The literary era since 1979

The sky gradually darkened and people began to line up at the entrance of the cinema.

There was a long queue at the ticket office. Most of the people were young boys and girls, wearing the same cheering clothes with words like "Love Letter" and "Fujii Itsuki" printed on them. They were scrambling to get the few available tickets for the movie "Love Letter".

At this time, the earlier shows on the screen have been sold out, with only a few tickets left for the midnight show.

The entire lobby was filled with noise and bustle, so loud that it almost drowned out the "Anohana" song playing on the speakers.

Reporters who came here because of the movie shuttled among the crowd. Some asked questions specifically to the audience members who were waiting for ticket checking, some interviewed book fans who were still queuing up to buy tickets, and some took the lead and contacted the theater manager early to ask and answer questions about "Love Letter".

Some media that have close cooperation with Shochiku and Kadokawa Films, such as Fuji TV, entered the backstage openly.

Takuya Kimura, Shizuka Kudo, and other members of the Kitten Club were walking back and forth between the lounge and the corridor, talking and laughing.

Even in front of the media cameras, they did not restrain themselves at all, and their cheerful laughter was full of joy and anticipation.

The movie "Love Letter" in which I participated has finally been released!
But suddenly, the laughter echoing in the corridor stopped, and was replaced by a series of trivial footsteps.

When Kimura Takuya saw Fang Yan, Matsuzaka Keiko and others appear in his sight, he immediately became respectful and stopped talking and laughing.

After all, the hierarchy in the Japanese entertainment industry is extremely strict.

For a young artist like him who had just debuted, when meeting a senior like Keiko Matsuzaka who was an expert in film, television and music, he had to bow at least 75 degrees in respect. What's more, Keiko Matsuzaka was also the representative of the joint agency of Shochiku and Kadokawa Pictures, so he had to bow 90 degrees.

When she saw the "great writer Fang" who was rumored to have a close relationship with her, she shuddered and bent down.

"Fangyan-san, nice to meet you, please take care of me!"

"Who is this……"

Fangyan glanced at Keiko Matsuzaka and asked the question even though he knew the answer.

"He is Kimura-kun who plays the male Fujii Itsuki."

Keiko Matsuzaka answered very cooperatively.

Fangyan pretended to be suddenly enlightened, then shook hands with everyone present one by one, with a big smile on his face, and was extremely friendly.

When facing Kudo Shizuka and her "Kitten Club" group, he praised and encouraged them:
"You guys are great! You performed the song I wrote very well!"

"It's my honor to receive such praise from you!"

The members of the Kitten Club, including Shizuka Kudo, were flattered and all bowed 90 degrees to express their gratitude.

It cannot be said that all of them sang from the bottom of their hearts, but at least the majority of them did. The song "Anohana" written in dialect made them taste the sweetness of having a single enter the top five of Japan's cable on-demand chart and Japan's singles record chart for the first time, which had never happened before.

"Emm..."

Fangyan smiled without saying anything, and then he saw the reporter from Fuji TV squeeze out of the crowd and come closer like a shark smelling blood.

After introducing himself, he tactfully did not ask questions right away, but instead said respectfully:
"Congratulations to Fang Yan-sang for winning another major literary award with his book Love Letter, the Yasunari Kawabata Literature Award!"

"Thank you."

Fangyan said some polite words, such as thanking the jury, etc. Seeing that the time was right, the reporter began to ask questions: "You have been creating either serious literature like "Farewell My Concubine" and "The Country Postman", or works full of fantasy like "The Three-Body Problem" and "The Ring". What made you think of creating a pure love and beautiful novel like "Love Letter"? "

"Because I want to write a youth literature that includes love, life, regrets, etc. while I still have the memories of my youth." Fang Yan half-jokingly said, "It would be best if it would make boys and girls shed tears and remain in people's memories."

"You obviously did."

The reporter smiled slightly, "Almost no one will not shed tears after reading Love Letter."

Then he suddenly changed the subject and said, "I had this feeling in another novel called Norwegian Wood."

"Oh!"

Fangyan raised his eyebrows, realizing that the reporter might be trying to set him up by comparing "Love Letter" with "Norwegian Wood".

As expected, the reporter's next question was, "Have you seen Norwegian Wood?"

"Of course!"

Fangyan smiled faintly and said that before the publication of "Norwegian Wood", he was invited by Haruki Murakami to read the final draft. Even the publishing house that published "Norwegian Wood" was the one he recommended to Murakami.

“I didn’t expect that you have such a connection with Norwegian Wood.”

Although his answer did not fall into the trap, the reporter did not feel sorry at all because he had unearthed even more unknown secrets.

I was filled with excitement and couldn't wait to ask, "Many people think that Love Letter and Norwegian Wood are extremely similar in terms of character relationships and story plots, like two sides of a mirror. Could it be related to this origin?"

"Murakami did draw some inspiration from my Love Letter."

Fangyan shook his head in denial, "But I think we wrote two completely different kinds of youth literature."

"Can you elaborate on this?"

The reporter was surprised.

"Pure love novels like Love Letter are youth literature that combines realism, aestheticism, and mono no awarness."

Fangyu said seriously, "And Norwegian Wood is a youth-pain literature that incorporates hallucinatory realism."

When hearing the terms "youth pain literature" and "hallucination realism", the reporter felt unfamiliar and had never heard of such words before.

"The modern novelist must go somewhat beyond realism, and what is called 'illusionary realism' ..."

Fangyan explained in a long and eloquent manner, "Just like the mountain sanatorium where Naoko could not leave in Norwegian Wood, it is a 'completely unrealistic world of illusion'. Murakami used the interconnected and integrated description of reality and fantasy, the quiet insertion of daydreams and the deliberate manipulation of illusions to create this mysterious atmosphere that is like a dream and the supernatural."

Keiko Matsuzaka stared at him straight, her eyes sparkling and full of admiration, completely unaware that everyone else present was looking confused.

Although I didn’t understand it, I was deeply shocked!
Kimura Takuya and others even scratched their heads, feeling their scalps itchy, as if a brain was about to grow out of them!
Fangyan looked around and curled his lips. It’s said that cultural workers must be cultured!

Otherwise, it would be a joke, such as "making Qin Hui recite "Man Jiang Hong", "traveling back to the Ming Dynasty to fight with Empress Ma in the palace", "Yin Jiao sucked the magic power of Yuanshi Tianzun", "Wu Zetian sent the prince to the grassland to marry, and played "Qin Wang Po Zhen Yue" at the marriage banquet"... (End of this chapter)