the French underclass and middle class.

After reading The Red and the Black, he was convinced that the author of the book, Mr. Stendhal, must have had similar life experiences as his own, or else he would not have been able to portray the social scandals of the French society in the last decade or so so vividly.

And in the letterhead Hugo sent him, also basically confirmed this.

Mr. Stendhal is much older than him and Hugo, received a good education, experienced the Revolution in his youth, and also enthusiastically involved in it.

However, unlike the German girls that Heine often spouted off about, Mr. Stendhal was a true Dragoon. And not only a Dragoon, but an honorable second lieutenant in the Sixth Dragoon Regiment of the French Empire.

But that was the end of his glorious life. After Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo and the full restoration of the Bourbon dynasty, a desperate Stendhal could only leave a message that ‘we can gain nothing more than humiliation’ and move from Paris to nearby Rome.

But unfortunately, such a peaceful life did not last too long.

Having been bathed by the winds of freedom, they naturally could not tolerate the despotic tyrants who rode over them.

As for London, though, they were not as afraid of Napoleon, the dead man, as the July dynasty in France, and were relatively tolerant of all kinds of literature involving Napoleon.

Although the July Dynasty of France, in order to reconcile the contradictions between the various political factions, verbally and generously recognized Napoleon’s contribution to France, in reality, Louis-Philippe’s government had always been careful to guard against the power of the Bonapartists.

In the Italian region, their cry was the Charcoal Burners’ Revolt which brought M. Louis Bonaparte to London by mistake.

The Red and the Black is indeed a worthy publication.

For Dumas, the clowns who stole the fruits of the July Revolution while the forces were at war were in fear every day and every night.

Having lost his place in Italy, being suspected by the current French July dynasty for being a former Napoleonic supporter, and even being under the permanent surveillance of the Grand Paris Police, Stendhal was unable to find a decent and stable job in Paris.

Hugo their mood, Dumas can understand.

In normal times it is still difficult to live, and when the cholera swept through Paris, Hugo and other members of the Second Parisian literary society in order to Stendhal’s matter directly wrote to Dumas is not difficult to understand.

It was almost inevitable that in time he would be reduced to his current predicament of financial constraints and disease.

The slightest stirring of the wind might rattle his ever-tightened nerves, and he feared that, with the proliferation of such books as The Red and the Black, he would be ousted from the throne tomorrow by the decent citizens of France infected by this literature.

Because of his high level of management, Stendhal was even entrusted with the task of quartermaster of the Sixth Dragoon Regiment during Napoleon’s expedition to Tsarist Russia.

The first is the tendency of extreme admiration for Napoleon revealed in the book.

However, as a fat Frenchman who often cares about politics, Dumas also understands the sensitivity of this book.

It was from this time that he began to take up his pen, intending to alleviate the growing depression due to the failure of the revolution in another way.

Although Napoleon fell, his army, in addition to bringing war to Europe, also showed the people of Europe a new way of thinking.

This is also the direct reason why there was a massive outburst of German cynicism in Europe, such as Heine, and why the Warsaw Uprising broke out in Poland.

If the book was to be allowed to be published, two problems had to be solved, and were the two main reasons why The Red and the Black was censored in Paris.

Except that Stendhal was definitely a more senior old-timer than Louis in the matter of supporting the Charcoal Burners’ uprising. He had been expelled by the authorities of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies as early as 1821 for supporting the Charcoal Burners.

But because of the Napoleonic Wars, conservative forces within both parties, whether Whigs or Tories, have always been committed to portraying Napoleon as a cannibalistic devil. Even within The Englishman, Disraeli had once disagreed with Arthur when he decided to publish Louis’s masterpiece, Napoleonic Thought.

Arthur convinced Disraeli by emphasizing that the publication of Napoleon’s Thoughts would divert readership from liberal radical publications such as the Westminster Review, thereby opening up a larger readership.

As a concession, however, Napoleonic Thoughts was also permanently locked away among the supplement The Economist, as a way of ensuring that it could be readily abandoned if things went wrong, without affecting the main business of fashionable literature at the Cockney.

A “Napoleonic Thought” has already made the “British” internal disagreement, if another must be classified in the main issue of the “Red and Black”, God knows that the parliamentary spring as the vanguard of the anti-reform Mr. Disraeli will not agree.

After all, the Tory Lords know for the moment that Disraeli is the majority shareholder and distinguished writer of the Cockney, but do not know that the Economist is in fact also published by the editorial board of the Cockney.

But if The Red and the Black were to appear on the pages of the main magazine, then Disraeli would be jumping straight into the Thames.

Though Mr. Disraeli, when talking privately with Arthur and the others, often said, “I would not write against the general measure of reform.”

And before he decided to join the Tories, he even went on a campaign for radicals in High Wycombe.

But once the flexible Disraeli befriended the Tory extremist bigwig and former Secretary of the Navy, John Croker, at a party, Disraeli immediately published an anti-French, anti-Whig pamphlet titled England and France: or the Cabinet Cure for Francophilia, and enthusiastically invited Croker to help correct it.

And after the pamphlet was published, he had the cheek to help Croker put an editor’s name on the pamphlet.

Such behavior also opened the door for Disraeli to the Tory parliamentary seat, and he was often invited to participate in the Tory internal gathering held at the White Club with the help of Crocker, where he met Mrs. Sykes, and then through Mrs. Sykes, he got in touch with the line of the Earl of Lyndhurst.

Of course, everyone within The Cockney knew that Disraeli was just acting out his lust for performance again, and so had begun to put on his best half-truths and half-fakes burlesque in the Tory party. However, Disraeli is currently having a great time on stage, and if The Cockney lifts a copy of The Red and the Black and exposes him for what he really is, he’s going to have a great time, and he’s going to have a great time.

Then Disraeli would surely have to go through another round of social death.

Only, unlike the last round where his anonymous publication of Vivian Gray attacking his former partner led to his own social death in the Britannia literary world, if Disraeli were to die a social death in the political world, no one thinks he’d have a chance of getting up anytime soon.

After all, what happened to the last traitor, Bernie Harrison, is still fresh in our minds.

While Disraeli is not guilty of anything as serious, being swept off his feet by the Tories is surely essential.

So, to get The Red and the Black published is hard enough to get here in Disraeli in the first place.

Secondly, if The Red and the Black merely touted Napoleon, it would, at best, sound harsh to the current Gray’s Cabinet.

But the problem is bad in that The Red and the Black also depicts many of the unsavory and dirty dealings of high society.

Although it tells the story of France, but for most of the countries in the world, as long as the skin is changed, these dirty stories are almost universally applicable.

For example, when Yulian was the tutor of the mayor’s children, he deliberately hit on the mayor’s wife and had sex with her in order to realize his ambition.

And, not to mention, isn’t that the story of Mr. Disraeli and Mrs. Sykes?

So, when the big shots realize that reading a book is looking in the mirror, it is indeed hard not to remind them of their humble selves back then. No one wants to relive their past despicable deeds, and at the same time, they would prefer not to let others see them.

Because it will destroy their great and glorious image, so that they usually look down on the ordinary people know that the original big people are just a bunch of high-class ruffians and gangsters.

Alexandre Dumas is in a trance.

Suddenly, he heard Arthur let out a long breath.

“No matter how many times I read it, the book is still as wonderful as the first time I read it. Only, the first time I read it, I just thought it was full of stories. But now that I’ve gone back and read it again, I realize that it can simply be called a work of documentary literature. Mr. Stendhal deserves to be called the founding father of critical realism.”

Dumas held his wine glass and leaned on the edge of the table, “Critical realism, this new word is quite eloquently used. If The Red and the Black can be published successfully, you should perhaps write a separate literary review that specifically talks about critical realism.”

Dumas looked as if he didn’t care, but Arthur could still tell from his half-full, untouched glass that the fat man was actually quite worried.

Arthur spoke up, “Alexander, don’t hide it, it’s not like you. Writers like you want a straight temper, a fiery sharpness, if you don’t keep this character and prefer to learn what melancholy is, I promise you, you will never be able to write a work like The Count of Monte Cristo in the future.”

Alexandre Dumas just rolled his eyes and finished the glass of red wine: “If I can write out ‘The Red and the Black’, I would be quite happy to change my temper.”

Arthur opened up, “You should also be aware of the difficulty of publishing this book, it almost strips the entire upper class of their bottoms. What’s even more embarrassing is that if we publish it openly, it’s tantamount to letting them just wave it around.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Dumas spoke up, “Not wanting to show it to anyone only shows their lack of confidence in their size.”

Arthur smiled and nodded, “Alexander, you are always able to tell the secrets. I thought before that you were past the age of telling the truth.”

“Wasn’t it you who told me to say that?” Dumas bristled, “And I have to emphasize that I’m only 29 years old this year.”

Tennyson heard this and also came forward holding the copy of Mitzkevich’s verse, “Arthur, I realize that this request may be difficult for you to do, especially since you also had the Poles shot at in Liverpool. But this piece of Mr. Mitzkevich’s ‘Sacrifice of the Ancestors’ really shouldn’t be buried in the homestead heap by political prejudice.”

Arthur saw the two of them coming around one by one and simply spoke, “What’s the hurry, you two? I didn’t say I wanted to bury these things.”

“Huh?”

Dumas raised one eyebrow, his eyes widened, and he couldn’t help a smirk from the corner of his mouth.

He clapped both hands on Arthur’s shoulders and spoke with an uplifted expression, “Arthur! My good lad! I knew it! Street fights, intimidation and threats, financial insiders, collection of black money, although these are all you, you can still be a good cop after all!”

When Arthur heard this, he just returned with a nonchalant, “Alexander, is that a compliment?”

“Of course it is. However, although that ‘Sacrifice of the Ancestors’ article is still a little bit better, how are you going to explain to Benjamin that we are planning to publish this ‘Red and Black’ book?”

“Why consult with Benjamin?”

“Hm?” Tennyson queried, “Is this …… possible that you intend to bypass Benjamin? This …… isn’t too good, he’s our major shareholder anyways, and he’s also one of our pillars!”

“No, Alfred, we won’t be distributing directly from The Brits this time.”

“Then …… how do you intend to publish it?”

Arthur sniffed and just laughed softly as he stood up and announced.

“My dear friends, you may not be aware of one thing. The Home Office is currently considering amending the Police Act of 1829.”

Tennyson wondered, “What does this have to do with us?”

As for Dumas, he was a bit more resourceful than Tennyson, his eyes rolled, and he suddenly took a deep breath, “I seem to have heard Inspector Tom and the others talk about this before, it seems that Scotland Yard may also be reorganized as a result, and the powers of all the senior police officers will have to be redistributed……. Since you are mentioning this matter to us, the Wouldn’t your new powers at hand include ……”

Arthur smiled and nodded gently, “That’s right. After the reorganization of Scotland Yard, I will be directly responsible for the control of all illegal publications in the London metropolitan area.”

(End of chapter)