HEADLINER
Literature and Fiction
THE MOST PRECIOUS OF CARGOES
Jean-Claude Grumberg's La plus précieuse des marchandises, a tale about deportation: 140,000 copies in France and rights sold in 16 European countries.
Jean-Claude Grumberg's La plus précieuse des marchandises, a tale about deportation, is a unique approach to discussing the Holocaust, and what made this book an "instant classic" according to Le Canard enchaîné. It has sold 140,000 copies in France and rights have been sold in 16 European countries, the United States, Israel and Latin America and some of these in the middle of lock down, recalls Maria Vlachou, Head of Rights at Le Seuil.
BIEF: La plus précieuse des marchandises is the story of a deported Jew who, while on the train to Drancy with his wife and their twins, decides to pass one of the two children through the skylight of the train because he can only feed one of them. A dreadful story that immediately found great success in France and abroad. Why?
Maria Vlachou: This book was unanticipated; nothing was expected of it. Beware of books with uncertain destinies, they can always surprise you. A dreadful story, yes, but the author knows you can talk about anything in a tale: death, unbearable violence, hope, life. Brevity is a formidable force. Morality – telling so as not to forget - also depends on the economizing of words. In France, the author has received the SGDL Grand Prix for his life’s work, and the book received the Booksellers' Special Jury Prize and the L'Express/BFM TV Readers' Prize. Some foreign editors were so moved by the work that they translated the first few pages themselves as they wanted to share their enthusiasm for the book with their colleagues who do not read French. The German publisher translated the entire book...
BIEF: How many copies have you sold in France?
M.V.: The initial print run was 6,000 copies, we are at 140,000 today... It is available as a pocket edition, an ebook, audiobook (read by Pierre Arditi) and will be adapted into a film by Michel Hazanavicius. In less than two years, it together with L’Univers, les Dieux, les Hommes by Jean-Pierre Vernant and Comment j’ai vidé la maison de mes parents by Lydia Flem, became one of the three pillars of the "La Librairie du XXIe siècle" collection run by Maurice Olender and which has been translated into forty languages.
BIEF: An old lumberjack’s wife who has no children adopts the infant, but her husband does not want a child of the "race of cast-offs" until he feels its heartbeat against his own. The message is clear, like in a fairy tale. And yet the book was not received the same way in every country.
M.V.: The message is clear to everyone; it is the pathway that differs. In the United States, Italy, Greece and Turkey, the book can be found in the literature section. In Russia and Portugal, the word "tale" would risk it being positioned as a children’s book or fiction, so the publishers decided to leave it off the title. However, in Germany and South Korea, children and young adults are included in the targeted readers. Moreover, the German edition is richly illustrated.
BIEF: The covers are also varied: the French font is quite open to interpretation, the Japanese version looks like a comic book, while the German cover is reminiscent of a collection of classic tales…
M.V.: The cover of the French edition faithfully follows the graphic charter of the collection "La Librairie du XXIe siècle", which was celebrating its 30th anniversary at the time. The drawing on the cover of the pocket edition is signed by Michel Hazanavicius. Foreign editions use landscapes from another era such as real fairy tale places. Some show the "plus précieuse des marchandisesʺ at different ages, and others are marked by the notable absence of the train - the common denominator, it seems, of the author's three favorite covers (Japanese, Greek, American).
BIEF: In France, the book was "an instant classic" according to Le Canard enchaîné. What about abroad?
M.V.: It is probably too early to talk about how the book is being received abroad. Several translations are in progress and those already published are very recent. Only two editions came out before confinement: a first print run of 20,000 copies for Guanda (Italy) and a reprint after four months for Todavia (Brazil). In the United States, in the middle of an epidemic, the director of the HarperOne group sent Jean-Claude Grumberg a picture of a swan: it was September 29, 2020, the beginning of the journey for the 30,000 copies of the American edition.
BIEF: The rights were sold in 16 countries in Europe, the United States, Israel, Latin America. How did the sales happen? In a "classic" way, such as Frankfurt, or have you put other strategies in place?
M.V.: If, by "classic" you mean the skill of the former director of the foreign rights to quickly grasp the potential of a book and make it a success before its time, I would say, yes. I deserve no credit. However, the long work that followed, the thrill of the first sales and the adrenaline of the auctions was all a team effort. We paid close attention to the author’s comments and requests. Jean-Claude Grumberg, one of the most performed contemporary French playwrights in the world, has no email. All the cover proposals were sent to him by post and our telephone exchanges are wonderful moments.
BIEF: Is there one sale that made others easier?
M.V.: The sale to the U.K. certainly paved the way for the U.S. sub-rights sale, but in general, all sales are our favorites. I do not know if we had anything to do with it, but perhaps we were one of the reasons. For example, the Greek publisher read the book on our recommendation, several months after its publication. The Greek language being my native language, I even offered to reread the translation and he agreed.
BIEF: What have publishers done to promote the title?
M.V.: They published it. That's all? That's ALL. In such a difficult context, publishing is already an act of resistance and cultural promotion. The publishers were not able to invite the author, but they did a remarkable job with booksellers and journalists.
Interview by Katja Petrovic
November 2020
Jean-Claude Grumberg's La plus précieuse des marchandises, a tale about deportation: 140,000 copies in France and rights sold in 16 European countries.
Jean-Claude Grumberg's La plus précieuse des marchandises, a tale about deportation, is a unique approach to discussing the Holocaust, and what made this book an "instant classic" according to Le Canard enchaîné. It has sold 140,000 copies in France and rights have been sold in 16 European countries, the United States, Israel and Latin America and some of these in the middle of lock down, recalls Maria Vlachou, Head of Rights at Le Seuil.
Jean-Claude Grumberg's La plus précieuse des marchandises, a tale about deportation, is a unique approach to discussing the Holocaust, and what made this book an "instant classic" according to Le Canard enchaîné. It has sold 140,000 copies in France and rights have been sold in 16 European countries, the United States, Israel and Latin America and some of these in the middle of lock down, recalls Maria Vlachou, Head of Rights at Le Seuil.
BIEF: La plus précieuse des marchandises is the story of a deported Jew who, while on the train to Drancy with his wife and their twins, decides to pass one of the two children through the skylight of the train because he can only feed one of them. A dreadful story that immediately found great success in France and abroad. Why?
Maria Vlachou: This book was unanticipated; nothing was expected of it. Beware of books with uncertain destinies, they can always surprise you. A dreadful story, yes, but the author knows you can talk about anything in a tale: death, unbearable violence, hope, life. Brevity is a formidable force. Morality – telling so as not to forget - also depends on the economizing of words. In France, the author has received the SGDL Grand Prix for his life’s work, and the book received the Booksellers' Special Jury Prize and the L'Express/BFM TV Readers' Prize. Some foreign editors were so moved by the work that they translated the first few pages themselves as they wanted to share their enthusiasm for the book with their colleagues who do not read French. The German publisher translated the entire book...
BIEF: How many copies have you sold in France?
M.V.: The initial print run was 6,000 copies, we are at 140,000 today... It is available as a pocket edition, an ebook, audiobook (read by Pierre Arditi) and will be adapted into a film by Michel Hazanavicius. In less than two years, it together with L’Univers, les Dieux, les Hommes by Jean-Pierre Vernant and Comment j’ai vidé la maison de mes parents by Lydia Flem, became one of the three pillars of the "La Librairie du XXIe siècle" collection run by Maurice Olender and which has been translated into forty languages.
BIEF: An old lumberjack’s wife who has no children adopts the infant, but her husband does not want a child of the "race of cast-offs" until he feels its heartbeat against his own. The message is clear, like in a fairy tale. And yet the book was not received the same way in every country.
M.V.: The message is clear to everyone; it is the pathway that differs. In the United States, Italy, Greece and Turkey, the book can be found in the literature section. In Russia and Portugal, the word "tale" would risk it being positioned as a children’s book or fiction, so the publishers decided to leave it off the title. However, in Germany and South Korea, children and young adults are included in the targeted readers. Moreover, the German edition is richly illustrated.
BIEF: The covers are also varied: the French font is quite open to interpretation, the Japanese version looks like a comic book, while the German cover is reminiscent of a collection of classic tales…
M.V.: The cover of the French edition faithfully follows the graphic charter of the collection "La Librairie du XXIe siècle", which was celebrating its 30th anniversary at the time. The drawing on the cover of the pocket edition is signed by Michel Hazanavicius. Foreign editions use landscapes from another era such as real fairy tale places. Some show the "plus précieuse des marchandisesʺ at different ages, and others are marked by the notable absence of the train - the common denominator, it seems, of the author's three favorite covers (Japanese, Greek, American).
BIEF: In France, the book was "an instant classic" according to Le Canard enchaîné. What about abroad?
M.V.: It is probably too early to talk about how the book is being received abroad. Several translations are in progress and those already published are very recent. Only two editions came out before confinement: a first print run of 20,000 copies for Guanda (Italy) and a reprint after four months for Todavia (Brazil). In the United States, in the middle of an epidemic, the director of the HarperOne group sent Jean-Claude Grumberg a picture of a swan: it was September 29, 2020, the beginning of the journey for the 30,000 copies of the American edition.
BIEF: The rights were sold in 16 countries in Europe, the United States, Israel, Latin America. How did the sales happen? In a "classic" way, such as Frankfurt, or have you put other strategies in place?
M.V.: If, by "classic" you mean the skill of the former director of the foreign rights to quickly grasp the potential of a book and make it a success before its time, I would say, yes. I deserve no credit. However, the long work that followed, the thrill of the first sales and the adrenaline of the auctions was all a team effort. We paid close attention to the author’s comments and requests. Jean-Claude Grumberg, one of the most performed contemporary French playwrights in the world, has no email. All the cover proposals were sent to him by post and our telephone exchanges are wonderful moments.
BIEF: Is there one sale that made others easier?
M.V.: The sale to the U.K. certainly paved the way for the U.S. sub-rights sale, but in general, all sales are our favorites. I do not know if we had anything to do with it, but perhaps we were one of the reasons. For example, the Greek publisher read the book on our recommendation, several months after its publication. The Greek language being my native language, I even offered to reread the translation and he agreed.
BIEF: What have publishers done to promote the title?
M.V.: They published it. That's all? That's ALL. In such a difficult context, publishing is already an act of resistance and cultural promotion. The publishers were not able to invite the author, but they did a remarkable job with booksellers and journalists.
Interview by Katja Petrovic
November 2020