I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 303 This book will rewrite the history of Latin American literature!
1997 7 Month 18 Day.

Outside Maruzen Marunouchi Bookstore, Tokyo, Japan.

Takeuchi Osamu, Kato Shuichi and Niwa Fumio, all in their sixties, walked into the bookstore with the courtesy of the crowd.

"It's amazing that Mr. Niwa has time to read." Takeuchi Osamu teased his old friend with a smile.

Fumio Niwa was born into a family of monks. He is the current president of the Buddhist Association of Japan, one of the eight "Tenka Ichipin" in the Japanese literary world, a representative figure of Japan's "customs novels", and the acting president of the now reorganized Japan Literary Society.

Compared to Arima Yoshiyoshi and Momota Naoki who like to show off, and Tanizaki Ichiro who always puts on airs, Niwa Fumio is really down-to-earth and a true "invisible man".

In 1932, his short story "Catfish" was published in "Literary World", and he began his creative career from then on.

In 1934, he became famous with "Hieroglyphs" and "Fat".

In 1968, he became a "world-famous artist" with his novella "The Hateful Age".

The book tells the story of an 86-year-old woman who is disliked by young people and eventually dies in poverty. It reflects the aging problem in postwar Japan and is considered the best novella in Japan's postwar era.

After stopping writing in the 70s, Fumio Niwa spent all his time reading and studying in the university library, occasionally coming out to participate in Buddhist exchange meetings, and was basically isolated from the Japanese literary world.

Previously, Kitagawa Hideki picked out several "best in the world" as if he wanted to wipe out all the former literary giants at once. Even so, Niwa Fumio did not show up.

Not long ago, Ichiro Tanizaki and others were imprisoned, and the Japan Literary Society was to be reorganized. Takeuchi Osamu strongly pushed Niwa Fumio and Kato Shuichi to take charge of the situation, but he still made various excuses.

I thought there was nothing in the world that could drive this old stubborn guy out of his library.

Unexpectedly, as soon as "One Hundred Years of Solitude" was released, Fumio Niwa took the initiative to invite the two of them to buy and read the book.

"We are all at this age. We have less time to live each day. We should invest our limited energy into the most meaningful things."

Fumio Niwa snorted, ignored Takeuchi Osamu's teasing, and followed the clerk's guidance to pick up a brand new copy of "Literature and Art".

He held up the beautifully packaged novel, waved it in front of his two old friends, and added, "Reading such a masterpiece is the most meaningful thing."

"Mr. Kitagawa is indeed a rare genius in the literary world, but Niwa-san, you haven't even opened the novel yet. Are you so sure that it is a masterpiece that will not waste your precious time?"

Kato Shuichi is a practical scholar who believes that data and facts are above all else.

Even though he commented on Kitagawa Hide that he was "worthy of becoming the opening figure in the History of Japanese Literature", he did not dare to say that "One Hundred Years of Solitude", which was wildly hyped by Kawaide Shobo, was necessarily a masterpiece.

Aren’t there many things these days where there’s much thunder but little rain?

Considering that Kitagawa Hide has been living abroad for a long time and has encountered major events in his life, it is hard to think that "One Hundred Years of Solitude" will have a similar quality to "Remembrance of Things Past".

"You won't understand even if I tell you. This is my intuition as a fellow writer. Forget it, reading is more important!"

Fumio Niwa was too lazy to explain to them. After paying for the books for the three people, he found an empty space to sit down, tore open the transparent cover of the book, and began to read with relish.

Takeuchi Osamu and Kato Shuichi also sat down and read "One Hundred Years of Solitude".

There were dozens of readers who were also reading books on the spot, almost filling up the Maruzen Marunouchi Bookstore.

“Years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was going to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”

After just reading the beginning, Fumio Niwa and the other two were stunned by Kitagawa Hide's "future flashback" writing style.

The bookstore, which should have been bustling, was now filled with the sound of pages turning. New readers saw such a strange scene and slowed down their pace, not daring to make too much noise for fear of disturbing those who were reading.

A long time, a long time.
Occasionally, you can hear bursts of laughter and chatter from JKs who are just getting off school outside the store, and from inside the store, you can hear conversations like "Please give me the July issue of "Bungei."," and "Nari 7 yen!"

Everything seems very ordinary, and yet everything seems very unnatural.

Fumio Niwa, who was sitting in his seat reading a book, never said a word, and the noise seemed to have no effect on him at all.

At this moment, he was completely attracted by "One Hundred Years of Solitude" serialized in "Wenyi".

If you ask him how he feels now, it can be summed up in one word: scalp tingling!
That's right, both physically and mentally, he had an indescribable tingling sensation on his scalp.

Such words, such stories, such narrative structure, and such novel ideas were something that Fumio Niwa had never heard of before. It really made his scalp tingle when he read it!
Beichuan Xiucai was twenty-five years old. Even if a kid of his age spent the whole day in the library like him, from morning to night, it would be difficult for him to know much about foreign literature and foreign customs.

But from the contents of these five chapters of "One Hundred Years of Solitude", if someone told him that the author of the novel was a native of the town of Macondo, he would believe it without a doubt!

The title page of the book says that the prototype of the town of Macondo is the town of Aracataca in Colombia, and the Buendía family in the book, which has lasted for 700 years, is based on the current Buendía Consortium in Colombia.

It is hard to imagine that Kitagawa Hide was able to study the Aracataca and Buendía families so thoroughly in just one month.
"No, that's not right. Not only Aracataca and the Buendía family, he knows all about Latin American countries and Latin American mythology!"

Fumio Niwa exclaimed as if no one was around.

His voice immediately attracted a lot of people's attention. Under normal circumstances, this kind of disturbing behavior would definitely attract a lot of angry looks.

But at this time.

The readers who cast their glances at him all agreed with what he said.

Most likely what I was thinking was, "This old man is quite knowledgeable, what he said is very right!"

From the feedback from readers on site, it can be seen that compared with the poor reviews in the early stage and the subsequent turnaround of "At the End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland", "One Hundred Years of Solitude" has received all praise and positive reviews!

This book is going to explode!

Kato Shuichi, who had just finished reading all the chapters, was so shocked that his heart was pounding. He was completely unable to describe his feelings at the moment.

He tried hard to control his excitement, took out the notebook he carried with him, and wrote down a sentence in bold and colorful strokes: "Although The Dancing Girl of Izu did not win the Nobel Prize for Literature, One Hundred Years of Solitude will undoubtedly become Kitagawa Hide's masterpiece in the world literary world!"

He will definitely add these words to his own history of Japanese literature in the future.

Regardless of whether future readers agree or not, he feels that "One Hundred Years of Solitude" must, like "No Longer Human", be permanently recorded in the history of world literature!
At the same time, the same scene also took place in bookstores in many countries. Paris, France.

After reading "One Hundred Years of Solitude", Oudmaison, Combesco and others who bought the latest issue of "Wenyi" together felt like they were frozen and could not move in the summer breeze.

Swedish Academy.

Ma Yueran and other lifetime judges of the Nobel Prize in Literature were completely silent when faced with "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Remembrance of Things Past".

When "The Dancing Girl of Izu" was eliminated, they could still use the reason that "Japanese literature" was not suitable for overseas readers, but how could they ignore these two books?
Regardless of his age, the writing skills and literary creation ability displayed by Kitagawa Hide at this time have obviously reached the level of a top-notch writer in the world literary world!
He was not awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature this year. Who else can win the Nobel Prize next year except him?
The eighteen judges, some of the world's top literary critics, were silent.

Argentine Republic, capital city Buenos Aires.

As the leader among the "Six Civet Countries", Argentina is famous not for its economy and politics, but for its football and tango.

Now the 10-year-old football king Maradona has announced that he will retire on October 29 this year. The retirement of this soul of the national team is bound to plunge Argentine football into an unpredictable low period.

It is also regrettable that Jorge Luis Borges, the "number one" in the Argentine literary world, also announced his retirement from writing.

In January last year, he divorced his first wife, Elsa Astete-Millian, and married Maria Kodama, a Japanese secretary who was 1 years younger than him.

This marriage shocked the whole of Argentina and was described by the literary world as "the biggest scandal in Argentine literature in a hundred years."

Maria Kodama's real name is Maria Kawada. She met Jorge when she was twelve years old, when Jorge was already over sixty years old.

She loves Japanese literature, and when she was seventeen years old and studying literature at the University of Argentina, she began to study Anglo-Saxon literature with her mentor Jorge. While learning Icelandic, she also taught Jorge Japanese.

The two often met in a cafe called "Barque" to discuss literature. Jorge, who was deeply in love at the time, often said to her: "Maria, I see your outline, really!"

Maria Kodama also had a good relationship with John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, and thus got to know Mr. Hide Kitagawa. When Kitagawa started writing "Hear the Wind Sing", she fell in love with the young writer's style and works.

Jorge, now the president of the University of Argentina, the president of the Argentine Literary Association, and the director of the National Library, has rarely been exposed to foreign literature and literary circles. However, he could not resist his wife's nagging and made an exception and went with her to buy the first volume of the English translation of "One Hundred Years of Solitude".

Also visiting the bookstore was Mario Vargas Llosa, who is also a top figure in the Latin American literary world.

Mario holds dual Peruvian and Spanish citizenship and is one of the most famous writers and poets in both countries.

In the original history, Mario was an avid fan of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and he won the Cervantes Literature Prize in 1994 (because Cervantes no longer existed in this parallel world, he won the Spanish literature award of the same level).

In 2010, he successfully won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his work "The Green House", which was an imitation of "One Hundred Years of Solitude"!

"This is a rare good book in a century." Jorge couldn't help sighing after reading it, "It's hard to imagine that this is a work set in Latin America written by a Japanese writer.

For many years, I have always dreamed that a writer would present the century-long history of the rise and fall of Latin American countries in literary works, and now my wish has finally come true."

"You just didn't expect the other person to be an Oriental, right, dear?" Maria Kodama chuckled.

The combination of her and Jorge, an old husband and young wife, is very eye-catching, and Jorge is an Argentine celebrity, so he never lacks attention wherever he goes.

The three of them talked extensively about "One Hundred Years of Solitude", which also made many Argentines curious about this new book.

"Maybe we should study Mr. Kitagawa's other works carefully." Mario has completely become a fanatic fan of Kitagawa Hide. "I heard that he has been successfully shortlisted for this year's Nobel Prize in Literature! Will he be able to connect the missing piece of the puzzle of Eastern literature?"

"Maybe, I don't know. Let's just talk about One Hundred Years of Solitude. If it doesn't win a series of literary awards next year, I will definitely question the literary aesthetics of those judges!"

Jorge has a heroic character and speaks without any regard for the feelings of those prominent figures - after all, he is the prominent figure himself.

The conversation between the three people was recorded by the paparazzi who were following them. After receiving the explosive news, the paparazzi rushed to the newspaper office.

I didn’t expect that “One Hundred Years of Solitude” would become popular in Latin America even faster than these rumors revealed!

That night.

Bookstores in many places in the “Six Civet Cat Countries” announced that the pre-sale copies of “One Hundred Years of Solitude” were sold out, and new physical books were still being reprinted - this was the first time they had encountered such an outrageous situation in many years!

In Buenos Aires, the first print run of the first volume of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" was about 12,000 copies, which were sold out in less than half a day. Subsequently, major printing houses urgently reprinted more copies, and the sales continued to be booming.

Many years later, recalling the scene of that day, Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa said: "The first volume of One Hundred Years of Solitude sold over 500,000 copies in the six civet cat countries in one day. Kitagawa Hide's previous books were also translated and reprinted. In countries where Spanish is the mother tongue, no novel by an oriental writer has ever had such a terrifying number of copies printed!"

While Latin American countries were shocked, publishers in Europe and the United States also heard the news and offered translation contracts to Okeron of the Buendía family.

Okailong, who originally wanted to spend a fortune to buy horse bones, was completely stunned after receiving the news.

In the past, the Buendía family had always been regarded as local tycoons by the upper class in Colombia. The powerful and wealthy were too lazy to make friends with them and even ignored them at banquets.

But when "One Hundred Years of Solitude" became popular in Colombia, all the wealthy and powerful people changed their faces!
This $1 million was not only worth spending, but it also seemed like a profit?!

When "One Hundred Years of Solitude" shocked Latin American countries and Europe, a craze for studying "Aracataca" and "Buendía Family" was set off in Japan.

Seeing that Kitagawa Hide's new book has such a terrifying market appeal, Kawaide Shizuko felt relieved and happily waited for the Central Industrial Bank to allocate funds.

However, on July 7, when the first-day data of the latest issue of "Wenyi" came out, it was extremely bad news!
"I'm sorry, President Kawade! After repeated consideration, the head office board of directors has decided to reject the 100 billion yen loan!"

The call from Yamatoda Akatsuki suddenly pushed the excited Kawaide Shizuko to the ground.

"No loan? Why?"

Shizuko Kawaide was frozen as she held the data report in her hand.

"Not only us, I guess Tokyo Dai-ichi Bank, Mitsui Bank, Sumitomo Bank, etc., will not be able to provide you with such a large loan amount." Yamato Akira said truthfully.

He didn't expect it either.

The Asian financial crisis that hit Thailand was so terrible that in just a few days it affected the overseas operations of many Japanese banks!

(End of this chapter)