I am a literary giant in Russia

Chapter 162 Patience and Sales

While Mikhail was busy with various affairs in St. Petersburg, Turgenev, far away in Paris, was not idle either. Now that the serialization of his novel had been finalized, Turgenev was probably mainly focused on continuing to attend various salons to build connections, and continuing to translate Mikhail's novels into French, and then trying to promote them in France.

Turgenev certainly encountered a lot of trouble in this process, especially when he claimed: "Although our Russian Mr. Mikhail only started writing a year ago, every short story he has written since then is a masterpiece and can withstand the test of anyone."

He faced even more criticism and disdain in Paris.

After all, translation inevitably diminishes the quality of a work. For ordinary writers, achieving fame in their own country is already difficult enough, and they simply cannot withstand the reduction caused by translation. Works that remain excellent after translation rely partly on the translator's skill and partly on the inherent quality of the work itself.

A writer might not be able to write many novels like this in his lifetime, let alone every novel he writes after he starts writing reaches this level.

Is this ridiculous?

But just when French writers and critics were dismissing his work, thanks to Turgenev's tireless efforts, novels such as *Vanka*, *Misery*, *Sleep*, *Poor Folk*, *The Foolish*, and *Gooseberries* were eventually presented to the gentlemen of Paris.

Throughout this process, many French people maintained their pride and confidence in their cultural advantages and criticized the various shortcomings in these novels, but such things are quite normal in France today.

In the fiercely competitive French literary scene, even a dog would be subjected to a few insults before it could leave. Hugo, Balzac, Flaubert, Baudelaire, Maupassant, Zola—these are all names that are renowned in literary history. They were all relentlessly attacked in magazines and newspapers. Some of them were even considered low-class in their own time. Fortunately, time has ultimately crowned them.

Because of their rivalry, the writers often spoke ill of each other, and this rivalry also led to a lot of sordid things. Hugo, Balzac, and Dumas were closely linked in this regard. We'll discuss more of that later.

In short, as fellow writers and foreign authors, it was perfectly normal for these manuscripts to be criticized by Parisian writers and critics, to the point that Turgenev still faced a lot of ridicule and sarcasm.

However, Turgenev didn't care about this. Firstly, having spent a long time by Mikhail's side, he had gradually learned to be calm and composed in the face of both honor and disgrace. Secondly, Mikhail had already been successful enough in such a short time. If he were to be so successful in other countries, what would happen?

So, Turgenev, who felt he would likely be a frequent visitor to France in the future, simply noted down some of the comments, intending to bring them up again years later.

As for now, let's just be patient for the time being.

What Turgenev was unaware of was that while many writers were mocking and criticizing, some writers and critics were also having private conversations like this:

"I don't know why, but I often think about those novels by that Russian after I've read them, and the more I think about them, the better they seem to be. I guess I'm really crazy!"

"Why do I have a similar feeling? The quality of these novels is exceptionally high; even after translation, their excellence can still be felt."

"But if, according to Turgenev's account, all these novels were written by one person in a single year, that's simply too incredible. Could it be that the Muse became Mikhail's lover? But even if the Muse were capable of romance, she should have been with a Frenchman!"

"I'm more inclined to suspect that this Mikhail is actually part of an organization, a monstrous image deliberately crafted by crude Russians to invade French culture."

Even though the treatment a work receives in its time is influenced by many factors, the quality of a work does not lie. Therefore, some French writers and critics, while criticizing and mocking, also genuinely felt a sense of unease.

How could such a person exist in the crude city of St. Petersburg?

As the novels were translated, the poems naturally followed suit. Compared to the novels, the poems faced even greater criticism and attacks. After all, in France at that time, true poets were the most respected, so the obstacles to their promotion were undoubtedly greater.

However, despite the criticism, if someone observes carefully, they will find that even though these works are criticized by many people, they are still being discussed by all sorts of people, so much so that in the end, more people really know about these works.

Even Turgenev himself, despite the painstaking process and the criticism he endured, somehow managed to establish himself in various literary salons in Paris and become an undeniable figure.

As a result, Turgenev became increasingly valued by the singer Victor, successfully rising from an unknown admirer to a fairly important guest. In this way, Turgenev truly felt that his love had taken another big step forward.

While thanking himself, he also owes a debt of gratitude to Mikhail.

Besides these, there's also the matter of serializing the novel in the newspaper. Although the contract has been signed, it will definitely have to wait until the previous serialized novel is finished before it can actually be published in the newspaper.

Speaking of this, we must mention France's high efficiency in this regard. Since French newspapers are published every day except Sundays, a novel can be completed in the newspaper in just a few months. Even with Dumas's padding style, it really wouldn't last long.

In order to earn more money, Alexandre Dumas became a writing machine, reportedly able to write 24,000 words a day by hand. He also hired people to collect materials for him, which he then expanded upon. At his peak, Dumas could even publish ten or more books a year using this method.

Because of his frequent interactions with Alexandre Dumas during this period, Turgenev naturally noticed Dumas's astonishing writing speed. At the same time, he also gained a deeper understanding of the great writer's manners and vanity.

Regarding this point, Alexandre Dumas fils later recounted a rather hilariously absurd story:

“My father was very vain. He would even sit in the coachman’s seat to show that he had a black slave.”

It can only be said that Alexandre Dumas was willing to get himself involved in the situation just to show off his status.
As time went by, the day when "Around the World in Eighty Days" would be published in the newspapers drew closer. Before the normal publication, the newspapers made a special announcement and emphasized that this was a novel that even Mr. Alexandre Dumas thought was worth ten francs per line.

While the newspapers would never actually offer that price, one thing is one thing, but it would still be very useful for advertising.

As soon as the trailer was released, a lot of negative news about the novel surfaced, even before the full text of the novel had been published, because many writers and critics were already dissatisfied with the price the novel had received, and there was also competition and attacks from other peers.

It's even said that some newspapers have published related articles in their literary review sections, stating in them:

"A novel whose very title screams 'the author's stupidity' is about to be published: 'Around the World in Eighty Days.' Only someone half-asleep could write something like that. As for the new term 'science fiction' used in the promotion, it's even more baffling, as if it were a completely made-up term."

If such news becomes more frequent, it will indeed affect readers' perceptions and even newspaper sales to some extent. The Century newspaper was not unprepared for this, but there were simply too many negative voices all at once, and the Century newspaper's response seemed somewhat inadequate.

Even though negative voices can generate discussion for this novel, it is rare for an author's work to face so much negative news right from the start, even in the turbulent French popular fiction market. Even Girardin, the well-informed editor of Les Centenaries, was taken aback.

Aside from the contract for this book causing resentment among many authors, the main reason for the unease stems from Turgenev's previous translations and promotions, which had indeed raised concerns and anxiety among many. What was initially thought to be a fleeting phenomenon, with no guarantee of future success, now seems like a deliberate attempt to steal the livelihoods of French writers like themselves!
With such a small market, it's naturally better to have fewer competitors.

Under this unspoken understanding, Girardin, who had signed the contract, suddenly felt the pressure mounting. He even considered going to Turgenev to talk to him and prepare him mentally. But then he realized that the person in charge of the project didn't seem to be in Paris at all.
Turgenev responded, "Don't worry, Mr. Girard, this problem is nothing to Mikhail. Even if he were in Paris right now and facing this situation, he would only say to you: Don't worry, we will succeed."

Although Jiladan had long heard the story of Mikhail's unwavering pursuit of his goals despite being burdened with enormous debt, he still questioned whether a young man could truly possess such a positive mindset now that this incident had occurred.
Regardless, things have come to this point, and all Jiladan can do is wait for the novel to be published and see the readers' reactions before deciding what to do next.

The day when "Around the World in Eighty Days" would be officially published in newspapers was fast approaching. Because it already had a large readership, the sales of "Le Château de la Cité" had always been relatively stable. Last year, because Alexandre Dumas serialized "The Three Musketeers" in "Le Château de la Cité," the newspaper's sales and subscribers saw a significant surge.

However, after that, Dumas went to Les Debates to serialize his The Count of Monte Cristo, and Les Chronicles did not encounter any more good works, so sales and subscribers gradually declined. But until now, Les Chronicles has maintained a daily circulation of more than 20,000 copies.

Under normal circumstances, there won't be any major fluctuations, unless it's like encountering a novel like "The Three Musketeers" again, in which case the newspaper's retail sales might even surge by more than 30% in the short term. As for Giratan's expectations for "Around the World in Eighty Days," at the very least, he should keep the sales stable. On that basis, if the retail sales can increase by about 10% during the serialization period, then "The Century" will have already made a profit.

Therefore, once the novel was officially published, Jiladan stopped paying attention to any other opinions and instead focused on the sales figures. For a newspaper like theirs, good or bad reviews were meaningless. If the sales were poor, no matter how good the novel was, it could be terminated at any time. Similarly, as long as the sales were good, the serialization would continue as usual, no matter how many negative reviews there were.

They might even have to add a little extra royalties for the author.

In contrast, newspapers in Paris often elicited exceptionally quick responses from readers. For instance, when Alexandre Dumas serialized "Captain Paul" in Le Soir in 1836, it gained five thousand subscribers in just three weeks.

However, on the first day, there wasn't much change. Sales were similar to before, but they were probably affected by some factors, so overall sales were still a bit low.

At the same time, Jiladan also heard more criticisms, all sorts of things. Jiladan didn't want to pay too much attention to these comments, but the newspaper's sales on the second and third days made his heart skip a beat.

Overall, there wasn't a significant decline, but it still went a bit lower than it was at a relatively low level.

Just as his heart sank, fearing that the steady decline would continue, on the fourth and fifth days, perhaps because the main conflict in the novel had emerged and the protagonist, Mr. Fogg, and his servant were preparing to travel the world, the previously declining sales suddenly rebounded significantly, sweeping away the previous slump.

Two or three days later, Jiladan was already excitedly rushing into his boss's office with the relevant data, shouting, "I found another copy of 'The Three Musketeers' for our newspaper! Sales have already exceeded the usual high, by two or three thousand! And it's sure to keep going up!"

Giradan's implication was, of course, a promotion or a raise. Just as Giradan was excitedly boasting to his boss, who couldn't very well refuse his request, in a small bar in Paris, Turgenev and Belinsky, who had actually been lying in wait for several days, unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief as they sensed the increasingly heated discussion and atmosphere around them.

Then the two couldn't help but smile at each other, and simultaneously uttered Mikhail's quote, which had become deeply ingrained in their magazine and now seemed to have reached Paris as well:
"Look, we'll succeed!"

(End of this chapter)