I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 264: The shame was brought abroad!
"Hello hello hello~ Can you hear me~ Teacher Kitagawa~"

A sweet little girl's voice came from the receiver.

Originally, Kitagawa Hide was still wondering when he met his "international friend", but when he heard the other party's Japanese pronunciation with a French accent, he suddenly understood.

"Ms. Olivia Wertheimer?" Kitagawa Hide asked in English.

"I'm so touched~ Mr. Kitagawa, you still remember me?" Olivia almost jumped for joy holding the phone, and her accent changed from poor French Japanese to pure British English.

"Of course. What's the matter with you calling?" Kitagawa Hide glanced at the bottle of Chanel No. 5 perfume on the windowsill. When Pete was bored, he would run over and fiddle with it for a while.

In addition, Kitagawa Hideya became one of the Chanel brand's cooperative writers. As long as he signed his name on Chanel's new products every month, he could earn a steady $10.

All this is thanks to Olivia, a little Beichuan fan far away in France.

"It's nothing serious. Teacher Kitagawa, I officially entered the Paris University School of Fine Arts at the beginning of this year. I'm telling you, there are many students in our school who like to watch Paradise Lost."

Olivia immediately started talking.

She started by talking about the hot sales of Paradise Lost in France, and then recalled many memories of the two in Paris, her words full of longing and admiration for Kitagawa Hide.

Kitagawa Hide couldn't bear to interrupt the little girl's innocent nature, and he kept chatting with Olivia for more than ten minutes. However, it was a man on the other end of the phone who interrupted Olivia's endless "memoirs".

"I'm sorry, Mr. Kitagawa, I'm Gerard Wertheimer, and my daughter has caused you trouble."

"Dad~! I haven't finished yet! A gentleman shouldn't interrupt a lady so rudely."

On the other end of the phone, before Olivia could finish her words, the maid on standby pulled her aside with a smile.

Without the interference of the little girl, Gerard, who controls half of the Chanel Group, can finally talk about business with Kitagawa Hide.

Beichuan Xiu asked doubtfully: "Mr. Gerald, do you have something to talk to me about?"

"Yes. I apologize for calling you without your permission." Gerard used Japanese greetings in English. It sounded strange, but it also showed his respect for Kitagawa Hide from the side.

He waved to the maid beside him, and the maid immediately handed him a copy of Paris Soirée.

As one of the helmsmen of a top club, Gerrard has always maintained the good habit of reading newspapers every day in order to ensure that he is sensitive to current affairs.

When reading the newspaper today, Gerard noticed an inconspicuous piece of news in the gap of the literature section:

The dark secrets of the Nobel Prize in Literature nominees were exposed in Japan!

The literature section is one of the key pages of Paris Soirée, which basically contains the latest current events in the French literary world. Sometimes, it also mentions interesting stories in the overseas literary world.

Japanese literature is not well-known worldwide, and Paris Soir may not mention it once in a whole year.

The reason why the news was published this time was mainly because of the popularity of the Nobel Prize, and the victim of the scandal was Hide Kitagawa, the original author of "Paradise Lost".

After reading this short news carefully, Gerrard roughly understood the cause and effect of the matter.

It should be that after returning to China, Mr. Kitagawa wrote another best-selling masterpiece, but the position of Nobel Prize in Literature nominee that should have belonged to him was taken by someone else.

This is no small matter for the literary world!

Before Gerard asked Olivia to make the call, he went to the headquarters of Paris Soirée to verify the authenticity of the news with the editor who published the article.

The editor of the article truthfully stated that he himself learned about this incident by chance from a friend who had returned from studying in Japan, as well as a group of Japanese students studying in France.

He couldn't guarantee what the truth of the matter was or whether it was true.

Because this matter involves the Nobel Prize in Literature and the winner of the previous Goncourt Prize, after some discussion in the editorial department, they were reluctant to give up this hot news, but were also afraid that it was fake news, so they finally settled for the second best and published it in the cracks.

After Gerard returned home, he immediately asked Olivia to call Kitagawa Hide to verify the matter.

His keen businessman's sense of smell told him that if this was true, the Chanel Group might be able to make a fortune from it!
Kitagawa Hide was also shocked after hearing his story.

Even after 2020, countries still have some blockades on overseas information, and basically have "high walls" for defense, the only difference is the height of the walls.

For example, next door, without the help of ladders and other tools, ordinary netizens cannot climb over the "high wall" by themselves to see the world.

All they can get is "outside" news processed by various self-media.

But now, in 1997, the Internet industry has not yet emerged. Not to mention cross-border, sometimes the news is not very accurate even across provinces and cities.

I didn’t expect that the news that had only been fermenting here for a few days would spread to France!

"The situation is roughly similar to what you saw in the news, but some of the details are not quite right." Kitagawa Hide simply reviewed the whole thing to Gerrard.

Now the list of recommenders has most likely been passed to the Swedish Academy. If nothing unexpected happens, he will have nothing to do with the 1996 Nobel Prize selection.

No matter how this matter goes, it is difficult for Kitagawa Hide to influence the Nobel Prize judges, so all he can do is let more overseas celebrities know about it.

"I see. Your country's literary world is very complicated." Gerard, who was used to seeing commercial struggles, quickly figured out the logic behind the incident.

The famous figures in the Japanese literary world do not like Kitagawa, a young and hot-tempered newcomer who breaks the rules, and hope to suppress him in various ways to make him behave himself.

After all, in any industry, as long as there is enough popularity, it means that those who stand at the top can have countless money and beauties.

The same is true of literature, which is considered by most people to be "untainted by the mud."

It’s just that literature is more special. There are more writers with strong wills and many who are strong-willed enough to go against politicians, so this circle looks cleaner.

In France, the literary world is still relatively pure.

It is precisely because of their pure literary nature that literary awards such as the Prix Goncourt have become world-renowned and have provided the country with batches of talented newcomers.

Gerard originally thought that the Japanese literary world, which gave birth to writers like Mr. Kitagawa, was similar to the French literary world. Now, it seems to be a toilet full of stinky dog ​​shit!

"I'm sorry to make you laugh." Kitagawa Hide said with a smile.

This is also another kind of embarrassment abroad, right?
"I'm sorry, I may not be able to help you with this matter, but I can contact the publishing house here and help you continue to publish your other works."

Gerard thought about it. He had good connections in the French literary world. With the reputation of the Chanel Group, he should be able to contact the Swedish Academy. But asking them to pay attention to and investigate this matter was a bit illusory. Maybe if he spent enough money, he could make the Swedish Academy pay attention to Kitagawa Hide, but was Kitagawa Hide really worth that much money?

As both are winners of the Goncourt Prize, supporting local writers is obviously more economically beneficial than supporting Kitagawa Hide.

But his intuition told him that this young man whom his daughter admired so much seemed a little different.

After much thought, he did not completely stay out of the matter. Instead, he helped this emerging writer far away in the East from a different angle.

It can also be considered as helping my daughter to make good connections again.

"Really? Thank you! I'll have my publisher contact you right away."

Kitagawa Hide didn't expect to get such a pleasant surprise.

Due to the particularity of Japanese literature and the failure of many "best" novels to be published overseas, most Western publishers are now reluctant to publish Japanese literature.

Many laymen think that transnational publishing is just a matter of negotiating copyright, finding a translator, and then printing and putting the book on the shelves.

In fact, the entire process of getting a novel out of its native country and onto shelves overseas is extremely cumbersome.

First, the publishing house and the author who own the publishing rights to the original work must agree to this, and then the other publishing house must spend a copyright fee that everyone is satisfied with to purchase the overseas publishing rights of the novel.

After everything is settled, the cultural supervision departments, publishing supervision departments and other units of the two countries will have to verify the terms of the contract one by one, and strictly review the original content and translated content of the novel.

Most novels are most painful at this stage, because the national conditions of the two countries are different, and the intensity of cultural supervision is also different, so the main text of the novel will most likely have to be deleted and revised. Once changed, the essence of the original work may be lost, resulting in a sales crash.

After all these problems are resolved and overseas printing is completed, the book must be reported to a special overseas department for review before it is published and put on the shelves, which involves another round of deletions and negotiations.

Sometimes it takes a year or two for a book to go from the time it is decided to be published overseas to the time it is finally available in overseas bookstores.

Many countries gradually discovered that this was a very time-consuming and labor-intensive process, and that if the selected books did not sell well, they would suffer huge losses. Therefore, over time, overseas publishing became a personal privilege for well-known writers.

Japanese literature is still very unpopular in the West, making overseas publication even more difficult.

The only exception when it comes to overseas publishing is the next door.

At one time, Gemini gave the green light to overseas literary works. At that time, it was a blessing for Gemini readers. They could read any book, and they were all uncensored versions.

But as time goes by and cultural supervision is strengthened, overseas entertainment works are now almost extinct next door.

If Hide Kitagawa's "Paradise Lost" had not won awards and sold well, Gerard would not have dared to make the bold proposal of this cooperation.

Today, Kitagawa Hide's novels are only sold in the western United States, and he still relies on the support of Gene Autry's family.

Unfortunately, the books he writes now basically have a strong Japanese style and are not very popular in the western United States. Among a group of foreign writers, they are barely third-rate and are not as popular as in France.

As for other Western countries, they unanimously rejected Kitagawa Hide's book, even though he had won the Prix Goncourt.

Because of this, Shizuko Kawaide and Rena Saito were depressed for a long time, and always felt that the overseas literary world was biased against the Japanese literary world.

Even with the strength of Kawaide Shobo, it was still unable to contact a Western publishing house willing to publish the complete collection of Kitagawa Hide's novels. However, many publishing houses in neighboring countries and South Korea extended olive branches.

Now with Gerard as the middleman, Kitagawa Hide feels that overseas publishing may actually be successful!

The two chatted about overseas publishing for a while. Gerard didn't dare to say too much. After getting the key information from Kitagawa Hide, he promised to find someone to negotiate immediately, but whether it would succeed or not would depend on the other publishing house's opinion.

The Chanel Group can guarantee the publication of "The Dancing Girl of Izu", but as for the other books, he can't do anything about it and it all depends on fate.

Before hanging up, Olivia, who learned that Kitagawa Hide was hacked, angrily snatched back the phone. While comforting her idol, she patted her chest and promised to help Teacher Kitagawa vent his anger!
Kitagawa Hide didn't take this seriously. He just hoped that Gerard could reach an agreement with the French publishing house to have his personal collection of novels published in France.

He understands now.

In addition to relying on powerful works to defeat those old guys in the Japanese literary world, one must also gild oneself and make a name for oneself abroad, like Naoki Hyakuta, in order to pry open their mouths that will remain stubborn even until death!
He was originally hesitant about what to write for his new book, but now it seems more cost-effective to copy internationally award-winning works!
In addition, since Olivia is so dedicated, she can also arrange to read the book "Remembrance of Things Past" that she has been dreaming about.

Kitagawa Hide himself is not sure whether his other books will be popular in the French literary market, but "Remembrance of Things Past" will definitely be popular.

The book's historical status in French literature is as high as that of the Four Great Classics.

After hanging up the phone, Kitagawa Hide returned to his desk and opened the letter from Ichiro Tanizaki.

The content of the letter was very simple.

Basically, Ichiro Tanizaki, in the tone of a senior and experienced person, advised Kitagawa Hide not to be too aggressive in his actions, to understand the ways of the world, the rules of the industry, and to keep a sense of propriety.

“No writer can write consistently amazing books.”

"You are also a part of the Japanese literary world, and you may even be the future leader of the Japanese literary world. If you only care about the monetary benefits when writing a book, you are too short-sighted."

“‘The Best in the World’ is a nickname and recognition given to us by literary celebrities. It is a reflection of our creative ability and a symbol of our status in the literary world.

But becoming the ‘best in the world’ doesn’t mean you can sit back and relax.”

"Please publicly apologize for refusing to accept the Tanizaki Prize.

Then, no matter what the cost, leave the river and the study as soon as possible. That will be best for you.

——Your senior, Tanizaki Ichiro"

As he scanned the rows of words written by Ichiro Tanizaki, Kitagawa Hide didn't get angry but laughed instead.

When he was a graduate student before traveling through time, he had long been troubled by a question: Why are there so many people who take advantage of their seniority in every industry?
Don’t they know that this kind of behavior is annoying and disgusting?
He was told it was because "bad guys get old."

They have always been like this and have never changed.

And now, Kitagawa Hide understood.

It's not just that the "bad guys are getting older," but that they feel from the bottom of their hearts that this is "right," it's "for your own good," and they think they are helping you.

If you don't obey, you won't listen to advice.

They are not helping you, but just satisfying their own perverted and twisted desire for control!
(End of this chapter)