I am a literary giant in Russia

Chapter 127 Warm Tea Writes Poetry and the Chief Helmsman

Generally speaking, even though there are various authorities, cliques, and even sordid practices in the literary world, in some cases, a writer still has to let his works speak for themselves.

Some works, due to their subject matter and themes, may indeed be difficult to judge as good or bad, requiring time to evaluate them. However, works like "The Necklace," which Mikhail gave to Turgenev, are the kind of novels whose quality can be discerned at a glance.

After all, this novel has a strong storyline, and its plot twists and open-ended remarks are truly amazing for this era, which undoubtedly leaves a deep impression on readers. Whether it is good or not can be judged almost immediately.

Therefore, after Turgenev finished reading this novel, he indeed briefly became the focus of this top salon in Paris.

Even though Turgenev knew perfectly well that this power didn't belong to him, he and Mikhail were good friends! He even held Mikhail when he was a child! With that kind of relationship, it was only natural that he would share this attention on Mikhail's behalf to some extent, right?
Turgenev then thoroughly enjoyed the attention and watched with amusement as the group of gentlemen argued endlessly about the plot of the novel. Some believed it was undoubtedly a satire of the prevailing vanity and hedonism in society, while others thought it was not difficult to understand why a beautiful lady would have such thoughts, and that the author truly wanted to express the tragic situation of people under the control of fate.

A series of mistakes alone forced a couple to work for a full ten years, losing the best years of their lives. The husband, who held this view, asked Turgenev: "Was the author of this novel necessarily a very pessimistic person? Or did he harbor some kind of pessimistic thought that unconsciously showed in the novel?"

Upon hearing this, Turgenev couldn't help but recall Mikhail's performance in the early days of his business. Back then, Mikhail was heavily in debt, and a single misstep could have plunged him into an abyss. Even so, Mikhail remained calmly seated in his chair, back to the sunlight, and spoke with the utmost certainty in the most nonchalant tone: "We will succeed."

As he thought about it, Turgenev felt a slight pang of melancholy. "I miss you, old Mithril."
Despite his thoughts, Turgenev replied to the gentleman with a smile: "He is the most optimistic person I have ever met; an entire winter in St. Petersburg could not break him."

Furthermore, some gentlemen value the richness of the characters and the novel's exquisite use of white space, and they keep talking about this point.

While enjoying this glory, Turgenev did not forget to make Mikhail famous.

So while discussing the novel, Turgenev also began to extol Mikhail. Since Turgenev was indeed very good at boasting, and Mikhail's story was truly legendary, everyone present was stunned.

"In St. Petersburg, there was a commoner university student named Mikhail who was on his deathbed. His emergence illuminated the entire Russian literary scene. He could enter high society and have untold stories with noble ladies and wives, and he could also move freely and talk wittily among the common people. Even the Tsar's powerful hand could not bind him."

To be fair, such a story is indeed legendary enough. In addition, just this year, Alexandre Dumas, the French literary giant and Parisian literary icon, also serialized his "The Count of Monte Cristo," which became an instant hit in the streets and alleys of Paris, prompting a group of writers who wanted to make money to rush to imitate it.

In that case, it wouldn't be impossible to replace the Russian in the story with a Frenchman, and then continue the series like that.
This discussion lasted for quite some time, which is truly a very rare occurrence.

After all, this was a salon for French writers, yet everyone was gathered here listening to a Russian's story. Secondly, this was Hugo's gathering, and you have to understand that for this arrogant writer, it was quite intolerable that the core discussion subject in his circle was not him.

The story is actually quite simple: after listening to the novel, Hugo, who was sitting there, unconsciously started listening to other people's discussions. He pondered for a while the parts of this indeed good novel that were worth paying attention to and understanding. Later, he unconsciously listened to Turgenev praising Mikhail.

Hugo was undoubtedly a genius among his contemporaries. At the age of fourteen, he ambitiously wrote: "Either become Chateaubriand, or achieve nothing!"

He was able to write quite excellent poems at the age of sixteen, and his fame soared after publishing a collection of poems at the age of twenty-one. In the same year, he also co-founded a magazine.

Therefore, after listening for a while, Hugo actually recognized his own glorious past.

But thinking about it carefully, the other party is both a commoner and someone who shocked the literary world right out of the gate; it seems that he is better than him.
After thinking it over, the great writer seemed to finally remember that this was his salon. Just as he was about to use a calm tone to quiet everyone down, he suddenly heard Turgenev say this:
"He was also a genius poet. He wrote poetry as easily as drinking water. Once in St. Petersburg in winter, we were chatting in his cold room when a maid brought us two cups of hot tea. Although it was called hot tea, it would have gone cold in his room in no time."

After the tea cooled down a bit, I quickly urged him to drink it, but he seemed to remember something and said, "Put the tea down, I'll be right back." Then he went to the table to write something.

I thought to myself, how could this be? If he waits until he finishes writing before drinking tea, won't the tea get cold? Just as I was thinking about this, he had already put down his pen, returned to his seat, and started drinking tea. I could clearly see the wisps of steam from the tea curving upwards towards the roof.
And the poem he wrote in this way is the one I'm about to recite.

Upon hearing this story, Hugo was stunned once again, but before he could even think of a comment, he thought, "This kid is really exaggerating."

He was already captivated by the poem translated by Turgenev:
"I love you more than nature,
Because of you, just like nature itself.

It's clear that even though much was inevitably lost in the process of translation, this is undoubtedly an outstanding poem, and it may have an even greater impact on the ladies of Paris.

In addition, we have talked about the status of poetry in this era many times before. It can be said that Hugo was able to achieve a much greater and more authoritative reputation than Balzac in this era largely because he was a poet, and a pretty good one at that.

Incidentally, Dumas and Balzac were also old acquaintances in Hugo's circle. When Hugo read his new work in this room in 1829, Dumas was particularly excited. As soon as Hugo finished reading, Dumas grabbed him, lifted him up, and shouted, "Let us put you on the throne of honor!"

As for Balzac, he was quite disapproving of the praise he received for Hugo, and at the same time, he was heartbroken that the praise wasn't directed at him. So he sat there silently, befitting his old, cynical nature.

But back to the present, if that young man were merely a novelist, it wouldn't be so bad, but he also writes poetry, and truly writes it so well, and at such a young age. Thinking of this, an indescribable emotion arose in the heart of this dignified middle-aged writer, to the point that he could no longer tolerate Turgenev continuing.

As soon as he called for a stop, the scene immediately quieted down. Even though Turgenev was still regretting that he couldn't continue to boast to his heart's content, after thinking about the commotion he had just caused, Turgenev was genuinely happy for Mikhail.

After all, after what he just said, many gentlemen present must have remembered the name Mikhail. As for whether what he said was true or not, Turgenev said that he had indeed embellished it for artistic purposes, and whether others or future generations believed it or not was beyond his control.

But as things stand now, this boasting has indeed had a good effect. Several gentlemen present have expressed interest in Mikhail's poetry and novels. Although they dared not say anything more after Hugo spoke, by the end of the salon, some of them had undoubtedly approached Turgenev.

Needless to say, the young people who had expected to hear grammatical errors were already somewhat convinced when the novel was just finished being read, and after hearing about the Russian writer's exploits, they became even more uneasy.

So when the salon ended, they prepared to make their escape, but unfortunately, Turgenev did not forget them. He quickly caught up with them and seemed to want to talk to them again about what they hadn't finished talking about before.

The young people who were caught up: "."

Don't come here! !
While Turgenev embarked on his revenge journey in Paris, Mikhail continued his ordinary life on the other side of the world.

Well, it's just that I was threatened by a reader: "If you don't add more novels in the next issue, I'll kill you!"

He was closely monitored by the student supervisor, who would occasionally come up and scrutinize Mikhail. He was surrounded by some somewhat radical university students discussing social issues, and was even advised to join the Petrashevsky group to make some money.

Bring it on, I, Mikhail, can handle it!

Whenever he thinks of these things, Mikhail sadly puts some food in his mouth, and equally sadly plays a little card game at the card table.

At the same time, they started thinking about next year.

As mentioned earlier, Mikhail did so much this year that he was too busy to notice the changing seasons. It was only when he came to his senses that he realized the year was coming to an end.

Towards the end of the year, things actually get busier. First of all, the magazine can't stop publishing articles; then we need to check the magazine's finances, and then we might have to get together on some important occasion.

Another thing is that we really need to plan for Belinsky to go abroad for medical treatment. We might not be able to find another top-notch worker like him even if we searched all over Russia.

Incidentally, let me also mention the magazine's profits. Although the exact figures haven't been calculated yet, a rough estimate would reveal that the net profit has likely already exceeded 10,000 rubles.

Mikhail believed that all of this was thanks to the collective efforts of everyone at the magazine, but for some reason, many people at the magazine couldn't help but exclaim after learning the figure, "This is all thanks to Mr. Mikhail's leadership!"

Mikhail, who had always ruled by doing nothing, simply said: "."

I feel rather guilty; I feel like I didn't do anything.
Of course, if we have to be specific, although Mikhail may seem to have done nothing, whenever there are important matters concerning the magazine, Belinsky, Nekrasov, and Panayev would often consult with Mikhail first when they were unsure, and in the end, they would all wait for Mikhail to make the final decision.

While Mikhail may not know if he has any business acumen, based on what he knows and his understanding of history, most of the decisions he makes lead to positive outcomes. Even the remaining ones, if they don't have great results, at least won't go in a bad direction.

After these successes, Nekrasov and his colleagues had long since placed enough trust in Mikhail's judgment, and even exclaimed, "Mikhail is the helmsman of our magazine 'The Contemporary'! Without him, we would have no idea where to sail!"

Aside from that matter, the issue of the general's outline has also temporarily come to an end. According to Nadya, when the general invited Krajevsky, the owner of "Chronicles of the Fatherland," to evaluate his outline, Krajevsky almost immediately began to praise the general's brilliant idea without hesitation, and also took a jab at Mikhail, saying, "Your idea is many times better than that Mikhail's! If you were willing to write it, that greenhorn would have been obsolete in the Russian literary world long ago!"

The general simply waved his hand modestly and said, "We should give young people more opportunities. Although Mikhail is young, his works are indeed quite good."

Since they were discussing the general's outline, the two inevitably began to praise the great Tsar. According to Nadya, they praised him for a full five or six minutes.

After this matter was settled and the atmosphere was just right, the general took the initiative to speak, saying, "Since you think it's good, then let's talk about my novel being serialized in 'Chronicles of the Motherland'."

Krajevsky's smile slowly faded: "."

As the saying goes, one thing at a time.
(End of this chapter)