I am a literary giant in Europe

Chapter 562 An Era of Tumultuous Change

On January 22, 2006, Kobe Bryant scored 81 points in a game between the Lakers and the Raptors.

……

February 28th, Lunar New Year's Eve.

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On January 31, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan stepped down, marking the end of an era.

……

Liu Jin, on the other hand, found himself in an extremely difficult situation.

Les Misérables seems to have hit a bottleneck.

Or rather, his career as a plagiarist had entered a somewhat painful phase.

At this time, Alizée received a notification from Universal Music that her third album with Universal Music would be released globally in February.

So, whether she likes it or not, she has to go to America again to prepare for the campaign.

But Liu Jin seemed to be in a state of great pain.

She didn't really want to go.

Marissa then called Liu Jin and explained the situation.

Liu Jin then summoned Alizee and asked her to go to America immediately to cooperate with the publicity.

"Don't worry about me, it's just a little trouble."

What's past is past, there won't be any problems. Just go about your work, and maybe in a few days when I'm back in the swing of things, I'll fly to America to see you.

Alizee was reluctant, but in the end she agreed to Liu Jin's request.

On February 15th, after spending a wonderful Valentine's Day with Liu Jindu, she boarded a plane and flew to America.

After Alizee left, Liu Jin returned to that conflicted and painful state.

He originally thought that all he needed to do was copy out "Les Misérables".

However, during the creative process, he discovered a problem: *Les Misérables* is not merely a personal history of suffering, but rather a history of suffering for France. The story encompasses the Napoleonic Wars and the following decade, exploring history, politics, war, moral philosophy, law, religious faith, and the questioning and affirmation of the concept of justice…

Hugo used more than 70 words when creating this work.

The Chinese translation, for example, the version published by People's Literature Publishing House by Li Dan and Fang Yu, contains a whopping 120 million words.

From the time Hugo created this work to Liu Jin's rebirth in 2025.

Les Misérables has undergone countless revisions and simplifications.

For example, there are more than a dozen versions of the French version.

The vocabulary ranges from as few as 50 words to as many as 78 words...

Moreover, the content has also undergone many changes.

Liu Jin relied on the Chinese translation by Li Dan and Fang Yu, as well as the version published by Gallimard in France, for reference.

But then Liu Jin discovered another problem.

That was Hugo's creative habit.

He likes to insert lengthy historical background analyses and philosophical discussions into the main text.

For example, in Les Misérables, he devoted nearly 10 percent of the book to describing the Battle of Waterloo.

This would have been feasible in the original timeline when Hugo created this work.

After all, information wasn't as readily available back then, and people's education levels weren't as high either...

He needs to provide this kind of description, or similar analysis or discussion, to make people understand the ins and outs.

But nowadays...

This is called hydrology.

Liu Jin once questioned whether to write it exactly as it was written in the original text.

But after much deliberation, he decided to simplify the process.

People in this era don't like those long-winded arguments or analyses.

Everyone has their own thoughts and opinions, and what I hate most is content that's overly paternalistic.

Therefore, it is necessary to compress and simplify.

Moreover, compression and simplification can make the work more coherent and smoother to read.

However, simply compressing and simplifying is not enough.

Liu Jin also needs to provide some annotations.

Why is the Gallimard edition considered the best French version of Les Misérables?
He provided extensive annotations to aid in reading the work.

However, this meant Liu Jin had to verify a lot of information, which slowed down his writing process.

……

According to Liu Jin's initial plan, he would be able to "write" the book by the end of March or the beginning of April.

But it wasn't until the end of March that he finished half of the content.

However, Professor Michel Ranke praised the half of the work he had completed.

He even suggested that Liu Jin could go even slower, even slower.

"No masterpiece is created overnight."

Amos, your book gave me a more powerful and moving experience than when I read Notre Dame de Paris.

Take your time, there's no rush.

I can assure you, your work will cause a worldwide sensation once it's released!

Indeed, that is true of Les Misérables.

This book is also the most moving and pinnacle of all of Hugo's works.

Professor Michel is very much looking forward to the completion of this book.

For this reason, he even gave Liu Jin an excellent evaluation for his first year of doctoral studies in advance.

They also brought Charles over to assist Liu Jin in his creative work.

Xia Er's creative talent is indeed lacking, but he's a natural-born support player. His mind is like the Encyclopedia Britannica, possessing unparalleled memory... Whenever Liu Jin makes a request, he can always provide the necessary information and data in the shortest amount of time, practically an artificial intelligence.

Charles is graduating with his doctorate this year!

However, he has already found a job and will stay at the university to teach, continuing to serve as Professor Michel's assistant.

He also enjoyed it very much.

……

To make Les Misérables possible, Liu Jin even skipped the Oscars ceremony.

Life Is Beautiful received six nominations at the 78th Academy Awards.

Best Foreign Language Film, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, Best Song, and Best Film.

Ultimately, three out of six were selected.

Best Foreign Language Film: Life Is Beautiful replaced the original "Gangster Thugs".

Subsequently, it replaced the original "Brokeback Mountain" in the Best Adapted Screenplay award.

In the Best Director category, the presence of "Life Is Beautiful" significantly reduced the number of votes for "Brokeback Mountain".

Although Sofia Coppola is a member of the Coppola family and has a deep family background, she is indeed too young.

Ultimately, it benefited Spielberg, who was nominated for "Munich".

Liu Jin was also very surprised after hearing the news.

But that's not surprising!
No matter how beautiful the cinematography of Ann Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" is, no matter how politically correct he is, what difference does it make?

Liu Jin never considered him a compatriot.

In fact, he probably never considered himself a Chinese.

It's all just self-indulgence in the "China fever"...

What surprised Liu Jin the most was that Leslie Cheung actually won the Best Actor award.

He replaced Heath Ledger in the nomination, and then beat Philip Seymour Hoffman, the star of "Capote," to win the Best Actor award.

Harvey said that at the latest he didn't intend to try to win the Best Actor award for Leslie.

But later, Sofia voluntarily withdrew from the Best Director competition because her father told her that she was too young and inexperienced.

No matter how politically correct "Life Is Beautiful" is, it's impossible for her to win Best Director.

Ultimately, she chose to back down, which paved the way for Spielberg's success.

Spielberg, in return, provided considerable assistance to Leslie Cheung during the Best Actor selection process.

In addition, there was the behind-the-scenes instigation by Jews such as Blumenthal.

The Best Actor award, which no one had expected, unexpectedly fell to Leslie Cheung.

This is also the first Oscar-winning actor from China!

With this title, Leslie Cheung could have lived a life of comfort and ease.

Even Leslie Cheung himself didn't expect such a good thing to happen.

So much so that after he returned to Toulouse, he went to Liu Jin's house and talked on and on all day long.

Finally, Liu Jin got impatient and kicked him back to Grysang.

You're interrupting my writing!
Liu Jin returned to his study.

……

Les Misérables was not yet finished, but it had already gained fame in France.

Ms. Irene from Midnight Publishing House traveled directly from Paris to Toulouse by train and went to the door of Singra Publishing House.

"Mera, please let me have this book."

Elena stated confidently, "Singapore Publishing House can't handle such a large volume."

I misjudged Notre Dame back then; if that book had been published by Midnight Press, its sales would have been even more astonishing.

I know that Singra Publishing is doing well.

But believe me, only Midnight Press can bring out the true value of this book.

"Um, I'll think about it."

Midnight Publishing and Singer Publishing have a close partnership.

It's almost a shared channel.

But Mela also acknowledged that Singella has made great progress over the past few years.

However, in terms of its historical and cultural foundation, it is still inferior to Midnight Publishing House.

At least throughout the French-speaking region, Publishers de la Midi is far more prestigious than Publishers de Singella.

However, before she could make a decision, Arnold Lagardère, the new CEO of the Hachette Group, called.

Lagardère, a future media mogul in France.

He remained in charge of the Hachette Group until 2025, and transformed it into the world's third-largest publishing group and France's largest publishing group.

He heard about Liu Jin's book at a gathering at the French Academy.

After a brief period of consideration, he decided to take action.

Since last year, Hachette Publishing Group has been integrating its resources.

After taking office, Arnold made even more sweeping moves, quickly integrating the French publishing house Hatier, the British publishing house Orion, and America Time Warner Publishing Company, and a global publishing network was taking shape.

Therefore, he attached great importance to the book "Les Misérables".

However, he did not say that he necessarily wanted to obtain the publishing rights to the book. Instead, he told Mela that if she needed help, all the resources of the Hachette Group could be used to support the novel.

“Mera, over the past month, I’ve heard all sorts of discussions about this work.”

I believe this will be a landmark work in French literature. Hachette is deeply rooted in France and willing to contribute to the French literary cause. So you don't need to feel awkward; I just want you to know that the Hachette Group will be Singer's best partner and Amos's strongest backer for this work.

After the call, Mela was also a little at a loss!

……

(End of this chapter)