The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1022: Chapter 67: Monkeys Will Eventually Evolve

In the 19th-century British literary stage, Eld Carter was undoubtedly a name that couldn’t be overlooked.

Every writer has a deep personal style. Just as Wordsworth’s works are filled with a profound love for nature and meticulous observation of the human soul. His poetry expresses a deep understanding of life and humanity through the depiction of natural scenery.

Byron’s poetry exudes intense personal emotion and rebellious spirit. His works are famous for their passion, romance, and challenge to social norms.

Mr. Carter’s friend Dickens in the Pickwick Club focused on revealing various layers of British society during the Industrial Revolution. He vividly depicted poverty, oppression, and injustice but also showcased the resilience and kindness of humanity.

Likewise, the laureate poet Tennyson of the Pickwick Club is known for his beautiful language and profound thoughts. Through the reinterpretation of classical themes, he expressed deep contemplation on modern society and human destiny.

Compared to the contrasting writing and manner styles of Arthur Hastings, fellow politician Eld Carter maintained a high consistency between literary style and writing style. He was an individualist in the political field, and his novel style was similarly distinctive in the literary world, although he rarely used his works as a propaganda tool for his political views like Benjamin Disraeli.

This writing style, considered an unstoppable tide in the British literary world dominated by pastoral romanticism, as a successor to the founding figure of historical novels, Sir Walter Scott, Carter’s writing style was closer to the contemporary French literary giant Alexander Dumas, adept at depicting the grandeur of historical scenes and realistic details with bold strokes, making readers feel as if they were in that era.

Whether it’s the intrigues of the court or the scenes of battles on the battlefield, Carter could depict them vividly with his exquisite writing skills. Moreover, his works are full of deep analysis of humanity, revealing the complexities and multifaceted nature of humanity through the changing fates of historical figures.

This writing style also made him greatly admired in France across the strait, with Carter’s debut ”Robinson Crusoe” being the second batch of British historical literary works published in France after Sir Walter Scott.

He established a good reputation among French readers with this book, becoming unstoppable thereafter. In the mid-19th century bestseller list of French bookstores, Eld Carter’s works long ranked at the top.

His literary achievements not only lie in the artistic value of the works themselves but also in his enhancement and innovation of the genre of historical novels. Through his outstanding literary talent, Carter breathed new life and vitality into historical novels, profoundly influencing subsequent writers like George Eliot, Charles Kingsley, and Robert Stevenson, making the British historical novel genre an important part of the world literary heritage.

His immortal literary creation skills allowed history to reappear on paper, enabling countless readers to feel the pulse of history and the power of humanity through his words. His works are not only literary treasures of that era but also eternal human cultural heritage.

—— ”A History of 19th Century British Literature” by George St. Sisbury

The main purpose of literary criticism should be to help readers distinguish between good books and bad books.

—— Arthur Hastings

Undoubtedly, the masterpiece ”On the Origin of Species” by my friend Mr. Darwin explained many things that science couldn’t explain before.

—— Alexander Dumas

Natural selection may affect all organisms, whether plants or animals, whether the highest or the lowest.

—— Charles Darwin

Great people discuss ideas, ordinary people discuss events, small-minded people discuss others.

—— Eld Carter

In Waai’er Restaurant, Arthur sighed inexplicably as he looked at Heine sitting beside him, eating and drinking.

Since Arthur came to Paris, he hadn’t accomplished any tasks assigned by the British Foreign Office, but he had successfully completed the task of closely monitoring Heine, the German spirited youth, for the Prussian police.

Before Arthur knew this group of literary giants of the era, these unseen and intangible great figures always seemed impoverished in his eyes.

But upon truly contacting them, he realized that much of what the books wrote was deceptive.

Indeed, among this group, there were some who couldn’t make ends meet due to bad luck, but the majority of the impoverished ones were merely self-inflicted. In this era, it seems you couldn’t be a literary giant without owing money, even if there’s not a penny in their pockets, they resolutely refused to lower their living standards.

If you discover these people have started eating black bread, it’s definitely not because they’ve begun to reflect, but rather they’ve exhausted their relatives and friends for loans and found no one else willing to lend them money.

Take Heine as an example, he is a thoroughbred from the upper-middle Prussian family, the Heine family in Germany, although not as famous as the Rothschild Family and Mendelssohn Family, is similarly a Jewish banking family. In other words, if he hadn’t been born well, Heine wouldn’t have learned these extravagant spending habits.

However, Heine has an advantage over other wild literary giants, and that is he knows a reliable publisher friend. Especially fortunate in recent months, as this friend has been staying in Paris.