I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 217 Parallel Lives

“I have to say that whether it is writing skills, literary literacy, word choice, sentence structure, or plot arrangement, Arima-sensei is far superior to ordinary pure literature writers.”

In fact, Kitagawa Hide looked down on those literati and poets who relied on right-wing militarists for their livelihood.

But there was a young girl sitting next to him who was still ignorant and had just opened the door to literature, so he could only hold back his sharp words and first praise Arima Yoshiyoshi, who was also known as the "best in the world".

"Yeah, I thought so too. But after reading it, I felt like something was missing, especially compared to yours, Xiujun."

After eating too much "polished rice" produced by Kitagawa Hide, Mengzi hasn't read any novels by other pure literature writers for a long time.

This time, Arima Yoshiyoshi serialized a new book. After reading it for the first time, it really made her feel like she was dreaming back to the time when she first came into contact with pure literary novels.

But for some reason, as she watched, there always seemed to be some disharmony, something that made her feel uncomfortable.

"My sister and I have the same idea." Xunzi said softly. Facing Kitagawa Hide and my wife Yumeko, two people whose literary literacy far exceeded hers, she always felt that she would easily be laughed at if she spoke.

"It's probably because of the pseudo-anti-war content and anti-war defeat plot implied in the novel that made you feel uncomfortable."

Kitagawa Hide is a new generation of readers who have been baptized by a large number of new literary works and massive literary research materials. Many authors like to secretly insert their own "private goods" into their novels when writing them.

Authors and readers in the 90s were relatively simple and honest, so they were not very sensitive to this kind of "personal stuff". They would just subconsciously develop a resistance when they read something uncomfortable, but most of them did not know why they felt uncomfortable reading it, just like Mengzi and the others.

"Pseudo anti-war and anti-war defeat?" Mengzi and Xunzi opened their eyes wide. It was the first time they heard this.

Kitagawa Hide nodded and briefly explained to them the differences between these two and the anti-war theme.

Pseudo-anti-war is easy to understand. It is just selling dog meat under the guise of selling mutton. It seems that the novel is written with anti-war as the main theme, but in fact the author has no anti-war consciousness at all deep in his heart.

This type of work often likes to use the cruelty of war and the tragic experiences of victims as entry points, and describes in great detail the war life of the suffering people, but rarely, or simply does not involve war plots.

Take the profound film "Nanjing! Nanjing!" for example. In the several-hour film, not only the devastated city and the suffering people under the war were portrayed in detail, but also a lot of space was spent on describing the ugly faces of the invaders and the harm caused by the war of aggression to all parties.

If you look closely, you will find that this type of truly anti-war work takes a comprehensive perspective and uses universal human values ​​to view war and the harm it brings. Its ultimate idea is to convey anti-war consciousness to the people and to denounce the harm that war has caused to humanity.

However, a large number of pseudo-anti-war works in Japan focus on describing the unfair treatment suffered by the Japanese people during the war, and rarely involve the Japanese military or the other side of the war.

Most war literature avoids deep self-reflection, and writers like the "Pen Army" even sing praises for the war of aggression.

However, this kind of writing style that carries "private agenda" can easily be discovered by readers because its purpose is too obvious.

Arima Yoshiyoshi's "The Harp of Burma" uses a more clever writing style, combining pseudo-anti-war and anti-defeat ideas.

Anti-defeat works are always looking for an object of resistance and presenting it as "forced resistance" - I did not intend to launch an aggressive war, but was forced to do so. It is not me who is wrong, but the world.

On the surface, this type of work, like anti-war works, deeply analyzes the war, but subconsciously caters to the right-wing war consciousness.

The core of the right wing is aggression and extreme militarism, which is reflected in reality as massive violence and death. This extreme thinking is bound to make ordinary people very uncomfortable.

"In most of the so-called anti-war novels we see, you will find that the targets of the war in the books are often Britain and the United States, and the background is often centered on the Pacific battlefield. The characters next door are often ignored.

That is because in the cultural psychology of these writers, although the neighboring country was the victorious country, it was the United States that defeated Japan, and Britain and the United States were the objects that Japan needed to imitate and catch up with.

This is also a subtle anti-defeat mentality.

Instead of reviewing the issue of the war of aggression, we blindly believe that we lost because the other side was too strong, so we must catch up and never lose again."

Kitagawa Hide opened the book "Literary World" again and analyzed "The Burmese Harp" word by word.

This novel only mentions the Pacific battlefield. Just as he said, it is full of descriptions of the sufferings of war, but does not mention the Japanese army that launched the war of aggression.

"The first two chapters only describe the trauma suffered by several Japanese soldiers during the war, while the latter chapters focus on the 'close relationship between the Japanese, British and Burmese peoples'."

Kitagawa Hide patted the table lightly.
"What makes you feel uncomfortable is that the Japanese army is clearly the perpetrator in the book, but they appear as victims, and they force the perpetrators and victims to be one family."

His incisive analysis soon attracted many climbers holding "Literary World" to come and listen.

No ordinary person likes war, because the only beneficiaries of war are those who start it behind the scenes, while the victims are countless.

Arima Yoshiyoshi used his superb writing skills and writing skills to instill right-wing thinking into readers, which was then unravelled by Kitagawa Hide, making everyone feel horrified.

"I see! That's why I felt uncomfortable when I saw the Burmese people crying because of the Japanese musician's harp performance."

"That's really well said! I've read pure literary novels for so many years, but they're not as good as this guy's few sentences!"

"You're from Tokyo, right? You look like a top student from a prestigious school. That's amazing."

"Reflection on the war is what we should do, but the right-wing parties are always vague about it, which is really unmannerly!"

Climbers joined the discussion on "The Burmese Harp" one after another, and their voices rose one after another, attracting the attention of the young man selling books.

Guangzi, who had just been called over and scolded by the young man, looked at Beichuan Xiu in the crowd with admiration. He didn't expect that the customer he attracted was so knowledgeable!
As everyone was discussing, the drizzle outside gradually stopped. As it was almost noon, the climbers got up and prepared to leave the circus and climb higher.

Kitagawa Hide and the geishas from the touring performing arts troupe said goodbye to everyone from the Izaku Circus. Only then did they realize that the young man who sold books at a high price was the circus's leader, Izaku.

Guangzi kept waving to Kitagawa Hide in the crowd. Her bright smile, like that of the dancer Xun, sparkled with an innocence rarely seen in young girls in the big city.

Kitagawa Hide and his group left the circus and walked into the dark tunnel under the hot sun at noon. Because it had just rained, cold water dripped down from time to time.

In front of the tunnel is the exit to the top of Amagi Mountain, with a small light appearing.

The mountain road starts from the tunnel exit and is surrounded by a white-painted railing along the edge of the cliff, extending like a flash of lightning.

"Ah, the sky is finally clear! What you said just now is so true." The only skinny man in the artist group trotted over and talked to Kitagawa Hide.

Kitagawa Hide smiled and nodded, then started chatting with him casually.

The skinny man calls himself Rongji. He is the older brother of the dancer Axun, and is married to Chiyoko, the oldest of the three girls.

". You guys are obviously from Tokyo, totally different from us country folk." Unlike his shy appearance, Rongji is very talkative. After chatting for a while, he started to talk about his past like a machine gun.

"I used to be in a new theater troupe in Tokyo. Our troupe often performed near Oshima Port. Maybe you guys have seen it.

At that time, Chiyoko and her friends followed me, but unfortunately the bubble burst and I became destitute. Chiyoko also lost two babies. We had no place to make a living in Tokyo, so we came to Izu."

Similar life experiences were common in Japan during the bubble era, but Kitagawa Hide didn't feel much about it. He just felt a little sorry for Kaoruko, who was less than 18 years old but couldn't even afford to go to school, and Chiyo, who had several miscarriages before she was 20.

The future lives of the three geishas including Kaoru can be seen almost at a glance. Each of them holds a shamisen and a big drum, on which are placed "Literary World" and "Confessions". They clearly have the same dreams as their peers, but in the end they can only wander around the world with Eikichi, which is really sad.

"You brag about your experience in Tokyo again?" The middle-aged geisha quickened her pace and scolded Rongji with a smile, then said to Kitagawa Hide and the others, "Master and Madam, don't listen to his nonsense. That stuff is not worth mentioning."

"My mother always ruins my show." Rongji didn't get angry and responded with a smile.

At this time, Xunzi and the other two behind also caught up.

Although they lived in extreme poverty, their optimistic and cheerful family members' simple and honest state of mind infected Kitagawa Hide and the other two.

They had no money and lived a hard life, but Xunzi felt that there was nothing wrong with such a worry-free life.

The only regret was that as a geisha she had neither money nor the possibility to go to school in a big city.

Even the local school in Izu was unwilling to accept Kaoruko and her friends - the lowly status of dancers and geishas was looked down upon by most people.

Because Kitagawa Hide and his companion planned to travel with a touring artist group, a group of climbers who originally wanted to negotiate with Kitagawa Hide immediately gave up the idea and left first to go to the top of Amagi Mountain.

Seeing this scene, Rongji and the others felt quite guilty, but they were also grateful from the bottom of their hearts to Kitagawa Hide and the other person for not looking at them with any tinted glasses.

The group finally reached the top of the mountain, panting, but was surprised to find a sign erected at the door of the only teahouse on the top of the mountain:
"Beggars and touring artists are not allowed to enter!"

(End of this chapter)