America 1869: A Doppelganger Every Day

Chapter 145 Li Changsheng's Overt Scheme

Li Changsheng's words caused quite a stir.

While everyone was debating whether realistic literature or romantic literature was better, he firmly stood on the side of realistic literature.

Although he could not become a leader in realistic literature as a result, he successfully stood on the side of realistic literature, winning the favor of those who also support realistic literature.

Mark Twain was the first to stand up and speak.

"Those who have seen my work should know that my recent works are close to reality, and the closer they are to reality, the better they sell and the wider their audience."

"Therefore, I also agree that realistic literature will replace romantic literature and become the mainstream of American literature."

"However, while I firmly believe that realistic literature will inevitably rise, I haven't studied in detail how to write realistic literature better, so that more people can read it, or even bring more benefits."

"I believe that the closer something is to reality and the closer it is to the lives of ordinary people, the more it will resonate with them."

"Therefore, if you want to write good realistic literature, you should go among ordinary people."

Others also stepped forward, some expressing support for realistic literature, while others believed that romantic literature was the only kind that could truly endure.

Many people, however, are curious about Li Changsheng's question: how to write realistic literature better? How to bring more benefits?

Even if some people don't show it, the pursuit of self-interest is human nature.

The reason they agreed to invite Li Changsheng to the club was not just because he wrote novels.

Li Changsheng's novels have a considerable readership in the United States, and even worldwide.

However, most of Li Changsheng's novels are set in China.

Even the newly released book, Golden Crow.

It was also written by combining Chinese mythology with the current situation in America.

This is why they find it difficult to accept Li Changsheng becoming a member of the club.

But who can blame him when Li Changsheng is not only an author, but also a capitalist, an inventor, and an industrial tycoon who owns a newspaper that can be distributed globally?

Invite Li Changsheng to the club!

The first point is that it can be guaranteed that some of the club's writers will be able to publish their articles globally.

Secondly, Li Changsheng is rich.

Having a wealthy friend is obviously a good thing when you need money.

The other inventors and capitalists in the club also wanted to befriend Li Changsheng, discuss inventions with him, and study how to accumulate capital together.

Regardless of the method, it made Li Changsheng more popular.

As for Li Changsheng, putting aside his other abilities, his ability to make money is definitely top-notch.

Therefore, all the literary professionals present were very curious about Li Changsheng's talk about how to make his books more popular and earn more money.

It was under these circumstances that Mark Twain spoke up.

"Li, you've never told me before how to write better realistic literature, or how to make realistic literature more popular. Could it be that you've already found a way? If so, you must share it with us!"

"You know me, all my money goes into investing in inventions and research, and now I'm short of funds for those investments. I'm short of money myself too."

"If I could earn more, I would definitely want to give it a try."

With Mark Twain speaking up, the others stopped being hesitant and began to ask questions.

Li Changsheng wanted these people to speak up voluntarily.

He brought up this point just now precisely to wait for this moment.

The fundamental reason for joining the club is for cultural export.

The best way to export culture is to have practitioners study Chinese culture and then write books based on it.

If every book written by American literary workers incorporates various aspects of Chinese culture, then Li Changsheng would be considered a success.

So at this moment, Li Changsheng spoke.

"Everyone, if you've read my books, you should know that most of them are about gods, demons, and monsters."

"It's not that I don't want to write realistic books, but that I don't know enough about America. If I write realistic books, I doubt many people will read them."

"So after studying the current situation in America, I chose to write a book about mythology."

"The main reason I made this choice is that I found that the current situation in America is similar to that of the late Ming Dynasty in China hundreds of years ago."

"The United States is currently in a period of prosperity in its commodity economy, and at the same time, it is an important period of transition from an agricultural country to a capitalist country."

"The current economic crisis is similar to the various natural disasters at the end of the Ming Dynasty."

"In this situation, the poor get poorer and the rich get richer."

"Many people will lose their land, but some will rise up as a result."

"And these rising figures will be the capitalists who will dominate America in the future."

"They could be leaders in a certain industry, or they could be large landowners."

"Regardless of which one, they all bear a striking resemblance to the merchants and aristocratic families that rose to prominence in late Ming Dynasty China."

"It was through this point that I discovered that literature in the late Ming Dynasty transformed from classical literature into vernacular literature."

"To put it simply, it has transformed from literature that could only be understood by a few elites into literature that can be understood by the general public."

"During this transformation, a large number of writers emerged. These writers were mainly realists and their works have been passed down to this day, making them famous figures in Chinese history."

"Therefore, the rise of American realist literature was inevitable."

"As realist literature rises, books about gods, demons, and monsters will also be accepted by the general public."

"Even if I don't say it, I think you all understand this point. After all, the Journey to the West and Investiture of the Gods that I translated from China, as well as several mythological novels that I wrote, are very popular."

"This echoes the popularity of books like Journey to the West during the late Ming Dynasty."

"Of course, that's not enough. The most important thing is Mark Twain's latest book, The Gilded Age."

"I found that this book has many striking similarities to a famous Chinese novel, Jin Ping Mei."

"Similarly, many other books can also be traced back to novels from the late Ming Dynasty."

"Therefore, I conclude that if you want to write American realist literature better and make more money from it, you only need to study the various books from the late Ming Dynasty or the early Qing Dynasty in China."

"As long as the books were published during that period, we can write American realist works by combining them with the current situation in America."

"Of course, if we could combine the writing methods of European and Russian writers, it would definitely be even better and more popular."

"I've been in America for so long now that I've recently been thinking about writing a few realist books."

"After all, although some people like the books I write about gods, demons, and monsters, the audience is still relatively small."

"So I've been studying a lot of books from the late Ming Dynasty recently, and I've had them translated into English."

"Next, Huamei Publishing House will publish a series of related books, so please stay tuned."

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