I am a literary giant in Japan

The total flight time for a direct flight from Tokyo to Stockholm is approximately 10 hours.

Hide Kitagawa knew little about this famous scenic city in Sweden.

The same was true for Reina Saito who was sitting next to him.

When the two of them talked, they could only think of the well-known "Stockholm Syndrome" and the various beautiful scenes in Hayao Miyazaki's "Kiki's Delivery Service".

The former refers to a world-famous bank robbery.

On August 1973, 8, two ex-con Jan Erik Olsson and Clark Olofsson took four bank employees hostage after a failed attempt to rob a bank in Stockholm.

After a 130-hour standoff with the police, the two robbers gave up resistance and surrendered directly.

But what is strange is that three months after the robbery, the four bank employees who had been held hostage refused to accuse the two robbers in court and even raised funds for their legal defense.

What's even more outrageous is that one of the female employees fell in love with the robber Olofsson and got engaged to him while he was serving his sentence!
After a detailed study of this matter, sociologists said that this is a weakness of human nature.

There is a fragile bottom line to the fear that human nature can endure. Once this bottom line is crossed, people will succumb to tyranny.

In other words, humans can be tamed.

The latter, that is, the coastal city that the witch Kiki and the black cat Jiji went to in Hayao Miyazaki's "Kiki's Delivery Service", was based on Stockholm.

This animated film was released in 1989, during the heyday of Japan's bubble economy. Countless Japanese flocked to Stockholm, paralyzing this seaside resort city for a time.

Kitagawa Hide did not waste the time on the plane. He continued to write "The Old Man and the Sea" with a pen on the draft paper.

Since the plot was already there, the only thing he needed to worry about was how to make the scene of Santiago fighting the giant marlin and the final battle with the sharks more realistic and believable.

In addition, the reason why "The Old Man and the Sea" has become a classic is that its story contains many details that people can appreciate deeply.

For example, the paragraph that Kitagawa Hide is writing at the moment: "The old man remembered that he once caught one of a pair of big marlins.

Giant marlin always like to stay together, and the male will always let the female eat first.

So it was the female fish that was caught that day. It twisted its body like crazy, struggling in panic and despair, but soon it was exhausted.

The male fish stayed by her side the whole time, jumping around under the line and circling with her on the surface of the water.

After the female fish was caught, the male fish still refused to leave and continued to wander near the water surface.

The old man was afraid that it would cut the fishing line with its tail, which was as sharp as a sickle, so he also used a fish hook to hook it up.

He beat it hard with the stick, grasping the long, rapier-like bill with sandpaper edges and hitting it repeatedly on the top of the head.

I kept beating it until its color turned into the same red as the back of a mirror, and then I made it and the female fish into a delicious fish soup."

"It's heartbreaking to see them like this. If the male fish didn't let the female fish eat, if it didn't focus all its attention on the female, maybe it wouldn't have died."

Santiago's inner monologue made Rena Saito deeply agree.

She is a workaholic, the exact opposite of a love-brained person, so she was deeply touched by these words.

"It's really well written, Beichuan. When you first mentioned The Old Man and the Sea, I really couldn't imagine what kind of novel could be written with such a title."

Rena Saito was flipping through the manuscript paper in front of her. During the several hours of flight, she had actually read what Kitagawa Hide had written several times.

At this time, Kitagawa Hide was writing while she was reading, and they would have a detailed communication from time to time.

As the number of manuscripts increased and the story progressed, Rena Saito gradually changed her perception of the novel.

At the beginning, judging from the title and introduction, "The Old Man and the Sea" is obviously a novel with a very simple plot line, a small story volume and few characters.

Because of the themes of "Remembrance of Things Past" and "One Hundred Years of Solitude", there are countless things that can be written and the plots that can be expanded. Except for the background that may make Japanese readers a little uncomfortable, everything else is good.

Compared with these two novels, Rena Saito really can't think of any advantages of The Old Man and the Sea.

But now, after reading six or seven chapters of the novel, these prejudices and ideas have been completely discarded by her.

Kitagawa Hide is indeed Kitagawa Hide.

Every change of track and innovation of content brings her endless surprises and shocks.

"Haha, this title is indeed a bit crude and straightforward compared to my previous novels. No wonder you don't have high expectations for it."

Kitagawa Hidetsuyoshi has just completed two books: "Norwegian Wood" and "One Hundred Years of Solitude", both of which are novels that sound very impressive just by hearing the titles.

"Remembrance of Things Past", which is still being updated, has also received wide acclaim and is favored by readers for its biographical style and long novel.

At this time, a simple and crude book "The Old Man and the Sea" suddenly came out, and it was normal that Saito Rena couldn't turn around.

But the core and story of this novel are actually much more profound and intriguing than what appears on the surface.

“I believe that literature and storytelling are the soul and body of a novel.

If a person's soul is too strong but his body is too weak, then he will most likely not be able to withstand the high-intensity spiritual world, and his body will quickly collapse and he will die prematurely.

And if the soul is too weak but the body is very strong, then he will most likely become a guy with strong limbs but a simple mind.

Such people are easily looked down upon, despised, and considered to be lacking in substance and quality.

There are very few people who are strong in both spirit and body, and we cannot expect ourselves to become such a person.

So we can only try to find a balance.

When the story of the novel, that is, the physical part, cannot be expanded very well, we focus more on the soul.”

This is the literary creation experience that Kitagawa Hide gained when he wrote "The Old Man and the Sea".
“The tone of the novel is there. Where you focus your energy will make the final result completely different.

In this book, I want to write a simple story about an old man fishing. The old man fights against the sea and against nature, and is unwilling to give in.

Since the story is simple, let's make its literary quality a little deeper.

With the two complementing each other, the monotonous story is not so boring. "

The Old Man and the Sea established Hemingway's prominent position in the world literary world, and he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.

In that poor era, more than 48 copies were sold within 20 hours, which shows that its content deeply attracted readers.

"That's really well said!"

A voice came from the side of Beichuan Xiu and the others, interrupting their conversation. Beichuan Xiu looked up and saw a slightly fat old man wearing a small black felt hat.

He turned his head and looked at the two of them with a big smile on his face. Although he was an old European man, he could speak fluent Japanese.

"Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to bother you. It's just that what Mr. Kitagawa said was so good that I couldn't help myself."

The old man took off his felt hat and gave them a playful smile, revealing a "naughty" temperament that was very inconsistent with his age.

"Oh, by the way, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Dario Fo, an Italian playwright who can only write boring little scripts."

"So you are Teacher Dario!" Kitagawa Hide was stunned for a moment, then went up to him and shook hands with him.

Sitting opposite her was the winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature. Rena Saito covered her mouth with her hands in excitement.

The Nobel Prize in Literature has a special appeal to the Eastern literary world.

Literary industry practitioners in Japan, South Korea and China all subconsciously develop an inexplicable admiration and curiosity for Nobel Prize winners in Literature.

In Kitagawa Hide's view, this is a manifestation of cultural insecurity.

He was not lacking in cultural confidence, so he did not behave as exaggeratedly as Saito Rena and other passengers sitting next to him.

After the two greeted each other, Dario Fo directly stated why he was on this flight.

It turned out that after the Nobel Prize list was announced in October, he was also surprised that Kitagawa Hide did not win the prize.

The matter was done, and Dario Fo certainly could not return the award, but he admired and liked Kitagawa Hide's novels very much, so he thought of coming to Tokyo to meet this young man.

Unexpectedly, Kitagawa Hide was on his honeymoon overseas and only returned home in early December.

Dario Fo was a free-spirited and straightforward person. He came to Tokyo without telling anyone else, and did not want to bother Kawaide Shobo, so he missed out on meeting Kitagawa Hide.

I thought I would not be able to see Kitagawa Hide again during this trip to Tokyo, but I unexpectedly met him on the flight to Stockholm!
As the two chatted, they soon turned to the topic of literature. Seeing that they were so compatible, Saito Rena took Kitagawa Hide's manuscript and exchanged seats with Dario Fo.

"The Old Man and the Sea? The title does sound a bit simple and straightforward, and it does sound a lot like the dramatic novel I wrote."

After Dario Fo read all of Hide Kitagawa's novels in one go, he became obsessed with the war literature he wrote.

Now that I heard that his new book was so "unconventional", combined with the conversation I just heard, I couldn't help but start chatting about it out of curiosity.

Kitagawa Hide further explained the creative concept and content of "The Old Man and the Sea", which amazed Dario Fo even more.

However, when asked whether he should take a look at the manuscript in advance, Dario Fo decisively waved his hand and refused.

As a drama creator, no one knows better than him the pain of being spoiled and having to keep up with the latest updates.

He wanted to finish reading "The Old Man and the Sea" in one breath.

As the topic went on, it jumped to the creation of dramatic literature.

This is Dario Fo's forte. Once he starts talking about it, he becomes eloquent. From the core of the drama to the transition between acts, he can talk for hours without stopping, without even taking a breath.

In his previous life, Kitagawa Hideya had dabbled in some dramatic literature, but his interest was basically limited to the works of famous writers such as Shakespeare, Moliere, and Shaw.

This time he was fortunate enough to discuss this with a master in this field. He took the opportunity to learn from Dario Fo and prepare for his future involvement in drama creation.

Drama literature and poetry are at the top of the contempt chain of literary works. It is difficult for writers who have not written drama and poetry to be recognized by most people in the world literary world.

Just as the two were discussing the future development path and prospects of dramatic literature, the plane slowly landed at Stockholm Arlanda International Airport amid a turbulence.

The average temperature in Stockholm in December was only minus 2 degrees Celsius. Kitagawa Hide and Saito Rena sneezed at the same time as soon as they got off the plane.

Fortunately, the Swedish Academy was generous and directly arranged several luxury business cars to pick up the participants in batches at the airport and take them to the big hotel next to the Stockholm Concert Hall.

The participating writers from each country had a special host to take care of their food, clothing, housing and transportation. Dario Fo said goodbye to Kitagawa Hide outside the airport.

The person who came to pick them up at the airport was none other than Ma Yueran, who had strongly recommended Beichuan Xiu for the nomination and claimed that he was the most qualified to win the award.

Next to Ma Yueran stood the tall Knut, who shook hands with Beichuan Xiu and the other man with the same high spirits.

Although the Swedish Academy did not give the award to Hide Kitagawa in the end, the fact that two lifetime judges came to the airport in person to pick him up was enough to show how much they valued Hide Kitagawa.

"Teacher Kitagawa, I just read your One Hundred Years of Solitude a while ago. It is truly a masterpiece that has shocked the world literary world!"

Ma Yueran made no secret of his love for Kitagawa Hide and did not have the airs of a senior writer at all.

"You are too kind. I am just standing on the shoulders of giants."

Kitagawa Xiu waved his hand, smiled and got into the business car with them.

Because only Kitagawa Hide came from Asia, the huge business car was mostly empty, with only a few people sitting in it, making it look deserted.

Ma Yueran heard that Hide Kitagawa had just finished writing Norwegian Wood, but the overseas copyright of the book had not been negotiated with Western countries, so he could only yearn for it but not get it.

Hearing that this was another pure Japanese mono no aware "Kitagawa Hidekaze" romance novel, he sighed with some regret.

This type of novel is likely to be popular in Asia, but often fails to gain popularity in the Western world.

"The Dancing Girl of Izu" was able to achieve success in the West thanks to the French translation and vigorous promotion, but this is an isolated case.

Japanese literature is ultimately a little too difficult to understand for the vast Western readership.

Now, all eyes are fixed on Kitagawa Hide, hoping that he can win the Nobel Prize in Literature next year.

The two heavyweight novels "Remembrance of Things Past" and "One Hundred Years of Solitude" are definitely worthy of being nominated.

But the Nobel Prize likes to read about the writer's life and literary career.

Kitagawa Hide, who is young and has relatively few works, is at a disadvantage in this regard.

Ma Yueran hopes that Kitagawa Hide can produce a few more copies of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" so that he can become the strongest competitor.

Kitagawa Hide knew what he was thinking and told him about his soon-to-be-published work, The Old Man and the Sea.

After simply listening to the creativity and content, Ma Yueran realized that this was a work that was very suitable for the award, and immediately nodded with a smile.

Knut was curious and puzzled: "The story of the old man fishing? What is the connection between this and pure literature?" (End of this chapter)