I am a literary giant in Europe

Chapter 420, Sections 48 and 764
New school, new major, new teachers, new classmates...

There are new dormitories too!
In some respects, the University of Toulouse II has much better facilities than its business school.

More libraries, more books.

More professional teaching staff, and many more students.

On the day he checked into the dormitory, Liu Jin went to the swimming pool for a swim.

He's been here twice, including his previous life.

In my past life, I was brought here by Da Dong.

He came to find Chloe in this life, and then he met Meera by chance.

And now, he can swim freely!
In fact, the relationship between Toulouse II and China was quite close, especially in the 1980s.

Qin Haiying, a professor and doctoral supervisor in the French Department of Beijing Foreign Studies University, graduated from the University of Toulouse II, specifically the Department of Literature.

His French monograph, "Segalen and China: Intercultural Writing," has been quite influential in the literary world.

This is true not only in China, but also in France.

There's also Professor Che Jinshan, who graduated in 1988. He holds a doctorate in literature and was formerly a professor in the French Department at Wuhan University.

He later became a professor at the Institute of Comparative Literature, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Peking University.

In the library of Toulouse II University, you can still find their graduation theses from back then.

However, this has little to do with Liu Jin.

If he returns to China to develop his career, he might be able to get involved with these two.

But in his spare time, he devoted most of his energy to writing and learning.

Julie and Adrian are a bit too big to bring along. Luckily, Alizee is home alone for a while, so she can keep me company.

Eva is here.

If we hadn't brought it along, I reckon it would have gone berserk.

After all, cats and dogs are different. Dogs are easy to please, they're goofy and just need company; cats, on the other hand, are picky about who they'll take care of.

And they are difficult to please.

I don't get along particularly well with Alizee, so it's better to bring her along.

……

Liu Jin began a new academic career in the ivory tower.

Meanwhile, discussions about "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" are becoming increasingly heated.

Traditional and avant-garde literary theorists engaged in a fierce war of words in newspapers and on television.

In fact, this debate has existed since the publication of Notre Dame.

However, both sides remained relatively restrained.

Almost three months have passed in the blink of an eye.

March has arrived, and the debate has begun.

With Professor Gérard's speech, the debate surrounding "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" suddenly erupted.

The new wave thinks the story is good, but too old-fashioned, lacking discussion and exploration of human nature, and therefore not excellent.

Traditionalists, on the other hand, ask in return: What is human nature?
Is it only by lying between a woman's legs and counting each and every penis of both the woman and the man that one can truly explore human nature?

The avant-garde were enraged and retaliated: Human development stems from the impulse of X.

Without exploring X, how can we explore human nature?

Traditionalists: What did they discover? **Promiscuity? So, is the essence of literature simply discussing this kind of sin?

New Trendsetter: ...

Traditionalists argue that Notre Dame possesses a powerful narrative, perfectly recreating the social contradictions of 17th-century France and exploring human nature. It encompasses history, religion, love, and critique of the society of its time. Its literary merit is undeniable, and its social value remains relevant even today.

Traditionalists: Notre Dame Cathedral contains philosophical discussions.

Palm trees aren't beautiful, not as pretty as poplars, but they remain evergreen even in the cold winter...

Quasimodo was whipped for failing to kidnap Esmeralda, and when he was extremely thirsty, it was Esmeralda who gave him a bowl of water.

Kindness led Quasimodo to redemption.

And when Esmeralda was in danger, it was her initial kindness that made the ugly Quasimodo step forward.

Isn't this precisely the fundamental reason why the civilized world is called the civilized world?

……

The debate between the two sides was very heated.

Later, they even began to quote lines from the works word for word, using them as points of attack against each other.

The discussion took place on several major French newspapers.

Some people, unable to secure a publication space, even published their articles in the UK, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

The scope of the discussion expanded. It started as a discussion about books and later evolved into a philosophical exploration.

This also made newspapers and magazines across much of Europe a fortune.

On September 24, an article was published in The Times.

The author is J.K. Rowling.

Since the publication of Harry Potter, he met his biggest rival in 2003.

Yes, that's what I thought at first.

When I was corresponding with my editor at the time, I joked: Harry's Voldemort has appeared!
Yes, it's Amos's *The Hunchback of Notre Dame*.

So when I won at the beginning, I was very happy.

After all, as the author of the best-selling book in the world in 2002, he is definitely not an easy opponent.

I won, but I also felt a little disappointed.

Harry's Voldemort shouldn't be like this... So, feeling resentful, I asked a friend to buy the book for me in France.

Then, over the next two months, I became addicted to it.

Esmeralda's kindness, Quasimodo's ugly face yet possessing a heart as bright as a diamond, and Claude Frollo's apparent holiness consumed by desire—they seem to represent all the ugliness of the world. As for Phoebus, he is a filthy clown.

I have never seen such a rich tapestry of human nature; it is a battle between good and evil.

Esmeralda dances in the square, and in Amos's writing, her beauty is breathtaking.

Quasimodo watched her silently from afar in the shadow of the bell tower, gazing at her beautiful, spring-like smile, his eyes filled with tenderness.

Oh my god, I'm suffocating!
I can't wait to go to Paris this autumn to see Notre Dame Cathedral, the sacred building described by Amos.

Thank you, Amos, and I also want to apologize to him.

Notre Dame de Paris is not Voldemort; its existence makes France shine.

Finally, I have a question: The British Empire has the best schools in the world, and even more so, a dazzling and brilliant culture.

Why didn't Amos come to England or London?
I look forward to Amos coming here someday, after all, England and France are only separated by a Channel.

Then, I will bring my child and treat him to cookies that I have baked myself!
……

J.K. Rowling has not yet been expelled from Harry Potter.

The fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, has sold tens of millions of copies worldwide in the three months since its publication.

Some say that while Harry was resting, Amos was sweeping the globe.

But when Harry opened his eyes, even Amos had to give him a wide berth.

Now, Harry's mother has spoken out, commenting that Harry is just a child, while Notre Dame is the mature man.

In other words, she gave up!
The winner concedes defeat...

Harry Potter fans are devastated.

They began cursing Liu Jin while buying "The Hunchback of Notre Dame".

In France alone, Notre Dame Cathedral sold 1.7 million copies in just 48 hours over two days, September 27th and 28th.

In the UK, the English version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" was published by Random House.

One million two hundred thousand copies were sold in forty-eight hours... while in America, three million one hundred thousand copies were sold.

In 48 hours, Notre Dame Cathedral sold 7,637,921 copies worldwide...

This is an unprecedented record.

So much so that when this data was reported by the media on October 3, the previously heated debate vanished instantly.

It doesn't matter whether it's 7.63 million or 7.64 million.

The key point is that this is an astonishing sales record.

Michel Ranke, who was attending a meeting in Paris, learned of the news through Charles.

He was completely stunned!
I was still thinking about building momentum for Amos when he suddenly exploded?

Moreover, the explosion was so unbelievable?

He snatched the newspaper from Charles's hand; it was Le Figaro, reprinting news from The New York Times.

Michelle read the report over and over again.

He read it more than twenty times, then burst into laughter, grabbed the newspaper, and swaggered straight to the conference room.

According to Charles, Michel dominated the afternoon meeting.

He laughed as many as 36 times in just half an hour.

The only sounds in the conference room, besides Michelle’s laughter, were whispers like the buzzing of flies.

……

(End of this chapter)