I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 241 After you sing, I will take the stage

Faced with the aggressive "Wenyi" and Kitagawa Shu, other pure literature magazines all remained silent, not wanting to be the first to stand out when they were at the peak of their popularity.

You can't beat him, and you can't win either. You can't really let the Yakuza drive a car to hit and kill Kitagawa Hide, right?
When it comes to the relationship with the Yakuza organizations, Kitagawa Hidetsu may not be one of them!

Just like that, in late October, the entire Japanese literary world seemed to be shrouded in the shadow of a man named Kitagawa Hide, like an indelible nightmare.

Now everyone just hopes that Bungeishunju will die soon, and not let this tug-of-war drag on too long, causing harm to bystanders like them.

It is said that Kodansha was worried that their own work "Gunzo" would be sacrificed in this sales war, and some senior executives even started to dig up old accounts and purge the remnants of the faction that forced Kitagawa Hide to leave.

This thing is now like an old hemorrhoid within Kodansha. It hurts from time to time for no reason, causing their buttocks to bleed all year round, which is embarrassing and uncomfortable.

The only thing Kodansha could be thankful for was that it reconciled with Kitagawa Hide quickly enough. The new president visited Kitagawa teacher several times with large sums of money and gifts. In addition, the power of the Noma family was increasingly weakened, so Kitagawa Hide no longer pursued those old and trivial matters.

In this way, the citizens of Tokyo spent late October in the fierce competition between "Literature and Art" and "Literary World".

Everything can be done once or twice, but not three times.

For two consecutive months in August and September, "The Burmese Harp" fell under the iron hoofs of "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" and "Killing Commendatore".

If the defeat continues in October, the "war literature dispute" between Arima Yoshiyoshi and Kitagawa Hide will be over.

At this point, Arima Yoshiyoshi also became nervous.

He moved out of Toru Ueno's villa, invited many literary friends, and began to revise "The Harp of Burma". He also took out a large amount of Japanese yen from his wallet and asked friends from all walks of life to step up their efforts to help promote his new book.

Now he is still stuck in the quagmire of wasting a Nobel Prize in Literature nomination qualification, his reputation has declined, and he must restore some of his reputation.

The literary connections accumulated over decades finally came in handy at this moment.

Arima Yoshiyoshi invested a large amount of money, sold his reputation, and used a lot of favors. Finally, near the end of October, the sales of Bungeishunju suddenly increased significantly, and in those few days its sales immediately surpassed that of Bungeishunju.

Seeing that there was a trend of turnaround, Arima Yoshiyoshi immediately stepped up his efforts and went with Ueno Toru to visit several other "Tenka No. 1s".

After much persuasion, they finally persuaded the "Tianxia No. 1" Momota Naoki, who had been living abroad.

Naoki Momota is a bald man who looks like a gangster boss, but he is actually a well-known and best-selling author in Japan, and a "number one writer in the world" who is more famous than Arima Yoshiyoshi.

After dropping out of the Faculty of Law at Doshisha University in Japan in the 50s, he became a "broadcast writer" writing scripts for television and radio programs, and his beginnings were not in pure literature.

In 1958, Naoki Momota won the Shincho Newcomer Award for his debut novel "Hot Blood Battle", and made his debut. He then made rapid progress by publishing a high-quality pure literary novel every two years until the 70s.

In August 1977, his war novel The Eternal Zero, which was serialized in Shincho, became a hit, and the August issue of Shincho that year also achieved a terrifying sales record of 8 copies on the first day of publication.

The August 1977 issue of Shincho had a final monthly sales volume of 8 million copies, becoming the best-selling issue of Shincho since the serialization of Devil's Tattoo.

The subsequent physical book and movie adaptation of "The Eternal Zero" were all very famous, which directly established Naoki Momota's position as the "best writer in the world".

However, after that, he gradually faded out of the literary world and turned to politics.

In 1980, Naoki Hyakuta ran for the post of Governor of Tokyo and publicly stated during the election that a certain incident had not happened.

When facing countless reporters, he even shamelessly asked back: "Why does the world ignore this? This is not happening at all."

He also described the massive air raids on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II as "a tragic event that the public should remember."

Unfortunately, this guy had zero political talent and his stupid behavior was very unpopular. At that time, Japan was about to sign the Plaza Accord with the United States, and everyone was very pro-American, so he naturally was not elected.

Naoki Hyakuta left Japan in disgrace during the bubble era, traveled around the world, and no longer wrote anything.

During the bubble period, he frantically advocated that this was an American conspiracy and so on. Except for his die-hard book fans, everyone thought he was an idiot.

I didn’t expect that he really predicted the truth about the bubble era!

The bubble economy burst, the Japanese became playthings of the Americans, and generation after generation fell into endless debt.

This made Naoki Hyakuta, who was living overseas, famous, and calls for his comeback came one after another.

However, he learned his lesson this time and realized that he was not cut out for politics. He continued to stay overseas to "gild his reputation", planning to wait until the impact of the bubble was over before returning to China to restart his literary career.

He had returned to China once before, when Ichiko Sadaji invited him to be a guest at a literary exchange meeting at Kyoto University.

He saw with his own eyes that an unknown person like Kitagawa Hideo was so arrogant and stepped on the faces of Takahashi Mutsuro, Ishihara Shintaro, Ichiko Sadatsugu and others to rise to the top.

Recently, his book "The Eternal Zero" has been dug up and criticized by netizens for discussing the concepts of anti-war and pseudo-anti-war in war literature. This made Naoki Momota increasingly dissatisfied with his new colleague, Hide Kitagawa.

It’s fine if you fight with Arima Yoshiyoshi, but why do you involve me?
But Naoki Momota has a dirty background and is a clear right-winger.

His book gives the reader only two choices:

1. Our suffering is due to war
2. Our suffering is due to our defeat
Isn’t this what Kitagawa Hide said, typical anti-defeat literature?

At the beginning, our horizons were not broad enough and there were few things to see, so we were intimidated by your writing style and content. Now when we look back and see, it’s all eye-catching stuff!
What Momota Naoki is experiencing at this moment is a bit similar to that of the "Jade Girl" Qiong Yao in the "Golden Boy and Jade Girl" next door.

Qiong Yao dramas were very popular in the past, and even little boys who didn’t watch romance dramas watched a few episodes of "My Fair Princess".

Now that everyone has grown up and looks back, they can't help but sigh: "What a twisted worldview! I actually watched this when I was a kid! It's an eyesore!"

Therefore, among the remaining six "Number Ones in the World", Naoki Hyakuta is the one who has the deepest conflict with Kitagawa Hide.

Even Tanizaki Ichiro, who recommended Arima Yoshiyoshi, would not personally go out to wrestle with a junior.

"Is there really no possibility with Mr. Tanizaki?" Arima Yoshiyoshi asked Momota Naoki beside him in a low voice while sitting in the luxury car.

Momota Naoki touched his big bald head and sneered, "What's the possibility? Tanizaki Ichiro is now firmly the number one in the literary world. Do you think that a kid named Kitagawa will threaten his historical status?"

"But we are seven of us, and if he steps on me to get to the top, won't you all be stepped on one after another?"

Arima Yoshiyoshi felt that Kitagawa Hide and Kawaide Shizuko just wanted to overthrow their seniors one by one.

Otherwise, why would he keep biting himself like a mad dog and keep talking about the anti-defeat issue?
Is it really for the purpose of educating the people and guiding the nation?

Who, after getting the title of "the best in the world", doesn't rely on it to make money and play with women to enter politics, but really shoulders that responsibility?

Are you crazy?
Arima Yoshiyoshi didn't understand Kitagawa Hide, and neither did Momota Naoki.

He felt that everyone was making a living from literature, and there were countless Japanese yen and women, so why should he destroy the jobs of his peers?
If you really want to stick to your ideals, then go and compete with Westerners for the Nobel Prize in Literature!
"Isn't this just a step on Ichiro Tanizaki's head?" Momota Naoki sneered, "Anyway, don't worry, Arima. I have studied overseas for more than ten years. I may not be his match when it comes to writing war literature, but if I change the subject matter, he is definitely not my match."

"Speaking of which, I seem to have heard that you have won many awards abroad. It seems that you also won the O. Henry Short Story Award? That's impressive."

Arima Yoshiyoshi felt disgusted with this guy.

After all, although everyone writes about opposing the defeat of the war, they still know the truth of history very clearly in their hearts.

He actually denies history from the bottom of his heart and even dares to say some laughable words during the election.

If such people enter politics, Japan will probably be doomed!
But now, he had to put on a good face and let this guy dampen Kitagawa Hide's arrogance.

I will work hard in October and rely on the guys to provide some cushion in November. By the end of the year, it will be unknown who will win between me and Kitagawa Hide!

"Haha, short stories are a weak point in our literary world. They were also my weakness before. I finally learned something."

Momota Naoki smiled with satisfaction.

He did not waste his time living abroad. He developed various connections in the literary world and with the accumulation of various resources, he is now as famous as Ichiro Tanizaki.

Arima Yoshiyoshi was right.

They have been seven people for many years.

But if there really is a chance, who wouldn’t want to dethrone Ichiro Tanizaki and sit on the throne of “number one in the world” themselves?
Speaking of this, he felt disgusted with Kitagawa Hide again.

I have been living abroad for more than ten years and have laid the groundwork for so long. I finally won the "O. Henry Short Story Award", but now, before I can even get comfortable, I've been overshadowed by Kitagawa Hide's Prix Goncourt!

The two continued to smile at each other, each thinking about their own things.

But it’s not even the end of October yet.

Arima Yoshiyoshi's plan, which had been clattering smoothly, was shattered.

Shortly after he and Toru Ueno spent money to attract traffic and help Bungeishunju surpass Bungeishunju, a bunch of disgusting photos and recordings suddenly appeared on the Internet.

The person who exposed the incident was very skilled and bold, and directly used her real name "河出書房の頭と".

(End of this chapter)