"Donald A. Wollheim - European Science Fiction" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wollheim Donald A)

subscription, and priced at two or three times that of standard
books. I cannot imagine such an enterprise thriving in the American
market, despite its larger size, but in France it goes on spectacularly
and profitably.
At the other end of the literary spectrum, the series "Fleuve-Noir/
Anticipation," published by Presses de la Cit6, was and is turning out
four new novels a month, paperbound, cheaply produced, written to
order by French writers--perhaps a dozen such writers busily turn-
ing them out--and doing profitably! In this entirely French series,
many of the nation's better science fiction authors made their start,
turning out novels to formula, yet often able to experiment, to try
out new ideas and novel themes, and even to develop special styles.
Such writers as Francis Carsac, Stefan Wul, G6rard Klein, Pierre
Barbet, B. R. Bruss, and Pierre Suragne were--and some still are,---
ark in these remarkable paperback books, one of
maki,~gptheir m ├║ 'ke American
whos rinciples is that novels are never repnnted (unli
paperbacks, in which the second and later reprintings are often the
guarantors of profit). Every month four new rifles appear and the
emphasis is on the word "new."
 Introduction xv
G~rard Klein, himself one of the best sf writers of France, is also editing a very high-grade line for the
publisher Robert Laffont. It includes translations, many French originals, and some French "classics'' of
the twenties, thirties, and forties. These books are distinguished by their glittering metallic covers on the
stands of major bookshops.
Jacques Sadoul, editor of the paperback line L'Ai Lu, produces science fiction steadily, including
excellent collections of stories from other languages, special anthologies, new French authors, and even
nonfiction literary studies of science fiction.
One could go on! Such publishers as Calmann-L~vy, Albin Michel, Deno~l, Christian Bourgois, La
Masque, and so on, add to the quantity and quality of French sf. And, of course, science fiction and
serious studies of it appear in just about all publishers' lists occasionally.
As for fandom, the idea of conventions does seem to be new to France, but there have been some,
and in 1975, at one held in Angoul~me, the foundations of a Science Fiction Writers of France
organization were established. In the true Gallic tradition, heated debate between "left" and "right" went
on, which resulted in efforts to form an organization that will avoid political alignments and combine all the
writers from advocates of the "New Wave" like Andrevon through "Old Wave" like Barbet.
It should not be surprising that science fiction thrives in France. Not only was there a vast growth of
native literature in the nineteenth century, of which Verne was the only one who achieved international
prominence, but it never stopped developing. Even during the dismal years of the war, some
appeared--Ren6 Barjavel made his first appearance in Occupied Paris in 1943 with a novel, Ravage, still
regarded as a modern classic--and Barjavel is still producing bestsellers.
The situation in Germany is decidedly different and rather peculiar. Once it held the lead for hard-core
science fiction (meaning that most firmly grounded in technological speculation). It is still a nation of high
technology, earnest students, and great literacy. But its sf output is dominated by the astonishing
phenomenon known as Perry Rhodan. Perry Rhodan is the pseudo-American name of the lead character
of the most prolific sf series in the world today. The publisher who owns Perry, Pabel Verlag, must
certainly publish more sf titles per month than any other publisher in the world. Perry Rhodan appears as
a weekly, featuring a short novel of about thirty thousand words, part of a cliff-hanging cycle of galactic
adventures. It has a companion magazine appearing about twice a month entitled Atlan, who is another
major character in the series. Perry appears in