The literary era since 1979

"In fact, this ambiguous culture is not only based on thinking patterns and behavioral logic, but may also be related to religion."

Fangyan looked at Haruki Murakami and his wife, and then at Kadokawa Koyomi.

"religion?"

Kadokawa Toshihiko asked curiously, "Is it Shintoism or Buddhism?"

“Buddhism, of course.”

According to Fangyan, there is a saying in the Buddhist scriptures, called "transmitting the mind through the mind", which means "enlightenment of the Tao."

Ever since Buddhism was introduced to Japan during the Sui and Tang dynasties, it has gradually been promoted along with Zen thoughts such as "everything exists out of nothing", so that "heart-to-heart communication" has become a highest tacit understanding in interpersonal communication.

To achieve this level of tacit understanding, not only the same spiritual realm is required, but also mutual "telepathy" is required.

In other words, there is no need to say it clearly, you just need to know what the other person is thinking and what he wants, the so-called mutual understanding.

"It is indeed like what Fangyan-kun said."

Murakami Haruki's eyes showed enlightenment and admiration, "For example, our 'belly art'."

Fangyan was very surprised and looked at Haruki Murakami and Haruki Kadokawa inquiringly.

"Mr. Fangyan, what you are doing now is a kind of 'belly art'."

Kadokawa Lehiko explained that abdominal art can be called "communication of the mind" because Japanese people are reluctant to express their ideas in a direct, clear, concise and logical way when interacting with others. They always use rich facial expressions, length of silence, and gurgling sounds from their mouths to respond indirectly. If a person needs help from a friend but is unwilling to say it directly, he will hint at it.

The greater the help needed, the more vague the hint should be, for fear of speaking too directly and leaving no room for maneuver.

"So that's it."

Fangyan smacked his lips. No wonder when he was dealing with Kadokawa Kojihiko and Okuyama Jun, they were like riddlers from time to time, and their answers were not clear and concise at all. It was obvious that they had been attracted to him for a long time, but the more attracted they were, the more vague and dragged their words.

"We consider this belly language to be the highest form of interpersonal communication in Japanese society."

Haruki Murakami said helplessly: "Of course, there are many people, including me, who sometimes complain that it is too meaningless."

"Perhaps this is why delicate and ambiguous pure love novels like Love Letter are so popular among Japanese readers."

Fangyan gave a faint smile.

Over three cups of hot tea, everyone chatted more and more happily, until the clerk knocked on the door and reminded them that the book signing event would be held soon.

"I really benefited a lot from talking to Fang Yanjun today."

Haruki Murakami stood up and said, "It will be of great help to my next creation."

Kadokawa Koyomi asked, "Is Murakami-kun preparing for his next new work?"

"Ashamed to say that."

Haruki Murakami said that he won the Tanizaki Junichiro Award last year for "The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland", but he felt that he had reached a "stabilization period" or a "bottleneck period" as a writer, so he hoped to make a breakthrough in his new work and adopt a writing style that is different from his previous works. Of course, he also wanted to write a youth novel similar to "Love Letter" at the end of his thirties when he is still dragging along the tail of youth memories.

Fangyan immediately thought of "Norwegian Wood", and the result was as he expected.

Kadokawa Lehiko was puzzled: "Why is it called this name?" Murakami Haruki said: "It was just a coincidence. Before I conceive and write a novel, I like to listen to a piece of music first, and then get into the mood. At that time, Yoko found the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood". Both the psychedelic rock style and the meaning of the lyrics were exactly what I wanted."

Takahashi Yoko half-jokingly added, "He learned all his novel-writing techniques from music."

"How did this come about?"

Kadokawa Kojihiko found it difficult to understand for a while.

“Maybe writing is like music.”

Dialects walk out of the rest room: "Rhythm can be created through the combination of words, sentences, paragraphs, soft and hard, light and heavy, balanced and unbalanced, punctuation marks and intonation. Am I right?"

"Tooth white!"

Yoko Takahashi covered her mouth in shock, then glanced at Haruki Murakami and saw that his face was also full of shock and disbelief.

Obviously, Fangyan's understanding touched Murakami Haruki's heart, even though today was only their first meeting.

Fang Yan smiled and said that he was both a writer and an editor in Hua Xia. He once mentored a music teacher named "Liu Sola". Due to her lack of guidance and training in writing, her writing style and techniques were a bit rough and immature, so he asked her to write novels with the mentality of composing music.

“The most important element of music is rhythm, and the same is true for composition. If an article lacks rhythm, no one will want to read it.”

"That's exactly right!"

Haruki Murakami seemed to have found a kindred spirit, and said with great joy: "If the article has a rhythm, the story has a rhythm, then the next thing will be a natural flow of ideas. When I write, my mind often automatically transforms the novel into sound, uses this sound to build a rhythm, and then improvises a theme in the style of jazz, and quickly produces the next theme, and so on, until the whole piece is written."

Kadokawa Lehiko couldn't help but sigh: "This is really amazing."

Haruki Murakami asked anxiously, "Mr. Fangyan, what kind of work did the music teacher you taught write?"

Fangyan said: "It's called "You, Have No Other Choice", a youth pain literature with rock music as the theme."

Everyone present, including Haruki Murakami, was amazed. They had never heard of or seen such "youth pain literature" before.

He gave a simple explanation in dialect with a slight smile on his face. After all, Norwegian Wood is the originator of youth pain literature. Writers of youth pain literature like Han Han, Guo Jingming, and Annie Baby can all be regarded as disciples of Haruki Murakami.

"This this……"

The more Haruki Murakami listened, the more he felt that the youth novel he wrote was also a piece of literature about the pain of youth.

It is difficult for Kadokawa Kojihiko to understand that no matter how you look at it, the title of the book "Norwegian Wood" has nothing to do with the literature of youth pain.

“Perhaps there is a forest deep in everyone’s heart. Perhaps we have never set foot in it, but it always exists, quietly waiting for us to discover it.” Fang Yan said: “Isn’t youth like this? Those who should get lost in the forest will get lost, and those who should walk out of the forest will walk out.”

Murakami Haruki's heart suddenly jumped. Not only did his words hit the core theme of "Norwegian Wood", but they also hooked his heartstrings like a hook. It simply touched his heart. Could it be that he and the dialect have reached the point of "conveying the heart through the heart" in literature?
Noticing the subtle expression on her husband's face, Takahashi Yoko immediately understood his "skills" and said with a knowing smile:

"I wonder what your plans are after the book signing is over?"

"Well..."

Kadokawa Lehiko originally wanted to go to an izakaya to have a drink with Fangyan to celebrate the preliminary consensus reached by Kadokawa Pictures and Shochiku on co-producing "Love Letter", but when he saw Fangyan say "nothing" with a smile, he realized the hidden meaning of this "belly art".

So it was an invitation for them to read the manuscript of "Norwegian Wood"! (End of this chapter)