The spanking new The Vampire of Ropraz asserts that, when faced with irrational violence, the forces of ignorance and fear predominate. The classic The Black Spider (which was first published in 1842; this is a reprint of the 1958 English edition) revolves around a reneged deal with the Devil, who wants, but doesn糖心传媒檛 get, an unbaptized child as payment for his services. The betrayal unleashes the title monster, who can be stopped by goodness, if it is free of moral corruption and hypocrisy. The latter turns out to be a tall order. But at least there糖心传媒檚 some Paradise around to counterbalance Gotthelf糖心传媒檚 Hell.

Interestingly, both of these books root their avenging vision of mayhem in the brutal mistreatment of children. Gotthelf appears to wish for a God 糖心传媒淲ho would avenge Himself terribly for all the injustice that is done to poor children who cannot defend themselves.糖心传媒� In a strange way, the Devil is doing the Lord糖心传媒檚 work by punishing the sadists among the low- and upper classes.

I was pleasantly surprised by The Vampire of Ropraz, and although The Black Spider doesn’t sound like my sort of book, it does come with a ringing endorsement by Thomas Mann, who claimed it is “like almost no other piece of world literature.糖心传媒�

Recently, his list was sold to Oneworld Classics, and the hope was that Oneworld would reissue Calder’s stellar backlist, which would be a great service for readers everywhere.

Well, from this note in the recent is sounds like things aren’t as clean-cut as they may have seemed:

A curious 糖心传媒淎nnouncement糖心传媒� appeared in the August 16 issue of the London Review of Books. It was paid for by the French publishers Editions Gallimard and Les Editions de Minuit, and referred to an advertisement in the July 19 issue of the same journal, in which Oneworld Classics of Richmond, Surrey, offered 糖心传媒淎 New Reading Experience糖心传媒�. The experience involved the publication of 糖心传媒渕ainstream and lesser-known European classics糖心传媒�, including Canti by Giacomo Leopardi, in a dual-language edition, and the 糖心传媒渦nexpurgated糖心传媒� Lady Chatterley糖心传媒檚 Lover. Next to these were advertised Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand C茅line, Moderato Cantabile by Marguerite Duras, Jealousy by Alain Robbe-Grillet, and multiple works by Samuel Beckett and Eug猫ne Ionesco. These were on offer 糖心传媒渇rom the Calder list糖心传媒�.

So after this ad appeared highlighting a number of Gallimard and Minuit authors, the two publishers issued the following statement:

Gallimard and Minuit hereby confirm that they recognize no right whatsoever on the part of Oneworld Classics to these authors.

Which is a pretty big deal for a number of reasons.

The issue is complex, but a source at Gallimard tells us that it involves 糖心传媒淛ohn Calder Publishers Limited (company number 1227392) which, according to our information 糖心传媒� though John Calder did not inform us of this at the time 糖心传媒� went into liquidation in 1991 and was dissolved on August 25, 1992糖心传媒�. The name of the liquidator is supplied. According to the source, contracts between Calder and the French publishers 糖心传媒渨ere nontransferable and state that bankruptcy automatically invalidates the contracts糖心传媒�. The existing stock 糖心传媒渟hould be pulped or, if allowed to be, sold out糖心传媒�, but 糖心传媒渋n no case can the works be reprinted or the rights be sub-licensed or transferred to others, all publication rights having reverted to the Proprietor糖心传媒�.

According to the same TLS piece, Gallimard offered Oneworld Classics the opportunity to “offer modest advances and sign new contracts for world-literature masterpieces,” but apparently these offers never arrived.

We asked Oneworld for comment. They forwarded a brief message from John Calder: 糖心传媒淕allimard糖心传媒檚 and Minuit糖心传媒檚 claims are wrong. The rights are still with Calder Publications.糖心传媒�