"Creating Europeans: The Birth of Modernity and the Shaping of European Culture/Utopia Translation Series" Author: [UK] Orlando Figes Translator: Wang Chen Beijing Daily Press

On June 13, 1846, the Paris-Brussels railway was opened. 1,500 passengers accepted the invitation of Baron Rothschild, the operator of the railway company, and boarded the first train. The invited passengers included the Duke of Nemours and the Duke of Montpensier, sons of King Louis Philippe I of France, French and Belgian officials, and celebrities such as Alexandre Dumas, Hugo, Gautier, and Ingres. During the journey, Berlioz conducted the orchestra to play the "Funeral and Triumphal Symphony" on the train. This railway was not the first international railway, but it was regarded as the most important because it connected France and the Low Countries, Britain and the German-speaking area. The railway crossed national borders and opened a new era of European culture. Writers, artists, opera companies, bands and actors became frequent visitors, traveling between countries by train, holding a large number of concerts, art exhibitions, reading clubs, and salons. The international market was also opened to mass-produced cheap reproductions of paintings and printed books and sheet music through convenient cross-border transportation.

People in European countries began to view Europe as a whole and share the same culture - they read the same books, listened to the same music, appreciated the same paintings, and watched the same dramas. Eventually, they regarded themselves as "Europeans" and saw Europe as a place for cultural exchange, translation, and exchange without national boundaries. The 19th century Europe thus kicked off the prelude to cultural globalization. The railway era brought a revolution in mass transportation and travel, and printing technology increased the market power of mass production of works. Eventually, art and culture became a business, and whether the works would be immortal or lost in history would also be determined by the capital market.

Through the stories of Russian writer Turgenev, French soprano Pauline Viardot and art critic Louis Viardot, Figes shows the splendid internationalist culture of the 19th century and how the writers, artists and musicians of the time became transnational cultural intermediaries, connecting European countries into a cultural community through a booming cultural circle, and making the people of European countries accept a common identity label - "Europeans", thereby establishing the classic status of European culture and literature and art in world civilization.

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★Technological changes such as railways, printing and photography gave birth to new transnational markets, and music, literature and art became new battlefields for capitalism and internationalism

Convenient cross-border railway transportation and the travel revolution made touring performances, publicity, and world expositions possible, providing impetus for the international flow of music, literature, and art; the printing press gave rise to the mass production of newspapers, books, sheet music, and picture albums, increasing sales of works while spreading their influence, and art and culture became a business; cheap photography sparked a craze for celebrity photos, family photos, and personal portraits, allowing cultural stars and works of art to become famous through photos, and also promoted the development of literary realism and visual arts.

★The era of "cultural globalization" has begun, "Europe" is equivalent to "elegance", and "European" has become a new label for cultural identity

Europe has become a space for the transmission, translation and exchange of culture across national borders. People across Europe read the same books and newspapers, buy the same reproductions of paintings, listen to the same music, watch the same operas and ballets in major theaters, and visit the same places of interest and museums. French and Italians watched Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" at the same time, British and Germans read Turgenev's "A Hunter's Sketches" at the same time, and Spaniards and Russians enjoyed Rembrandt's "The Night Watch" through the same picture album - everyone shared a European culture, regardless of nationality, and were all "Europeans."

★ Follow the footsteps of Turgenev, Pauline Viardot, and Louis Viardot to travel around Europe, build a bridge between European and Russian culture, and experience the flourishing European cultural circle in the 19th century

Turgenev and the Viardots promoted and introduced composers, artists and writers through their connections in the music, art, journalism and publishing industries. They made Flaubert, Maupassant and Zola famous in the literary world, Saint-Saëns, Tchaikovsky and Gounod popular in the music world, and Corot, Vereshchagin and Harlamoff in the painting world. The three of them connected the literary, art and music circles, and promoted cultural and ideological exchanges between European countries and Russia. Turgenev promoted the works of Flaubert and Zola to Russia, and spared no effort to promote Tolstoy's "War and Peace" in Europe; Paulina inspired Bizet's love for Spanish music, which indirectly led to the birth of "Carmen"; Louis's appreciation guide for works of art defined the classics of European art and promoted the craze for visiting museums in various countries.

★The capital market determines "artistic taste" and "cultural canon", and theaters, cafes, galleries, and concerts become a "lifestyle"

"Artistic taste" is shaped by influential patrons, critics, dealers, collectors, publishers, and the press. "Cultural canon" is determined by them, and publicity, sales, reviews, and social networks determine the possibility of a work's immortality. Liszt's admiration set off a Beethoven craze, Zola's praise made Manet's paintings turn around, Verdi's operas became household names through the publication of piano scores, and the compilation of classic libraries made Hugo and Dostoyevsky national writers. Books, music, drama, and paintings became the common hobbies of "Europeans", and theaters, cafes, galleries, and concerts became the elegant "lifestyles" that everyone pursued.

★Capital and art join hands to achieve "cultural star chasing", allowing full-time cultural stars to gain autonomy and achieve financial freedom!

Touring performances made Paganini and Liszt gain countless fans, teaching and music publishing made Beethoven achieve financial freedom, Verdi became the cash cow of the Paris Opera and earned a lot of royalties, Balzac and Dickens got rich by serializing novels in newspapers and magazines, Turgenev's royalties and writing fees allowed him to travel around the world, Pauline dominated the Paris opera world with her high popularity, and Millet and Manet gained fame and money from their paintings - full-time creation became possible for writers, composers, music performers, and painters, and art could also be a source of bread.

★ Book of the Year by The Spectator, The Daily Telegraph, BBC Music Magazine, BBC History Magazine and Kirkus Reviews

Orlando Figes, PhD of Trinity College, Cambridge University, is currently Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is familiar with all aspects of Russian life, whether literature, art, or politics and economics, and no one can match him. His series of works interpreting the history of Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union, such as "Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia", "The Whisperer: Private Life in the Soviet Union during the Stalin Era", and "The Crimean War: The Forgotten Game of Empires", have achieved extraordinary achievements. He is a first-class scholar of Russian studies in the English-speaking world today. His works have won the Wolfson Prize, the NCR Book Award, and have been shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize and the Duff Cooper Prize, etc., and have been translated into more than 20 languages.