At BBC News Hugh Schofield has an interesting piece with lots of quotes from prominent French authors wondering Why don't French books sell abroad ? -- specifically, in the English-speaking world.
The first point to make here is that, rights/title-wise, they do sell well. Translations-from-the-French routinely outnumber those from any other language into English by a large margin, and long have; the Three Percent Translation Database (covering all translated-for-the-first-time works of fiction and poetry published/distributed in the US) currently (the numbers aren't final) has 75 out of the total of 419 titles listed as being from the French, way ahead of the number two languages (a tie between German and Spanish, with 49 titles each). (Consider also: I am a judge for the Best Translated Book Award fiction prize, and while we're considering well over 50 French titles (the database counts both fiction and poetry ...), as best I can tell only three (!) works translated from the Chinese are eligible this year .....)
Nevertheless, authors whinge:
The article is filled with priceless quotes by French authors -- a favorite being (I cruelly take it slightly out of context):
It's not that they're entirely clueless; indeed, they have a semi-valid point. But even as the French fare relatively poorly, I remind you how much worse everyone else fares in translation. (Again: China -- three previously untranslated works of fiction published in the US this year .....)
Indeed, Marie Darieussecq, for example, has done quite well -- and four of her works, all available in English (as is one more), are even under review at the complete review. Still, I can understand her frustration: her best-known work, Pig Tales, was published by André Schiffrin's The New Press -- and yet among the saddest purchases I ever made of a used book (it still breaks my heart every time I open it) is one with this title page:
![Signed copy, Darieussecq]()
Meanwhile, Marc Levy -- author of, for example, All Those Things We Never Said -- moans:
I recently joked/complained about US publisher Simon & Schuster touting the arguably under-translated Philippe Djian as "France's #1 Bestselling Author" (without any supporting evidence -- and there's none I can find), but even some of his books continue to dribble into English. (Admittedly relatively few, but still .....)
As far as real bestselling authors go: the list of top-selling French authors doesn't change too much from year to year, and Le Figaro's for 2011 will serve as good enough an example (it's available in English, so ...). Levy is on it (number two), and most of the other authors on it have also had at least one or two titles translated; aside from mystery writer Fred Vargas, and, arguably, Amélie Nothomb, most have not fared that well in the US/UK market. But I have to say, other than Nothomb -- who, as longtime readers know, I have a very soft spot for -- I have not been particularly impressed by any of the works by these authors appearing in translation (quite a few of which I've reviewed at the complete review): French bestselling crap-fiction isn't worse than American bestselling crap-fiction (which also leaves me cold), but you can see how it can be a harder sell here.
Meanwhile, Tatiana de Rosnay has taken to writing some of her fiction directly in English (Sarah's Key ...) -- while longtime New York resident (she lived here for a decade) Katherine Pancol -- third bestselling French author in France in 2011 -- is finally appearing in English with The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles. I recently got my (English) copy of that -- Penguin Books is bringing it out, 31 December -- and Pancol's Acknowledgements cruelly note that it is already available in twenty-nine other languages ..... But what really kills me is the little note on the copyright page:
The BBC piece also notes some 'Exceptions to the rule', books that have sold well -- Atomised (US title: The Elementary Particles), HHhH, and Suite Française -- though of course the latter is contemporary only in terms of publication date. (Interestingly, HHhH was apparently also subject to significant editorial interference in translation -- but then I remain baffled by its success in any case.)
Certainly, French literature isn't enjoying glory days abroad, or at least in the US/UK -- but then few literatures are. It's a bit odd that there are few stand-out authors, but a hell of a lot get translated and they fill a variety of niches, from Oulipo to titillating self-absorbed autofictions to the playful intellectual novels of, say Jean Echenoz, Emmanuel Carrère, Jean-Philippe Toussaint, and Lydie Salvayre (all well-translated into English) to mystery/thriller authors including Tonino Benacquista and Jean-Claude Izzo (also all widely translated into English).
On the other hand, I do continue to be baffled why some books and authors don't do better -- such as, recently, Jean-Marie Blas de Roblès' Where Tigers are at Home.
Again, I don't understand how publishing 'works', but US/UK publishers certainly play the game strangely -- so now with a rare recent French-language success story, as Penguin Books recently acquired US rights to Joël Dicker's prize-winning bestseller The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair; see, for example, the Publishers Weekly report -- for, so the publicity claim, the biggest amount they've ever spent. Tellingly, however, they bought the rights from UK publisher MacLehose, who cleverly tied up world English rights; the book has appeared in numerous translations, and yet again English-speaking readers are left until relatively late in the game to get their chance to see it. Of course, this French-language success is small comfort to the French themselves: Dicker is Swiss.
The first point to make here is that, rights/title-wise, they do sell well. Translations-from-the-French routinely outnumber those from any other language into English by a large margin, and long have; the Three Percent Translation Database (covering all translated-for-the-first-time works of fiction and poetry published/distributed in the US) currently (the numbers aren't final) has 75 out of the total of 419 titles listed as being from the French, way ahead of the number two languages (a tie between German and Spanish, with 49 titles each). (Consider also: I am a judge for the Best Translated Book Award fiction prize, and while we're considering well over 50 French titles (the database counts both fiction and poetry ...), as best I can tell only three (!) works translated from the Chinese are eligible this year .....)
Nevertheless, authors whinge:
"I am suffering, really suffering, because Anglo-Saxon agents are just ignoring the French book market," Christophe Ono-dit-Biot tells me.With all due sympathy -- hey, I'd love to see some of his books available in English -- I repeat: all of three works of fiction translated from the Chinese have been published in the US this year. So there's being ignored, and there's being ignored .....
The article is filled with priceless quotes by French authors -- a favorite being (I cruelly take it slightly out of context):
"Personally I am fed up with all the stereotypes," says Darieussecq. "We're not intellectual.Whatever she says .....
It's not that they're entirely clueless; indeed, they have a semi-valid point. But even as the French fare relatively poorly, I remind you how much worse everyone else fares in translation. (Again: China -- three previously untranslated works of fiction published in the US this year .....)
Indeed, Marie Darieussecq, for example, has done quite well -- and four of her works, all available in English (as is one more), are even under review at the complete review. Still, I can understand her frustration: her best-known work, Pig Tales, was published by André Schiffrin's The New Press -- and yet among the saddest purchases I ever made of a used book (it still breaks my heart every time I open it) is one with this title page:
Meanwhile, Marc Levy -- author of, for example, All Those Things We Never Said -- moans:
If you've been a best-seller in France, it's a sure-fire recipe for not getting a deal in the UK.(Levy is a fascinating case study for trying to break into the English-language market, as he's recently tried to do through the publishing venture Versilio; scroll down for various of his titles in English (mostly just in ebook form ...).)
I recently joked/complained about US publisher Simon & Schuster touting the arguably under-translated Philippe Djian as "France's #1 Bestselling Author" (without any supporting evidence -- and there's none I can find), but even some of his books continue to dribble into English. (Admittedly relatively few, but still .....)
As far as real bestselling authors go: the list of top-selling French authors doesn't change too much from year to year, and Le Figaro's for 2011 will serve as good enough an example (it's available in English, so ...). Levy is on it (number two), and most of the other authors on it have also had at least one or two titles translated; aside from mystery writer Fred Vargas, and, arguably, Amélie Nothomb, most have not fared that well in the US/UK market. But I have to say, other than Nothomb -- who, as longtime readers know, I have a very soft spot for -- I have not been particularly impressed by any of the works by these authors appearing in translation (quite a few of which I've reviewed at the complete review): French bestselling crap-fiction isn't worse than American bestselling crap-fiction (which also leaves me cold), but you can see how it can be a harder sell here.
Meanwhile, Tatiana de Rosnay has taken to writing some of her fiction directly in English (Sarah's Key ...) -- while longtime New York resident (she lived here for a decade) Katherine Pancol -- third bestselling French author in France in 2011 -- is finally appearing in English with The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles. I recently got my (English) copy of that -- Penguin Books is bringing it out, 31 December -- and Pancol's Acknowledgements cruelly note that it is already available in twenty-nine other languages ..... But what really kills me is the little note on the copyright page:
This edition is an abridgement of the original French-language work.Edits in translation are, sadly, the norm, but when publishers own up and actually acknowledge them you know they've fucked the text over pretty bad -- as the much lower page-total here also suggests. I know nothing about how the publishing business 'works', as I often remind you -- but this certainly does not seem the route to any sort of success (and seems among the possible answers to 'Why don't French books sell abroad ?'). (A 31 December publication date also looks a hell of a lot like an attempt to bury the poor book.)
The BBC piece also notes some 'Exceptions to the rule', books that have sold well -- Atomised (US title: The Elementary Particles), HHhH, and Suite Française -- though of course the latter is contemporary only in terms of publication date. (Interestingly, HHhH was apparently also subject to significant editorial interference in translation -- but then I remain baffled by its success in any case.)
Certainly, French literature isn't enjoying glory days abroad, or at least in the US/UK -- but then few literatures are. It's a bit odd that there are few stand-out authors, but a hell of a lot get translated and they fill a variety of niches, from Oulipo to titillating self-absorbed autofictions to the playful intellectual novels of, say Jean Echenoz, Emmanuel Carrère, Jean-Philippe Toussaint, and Lydie Salvayre (all well-translated into English) to mystery/thriller authors including Tonino Benacquista and Jean-Claude Izzo (also all widely translated into English).
On the other hand, I do continue to be baffled why some books and authors don't do better -- such as, recently, Jean-Marie Blas de Roblès' Where Tigers are at Home.
Again, I don't understand how publishing 'works', but US/UK publishers certainly play the game strangely -- so now with a rare recent French-language success story, as Penguin Books recently acquired US rights to Joël Dicker's prize-winning bestseller The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair; see, for example, the Publishers Weekly report -- for, so the publicity claim, the biggest amount they've ever spent. Tellingly, however, they bought the rights from UK publisher MacLehose, who cleverly tied up world English rights; the book has appeared in numerous translations, and yet again English-speaking readers are left until relatively late in the game to get their chance to see it. Of course, this French-language success is small comfort to the French themselves: Dicker is Swiss.