newspaper with lost ink and pen

I can no longer find the traditional Chinese version of Balzac

After watching the French movie "Illusions perdues", I started looking online for Balzac's fictional novel "Illusions perdues ", its original story, but couldn't find it in traditional Chinese. Out of curiosity, I used "Balzac" as the search key, and found that the remaining traditional Chinese versions of his works seem to have only four novels, and there are quite a few simplified Chinese.

Is it my delusion? When I was a child, I clearly read the children's editions of "Old Man Gao" and "Aunt Belle", and there were several Balzacs on my grandfather's bookshelf. You may wonder how Balzac's writings are suitable for children? But more than that, are "Red and Black", "Notre Dame", "Monte Cristo", "The Grapes of Wrath" suitable for children?

Parents in the 1990s didn't care about this, they wanted their children to read the world famous books they grew up with -- or they claimed they had read and wanted their children to follow... Publishing houses turned these great books with illustrations and cuts of plots into The children's edition of the "World Famous Books Series", I guess it was a few years after the martial law was lifted, and the copyright was not concerned. Various publishing houses were printing various versions of "Classical Books". At that time, they finally got the freedom to publish and wasted too much time. of adult readers are eager to read as well as for children, is there going to be a discussion about how expensive a book is to sell?

After Taiwan began to pay attention to copyright, many traditional Chinese versions that were available before have disappeared. Some contemporary works are also not published because the market is not large enough, and even the novels of Nobel Prize winners are no longer published, such as Patrick. Dans Le Cafe De La Jeunesse Perdue by Mondiano.

The truth about newspapers

The original novel of "The Paris Dreamer" was created in the late 1830s, at the beginning of freedom of the press in France, but it was a transitional period, and then the legislation turned to royalists and closed again.

At that time, literati who could write articles seized this "business opportunity" one after another, tabloids sprang up like mushrooms after rain, and each article, comment, and opinion had its own price. With the white hat method, journalists can write art reviews with different viewpoints under different names in different newspapers, so that this art work can be discussed.

One of the main characters in the play took his own script to pursue his dream from other provinces to Paris. Everyone in his hometown said he wrote well. But when he got to Paris, people didn't even look at it, and then he gradually realized that the attention of art can be created. He stopped writing and became a newspaper critic. When others paid him, he wrote positive reviews, and those who offended him wrote negative reviews. He didn't even read those books.

Newspaper reporters or critics are of high status, but not of the respected kind, and both creators and their patrons are afraid of newspapers. Publishers want to please them, they can kill with pen and paper, drag any creator from heaven to hell, and journalists write gossip and scandals against people who disagree with them - but they don't have a side, everything is It's up to who bids the most.

Nobody cares about the truth.

Paris dream

The "City of Light after Macron" I wrote last week mentioned that the Paris in many people's impressions may still be the colorful and colorful in the 19th century. Attracted by the rotten, deadly beauty, I have always believed in the pain of the beauty they described.

The pursuit of liberty and truth . . . in the eyes of outsiders both seem to be achievable in Paris. The protagonist in "The Parisian Dreamer" took this ambition to Paris to seek literary development. It turned out that the publishing house was only willing to help celebrities publish books, and the lesser-known writers had to choose to curry favor with the aristocracy or follow the liberals to write various offensive articles ?

One way to do this is to find a famous imaginary enemy and attack them to gain popularity. This is the same in modern society. After the Great Revolution, in addition to the nobles who could inherit titles and properties, the critics with pen and ink were able to pose a threat and generate power, and the nobles also needed to establish an image through their articles.

The movie says:

A book is very touching, say it is sentimental;
Very classical; just say he is ingenious;
very interesting; say he is superficial;
To be wise; to be contrived;
Very inspiring, that is grandstanding;
If he has his own style, he says nothing.
Target your strengths and use your pen to injure enemies who aren't around you.

I used to work in a newspaper, and when I saw a film about a newspaper in the 19th century, I had a sense of sight. I'm not sure if the absurd newspaper is restoring Balzac's account, a cautionary tale or an allegory, or a contrast to modern conditions.

The narration in the movie also said: In the future, businessmen may also be able to engage in politics.

 In the real world, I also wonder if Balzac, who was also writing a review in the newspaper, also experienced the scenes in the movie and wrote various articles that were sold to publishers, troupes, and aristocrats.

The same people who went to Paris to pursue their literary dreams, some successfully published a book, and some wrote reviews with a sharp pen in exchange for wealth. But their success is based on public opinion. The person who publishes the book must have positive comments from the critics. The print volume of the newspaper affects the voice of the critics. In turn, the writing ability of the critics depends on the newspaper. print volume.

The irony is that the newspaper the protagonist wrote for at the beginning belonged to the liberals, and later joined the royalist newspaper for his own interests. The royalists said that no one could bid for newspaper articles anymore, " We want to restore the truth." Later, the liberal newspaper office was forcibly closed due to the revision of the law. The judicial unit searched the "illegal income" of the newspaper office and arrested the person in charge of the newspaper office. At this time, the narrator said: "What is a newspaper without ink and pens? "

The subtext is: "They're out of weapons."

(I will write a review when I have time)