It was a coincidence that the French bookseller who helped Zhou Hexuan publish his works was the young Louis that Favre was looking for.
Louis Hachette founded Hachette Publishing House 100 years ago. Now in charge is his grandson, also named Louis Hachette, known as "Little Louis" and "Hachette III".
Unlike the small American bookseller who published "The Rise of the Great Powers", Hachette Publishing House was very powerful. It was one of the largest publishing houses in Europe at this time. Station book kiosks throughout France have been completely occupied by Hachette. The special publishing house has a monopoly. If you think about it, you will know how terrible its ability is.
Little Louis read the news about Zhou Hexuan in "Le Figaro" last summer and learned that his works are highly valued by European historians. After learning about the situation in detail, he immediately decided to organize manpower for translation. And Zhou Hexuan's series of works were made the publishing house's main reading book in 1929.
Under the full operation of Hachette Publishing House, you can see Zhou Hexuan's books for sale no matter which station you go to in France.
Why is little Louis so optimistic?
There are two reasons:
First, Zhou Hexuan’s works are indeed excellent, especially the academic monographs, which are completely up to date;
Second, this is a book written by a Chinese, full of mysterious and exotic style.
Not to mention novels and academic works, even popular science books like "China in Asia" were selling well in France at this time, and Gu Hongming's works were reprinted several times.
This also has something to do with the mentality of the French after World War I. They were decadent, rebellious, decadent, novelty-seeking, absurd, wild... the fresher and more bizarre the better. "The Goddess" and "The Dog Officer" were dismissed by American readers. , but it just suits my taste in France.
It's funny to say that, as great as Romain Rolland, his works are not very popular in France at this time.
Why?
Because it is too bright and the three views are too correct, it has been criticized as hypocritical.
So whoever reads serious books has to deviate from the truth and go eccentric.
The ideological state of the French people at this time perfectly interpreted the name of the "Crazy 20s", which was a wild and unruly era.
…
Western suburbs of Paris, Hachette Press.
Favre and Bloch, led by their secretary, came to Little Louis' office.
Although this French publishing giant is named Little Louis, he is not young at all. He is already over 50 years old this year.
"Mr. Hachette, this is a sample issue of my magazine. I hope your company can be more helpful." Favre said his intention straight to the point.
Little Louis held his pipe in his mouth and asked: "Please introduce the contents of your magazine."
Favre said: "This magazine, I intend to create it as a platform and position for the historical revolution, with the goal of overthrowing the so-called new history that is now popular. I have obtained academic degrees from the University of Paris, the University of Strasbourg, and the University of Dijon. (University of Burgundy) and other universities’ sociologists, historians and anthropologists. The current European history community needs a revolution. New historiography is no longer new, it is backward, and it must be transformed from Pull it off the altar."
"It seems interesting," said little Louis, knocking on his pipe.
Feiffer added: "The Rise of the Great Powers published by your company is actually the direction of historical research that we call for. Mr. Zhou's method of conducting history is completely different from ours. I plan to strongly recommend this book in the first issue of the magazine. This is a great historical work."
"Very good," little Louis smiled, "just print 10,000 copies of your first issue, and I will be responsible for it."
"Huh?" Favre became worried instead, "Ten thousand copies are too many, I'm afraid I won't be able to sell them all."
Little Louis said confidently: "There is no book that Hachette Publishing House cannot sell out. Even a piece of used toilet paper, as long as the name of Hachette Publishing House is printed on it, I can sell it!"
This gentleman is really good at it. It was in his hands that Hachette Publishing House expanded crazily, and it is still growing in the 21st century. Later China's "Friends of Health", "Healthy Women", "Elle" Chinese Edition, etc.
Magazines are all publications of Hachette Publishing House.
"Then please." Favor said happily.
After driving the two historians away, little Louis called his secretary: "Send "The Goddess" and "The Dog Officer" to the Goncourt Prize jury."
The secretary asked: "Do you need additional operations?"
"No need, those judges are so poor that it doesn't matter how much money they give," little Louis said with a nonchalant smile, "Whether you win or not depends on your luck."
In today's French literary world, there are mainly four awards: the French Academy Award, the Goncourt Award, the Femina Award and the Renaudeau Award.
Among them, the French Academy Award is the most prestigious, but this award has always discriminated against the subject matter of novels, so even masters such as Hugo and Flaubert were unable to win the French Academy Award.
The Prix Goncourt is the most authoritative award in France at this time. Even if the French Academy Award has added a novel award, it cannot be compared with the Prix Goncourt.
As for the other two, they are rather strange. The judges of the Femina Prize are all women, in order to protest against the discrimination against women of the Goncourt Prize. The Renaudeau Prize is specifically opposed to the Goncourt Prize, and is awarded to those who cannot win the Goncourt Prize.
Goole Award-winning writer.
Why is the Goncourt Prize so valued?
Because it is fair, objective, without any water content, and does not accept bribes from publishers.
When the award was first established, in order to prevent the judges from showing favoritism, a house was purchased for each judge, and a salary was paid every year to ensure that all judges had adequate food and clothing.
But the prize is a bit funny, the winner only gets 50 francs.
After World War I, the franc depreciated wildly, and now 50 francs are only worth 2 oceans. If Zhou Hexuan won the award, not to mention the travel expenses to receive the award, even the food expenses on the way would be far from enough.
These 50 francs were equivalent to certificates of merit, and all the winners were reluctant to spend them, so they all framed them for display.
The practice of the Goncourt Prize is actually to give all the money to the judges, and to avoid the judges from playing tricks when judging the awards.
It is a pity that people’s greed never ends. Decades later, the Prix Goncourt also degenerated. The award-winning works are basically selected by several major publishing houses, and the authority of the award is getting worse and worse.
The reason why little Louis so actively submitted "The Goddess" and "The Dogman" for the Goncourt Prize was purely from a commercial perspective.
Because the Prix Goncourt at this time was very authoritative, it was unanimously recognized by readers and the literary world. Even for a novel that was unknown at first, as long as it won the Prix Goncourt, its sales volume would be at least 10,000 copies, and the commercial profits it would bring
Extremely rich.
However, the evaluation period is relatively long. The preliminary selection for the Goncourt Prize begins every summer. The first round of nominees is announced in September, the second round of nominees is announced in October, and the third round of nominees is announced in November. It is not officially announced until December.
List of winners and awards.
Even if "The Goddess" and "The Dog Officer" win awards, they will have to wait until the end of the year.
Gold will always shine. Judging from the sales of "The Goddess" and "The Dog Officer" in France, it seems that there is no need to rely on winning awards to hype them up.
