Writer 1879: Solitary Journey in France

Chapter 21: The Price of the Novel

That same morning, Lionel woke up a little late; the bells of the nearby cathedral had rung nine times before he groggily sat up.

Not only because it was the weekend and Sorbonne didn't have classes, but more importantly... Elena and Mr. Simmons... their sincere love story was just too exhausting.

The first two days were just appetizers; to Frenchize them, we need a lot of time to refine the concept.

He wanted to move the entire story to 18th-century France, and to reasonably rewrite the characters' names, identities, relationships, and environments.

The story takes place from the late reign of Louis XVI (after 1785) to the early period of the French Revolution (1789). The protagonist's name is Gérard Simons, who comes from a wealthy bourgeois family. His father is a spice merchant of medium means.

He obtained tax-farming rights to a large area of ​​Lyon by lending huge sums of money to the royal family or bribing powerful figures, becoming extremely wealthy; he later also ventured into colonial trade and financial speculation.

Mr. Simmons' wife, Leonor, came from a long-established but now declining military family, whose marriage was agreed to for financial reasons. She represented the dignity of the old system (even in its decline) and the orthodox morality of Catholicism.

His most important mistress was Elena Penes, who was once a maid in a minor noble family. She was expelled from the castle for having an affair with her master and was married to the honest pastry chef Francesco Pisto. Soon after, she was murdered by Simmons, who coveted Elena's beauty.

He also had a mistress named Elisabeth de la Boutaiy, a winemaker's widow who inherited a fortune.

……

The protagonist, Gérard Simmons, is a nouveau riche spice and wine merchant who accumulates wealth by currying favor with the nobility and the church, eventually winning the right to tax farming. He is wealthy, lustful, and cunning, dreaming of joining the ranks of the aristocracy. His mansion, "Simons House," becomes a stage where the local upper class and lower class meet: eroticism, lies, violence, money, and hypocritical virtues intertwine, like a miniature Versailles…

The novel will be divided into three parts:
The first part, titled "Seduction and Rise," describes how Simmons seduced Irene into causing the death of her pastry chef husband, Pistor. To this end, he bribed the parish doctor and sheriff. At the same time, he used his family's spice business to navigate the circles of nobility, establishing corrupt relationships with the town hall clerk, Versini, and the poor Baron Durval, participating in smuggling, speculation, and the auction of church property, reaping huge profits. Finally, he donated a large sum of money to Louis XVI of Paris and obtained the right to farm taxes.

The second part is called "The Limits of Lust": Simmons, who has become the richest man in the area, built a maid's quarters, a chapel, a secret room, and a garden corridor in his mansion. He was obsessed with lust and had secret meetings with Elena, Elizabeth, and the newly acquired songstress Margot day and night. He even had affairs with maids and washerwomen, and even his friend's wife was not spared. But on the surface, he was a "devout gentleman" who patronized the monastery.

The third part is titled "Decline and Punishment": Simmons' health deteriorates due to excessive indulgence and complications from syphilis, yet he continues to indulge in mummified wine and sexual pleasures. Meanwhile, France enters a financial crisis, the church investigates donation accounts, the city hall changes its head, and Durval and Versini defect, reporting Simmons for illegal business dealings and bribery. Ultimately, Simmons dies suddenly, his mansion is seized, Hélène dies of illness, Elizabeth enters a convent, and Margot is abandoned by the nobility and forced into prostitution.

Finally, in the flames of the French Revolution, the Simmons House was burned to the ground.

Just as the ending ultimately returns to the concept of "cause and effect," this French version, regardless of how much erotic content it contains, must ultimately conform to the current French moral values.

The purpose of writing it this way is not to avoid risks, but to please the readers—although everyone enjoys erotic content, the final moral critique and value reversion can alleviate some of the guilt.

After all, what has faded from people's minds is the authority of the church, not God himself and the values ​​that the church represents.

He believed that Gabriel of Le Bourgeois couldn't resist the temptation to publish the novel because Gabriel was a thoroughly capitalist character. "With 100% profit, they'll take any risk; with 200% profit, they'll disregard the law; with 300% profit, they'll trample everything in the world!"

A bestselling novel can bring publishers far more than 300% profit.

Especially in the 19th century, when the royalty system was not yet perfected or widespread, many famous works by great writers were often bought out by publishers at very low prices.

For example, Balzac received only 400 francs for his first published novel, "The Heiress of the Bilág" (co-authored); and only 1000 francs for his independently published "The Chouans".

Forty years later, Flaubert's Madame Bovary only earned him 800 francs in royalties—luckily, he adopted a licensing system, granting the publisher a five-year exclusive right.

How much profit can a bestselling book actually generate for a publisher? Neither Charpentier nor Levi has been willing to discuss this, but some disgruntled writers estimate it to be no less than 5 francs.

Established writers are different.

One afternoon in 1830, Victor Hugo was chatting with the owner of Hughes Books, Hughes, in the bookstore. He said he wanted to write a novel, "The story is set in a medieval cathedral, with impulsive college students, exotic beauties, deformed freaks, corrupt nobles, and hypocritical priests," and then asked the owner, "How much is this novel worth?"

Without saying a word, Hughes took out five thousand francs in cash and a promissory note for ten thousand francs and handed them to Hugo, promising to pay "the remaining half" after he received the manuscript.

In other words, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" brought Hugo a direct income of 3 francs.

What Lionel wanted from Gabriel was certainly not 3 francs, an "astronomical price" for a young author, but it couldn't be as low as 400 francs either—it all depended on the negotiation between the two.

After washing up in the public restroom, Lionel returned to his room, dressed, and prepared to go downstairs and leave.

As I passed the second floor, I heard a strange woman's voice coming from Petty's house—cold, sharp, and sarcastic: "We have plenty of girls like that at 'Swan Castle,' your prices are too high!"

Lionel stopped and looked toward the doorway, where he saw a short, thin, middle-aged woman with a high, hooked nose standing opposite Petty's mother, while the small Petty squatted on the floor between the two, looking bewildered.

Lionel then remembered that Petty had told him that the family was sending her to ballet school this week—it seemed that the middle-aged woman had come to "take the child away."

Lionel's heart sank at the thought of what might happen to Petty.

(End of this chapter)