I am a literary giant in Russia

Chapter 82: Novel and Meeting

Now that he had made up his mind to publish a magazine, all that remained was to put it into practice. So the next day after discussing various matters, Panaev visited Pletnyov, the president of St. Petersburg University.

Even though the principal was indeed a powerful figure and normally not short of money, driven by the simple idea that "who would think they have too much money?", he set the publishing rights fee for the magazine "Modern Man" at 4,000 rubles per year.

Fortunately, the elders in Panaev's family had some connections with the principal, so after haggling for a long time, he finally managed to reduce the fee to three thousand.

At the same time, other problems also arose. The Book Censorship Committee believed that Panaev and Nekrasov were politically unreliable and did not approve them to be editors. If the huge fees demanded by Pletnyov made Belinsky angry enough, then this incident was an even more terrible blow to him.

As for letting Belinsky take up the editorship, that was out of the question, because in recent years, the newspaper "Northern Bee", edited by the reactionary writer Bulgarin mentioned above, had frequently published comments, repeatedly criticizing the harmful tendencies in Belinsky's articles.

In addition, people have been constantly reporting to the relevant departments, pointing out that Belinsky promoted atheism and immoral behavior in some of his articles, ridiculed the Russians' simple feelings, and so on.

Normally, at this point, one would either use money to pave the way, spend some money to invite a reviewer from the Book Review Committee to be a nominal editor, and then pay him a huge salary every year.

In history, Panaev and others did just that out of helplessness. They hired a censor named Nikichenko to be a nominal editor, paying him a salary of 6,000 rubles a year.

To be honest, Mikhail had every reason to suspect that the Book Review Committee was deliberately blocking the process in order to collect money.

All I can say is that those who understand the Russian bureaucratic system will understand it.

To be honest, Mikhail had anticipated this situation, and his budget did include this expense. But just when he was about to discuss this with Panaev and Nekrasov, Nekrasov and Panaev pulled Mikhail to a deserted corner and whispered:
"Mikhail, what do you think about being the editor?"

Mikhail: “?”

No, buddy! You two are politically unreliable. Does that make me a loyal subject to His Majesty the Tsar?

Just when Mikhail thought this idea was absurd, he heard Nekrasov continue: "Mikhail, to be honest, although many people are dissatisfied with your novels, your poems are really good and have been widely circulated in the upper class, so many gentlemen actually have a good impression of you.

If you come, there's still a high chance you'll get stuck, but we might pay less rubles.

And there is one thing I’m not sure whether I should tell you, that is, General Danilevsky actually has a close relationship with a very influential gentleman on the Book Review Committee, and his beloved youngest daughter Nadya seems to be paying close attention to your news recently.”

Mikhail: “???”

what?
I, Mikhail, have never been inferior to anyone in my life!

Aren't you forcing a decent person to live off a gigolo?

Is this right?
"Of course, we have no intention of forcing you. This kind of thing is really hard to bring up. And even if the General is willing to ask, it may not be successful. I guess we still have to spend some money to hire an examiner to register, but the cost should be much less, at least two or three thousand rubles."

Mikhail: “.”

How many?

"Don't worry, Nikolay and Panaev."

After thinking about the two or three thousand rubles, Mikhail finally nodded solemnly: "For the sake of our common cause, I'm willing to give it a try. Of course, it may not succeed. You know, I've only met that girl once."

This was not a lie. Apart from that meeting at the party, the two of them mostly communicated through letters. At the moment, they could be considered familiar with each other, but Mikhail felt it was a little difficult to say whether he could ask the other party for a favor.

But anyway, let's give it a try.

After all, it's not shameful for writers to be gigolos these days, and Mikhail's behavior is indeed quite subtle.
However, before Mikhail did so, because their actions were not hidden from the public, the news about their plan to launch a magazine quickly spread among the literary circles in St. Petersburg. The literary circle was so small, and the news was surprising enough, so the speed of spread was also unusually fast.

Many people did not believe it at first, but after it was confirmed one after another, they began to laugh at Nekrasov and Panaev for being just empty talkers, and they would definitely lose everything.

Sometimes, though, someone would shout, "But it seems Mikhail was involved too!"

Often at this time, the voices of ridicule would pause for a moment. After all, in addition to the legend of Mikhail's literary talent circulating in the circle, his legendary successful gamble experience was also mentioned again and again.

In the eyes of many people, this amount of money is certainly nothing, but this behavior of borrowing money to invest and then getting out of trouble in one go is indeed as romantic and legendary as some romantic novels.

But this inexplicable respect does not last long. After all, everyone has a moment of success. Don't take it as forever. One success does not mean you will succeed the second time.

Moreover, the current magazine market is indeed saturated to a certain extent. Basically, there are all kinds of magazines. Among them, "Chronicle of the Motherland" and another magazine occupy a large market share. It is indeed extremely difficult to compete with such old magazines with established status.

So the laughter soon resumed:

"Publishing a collection of essays is different from starting a magazine. I bet they won't pass the censors."

"Where do they get so much money? I don't think the profit from publishing the collection will be enough. If they get into debt, the magazine will be in even worse shape."

"Look at them. None of them have any experience as a publisher."

Of course, most of those who laughed at it were actually those who did not get along well with Belinsky's literary group, or those who were worried that this matter would infringe upon their original interests. Among these people, the one who was most angry and criticized this behavior the most was undoubtedly Kraevsky, the publisher of "Fatherland Chronicle".

The success of Mikhail and Nekrasov's Petersburg Anthology had already made him very embarrassed, and he couldn't attend any parties for several days. But when the storm had died down a little, Kraevsky still said to some people:

"Look, I actually secretly thought they would succeed, but some things are really hard to say out loud. Now it seems my guess was correct. I just hope they don't celebrate this for too long and forget to give me the manuscript."

This matter was just embarrassing, and it did not cause much impact in the financial aspect. Moreover, after putting the new works of Mikhail and the up-and-coming Dostoevsky on the magazine, the magazine's subscription volume might see another big increase!
But the fact that Mikhail and his team started a new magazine has undoubtedly touched Kraevsky's bottom line. On the one hand, it means that Belinsky, the very useful editor-in-chief, may have to leave the editorial department of "Fatherland Chronicle". On the other hand, a new magazine has emerged to compete with them, which cannot be said to be a good thing in any way.

What's more, he thought he had helped Belinsky and Mikhail, but now they suddenly started a magazine on their own initiative without even informing him!
In short, Krajewski was really upset, so much so that he even had a tendency to curse in his own literary group:
"Ungrateful fellows, traitors! They published in my magazine, took my fees, and then quietly started a new magazine. I believe I have never treated them unfairly, and yet they repay me like this! Do they think they can't survive without my magazine?

Just wait and see, I'll find better people to replace them soon! And they and their new magazine will sooner or later be thrown into some garbage dump and forgotten by everyone! "

Of course, Mikhail had heard about these rumors from the outside world, but he didn't really care about them. Instead, he was busy organizing and revising a novel he was working on.

As for what this novel is, Mikhail can only say sorry, Lao Tuo, I'm going to cc you.
I have to say that it is a bit difficult to choose a novel, especially when most of the novels by Russian writers are closely related to reality.

Fortunately, there is still a choice after all.

Of course, some things still need to be changed, and there are quite a few parts that need to be moved slightly, so Mikhail is currently working hard on this task.

While doing this work, Mikhail was also conceiving a letter to the general's daughter, and was ready to ask if he could mention it to the general.

But before Mikhail could finish writing and send the letter, he received another one. When he opened it, it was from the young girl again. The content of the letter was basically the same as the previous one, except that at the end, the other party wrote:

"I heard from others that you and your friends want to start a magazine. Perhaps I can help you? I think if it's possible, we can discuss this matter in person. It seems that you haven't appeared in the salon for a long time, so..."

Mikhail: “???”

(End of this chapter)