The reader of an e-book in Dear Reader by Paul Fournel

The novel Dear Reader written by Paul Fournel in 2012 was translated into Russian and published in 2015. In his work, Paul Fournel, a contemporary French author, presented, on the one hand, the radical change that is happening in the publishing industry because of the emerging competition between paper and e-books, on the other hand, the situation of summing up of professional activities by the old-school publisher Robert Dubois. This article discusses the principles of representation in the novel, the story of the expected collision of the old and the new, tradition of the Gutenberg era and innovation of digital culture. The protagonist is depicted not as a numbly conservative man, but rather a soft and flexible one. He is sincerely interested in the latest technological innovations in the publishing field. And this gives no reason for a conflict with the young team of interns. A number of urgent and serious issues reflecting the problems of transition from paper to electronic publishing are actualized in the plot when Robert Dubois first sees and tries to use an e-book. Firstly, it is the change of readers' expectations and preferences which in the current situation are connected with the desire of the reader to obtain the desired book "here and now"; secondly, it is the transformation of the traditional genres of literature: the rejection of large genres in favor of smaller ones; thirdly, it is the threat to the content of the text because of its support by an excess amount of interactive elements. Despite all the identified problems of the transitional situation in publishing, Paul Fournel quite ironically makes the story of the relationship between the old-school publisher and the e-book secondary to the story of summarizing the results of Robert Dubois' life. The success of the virtual publishing house, established on his initiative, is only a short insignificant fragment in a long life of the man who devoted himself to the publication of books. All problems associated with changes in readers' preferences, publishing technologies and values of publishers, who Fournel sketched in an ironic and utopian way, are treated as a zero reference point for the formation of a new reader and publisher canon that must repeat all the ups and downs of the previous one.

Keywords

Authors

References