Coincidentally, the French bookseller who helped Zhou Hexuan publish his works was the little Louis that Favre was looking for. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Louis Hachette founded Hachette 100 years ago, and now it is his grandson, also known as Louis Hachette, known as "Little Louis" and "Hachette III".

Unlike the American booksellers who published The Rise of Great Powers, Hachette was one of the largest publishing houses in Europe at the time. Station kiosks throughout France have been completely monopolized by Hachette, and just think about how terrible its distribution capacity is.

Louis Jr. saw the news about Zhou Hexuan from Le Figaro last summer, and learned that his work was highly valued by European historiography. After learning more about the situation, this person immediately decided to organize people to translate it, and made Zhou Hexuan's series of works the main reading book of the publishing house in 1929.

Thanks to the full operation of Hachette, you can now find Zhou Hexuan's books for sale at any station in France.

Why is Louis Jr. so bullish?

There are two reasons for this:

First, Zhou Hexuan's works are indeed excellent, especially academic monographs, which can be called ahead of the times;

Second, this is a book written by the Chinese, full of mysterious exotic style.

Not to mention novels and academic works, even popular science books such as "China in Asia" were popular sellers 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 the First World War, which is degenerate, rebellious, decadent, innovative, absurd, and wild...... The fresher and more bizarre the better, and "The Goddess" and "The Dog Officer" were dismissed by American readers, but they were placed in France to suit their appetite.

It's funny to say, as great as Romain Rolland, whose work was not very popular in France at this time.

Why?

Because it is too bright and the three views are too correct, it is criticized as hypocrisy.

So whoever reads a serious book will have to deviate from the scriptures, and he will have to go off the beaten path.

At this time, the state of mind of the French people is a perfect interpretation of the name "Crazy 20s", which belongs to the wild and uninhibited era.

……

Western suburbs of Paris, Hachette Press.

Favre and Bloch, led by their secretaries, came to Little Louis's office.

Although the French publishing tycoon is named Louis Jr., he is not young at all, and he is in his 50s this year.

"Mr. Hachette, this is a sample of my magazine, and I hope your company will be able to help distribute it." Fevre got straight to the point.

Little Louis took his pipe in his mouth and asked, "Tell us about your magazine." ”

"This magazine," said Fèvre, "I intend to create it as a platform and a front for a historiographical revolution, with the goal of overthrowing the so-called new historiography that is now in vogue. I have enlisted the support of sociologists, historians and anthropologists from the University of Paris, the University of Strasbourg, the University of Dijon (University of Burgundy), among others. The current European historiography needs a revolution, the new historiography is no longer new, it is backward, and it must be pulled down from the altar. ”

"Seems interesting." Little Louie tapped his pipe and said.

Favre also said: "The Rise of Great Powers published by your society is actually the direction of historical research that we are calling for, and Mr. Zhou's method of governing history is the same as ours. I am going to highly recommend this great work of historiography in the inaugural issue of the magazine. ”

"Very well," said Louis Jr., with a smile, "your inaugural issue will be printed in 10,000 copies, and I'll take care of the distribution." ”

"Huh?" Instead, Fèvre became worried, "10,000 copies are too much, I'm afraid I won't be able to sell them all." ”

Louis Jr. confidently said: "Hachette Press, there are no books that cannot be sold. It's just a piece of used toilet paper that I can sell as long as I have the name of Hachette on it! ”

This gentleman really has a finger in his hands, Hachette Press, which is expanding wildly, and is still growing in the 21st century. Later China's "Health Friends", "Healthy Women", "ELLE" China Edition and other magazines are all publications under Hachette Press.

"Then please." Favre rejoiced.

After sending the two historians away, Louis Jr. called his secretary again: "Send 'The Goddess' and 'The Dog Officer' to the Prix Goncourt jury." ”

The secretary asked, "Do you need additional operations?" ”

"No, those judges don't get in the oil and salt, and it's useless to give any amount of money," Little Louis smiled indifferently, "Whether you can win the award or not depends on luck." ”

In today's French literary world, there are four main awards, namely: the Académie Française, the Prix Goncourt, the Fémina Prize, and the Reynoldau Prize.

Among them, the French Academy Award is the highest, but this award has always discriminated against the theme of fiction, so even masters such as Hugo and Flaubert cannot win the French Academy Award.

The Prix Goncourt is the most authoritative award in the French novel world at this time, and even if the Académie Française Prize has been added to the Prize for Fiction, it cannot be compared with the Prix Goncourt.

As for the other two, the Femina Award jury is made up entirely of women, as a protest against the discrimination against women at the Goncourt Prize. The Reynoldaut Prize is dedicated to the Prix Goncourt, which is awarded to writers who cannot win the Prix Goncourt.

Why is the Prix Goncourt so important?

Because it is impartial, objective, without any moisture, and does not accept bribes from publishers.

At the beginning of the establishment of the award, in order to prevent the judges from favoritism, each judge was specially given a house and a salary was paid every year to ensure that all judges had no worries about food and clothing.

But the prize money is a bit hilarious, and the winner is only awarded 50 francs.

After the First World War, the franc depreciated wildly, and now 50 francs are worth only 2 oceans. If Zhou Hexuan wins the award, not to mention the travel expenses that came to receive the award, even the food expenses on the special road are far from enough.

The 50 francs are equivalent to a certificate, and all the winners are reluctant to spend it, and they are framed as decorations.

The practice of the Goncourt Award is actually to give all the money to the judges, in a way that pays high salaries and maintains integrity, so as to avoid the judges from playing tricks when judging the awards.

Unfortunately, people's greed never ends, and decades later, the Prix Goncourt also degenerated, and the award-winning works were basically submitted by several major publishing houses, and the authority of the awards deteriorated.

Louis Jr.'s willingness to submit "The Goddess" and "The Dog Officer" for the Goncourt Prize is nothing more than a commercial consideration.

Because the Prix Goncourt was very authoritative at this time, it was unanimously recognized by readers and the literary community. Even novels that began to go unnoticed will sell at least 300,000 copies if they win the Prix Goncourt, and the commercial profits will be huge.

However, the judging period is relatively long, and the Prix Goncourt begins its primary selection every summer, with the first round of finalists announced in September, the second round in October, and the third round in November, and it is not until December that the winners are officially announced and awarded.

Even if "The Goddess" and "Dog Official" win awards, they will have to wait until the end of the year.

Gold always shines, and judging by the sales of "The Goddess" and "The Dog Officer" in France, it seems that there is no need to hype up by winning awards.

Sell like crazy!