Chapter 519: America’s Father
Lin Weimin now has a great reputation in the mainstream literary circles in the United States, but he lacks formal recognition.
Later, China Central Television had a program called "Lecture Room", which made many professors teaching in universities famous.
Among them is Yu Dan, who lectures on "The Analects of Confucius" and is nicknamed "Academic Super Girl" by the public.
This nickname well illustrates the influence that "Lecture Room" has brought to Yu Dan. She was an unknown professor devoted to academic research in a university, but she became popular because of a program and became a phenomenal cultural figure, just like the "Super Girl" that was popular all over the country many years ago.
Lin Weimin's experience is somewhat similar to that of Yu Dan. Although he is a writer of serious literature, his works are all bestsellers. Even many best-selling authors on the bestseller list are overshadowed by him.
Such an evil writer has caused many people in the mainstream American literary circles to have a complicated impression of Lin Weimin.
Judging from his works alone, Lin Weimin's works are indeed very good. Whether he won the National Book Critics Circle Award or the Prix Goncourt, most people in the mainstream literary world recognize them.
But when it comes to the sales of his works, mixed emotions arise.
There are writers in the history of American literature whose works sold well. Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Scott Fitzgerald, and Joseph Heller all have good sales of their works.
For example, Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" sold 21,000 copies in the first year of its publication. That was in 1925. More than 60 years have passed since then, and the sales of "The Great Gatsby" in the United States have already exceeded 5 million copies, and tens of millions of copies have been sold worldwide.
There is also Joseph Heller, whose "Catch-22" and Richard Yates's "Revolutionary Road" were both shortlisted for the National Book Award of the United States. Richard Yates lost. "Catch-22" sold 30,000 copies in the year it was released, and now its cumulative sales worldwide have exceeded 6 million copies.
Let’s look at Lin Weimin. His earliest and best-selling work published in the United States, Farewell My Concubine, has sold over 2 million copies. According to the popularity of this book, it is estimated that breaking the 5 million figure will happen within this decade.
How long has Farewell My Concubine been published in the United States? If we calculate based on the estimated time it will take for the work to sell over 5 million copies, then it will be at most 25 years.
However, the number of 5 million copies is the journey that The Great Gatsby took half a century to complete.
The sales volume of "Farewell My Concubine" is of course related to the unprecedented prosperity of the publishing industry in the United States in recent years, but it is undeniable that this work is very popular.
The fact that it sells better than The Great Gatsby does not mean that Farewell My Concubine has a greater influence in the United States than The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby, a classic masterpiece, has been published in the United States for half a century, and its influence on American society has reached a subtle level.
But what if we give "Farewell My Concubine" another fifty years?
You have to know that Lin Weimin is a foreigner. He is neither Anglo-Saxon nor Jewish, but Chinese.
Whenever this topic is touched upon, this group of people naturally feel extremely complicated.
Roger Strauss is a Jew. He was born into a family that was the result of a marriage between two famous German-Jewish families in the United States. His mother was from the Guggenheim family, his father belonged to the Strauss family that owned Macy's department store, and his wife was the heiress to Rheinkinger Beer.
As a rich second-generation born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Roger Strauss plunged into the publishing industry and achieved brilliant results, worthy of the Strauss family name.
But Roger Strauss also has worries. FSG Publishing has been established for more than 40 years, and its authors have won 20 Nobel Prizes in Literature. As a publishing house that excels in literary works, FSG Publishing has become the top in its field.
Because of this, the development of FSG Publishing House seems to have reached a bottleneck.
In recent years, Roger Strauss has been seeking to bring FSG Publishing to a higher position, but has been racking his brains but to no avail.
According to the course of history, after several years of fruitless attempts, he sold FSG Publishing House, which he founded, to Germany's Holtzbrink Group in 1993, completely bidding farewell to the publishing industry.
But in this timeline, Roger Strauss met Lin Weimin, just like King Wen met Ziya and the emperor's uncle met Zhuge Liang. How could he miss such a writer who can both win awards and sell books?
Roger Strauss even had an absurd idea in his mind that Lin Weimin might be the golden key to open the road to transformation of FSG Publishing House.
Faced with Lin Weimin's rejection, Roger Strauss was not discouraged at all.
When he first founded FSG Publishing, he was able to attract many talented writers not by paying them huge salaries, but by taking meticulous care of these writers and making precise plans for their careers.
In other words, as long as he licks well enough, no writer can escape his clutches, and Roger Strauss believes that Lin Weimin will be no exception.
Roger Strauss was communicating with Lin Weimin about the publication of his works. Because Random House had gotten there first, Roger Strauss could only pick up the leftovers from Random House. He felt that he should take the initiative to change this situation.
"Lin, have you ever considered that your plays are actually very popular and can be turned into novels?"
Lin Weimin looked at Roger Strauss in surprise. Do capitalists really have no conscience?
"You mean The Intouchables and The Kite Runner?"
Roger Strauss nodded, "That's right!"
Among all Lin Weimin's works, only "The Intouchables" is a pure drama, while his other works are basically novels first and dramas later.
"The Kite Runner" is a special case. It first became a novel, then a play, and then was exported to the United States. It has evolved twice.
According to Roger Strauss, he wanted to evolve a third time.
Isn’t this too dog-like?
A person of high moral character like Teacher Lin would never do such a thing.
he~tui!
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"
Lin Weimin flatly rejected Roger Strauss’s outrageous proposal. You Jews are so shameless!
Roger Strauss deeply regretted Lin Weimin's attitude. Since Lin Weimin disagreed with his outrageous actions, he could only pick up leftovers.
There are quite a few books on the list of books Lin Weimin gave him, including "The Disguiser", "The Cliff", "The Message", "If You Are the One", "The Ming Dynasty 1566", and one more, huh?
Roger Strauss pointed to the book title that Lin Weimin had crossed out on the list and asked, "Lin, why did you write down this novel and then cross it out? Did Random House also sign an exclusive agreement for this novel?"
Lin Weimin glanced at the place Roger Strauss pointed to and explained, "That's not the case. This novel caused quite a controversy when it was first published in China, so I decided not to publish it within ten years."
After listening to Lin Weimin's words, Roger Strauss' eyes lit up. "Only works that are controversial are good works. Can this novel be published in the United States?"
"this……"
Lin Weimin was really stumped by Roger Strauss's question.
He had previously chosen to shelve "The Hunt" in the country for a period of time because he was concerned about the impact of public opinion on law enforcement.
Seeing Lin Weimin's hesitation, Roger Strauss said, "We are in the United States, not your country, so there won't be much controversy."
Lin Weimin agreed with him and asked, "You want to publish the novel without even learning about it in detail?"
Roger Strauss laughed, his face full of confidence. "Lin, being able to make a writer decide not to publish for ten years is a big gimmick in itself. Do you mind if I use this as a publicity stunt?"
Lin Weimin looked at Roger Strauss in silence.
There's a reason why you Jews are rich.
"You can publish "The Hunt", but you must publish one of these three novels," said Lin Weimin, pointing at the list of books.
Roger Strauss was stunned. What did that mean? We still want to do bundled sales?
His eyes fell on the names of the three novels, "Insidious", "The Cliff", and "The Sound of the Wind", and he immediately realized that since Random House did not choose these three novels, Lin Weimin had to emphasize them specifically, there must be a reason behind it.
Lin Weimin did not hide anything from him and said directly: "These three works tell the spy stories of the invasion of China by the Japanese during World War II."
His brief explanation directly pointed out the possible taboos of these three novels in the United States. In the 1980s, the US economy was so developed that it claimed to "buy the United States", and a large amount of US capital rushed into the US market.
Mitsubishi Estate bought Rockefeller Center in New York, Sony bought Columbia Pictures for 3.4 billion US dollars, and Panasonic bought Universal Pictures for 6 billion US dollars...
The influence of the Nihong people in American society is deepening and growing.
Given Lin Weimin's current popularity in the United States, if his three works "Insidious", "The Cliff" and "The Sound of the Wind" were published, they would definitely attract some attention and might even lead to attacks from the Mud and Bomb R-wing forces.
If Lin Weimin were an American or a British, and if he dared to protest or cause trouble in the United States, the United States would slap him in the face without any leniency.
But the problem is that Lin Weimin is a Chinese. He has neither a strong motherland nor the capital to support him. He only has some fame. When publishers encounter such a situation, they generally choose to avoid such works based on the principle of less trouble is worse than more trouble.
"I see!"
Roger Strauss pondered for a long time, seeming to be struggling internally.
Lin Weimin was not worried at all by his expression and posture, and just sat there looking at him calmly.
Roger Strauss performed for a long time, and seeing that Lin Weimin didn't seem to be anxious at all, he sighed in his heart, what a little fox!
Who is Roger Strauss? He is an American Jew. And not just any ordinary Jew, but a Jew with real fame and capital in the United States.
His publishing house wants to publish a work about Nihong’s invasion of China during World War II. Is he afraid of protests from Nihong people?
This is like two younger brothers fighting for a woman. Both are younger brothers of the boss, but there is always a difference in closeness. The boss will definitely choose the younger brother who has a good relationship with him, and Nihong is the younger brother who has a good relationship with the American boss.
The problem is, America is just America’s little brother, but the Jews are America’s father!
(End of this chapter)
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