I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 292 He is the real "Number One in the World" (censored for no apparent reason)

After receiving the shocking news, Ichiro Tanizaki suppressed his complicated emotions and read "Remembrance of Things Past (Japanese version)" brought by Tsunekazu Takeda.

After reading the latest chapter, he fell into a long period of contemplation.

Two sentences kept coming to my mind, and I couldn't get them out of my mind:

Kitagawa Hide has already finished writing the entire book "The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland"!

His new book "Remembrance of Things Past" which was secretly serialized in France is also a masterpiece!
"Remembrance of Things Past" is an autobiographical novel set in France during the First and Second World Wars. It has now been serialized to about 20 words. Both in terms of literary quality and storytelling, it is a masterpiece worthy of being recorded in the history of world literature!

Ichiro Tanizaki happened to experience that special era. Although he had never been to France, he knew many details of the war.

After watching it, he was 100% sure that it would be very difficult to achieve the feeling that "Remembrance of Things Past" presents just by looking up information.

And Kitagawa Hide was writing about pre-war France, not Japan!
This is more difficult to write!

In addition, these two books, one with 20 words and the other with serialized chapters, have completely different narrative styles, completely opposite novel themes, and completely unrelated plots.

How did he manage to write two books at the same time, not only without any problems, but also making them get better and better and more and more attractive?
He can't understand!
The only thing he could figure out was.

Perhaps at tomorrow's literary exchange meeting, I will be the one to deify Kitagawa Hide with my own hands!

The next morning.

Ichiro Tanizaki was still thinking about those things as he took the bus to the Yasuda Auditorium at the University of Tokyo.

After reading "The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland", he was very sure that in order to maintain this quality for a long time, Kitagawa Hide must concentrate on writing this book.

This is the experience that Ichiro Tanizaki has gained from his decades of immersion in literature.

However, a word from Takeda Tsunekazu directly broke his cognition!

Kitagawa Hide was not only fickle-minded, but also spent most of his time thinking about marriage while writing "The End of the World and Hard-boiled Wonderland" and "Remembrance of Things Past"!

Besides that, The End of the World and Hard-boiled Wonderland are also finished!!!
The quality of "Remembrance of Things Past" is still so high!

Is it true that he doesn't have 3 heads and 6 arms? Does he really not have any disciples secretly helping him write for him?

Ichiro Tanizaki couldn't understand.

These things were completely beyond his understanding.

Olivia and others, who were also unable to understand why Mr. Kitagawa was really being targeted in the Japanese literary world, also came to the Yasuda Auditorium.

As soon as this group of young men and women from France and the old professor got off the bus, they attracted the attention of a large number of Donghua students.

March is the graduation season for Japanese universities. The students of the University of Tokyo bid farewell to a group of senior students headed by Jabami Rei. After school started in April, many freshmen poured in, quickly filling the vacancy and washing away the dull farewell atmosphere of the University of Tokyo.

Because of Kitagawa Hide's sudden appearance, the Faculty of Literature, which was not very popular in the past two years, has been full every year. This year, it has added 32 students, becoming the third largest department in the University of Tokyo.

At this time, hundreds of students from the Faculty of Literature walked together and followed the large group of reporters into the Yasuda Auditorium.

Olivia and others followed closely behind, curiously looking at the various buildings of this top university in Japan. Many young French people who came to the Eastern country for the first time were shocked by this magnificent hall.

Although the world was already moving towards the Internet age in 1997, most people had never even visited many cities in their own country, let alone globalization.

Not to mention flying across the east and west sides, from one end of the earth to the other to visit.

The French still have the impression of the Japanese during the Meiji Restoration, when the Japanese were imitating Western society and trying their best to imitate it, like a baby who knew nothing, was still crawling on the ground, and babbling to learn to speak.

This backward perception is similar to the fact that people in Taiwan in later generations still think that people in the neighboring mainland cannot afford to eat tea eggs.

Funny, yet true.

Students from the University of Tokyo are also curious about these foreigners with white skin, blue eyes and blond hair. Japan currently does not have any policy of disenchanting the West. During the bubble era, the Japanese were proud to go overseas for vacation and investment.

Therefore, when seeing these students from the University of Paris, most of the students from the University of Eastern Europe feel a little ashamed and unconfident.

The Yasuda Lecture Hall was packed with people.

Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, then president of the University of Tokyo, and Osamu Takeuchi, who succeeded Shozo Uchida as dean of the Faculty of Letters, walked quickly over and shook hands with Modiano, president of the University of Paris VII, who was leading the group.

A large group of invited journalists held up their cameras and kept snapping photos, obviously hoping to record this historic moment in great detail.

The number of times that Western universities have taken the initiative to come to Japan for literary exchanges can be counted on one’s fingers. This indirectly reflects Western literature’s recognition of Japanese literature, and makes these guys who are extremely eager to be recognized by Western civilization very happy!
Modiano was a person who witnessed Kitagawa Hide being recommended by French literary giants such as Combesco and Audemaison to participate in the Nobel Prize in Literature. Therefore, when he met Yoshikawa Hiroyuki and others, he excitedly boasted about Kitagawa Hide's greatness.

"Teacher Beichuan is a literary genius that I have never seen before! His writing style is varied, the content is interesting, and the literary quality is very strong. It is my honor to have the opportunity to come to your school to share his new work!"

When he first watched Paradise Lost, Modiano didn’t realize how amazing this rising star from Japan was.

It was not until Odmeson and his colleagues came to visit him with "The Dancing Girl of Izu" and strongly recommended that he give the recommendation quota held by the university presidents to Kitagawa Hide that he realized that this might be a supernova writer who could subvert the world literary landscape!
After watching "Remembrance of Things Past" and "The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland", he was completely impressed by Kitagawa Hide.

Considering Modiano's status in the French education and literary circles, as well as the countless journalists taking photos and videos in front of them, Hiroyuki Yoshikawa and Osamu Takeuchi thought he was just being polite.

But after a careful communication, the two found that Modiano really respected and admired Kitagawa Hide!

Kitagawa Hideya is really becoming unimaginably popular in France!

They looked at each other and saw astonishment and surprise in each other's eyes.

Is Kitagawa Hide really that popular in France?
Could it be that this literary exchange group from the University of Paris really came just because of Kitagawa Hide?

Ichiro Tanizaki, who had just stepped into the gate and walked slowly, looked worried and pale.

He still couldn't accept those things, because accepting them meant agreeing from the bottom of his heart that Kitagawa Hidekazu and he were not on the same level!
But if he doesn't accept it, he can't even convince himself.

"This is the leader of our Japanese literary world, Mr. Ichiro Tanizaki." Hiroyuki Yoshikawa still gave face to Ichiro Tanizaki and introduced him to Modiano enthusiastically.

After all, a lean camel is bigger than a horse, and Ichiro Tanizaki is the literary master strongly recommended by the Iwasaki family to participate in this exchange meeting.

Hearing his name, Modiano had a strange look on his face. He looked him up and down several times, then nodded awkwardly and shook hands with him.

Ichiro Tanizaki could clearly feel the other party's rejection and disdain for him, but at least he still had the self-esteem of being "the best in the world", so he simply nodded in response.

After a group of bigwigs took their seats, the Dean of the Faculty of Letters of the University of Tokyo, Osamu Takeuchi, gave a brief opening speech, followed by speeches by Presidents Hiroyuki Yoshikawa and President Modiano.

After the speeches, representatives from the exchange groups of the two top universities took the stage one after another to express their views on Kitagawa Hide's new book.

The main stories discussed at the University of Tokyo were "The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland", while the story discussed at the University of Paris was "Remembrance of Things Past".

I heard that Mr. Beichuan has also serialized a new book in France. The students of Dongda University were very curious and finished reading "Remembrance of Things Past" before attending the exchange meeting today. This is undoubtedly a good book.

While Mr. Kitagawa was writing two books at the same time, he was able to take care of both the beginning and the end and maintain such a high quality.

In the minds of students at the University of Tokyo, the dispute between Kitagawa Hide and Tanizaki Ichiro over who is the best in the world has already been decided.

Takeuchi Osamu, who also took the time to watch "Remembrance of Things Past", was also shocked. A few days ago, he and Kato Shuichi went to see Kitagawa Hide. Although both of them supported Kitagawa Hide, they did not dare to say that he could definitely beat Tanizaki Ichiro.

Now it seems that the two of them are not opponents of the same level at all!
I saw that today's literary exchange meeting has completely turned into a meeting for students to brag about Kitagawa Hide, combined with the exchange group in France's admiration for Kitagawa Hide, and the hot sales of "Remembrance of Things Past" mentioned by Modiano just now in France.

Osamu Takeuchi has already seen how shocked the people of Japan will be when the details of today's exchange meeting spread throughout Japan as news!
He secretly glanced at Ichiro Tanizaki, who was invited as a guest for no apparent reason and looked as uncomfortable as if he had eaten a dead rat, and suddenly felt a little inexplicably sad.

The literary exchange groups from the two universities had a very pleasant chat.

After all, everyone was sincerely praising Teacher Kitagawa, and once they saw that he was one of their own, the initial tense atmosphere immediately disappeared.

The journalists who were watching the event originally thought that there would be a literary debate contest between the East and the West, but now it seems that it was just a praising meeting specially prepared for Mr. Beichuan!
Tetsutarou Mori, who was also invited, also wanted to see some fist-fighting scenes. When he found that the atmosphere of the exchange meeting was peaceful, he was a little disappointed. Mr. Kitagawa was not present today because of something, so why not leave now?

As he was thinking this, he just stood up and suddenly heard Takeuchi Osamu say, "Welcome Mr. Ichiro Tanizaki to comment on Mr. Kitagawa's new book."

Tetsutaro Mori did not leave the bench, but sat back down.

The other sleepy reporters also smelled something strange and all held their breath, looking towards the stage curiously.

As the nominal number one in Japanese literary world.

In the absence of Kitagawa Hide, Tanizaki Ichiro was naturally the only one who could represent his team to comment on "Remembrance of Things Past" and "The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland".

But as we all know, the battle between the two and the two publishing houses is not over yet.

It seems strange to ask people to review the book of their arch-rival, especially when everyone is praising and recognizing it.

Everyone's eyes turned to Tanizaki Ichiro.

Reporters also raised their cameras, ready to record this historic moment.

After "I" Ichiro Tanizaki came here and stood here, I finally understood the intentions of the capital consortium behind the scenes.

Not long ago, the Mitsubishi Group was still working hard to boost sales for Shincho, hoping that Ichiro Tanizaki could withstand the offensive of Hide Kitagawa.

When I learned that Hide Kitagawa was very popular in France, that he was actually writing two books at the same time to compete with Ichiro Tanizaki, and that he found time to finish writing "The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland" after proposing to her.

The ruthless capitalists in Kitagawa Hideshu decisively turned their spearheads and shook off the chips from Tanizaki Ichiro.

They were indeed willing to spend enough money to make Shinchosha and Kawaide Shobo fight to the death for their own interests, for the stability of the conservatives, and for the order of the Japanese literary world.

But that assumes that this is a fair fight.

After learning this new information, who would still think that Ichiro Tanizaki was a worthy opponent of Hide Kitagawa?

Even he couldn't believe it!
Capital is willing to gamble, but it is not stupid.

Even if they know that the game has a 0% chance of winning, they will decisively withdraw their investment and stop losses in time.

And Ichiro Tanizaki will inevitably be the victim they push to the surface.

However, Ichiro Tanizaki did not expect that this retribution would come so quickly, so abruptly, and so outrageously.

Countless spotlights flashed.

Everyone was looking forward to his final evaluation of Kitagawa Hide, the two books, and their battle for "the best in the world."

“I think The World’s End and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and Remembrance of Things Past are really excellent books.”

After saying this, Ichiro Tanizaki suddenly felt light all over.

It seemed as if all the burdens that had been weighing on me recently had dissipated.

There is an inexplicable sense of relief.

Perhaps he had already seen this result when he was racking his brains to write "Foolish Desire" and thinking about how to defeat an impossible enemy.

But this result came very suddenly and swiftly.

As soon as Ichiro Tanizaki finished speaking, the whole audience fell silent.

Even students from the University of Tokyo and the University of Paris felt the inexplicable throbbing emanating from the depths of Japanese literary circles.

"Tanizaki-sensei!"

It was Tetsutarou Mori who broke the brief silence.

He raised his right hand, stood up suddenly as a reporter, and asked a question that had been in his mind for a long time, which was also the question in the hearts of countless people.

"Excuse me, who do you think is the 'number one' in Japanese literature today?"

More than a month ago, Ichiro Tanizaki had been asked a similar question.

His answer was also very simple.

"I!"

But for the same question, Kitagawa Hide gave a completely opposite answer.

All he had to do were those little things, that was it.

At this moment.

That one word seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, like a thorn in his throat, making it impossible for Ichiro Tanizaki to utter it.

Can he write two high-quality literary novels at the same time?
Can he write that fast?

Could he have gained so much support and fame in France?
"."

Silence, silence, silence.

After a long silence, Ichiro Tanizaki finally uttered the most bitter word: "He."

(End of this chapter)