I am a literary giant in Japan

The popularity of "MOE", no, to be more precise, the popularity of the final chapter of "The Little Prince" has spread all the way from physical bookstores to the Internet.

Subsequently, thanks to word of mouth and various analysis and comment posts by tens of millions of netizens on the Internet, coupled with the literary review manuscript "The Little Prince, Half a History of Japanese Children's Literature" written by Tetsutaro Mori with great effort, Kitagawa Hide's "The Little Prince" became popular in many countries overseas.

1998 9 Month 2 Day.

The new issue of "Volkswagen" is on sale on time.

After the final chapter of the last issue of "Hanzawa Naoki" was released, readers were still not satisfied and wrote to the editors of the "Dazhong" editorial department to ask: When does Mr. Kitagawa plan to start writing the second part of "Hanzawa Naoki"?
They are still waiting to see how Hanzawa will deal with the "500 billion yen" loan crisis!
Unfortunately, the editors in the editorial department have no way of answering this question.

Even Ishida Yasujun, the editor-in-chief of Kitagawa Hide, couldn't explain it.

A while ago, he had the courage to ask Mr. Kitagawa about this issue indirectly.

Mr. Kitagawa’s answer was simple: he had already come up with the idea for the second part, but when it would be written depended on his mood.

This was equivalent to a promise that was far away from being fulfilled, which immediately made the editorial department of Dazhong extremely panicked.

Originally, the editorial department of Dazhong Magazine planned to use various publicity and promotion methods to warm up the second part of "Hanzawa Naoki".

Taking advantage of the residual heat from the completion of the first part, let's get "Mass" back on the right track, and don't let it become lost in the crowd like "Wenyi" did once it left Mr. Kitagawa.

But Kitagawa's answer made Ishida Taijun feel that it would take a long time to wait for the second part, so he decisively rejected the plan of pre-promotion.

What if the publicity and promotion has been going on for a while, and then Mr. Kitagawa says that the second part will be written a few years later, wouldn’t that be deceiving the readers?
The overall size of the Japanese literature market is not large and cannot be compared with large markets such as finance, construction, and automobiles.

However, the Japanese literature market provides considerable profits and jobs, and was once known as one of the three pillars of Japan's entertainment industry along with Japanese anime and games.

The reason why such huge profits can be obtained with such a small scale lies in the stickiness and payment rate of readers in the literary market.

Once they get into it, readers will keep reading and are always willing to pay for text.

But the foundation of these things is built on the trust between both parties.

History tells Ishida Taijun.

No matter how great a writer is, such as Ichiro Tanizaki, the former "number one" in Japanese literary circles, or no matter how powerful a publishing house is, such as Shinchosha, which once held the top market share, they would not be able to continue to enjoy themselves after violating this point.

Now that he is the editor-in-chief, Yasushi Ishida also has a certain say in the popular editorial department, unlike when he was an intern and his words were ignored.

When he made this suggestion, everyone's first reaction was that this was what Mr. Kitagawa meant, so they agreed to temporarily postpone the pre-promotion plan for the second part of "Hanzawa Naoki".

However, as a result, the sales of "Dazhong" dropped instantly from the top of the previous issue to just barely passing in this issue.

Readers are not stupid.

They are willing to spend money to buy a brand new literary magazine, mostly because of Mr. Beichuan's reputation.

Now that Mr. Beichuan is no longer writing books here, there are naturally not many readers willing to stay.

However, unlike "Wenyi" whose sales were almost halved, the mainstream audience of "Mass" founded by Kitagawa Hide is the general readers who have low awareness and relatively low demand for the literary quality of novels.

They are not as picky about the quality of works as readers of pure literature, nor do they insist on reading only the works of a certain author.

Therefore, on the release day of September 9, many readers still lined up at the bookstore to buy "Mass".

While the newly established "Mass Magazine" encountered a minor sales problem in Japan that was not a crisis, the city of New Haven in Connecticut, USA, was brightly lit because of the "World Literature Seminar Festival" temporarily held by Yale University.

Yale University is the third oldest institution of higher learning in the United States (the first is Harvard University and the second is Mary William College). It is one of the 14 founding institutions of the Association of American Universities and also belongs to the Ivy League, the Global University Presidents Forum, the American Council on Education, the Alliance of Radical Research Universities, and the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

The most famous disciplines of this world-class university are humanities, social sciences and arts, while science and engineering are relatively weak among the top universities in the United States.

In early August this year, the two deans of the College of Humanities and Arts and the College of Education and several professors proposed, and finally the Yale University Board of Trustees and the US government approved, to hold the first "World Literature Seminar Festival" in the small town of New Haven where Yale University is located starting in late August.

As we all know, there is a saying in the United States: "The Princeton directors are in power, the Harvard president is in charge, and the Yale professors call the shots."

At Yale, professors have more power than anyone else.

It is said that this impromptu "World Literature Seminar Festival" was jointly proposed by more than a dozen professors and associate professors of the Faculty of Literature. The school board and college leaders did not even have the qualifications to object, and it was directly approved.

As to why the professors suddenly wanted to organize such a large-scale event, there were many different opinions and rumors in the school.

There are three more credible rumors:
Rumor has it that professors in the literature department can no longer tolerate the Pulitzer Prize being controlled by the Booker Prize, the Prix Goncourt, and the Nobel Prize in Literature.

American literature has always been in a rather awkward position in world literature, lacking in upward direction but having more than enough downward direction.

Now Americans believe that they have become the recognized world leader after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Since you are the boss, you must be number one in all fields including economy, military, science and technology, and culture.

The decline of American literature has made professors at top American universities very unhappy. As the leader of liberal arts colleges, Yale University naturally has to shoulder the responsibility of revitalizing American literature.

The core development concept of the professors is to first attract a large number of writers to come for discussions, and then use the resources to develop the literary soil.

The second rumor is that the professors in the Faculty of Literature are very dissatisfied with the results of the Nobel Prize in Literature that will soon be announced. They believe that the Nobel Prize Council and the jury are biased and have not evaluated the famous contemporary writers fairly and impartially.

It is now generally believed that the Norwegian and Swedish governments are manipulating the Nobel Prize behind the scenes, and the US government, as the big brother of these two countries, is definitely the mastermind behind the scenes.

They were given the blame, but the result was not what they wanted.

Yale University professors were the first to express their dissatisfaction.

As for why the result of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature is so controversial, we have to mention the Japanese writer Hide Kitagawa, who was just severely punished by the Nobel Prize Council and the jury.

Last year, at the age of 25, Hide Kitagawa became the youngest nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature in history.

To be honest, if Dario Fo hadn't been so amazing and made such a great contribution to drama and political satire in 1997, it would be hard to say who would have won the award.

"Remembrance of Things Past", "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "The Old Man and the Sea", any one of these three works can beat all the literary works of 1997-1998.

However, this year Japan submitted "Norwegian Wood" for an award, but it was directly rejected by the jury!
If you say that "Norwegian Wood" is too Japanese, then "The Dancing Girl of Izu" which was nominated last year is more Japanese.

Moreover, the selection of the Nobel Prize in Literature mainly focuses on the writer's literary career, not one or two works.

This year alone, "Snow Country", "Hanzawa Naoki", "Tokyo People" and "The Little Prince" are enough to sweep the entire Japanese literary world and most of the world's literary world.

Not to mention that in the past three years, Kitagawa Hide has created many masterpieces that are enough to keep most writers entertained for a lifetime.

Such a writer who has no black spots except his age was actually not selected for the Nobel Prize in Literature!
The professors in the Department of Literature at Yale University could not accept this in any way.

Since your Nobel Prize jury and board of directors are not human beings, we will not tolerate you anymore!
Yale University's "World Literature Festival" is just like the literary exchange meeting held by Western Literature in Cupertino last year. It is a test of the Nobel Prize for Literature, the world's top literary award. If the effect is good and the traffic from the Nobel Prize is attracted, there will be a "second session", "third session" and a systematic management committee.

If the effect is average, Yale University can cover up the matter by saying it is an internal exchange and discussion.

In fact, regardless of whether this "World Literature Symposium Festival" can be successful, the Nobel Prize in Literature will lose a lot of credibility as a result.

Because when authority is questioned, it has lost its essence.

The general content of rumor three is similar to rumor two, but with an additional reason.

It is said that it was not only the professors of the Faculty of Literature who suggested holding the "World Literature Seminar Festival", but also the elite members of the Skull and Bones Society of Yale University!
Around the world, no matter who mentions Yale University, they have to mention the most mysterious secret elite society in the school - the Skull and Bones Society.

The permanent venue of the Skull and Bones Society is a small Greek temple-style building in the College of Humanities and Arts.

The ownership and use rights of this small building belong entirely to the Skull and Bones Society. It is also the only building in the school that is not owned by the school.

The few small windows of the small building are closed all year round, and the whole building is shrouded in a mysterious atmosphere.

This place is never open to the public, but people come in and out almost every day.

There is also a helipad for helicopters on the top of the building, and students below can often see luxury helicopters taking off and landing from here.

It is said that the elites of the Skull and Bones Society called the small building "the tomb" and engraved a famous saying on its side wall: "Who is an idiot and who is a wise man? Whether beggar or king, the final destination is death."

In 1965 and 1967, Kerry and Bush Jr. were admitted into the Skull and Bones Society as new members respectively. They also repeatedly declared in public that they were members of the Society, which in disguise confirmed the existence of this mysterious society.

There is still a rumor at Yale University that joining the Skull and Bones Society means you have obtained a ticket to the highest levels of power in the United States.

According to rumor three, the organization behind the professors' support for holding the "World Literature Seminar Festival" is the Skull and Bones Society.

With all the mysterious colors rendering, more and more world-class writers are coming to the small town of New Haven.

The month-long symposium festival is now halfway through, but the enthusiasm is only higher than at the beginning.

On the afternoon of June 9th.

Skull and Bones "Tomb".

Olivia and Victoria, who have become official members of the Skull and Bones Society, came hand in hand to the main living room on the third floor.

The conference room was already packed with people, including some of the hottest figures in the US political and business circles, as well as serious-looking and indifferent professors from Yale University, who were drinking and chatting with each other. There were also a few students like Olivia who were wearing uniforms.

Further inside the conference room, famous writers from all over the world were arguing fiercely about something.

"In 1991, Skull and Bones admitted women to join for the first time, but after that, there were no new female members for seven years."

Victoria in her evening gown looked nothing like someone suffering from depression and anorexia.

She just felt that taking the opportunity to follow Olivia and leave the royal family was the best decision in her life!
Here, she felt that even the air was free.

"Sister Olivia, it's thanks to you that I can join here."

Victoria took a cocktail from the waiter, greeted a few familiar members, and then followed Olivia inside.

"Hehe~ I should say that it's all thanks to you, the Crown Princess of Sweden~
There are three conditions for joining the Skull and Bones Society: first, you must be born into a wealthy family in the eastern United States, preferably an immigrant from the United Kingdom, and have aristocratic blood; second, you must have studied in the top aristocratic schools; third, you can also be born into other top wealthy families in the world. "

Olivia said to her with a smile, while counting her cute fingers.

"I only meet the simplest second rule~"

"But after joining the Skull and Bones Society, your reputation and connections in the society are much stronger than mine."

Victoria lowered her voice and said,
"And if you hadn't persuaded Professor Paul Deman, we wouldn't know when this literary feast could be held."

"That's all thanks to the good novels written by Brother Beichuan!"

Olivia's smile widened.

Ever since Hide Kitagawa was cheated by the Arnault couple, she has been completely at odds with the Arnault Club.

There is no unanimous opinion within the Chanel Group, but basically no one supports Olivia and the Arnault Club falling out.

After all, the other party almost controls the literary world related to the Nobel Prize and is a trust in this field.

But Olivia is so crazy that she would rather sell the business under her name and use the money to disgust the Arnault Club.

Later, she was put under house arrest, and under the pretext of being a good friend, she left France and came to the United States to stir up trouble.

Today, the little princess of the Chanel Group has become a real "American rich" lady, with extraordinary resources and connections.

In order to help Kitagawa Hide vent his anger, she went to the professor's office of the Faculty of Literature every day to act coquettishly and cutely. With her high emotional intelligence and great literary talent, she was deeply loved by a group of professors.

Among them, the full professor who was persuaded by her and eventually became a die-hard fan of Kitagawa Hide was Paul DeMan.

Paul de Man does not have any well-known literary works, and people who are not familiar with the literary criticism and criticism circles probably have no idea of ​​this name.

But those who know these things begin to tremble when they hear this name.

Several influential professors who taught at Yale University in the United States and were active in the field of literary criticism from the 20s to the early 70s included Paul DeMan, Harold Blom, Jeffrey Hartman and Hillis Miller.

The four most famous critics at Yale University have been called the "hermeneutics mafia", and Paul de Man is the godfather of the party.

These people formed the highly controversial "Yale School".

Paul DeMan is recognized as the leader of the Yale School, and the other three were influenced by him to varying degrees.

Whenever members of the Yale School mentioned Paul de Man, whether in conversation or in their articles, their tone was very respectful and even admiring.

In addition, Paul De Man was named the Godfather because he always gave people a sense of truth and always spoke in a very "cool" and straightforward way:
He always puts forward his views in a few simple words and never bothers to explain or prove them in detail, just like the phenomenon that always exists in the underworld: if the leader does not speak, it is fine. But once he speaks, every word is authoritative and only requires to be executed, never requiring explanation.

Paul de Man's behavior is extremely controversial and is considered by many scholars to be disrespectful to literature.

However, his theoretical knowledge is very solid, and he is invincible in the commentary and criticism circles. No one can match him. He has so many supporters behind him that he almost has the final say in the Department of Literature at Yale University.

It was his proposal that led to this seminar.

The old man who was arguing with many people about the book "The Little Prince" was Paul de Man. (End of this chapter)