公开声明
《武漢》： 21家英文出版社退稿的書終於出版了
《武汉》和《看不见的战争》的英文版终于出炉了——几天前，我收到了Polity全球营销总监Madeline Sharaga的来信，告知“出版日期”——英国：2024年5月，美国： 2024年6月——相关详尽信息已分享给全球约8,000 名书商、图书馆员和媒体联络人。
两本书有2009 年诺贝尔文学奖得主赫塔 穆勒等人的精彩推荐 （ 请看附件 1 ）。 可是，在三年前，在武汉病毒几乎吞噬了全世界，造成数千万人死亡的时候，《武汉》却被21家美国出版社退稿——令我想起美国文学历史上的名著《22条军规》，也曾经退稿22次（请看附件2）;
我会永远记得德国S Fischer出版社对我的信任，他们在2022年1月26日发表了《武汉》，引起巨大的反响，几乎所有的德语媒体都发表了报道和评论。 瑞士的《新苏黎世报》在同日发表了Katharina Borchardt的评论文章，文章开头就提到「卡尔森的屈从」：
「武汉病毒」当然来自武汉，这是「对真相的客观描述」，廖亦武在他的新书中强调说—考虑到中国不断有人提出病毒是从国外传入的疯狂理论，这不是普通的论证。 去年，中国驻汉堡总领事馆要求卡尔森出版社撤回并修改其儿童读物《给安娜和莫里茨的新冠 彩虹》（ Ein Corona-Regenbogen für Anna und Moritz ），因为书中说：「病毒来自中国并从那里传播到世界各地。 」 因为巨大的经济利益，卡尔森屈从了。 请参阅附录 3
Madeline Sharaga女士在给我的这封长信中说：亲爱的亦武，请随时提供您的任何意见或回馈，我们一定会尽力采纳您的建议。
我很感动，希望把我的情感和这两本书的讯息传达给我所有的朋友——所有对文学和事实真相感兴趣的人。
谢谢您的阅读！
廖亦武
26 四月 2024
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公开信
《武汉》：一本被21家英文出版社拒绝的书终于出版了
《武汉与看不见的战争》英文版终于出版了——日前，我收到了Polity全球市场总监Madeline Sharaga的来信，告知“出版日期”——英国：2024年5月，美国：2024年6月——相关详细信息已分发给全球约8000家书商、图书管理员和媒体联系人。
这两本书得到了2009年诺贝尔文学奖得主赫塔·穆勒（Herta Müller）等人的极好推荐（见附件1）。然而，三年前，当武汉病毒几乎席卷全球，造成数千万人死亡时，武汉被21家美国出版商撤下——让我想起了美国文学史上的名著《22条战争规则》，该书也被撤了22次（见附件2）;
我将永远记得德国出版商 S Fischer 对我的信任，他于 2022 年 1 月 26 日出版了《武汉》，引起了巨大的反响，几乎所有德语媒体都有报道和评论。瑞士报纸《新苏黎世报》在同一天发表了卡塔琳娜·博尔查特（Katharina Borchardt）的一篇文章，文章以“卡尔森的屈服”开头：
“武汉病毒”来自武汉，这是“对真实事实的客观描述”，廖亦武在他的新书中强调。这并非易事，因为中国不断有人提出疯狂的理论，认为该病毒是从国外输入的。有时，北京的手臂甚至会伸到汉堡，去年，中国总领事馆要求卡尔森出版社撤回并修改其儿童读物《安娜和莫里茨的彩虹》，因为它指出“病毒来自中国，并从那里传播到世界各地”。卡尔森实际上遵守了。请参阅附件3
玛德琳夫人在给我的这封长信中说：亲爱的亦武，请随时提供您的任何意见或反馈，我们一定会尽最大努力采纳您的建议。
我很感动，希望能把我的情感和这两本书的信息传达给所有的朋友——所有对文学和事实真相感兴趣的人。
感谢您的阅读
廖亦武
26 四月 2024
The documentary novel Wuhan has been rejected by 21 English-language publishers.
I also know that Catch-22 was rejected twenty-two times, comparable to Wuhan; Anne Frank’s Diary was rejected fifteen times by English language publishers after it had been published in Europe; Elie Wiesel, author of a widely-publicized memoir, Night, about his experience as a Nazi concentration camp survivor, He explains that the reason this masterpiece has been rejected so many times is because “the Holocaust is not far behind us.”
1) Atria (part of Simon & Schuster)
Comment:Thank you for sending this our way. I’m going to take a pass, but we loved working with Liao. Please keep trying us.
2) Pantheon
3) Hogarth/Crown
4) Graywolf
Comment: Thanks for your patience—I did take a look at what you sent me and have been meaning to write you a note. It’s a fascinating look at the first days of the pandemic in China, and an all-too-real satirical take on the government crackdown on Wuhan. I was surprised and impressed that Liao Yiwu wrote this novel so quickly, but the plot and characters felt a bit too single-minded to me in the end, which drained the energy from it for me. Thank you, though, for thinking of us, as it was a pleasure to see Liao’s latest work.
5) World Publications
6) Amazon Crossing
Comment: I’ve been on the fence – the read is so strong! But Amazon Publishing shies away from current events and topical books, so I’m going to pass for Crossing. Thank you so much for sending it along, and do keep me in mind for future projects, including Liao Yiwu’s future books.
7) Norton
Comment: My apologies if I haven’t responded to you about this yet, but I did dive in soon after I received it. I’m sorry to say though that I just didn’t see the writing as fabulous enough to carry it as literary fiction. Boy, though, it did manage to ratchet up my anxiety — did people really fall dead in the street like that, and whole families die overnight? I did find it hard to get my footing in terms of what was reportage, and what was meant to be a surrealistic riff on events — the underlying sensibility perhaps somewhat escaping the translation.
8) Houghton Miflin
9) Penguin/Viking
10) Flatiron
Comment: Many thanks for sending this my way and million apologies for my slow reply. Unfortunately, I’m a little reticent about publishing this given how selective I’m trying to be about Covid-related literature at the moment. I’d have to feel very connected to the material and writing in a way I just didn’t feel here in order to jump on board, but I have no doubt it will find its true editorial champion elsewhere.
11) Riverhead/Penguin
12) Robin Desser, Random (Hogarth and Ballantine)
13) Avid Reader (S&S)
14) Henry Holt
Comment: Thanks so much for sending Liao’s work. I’ve yet to see a novel that captures today’s sense of mass hysteria so skillfully, and as someone with a background in Chinese literature, I was especially excited to read. But, that all being said, I unfortunately struggled to focus amidst all the different absurdist elements Liao incorporates. The voice, while purposefully cool and distant, made it difficult to connect Ai Ding during his quest toward Wuhan. And without that emotional link, I simply could not suspend my disbelief.
I’m sorry not to be writing with better news. But thank you again for the opportunity.
15) Stanford U Press
16) NY Review Books
17) Harper Via
Comment: Thank you so much for sending Liao Yiwu’s novel my way! The pages are quite cinematic and provocative and Yiwu is clearly a force – I can see why the book is receiving so much buzz. That said, despite admiring the pages, I did not see a clear vision to making this a success here, though I very much hope another publisher will.
18) Restless Books
Comment: I appreciate the material but I will pass. We have already done an international volume on the pandemic, which was very successful. (I also just saw the Chinese documentary Wuhan, Wuhan.)
19) Spiegel & Grau
20) Archipelago
Comment: Thanks for the follow up. Alas, I’m afraid we’re not going to bite. I have a feeling that you’re right– I suspect the book will do well here and elsewhere, but I know we aren’t the ideal publisher for it.
21) Seven Stories
Comment: We’ve had a good read of Liao Yiwu’s Wuhan. Several of us have read parts, and one member of the editorial team read it all. She also happens to be familiar with, and an admirer of The Corpse Walker. So I feel we did really put the book through its paces here.
Wuhan is an important book—and it’s exactly the kind of project that we do here at Seven Stories. I admire Hans Juergen for doing it, and getting it out as quickly as he did. Wuhan tells the untold story, the human story, it shines a bright light on the lie, and represents the courage and tremendous sacrifices of those who stood up to the lie.
At the same time, and although the structure of the book, built as it is around the four human stories, is sound, it seems to have been written in haste. At first I thought it was the translation, but in the end I think the translation is fine, but that the book itself embodies the author’s decision in a sense to leave nothing out, and this poses a problem for the reader and for us as prospective publisher. I just don’t think we would be able to get the attention paid that the essence of the book deserves. If we were already Liao Yiwu’s publisher, we’d have done this in a heartbeat, even given what I see as its flaws. If we had a close working relationship with the author, we’d have worked through a second draft with him that I think would have been impactful, but even then the process would almost certainly have taken us to a publication date sometime in 2024, making it more of a footnote than the frontal assault this book cries out to be.
I’m afraid we have to pass. I say that with regret, hoping you can understand our decision.
