- How would you describe the importance of foreign literature at Payot Rivages?

Payot Rivages is unique for two reasons, the first being that it is a completely independent publishing house owned by one man, Jean-François Lamunière. The second is that it does not publish French literature, except in the "mystery/police procedural" category. Everything else comes from foreign writers.

- And what is your position in the organisation of Payot Rivages?

Payot and Rivages were two separate publishing houses which fused; Payot focusing more on non-fiction, essays, documents and biographies, and Rivages on fiction. I began working two and a half years ago with this collection which was begun twenty years ago under the direction of some extremely talented editors. The house policy is to work with auteurs, ranking authors like Jane Smiley, Alison Lurie and David Lodge, whose works are published by Payot Rivages. One of the collection's major components has traditionally been American literature, complemented by works from Italy and Spain. I tried to continue in this tradition of working with our "house" authors, while also opening the door to new ones, and also to less well-known countries like Iceland and China. I buy the French translation rights for books published in these less well-known countries, and I also look for American, English, Australian and Canadian novels.

- Why publish foreign literature in France?

The strength and beauty in literature lies in its distinctions, its differences. Foreign literature is characterised by its strangeness, its foreignness, its wonderful dissonances of sound and tone. There is a considerable gap between us and them, the familiar point of view and the stranger's point of view, in our way of perceiving the world, and the other's way of approaching it, which is so different and unexpected.

For me, foreign literature is the heart of literature. There is an international series of novels which could be set interchangeably in Tokyo, London or Honolulu, the same capital cities with the same five star hotels where one drinks the same chic cocktails, speaks the same languages, goes to the same museums. But what I am looking for is that something in the language, the style, the subject and the story - which will change something in us as we are reading them, giving us a new perspective on the big questions, whether it be hedonism and pleasure or life and our metaphysical dilemmas. To me, foreign literature is truly the most wonderful gift that an editor can give his or her French readers.

- How would you describe the work of a translator in France?

French houses publish many books in foreign languages, so the translators are an essential part of the equation, the job requires specialised training and diplomas, with corresponding rights and remuneration.

The tradition in French publishing is to choose the translator, then to leave him or her free to work at his or her discretion. The translator is like a musician, an actor, he chooses his terms and decides how he will approach the text, to hear its words flow, to colour it. We generally ask him or her to submit samples. The most important thing is how the translator approaches and encounters the text.

For example, Josée Kamoun, who is Philip Roth's translator, generally puts the finishing touches on her translation by flying to New York for a week or two, during which time she revisits the text directly with the author, reading it out loud. Josée reads the French version and Philip reads the same text in English. They are looking for corresponding rhythms and sounds. That is the most difficult as well as the most satisfying part of the job of being a translator, to find identical rhythms, alliterations and sounds.

- What is the position of foreign literature in the French publishing world?

There are many many books translated into French, most of which are American. The diversity of available books in France is unequalled in Europe except perhaps in Germany. In the bookstores one finds books translated from over forty different languages, and almost 50% of the novels are translated from American English, although this percentage is dropping slightly. American novels are generally best sellers in France; in 2004, for example, books by Philip Roth and Dan Brown did extremely well. And American works will always sell well in France, although after 9/11, there was the feeling that perhaps their writers were regrouping, refocusing their thoughts. The same thing happened right after the Vietnam war: a few years had to pass before American writers had a perspective on the war and its consequences. In any case, French editors are very aware of what is happening in the American market, since it is where the bar is set highest.

- What would you like to say to editors and American readers who resist reading foreign literature?

For the past decade, we were aware that American editors were not having a great deal of French literature translated, as the New Novel had more or less grabbed the spotlight and there was no American equivalent, it was specific to French literature. And that lasted a long time, and then - well, now it's Michel Houellebecq, he became the "It" guy eclipsing all the other writers, everyone else writing in France. He's a major phenomenon in France and around the world. But there is a great diversity among French authors. There are so many publishing houses nowadays: Gallimard, Minuit, Verticales, Fayard, Buchet-Chastel, all of whom are actively promoting the new generation of writers. And many of those writers could and should interest the American houses, for example Jean-Philippe Toussaint, with his meticulous literary, economical, almost ironic writing. And Marie N'Diaye who has an innately Faulknerian side, with her masterful use of tragedy. Or Régis Jauffret, whose audacious. furiously energetic style takes on subjects like family, moods and falling in love.

New York, May 2006