I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 269 I'm sorry, I want to apologize for my previous disrespect to Mr. Beichuan

"Really?!"

Even though he knew that Yumeko would never lie to him about such a thing, Kitagawa Hide couldn't help but ask again.

He couldn't help but relax his hold on Mengzi, for fear of hurting the future mother and the baby in her belly.

Mengzi blushed and nodded slightly, leaning her little head gently on his shoulder: "It's true, Xiujun. I tested it several times."

"Great!" Kitagawa Hide was delighted and kissed Mengzi on the cheek. Then he said seriously, "I will take you to the Tokyo University Hospital for a comprehensive examination tomorrow. Also, let's put your work aside for now! By the way, do you want to call your uncle and aunt to inform them, or should I come?"

"I'll listen to you, Xiujun~" Mengzi said in a soft voice, like a little bird.

I don’t know if it’s because of the pregnancy, but the little bit of strong woman character that I just developed during this period has been erased again.

Now Mengzi can even realize that her voice, accent, and even her words and actions have become more like a soft girl.

"Well! Leave it all to me! You can rest assured and take care of the baby at home!" Although he has lived two lives, this is the first time that Kitagawa Hide has encountered such a thing. While he was happy, he soon became serious.

He has finally achieved success in his career and is about to have a happy family in his new life, and he has to shoulder the responsibilities of a good husband and a good father!

Originally, he thought that the first half of 97 would be relatively free, and he would just need to write some novels and pay attention to the financial crisis. But now it seems that he may be unexpectedly busy.

In addition, although he didn't say it to Yumeko, Kitagawa Hide had already secretly arranged a series of subsequent events in his heart.

The formal proposal ceremony, the preparation of the new house and wedding, the planning of the honeymoon life after marriage, the arrangements for the future life of the couple, etc.

There are many things to do, and they must be implemented quickly and in an orderly manner, so that Mengzi can feel more at ease.

After all, Japan is a very magical country.

Japanese people have a very open view on love, but an extremely conservative view on marriage. Once a woman gets married, she is very likely to give up her career and studies and become a full-time housewife.

Such a desperate behavior will bring great psychological burden to Japanese women who have traditional views on marriage.

If you get pregnant before marriage, your sense of security will be even more lacking.

Although my little wife didn't say anything, she must be very nervous in her heart and hoped that I could give her an explanation as soon as possible.

"Okay~ Then I'll leave everything to you, Hideki~" In fact, Mengzi was now immersed in the sweet love mind and didn't think so much.

Now she just wants to stay in Xiujun's arms like this, waiting for the baby in her belly to grow up and be born.

While Kitagawa Hide and his girlfriend were enjoying their sweet time, Audemaison, who was far away in Paris, was worried about his book "The Dancing Girl of Izu".

Although Modiano, president of the University of Paris VII, has guaranteed the nomination, presidents of other universities are still skeptical about nominating a Japanese writer for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The French literary world is full of talented people, but there are only a few places for recommendation, which they cannot digest internally. Unless the works are particularly outstanding, it is not worth it for them to do so.

Marguerite Duras, president of the University of Paris Des Arts Département, is a conservative representative who strongly opposes this matter.

Many people may not have heard of the name of this rare female master of French literature, but they must have heard of her representative works.

One is a film and television script created in 1959 called "Hiroshima Mon Amour".

One is a love novel called "The Lover" which was written in 1984 and won the Goncourt Prize that year.

"The Lover" was popular in France in the 80s and was later adapted into a movie of the same name by Jean-Jacques Annaud, starring Jane March and Tony Leung Ka-fai.

The novel tells the story of a British female student who met an adult wealthy Chinese young man on the Mekong River in Saigon, Vietnam. The two fell in love at first sight and their relationship developed rapidly.

However, the girl's parents discriminated against Chinese people, and the boy also disliked the girl's family being poor. In the end, the relationship ended in failure, which was sad.

The film was released in France in 1993 and received rave reviews. Tony Leung also showcased his superb acting skills in this film.

Later, when many young people mentioned Tony Leung, what came to their mind were always the senior official acting with Aaron Kwok in "Cold War" and Zhou Chaoxian who said "You drive a Mazda, you deserve to be stuck in traffic" in "Black Gold".

In fact, he has a very good foundation in literary drama, which is fully demonstrated in this film.

Now that she has achieved success, Marguerite Duras has retired to the second line, serving as the president of the University of Paris V and the French nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature. She is as famous in the French literary world as Audemason.

With her taking the lead in opposing it, many principals followed suit and the matter came to a standstill.

As the end of January approaches, the deadline for nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature is approaching.

Having prepared all the information, Odemaison brought Combesco and Modiano to visit Margaret.

Margaret, who had just finished breakfast, saw the three of them and her face suddenly fell.

"Odemaison, I've already said that I won't agree to recommend him for the Nobel Prize in Literature." Margaret returned to her seat and asked the maid to serve them coffee. She said in a muffled voice, "The French are recommending a Japanese to judge the prize. If this gets out, it will cause great damage."

"I heard about it from other people yesterday." Odemeisson interrupted her with a shake of his head, and handed her the crumpled copy of The Dancing Girl of Izu, which was covered with sticky notes on every page. "You didn't actually read the book carefully."

"So what?" Margaret glanced at the book handed to her by Odmeson and was shocked by the dense reading notes on it. "My God, did you do this by yourself?"

"Yes. I have reread this book several times these days. In a few days, our translator will be able to translate Mr. Kitagawa's other novels into French. Believe me, it is worth reading."

Odemaison took out another stack of manuscript paper and pushed it in front of her.

“This is the recommendation letter I wrote for him.”

"You wrote the recommendation letter yourself?!"

Margaret was shocked, because she remembered that when Combesco was recommended to the Swedish Academy last year, Oddmesson did not help write the recommendation letter.

Although this stubborn old man behaves strangely, his respect for literature far exceeds that of others.

The fact that he was able to write a personal letter of recommendation shows that Kitagawa Hide is not only capable of winning the Prix Goncourt.

Odemaison really believes that this Japanese writer can be successfully nominated and even win the award!

".I am honored to recommend this young Japanese writer, Kitagawa Hide, to you. I believe that those who know something about Japanese literature must be very familiar with his name.

Mr. Beichuan is 25 years old this year. Most of the writers I know, at his age, are still obsessed with the application of words and superficial aesthetics, but Mr. Beichuan has begun to touch upon the most obscure and profound parts of the literary world.

The letter was not long, but the content was full of pearls. It was called a recommendation letter, but it felt more like a mindless flattery of Kitagawa Hide. Now Margaret also became interested in the "Dancing Girl of Izu" that she had not watched carefully.

She calmed down, picked up a book covered with sticky notes, and began to read it page by page.

It wasn't long before Margaret was inspired by several of the short stories in the book.

When Odmeson and his colleagues first brought the book, several university presidents, led by Margaret, did not actually read the contents of the book carefully.

Like Modiano, they are busy with mundane affairs and have no intention of caring about the affairs of the Japanese literary world.

Not every writer is as devoted to literature and as broad-minded as Oudmaison.

Now immersed in the Japanese rural world depicted in "The Dancing Girl of Izu", Margaret's expression has changed.

She herself likes to write love stories very much, but as we all know, the more love accounts for a novel, the less literary the novel is, and the more it tends to be popular literature.

Especially in pure literary novels which are known for their literary quality, elements like "love" are often just embellishments in the novel and are dispensable.

However, Mr. Kitagawa's works actually use love as the theme of the novel. I heard that his work "Paradise Lost", which won the Goncourt Prize, also has a similar theme.

It turned out that in the far East, in a country she didn't know, such an outstanding writer had been born!

In this way, time passed by minute by minute in the quiet living room.

Odemeson and the others waited for Margaret's reaction after reading it.

Modiano in the corner sighed. It turned out that this was how his reaction was seen by others in the office at that time!

Margaret at this moment is the Modiano of that time!
After reading the last article, "The Dancing Girl of Izu", Margaret's pupils couldn't help but shrink.

Shocked!

Quite shocking!
At this moment, she felt as if she had experienced a long life and had seen countless landscapes. She was now in the last moment of her life, sitting in a recliner and reviewing the wonderful scenes of the past.

Then suddenly a man popped up, talking unreasonably about his life.

Then she was shocked to find that her life was so ordinary compared to others, and the experiences she was proud of were not worth mentioning at all!
Margaret suddenly began to doubt her life, including her literary career which she had thought was perfect.

After a long time, she slowly closed the book and said, "I'm sorry. I want to apologize for my earlier disrespect to Mr. Beichuan."

"Odemeisson is right. Mr. Kitagawa is a writer who deserves to be recommended for the Nobel Prize. The Dancing Girl of Izu is the best pure literary romance novel I have ever read."

Margaret stood up and bowed deeply to the three of them to apologize.

"So Margaret, do you agree to recommend Mr. Kitagawa and this work to the Swedish Academy?" A hint of joy finally appeared on Odmeisson's calm face.

"Yes. Modiano and I will work together to convince other principals to give the quota to Mr. Kitagawa. And I believe that those who disagree must be like me before, too arrogant and didn't read the novel carefully at all!"

Margaret nodded firmly, looking like a completely different person than before.
"Let's get going without further delay, Modiano!"

"Okay. Today is January 1th, and if we delay any further we will reach the deadline." Modiano nodded. He just wanted to discuss the merger project of the seven and five majors with Margaret.

"Yes." Margaret asked the maid to get her windbreaker, then turned to look at Odemeisson, "Odemeisson, if there are other works by Mr. Beichuan, please mail them to me as soon as possible!"

"Of course." Odmeson nodded with a smile.

He had originally planned to have the University of Paris Press publish Kitagawa Hide's collection of novels.

After the matter was settled, Margaret put on a windbreaker, a scarf, and a felt hat, and walked out of the apartment shoulder to shoulder with Modiano.

Before leaving, she asked her maid to go to the bookstore and buy a copy of Paradise Lost.

The two walked side by side on the path leading to the parking lot. Modiano took the opportunity to speak first: "Margaret, the merger of the Seven and Five"

"Modiano." Margaret paused and suddenly said, "I'm afraid I can't make the decision on this matter."

"Why?" Modiano frowned.

Margaret sighed and said, "The Socialist Party and the Labor Party have always opposed this matter, so it is difficult to advance it. But as long as there is enough time, it will be completed one day. But I am afraid I can't wait until that day."

Modiano looked down at her.

Margaret is 80 years old this year. You say she is old, yes, she is a little old, but not to that extent.

Margaret noticed his gaze and explained, "What I meant is that I am preparing to step down as the principal of the Five Great Schools."

"Why?" he asked again.

"I'm quite old now, and I haven't read books seriously in recent years because of many trivial matters." Margaret continued to sigh, "After reading Mr. Beichuan's book today, I felt like I saw a whole new world. Maybe it's a little late now, but I want to take advantage of the last bit of time to read his works carefully and rethink my literary career."

"This..." Modiano knew that "The Dancing Girl of Izu" had a great impact on Margaret, but he didn't expect it to be so great!
In order to study Kitagawa Hide's book, she actually resigned!
He also said that he wanted to reflect on his literary career!

This is really a blow!
"I am also planning to write a letter of recommendation to the Swedish Academy, just like Oddmasson did." Margaret didn't just say she wanted to apologize for her ignorance.

Over the years, as she said, because of many trivial matters, she gradually became like "Ichiro Tanizaki".

But now she has come to her senses and is ready to reshape her final life.

This letter of recommendation can be regarded as her respect and apology to Teacher Beichuan.

Modiano could understand why Margaret felt so deeply.

After all, the two most representative works in her life are novels that use the difference in identity and status between the male and female protagonists to trigger love conflicts.

It can be said that the core of the story is exactly the same as "The Dancing Girl of Izu".

However, Kitagawa Hide used only a few thousand words to get what she had been pursuing for her entire life and which was still out of reach!
Only truly top-notch writers can understand this chasm-like gap!

It’s no wonder that Margaret wanted to quit her job and go back to school to start over after her life’s achievements were surpassed by half of “The Dancing Girl of Izu”!

(End of this chapter)