Qu'on se le dise

Agréable surprise ce matin au courrier :

Dear Mr. Kaser, I hope you will forgive the intrusion, but I am writing to you you on the recommendation of XXXXXX. I am the development (in-house) editor for the Encyclopedia of Erotic Literature, to be published by Routledge in 2006. Edited by Dr. Gaëtan Brulotte of the University of South Florida and Dr. John Phillips of London Metropolitan University, the Encyclopedia will contain more than 600 alphabetically organized articles in two volumes. We plan to make this the definitive reference work on the genre, serving students, researchers, scholars, and the general public in academic and public libraries around the world for many years to come. At this time, we have more than half of the manuscript in-house, and we are now commissioning authors for the second half of the encyclopedia. It was XXXX's suggestion--and our hope--that you might be able to recommend some potential contributors for the entries on Chinese literature, and perhaps suggest the inclusion of any topics or authors we may have neglected. Of course, if you would be interested in contributing any of the articles yourself, we would be delighted. .../... If any strike you as particularly appropriate for scholars you know, we would be grateful if you could forward this message to them, or provide contact information (if they are amenable) and I can contact them myself. As far as administrative matters go, our standard deadline is three months after the date the contract is issued, but we can be flexible if you need a bit more time. For honoraria, we offer $.05 per word for articles up to 2000 words; for articles or groups of articles of over 2000 words, we offer a set of the Encyclopedia plus $.05 per word over 2000 if applicable. I thank you in advance for any recommendations that you might be able to provide, and we would be honored to include your scholarship in this project as well. For an overview of the project and what we are trying to accomplish, you may wish to visit the project web site at http://www.routledge-ny.com/enc/eros/. Of course, should you have questions regarding any of the topics or the encyclopedia as a whole, I will be happy to answer them.

Après réflexion, j'ai décidé de proposer une participation symbolique avec une longue rubrique sur Li Yu et son Rouputuan, et trois courtes sur les romans traduits par Aloïs Tatu pour les Editions Picquier. Avis aux amateurs.