I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 282 Strong Enemy
"For a long time I went to bed early. Sometimes my eyelids would close as soon as the candle went out, before I could even murmur, 'I am going to sleep.'

Half an hour later, I thought I should go to sleep, and that thought woke me up."

Oudmaison and Combesco each had a copy, and they sat quietly on the sofa reading "Remembrance of Things Past" which was "specially made" for French readers by Hide Kitagawa.

The novel is divided into seven parts, and the first part, Swann's Way, is divided into three volumes.

What Kitagawa Hide sent was the first volume of "Combray".

It was the first time for the two of them to see a pure literary novel that began with an inner monologue.

As they read, they realized that the background of this story was actually France during the First and Second World War!
The images, landscapes, characters and wording in the novel all gave Oddmaison a sense of familiarity.

Now over eighty years old, he had experienced that horrific world war and was very familiar with the customs and practices of that period.

It is no exaggeration to say that if the author's pen name was covered up, he would definitely think that this novel was written by a talented World War II veteran!

"He is really only 25 years old this year, right?" Odmesson couldn't help but ask.

Combesco nodded and said, "Yes. And according to Olivia, the last time he came to receive the Goncourt Prize was probably his first time setting foot on French soil."

The implication is that Hide Kitagawa certainly doesn't know much about French culture and customs.

Not to mention that the story is set in France a hundred years ago.

"Genius. He is a true genius!" Odmesson became more and more obsessed as he read.

"Remembrance of Things Past" is a memoir of the protagonist "I". The narrator is named "Marcel", a young man from a wealthy family but frail. He has had a special interest in calligraphy and painting since he was a child. He once tried literary creation but failed.

The first few sentences describe the painful experience of an insomnia patient in a very immersive way. Either Kitagawa Hide is a severe insomnia patient, or he has done in-depth research on this.

Oudmaison leans towards the latter.

That is, Kitagawa Hidekata consulted a large amount of literature and wrote the volume "Combray".

The first volume has about 8 words. The two of them read it from a.m. until lunch time before they finally finished it.

After closing the draft, Odmesson let out a long sigh and looked up to meet Combesco's eyes.

The two were silent for a long time before Combesco asked tentatively, "Teacher Odemaison, what do you think of this novel?"

"It is worthy of the title of a masterpiece!" Odemeisson answered decisively, "The first-person novels he wrote are very different from those written by other writers. It's like a vortex of consciousness flowing everywhere, making you deeply trapped in it and unable to extricate yourself.

Stream of consciousness. Maybe this will create a whole new genre of literature! What a pity!"

"What a pity?" Combesco agreed with Odmeson's evaluation, but he didn't understand why he felt it was a pity.

Odemeisson sighed and said, "You have also read the "Collection of Kitagawa Hide's Novels" which is about to be published, right? Although I haven't finished reading it all, I can feel that his Japanese literary atmosphere is still very strong. Unfortunately, if Japanese literature cannot be well translated, it will be difficult to win awards in the Western literary world.

"The Dancing Girl of Izu" is so excellent, but the judges of the Swedish Academy have already revealed that it will definitely not win the award this year.

After all, no matter how good a translation is, it can’t compare to the original work!

If I had known that he had the ability to write literature with a Western background, I should have asked him to submit "Remembrance of Things Past" for the competition! What a pity, what a pity, what a pity! "

"Indeed. 'Remembrance of Things Past' is much more likely to be selected than 'The Dancing Girl of Izu'." Combesco suddenly realized.

"Come to think of it, with such a long article, he should have focused all his attention on polishing it this year, right?" Odmesson couldn't put the manuscript down. He really wanted to go directly to Tokyo to meet Kitagawa Hide and have an in-depth chat about this masterpiece!
"Him?" Combesco couldn't help but smile bitterly when he mentioned this. "Olivia said that he seemed to be writing another novel at the same time. It's called Wonderland. Anyway, it's a pure literary novel with a science fiction style."

"Write another one at the same time?" Oddmesson, who came from an academic background, could not understand Kitagawa Hide's "double expulsion" at all.

A person's time and energy are limited.

After watching "Remembrance of Things Past", he felt more and more that it was a huge novel with a very long timeline, rich plot and numerous characters.

It would be impossible to create a work like this without spending all your time carving it!
By doing this, is he trying to ruin this work???

Odmeson suddenly got angry and immediately stood up to make an international call to Kitagawa Hide!
Kitagawa Hide never dreamed that he would receive an insulting call from France in the middle of the night.

After finding out that the guy who was scolding him was Teacher Odmeson, his bad temper disappeared immediately, and he kept agreeing with the old man's words, making "hmm and ah" like a child who had made a mistake.

After listening for a long time, he finally understood that the other party was worried that if he opened two books at the same time, the performance of "Remembrance of Things Past" would start high and end low.

There are countless such writers in history. When he was expelled from the party and removed from office, he was also questioned by his predecessors and readers.

But in the end, he proved with his strength that he was not an ordinary writer.

But it's really hard to explain this to Odmeson.

He already had a book called "Remembrance of Things Past" hidden in his mind, and the new outline had been completed to the fourth volume. With his creative and copywriting abilities, he just had to write it step by step.

But Odmeson didn't know and couldn't understand these things.

Seeing that the old man was about to fly to Tokyo, Kitagawa Hide immediately promised to focus on "Remembrance of Things Past" and to send him each volume after it was completed, ensuring quality and quantity and never doing it perfunctorily.

Odmeson was a little helpless about the young man's ambitions, and after all, he was not Kitagawa Hide's official teacher - the two of them didn't even have the status of master and apprentice, and he had no right to interfere with Kitagawa Hide's creation.

Therefore, in the end he had no choice but to accept this compromise. When he hung up the phone, he secretly made up his mind to help Kitagawa Hide to carefully review this masterpiece!

Kitagawa Hide is young and promising, but who can guarantee that his future books will be as amazing as "The Dancing Girl of Izu" and "Remembrance of Things Past"?

Odemason himself never won the Nobel Prize in Literature in his lifetime.

At the peak of his career, he won the Prix Goncourt, and thus missed the nomination for the Nobel Prize, which was a lifelong pain in his heart.

He didn't want Kitagawa Hideya to experience such ups and downs.

Kitagawa Hideko is the chosen one who was nominated for the Nobel Prize at the age of 25!

Such young people must be very proud and confident that they will win awards in the future.

Kitagawa Hide could also understand the thoughts of this French veteran.

He personally respects these literary veterans who care wholeheartedly about the younger generation.

People like Odemeson and Takeuchi Osamu are the older generation writers who are truly worthy of everyone's respect and love.

A person like Ichiro Tanizaki who has talent but no moral integrity is not worthy of being the “best in the world”!
After this chat, he no longer felt sleepy. He glanced at Mengzi who was still sleeping soundly on the bed. After thinking for a while, he felt that he could not stay here and disturb Mengzi, so he tiptoed to the study and turned on the computer.

Since I can’t sleep!
Then just code and work hard!
"Meow~" Pete, who was woken up, rarely showed his temper.

The hamster "Jerry" in the cage also squeaked a few times.

But when Kitagawa Hide started typing on the keyboard, the cat and the mouse immediately became well-behaved, saying nothing and just quietly accompanying their master to work.

The next day.

1997 3 Month 15 Day.

All districts in Tokyo have their own parades organized by the Federation of Trade Unions for the "Spring Struggle". The "Spring Struggle" is divided into three stages.

First, the Spring Fight Kyotō Committee issued a "Wage Guideline Report" for reference by practitioners in various industries, and then mailed the first "Battle Letter" that had been agreed upon to each company.

After the first wave of confrontation ended, the "Spring Struggle" entered its second stage - demonstrations.

Because the first wave of "battle letters" had harsh demands and basically no employer would agree to them, the workers began a full-scale strike and organized demonstrations to intimidate the employer.

Every time this happens, good news comes to consumers.

Get free taxis, free catering services, etc., basically just use your brain when you go out every day.

At the end of this stage, the Federation of Trade Unions will send a second relatively reliable "battle letter" to the company, and both sides will use this to give each other a way out.

After the demonstrations are over, the third phase - labor-management negotiations - will officially begin.

The two parties agreed on a salary increase that was acceptable to everyone, and the annual "Spring Struggle" came to an end.

However, things are a little different this year.

Ryutaro Hashimoto recently raised the consumption tax, which made the government's pockets fatter but made the people suffer.

People increasingly feel that the socioeconomic situation is not good, so the demand for wages is also higher.

In the past, everyone asked for a symbolic 20% increase, and finally it was settled at 10%, and everyone was happy.

But this time, the labor side hopes that the increase can reach 15%, while the people from the management consortium released the news that the capital side can only accept a 2.5% increase this year!
Now the conflict was completely triggered.

Looking at the huge crowd of demonstrators outside, the owner of Maruzen Marunouchi bookstore looked pale and very anxious.

His employees also went to participate in the "Spring Fight" parade.

It’s not that he, as the store manager, is a bad person and that makes his employees unhappy.

In fact, he is also a member of "Haruto".

They all have to fight with the parent company of the bookstore for their own welfare benefits!
However, in order to not disturb others, there must be someone working in the bookstore.

Therefore, he was the only one in the store today, as the other employees had run away with the parade early in the morning!
And today is the first publication day of the new issue of "New Trend".

There was a constant stream of readers coming to the store to buy magazines, which made him so busy that he was dizzy.

The March 1997 issue of Shincho serialized Ichiro Tanizaki's new book, The Idiot's Desire. Needless to say, it caused a sensation. You can get a glimpse of it by looking at the long queues outside the bookstore.

When it arrived in the morning, the store manager had already looked it over.

It has to be said that Ichiro Tanizaki is worthy of being recognized as the "number one in the world" in the Japanese literary world for many years.

After many years of resuming writing, his writing style remains as sophisticated as ever. Although he writes pure literature, his works have both excellent storytelling and literary qualities.

Thinking back to the several “best players” who had competed with Mr. Kitagawa before, they were nothing compared to Ichiro Tanizaki!

This made him more anxious.

As we all know, the manager of Maruzen Marunouchi Bookstore next to Tokyo Station is a die-hard fan of Kitagawa Sensei.

He knew that in three days, Kawaide Shobo would also publish a new issue of "Wenyi", which would also serialize Kitagawa's new work "The End of the World and Cold Wonderland".

Facing such a strong opponent, Mr. Kitagawa will not fail, right?
Just as the store manager was worried, a voice suddenly came.

"Manager-san, please give me a copy of New Trend." The man who spoke was very tall, standing out among the readers who were generally about 1.6 meters tall.

He was wearing a mask and a hat, so his appearance could not be seen clearly.

But the store manager immediately saw through his identity!

Teacher Kitagawa in disguise!

He was extremely excited and tremblingly handed over a brand new, unopened magazine: "880 yen, thanks."

"Thank you." Kitagawa Hide took the magazine and thought to himself that it was a good thing he came early. If he had come a little later, the queue would have been very long.

Just as he turned around, the store manager's extremely small voice suddenly came from behind him: "Come on, Mr. Beichuan! I believe you will win!"

He turned back in surprise and found that the store manager had returned to his "passerby face". He chuckled and nodded, saying, "Thank you for your good words."

Judging from the store manager's expression and the situation in the bookstore, Ichiro Tanizaki is indeed Ichiro Tanizaki.

It seems I have to go back and take a closer look at his novels!

Kitagawa Hide followed the crowd and left.

After he left, the store manager realized with regret that he had miscalculated by not secretly asking Mr. Kitagawa for an autograph!

He adjusted his mood and continued to serve the large number of readers who came.

Many readers couldn't wait and bought the magazine and started reading it directly in the store.

During this period of time, many readers have finished reading "New Trend".

Everyone has given good reviews to "Foolish Love".

This novel continues the style of "The Devil's Tattoo" and writes a love story in ancient times.

However, this love story is as twisted and crazy as ever. It tells the story of a hero who wants to train the heroine to be his ideal "significant other". Unexpectedly, the young heroine is a black-bellied person and she trains the hero in return!

This style is a bit like "Blossoming Under the Cherry Blossoms", but Ichiro Tanizaki's writing skills are far superior to Shiro Dango. In this comparison, Shiro Dango is completely defeated.

After reading it, readers praised it while complaining that it was too short and too small!

There's no way around it; the tastes of this group of readers have long been spoiled by Kitagawa Hide.

In the past, Mr. Kitagawa could finish a novel of this size in just a few days.

Sometimes the amount of updates he produces in a month is equivalent to what other writers produce in half a year. Who wouldn't feel their scalp tingling?

Ichiro Tanizaki is already old, and writing "The Desire of a Fool" makes him feel that his life span has been greatly shortened, and it is impossible for him to compete with Kitagawa Hide in terms of quantity.

As it was approaching lunchtime, the customer flow finally decreased a bit. The store manager was just about to take advantage of his free time to eat a meal when the wind chimes at the door rang.

Several store employees who were supposed to be parading in the "Spring Fight" returned.

Also accompanying them was Xunzi, who was here for an internship.

(End of this chapter)