I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 402: This is not a good book?

"If The Little Prince is a pile of stinky dog ​​shit in the guise of a fairy tale, then the articles and reviews written by you guys are the ultimate excrement that is even worse than stinky dog ​​shit!"

Paul DeMan, who is over 70 years old, is extremely aggressive. He was alone, shouting at half a dozen old men and women who are highly respected in the American literary, publishing and commentary circles.

Several old men and women who were about the same age as him were now red in the face and gasping for breath. They clearly wanted to refute, but their breathing was unstable at the moment, so how could they have the energy to argue with him?

Although the opponent was silent, Paul Deman did not stop his verbal attack and continued to bombard his opponents like a machine gun.

"The Little Prince is clearly a poetic and satirical fairy tale. Kitagawa Hide uses the perspective of the little prince to reveal the emptiness, blindness and rigidity of adult life. The fairy tale is also full of thoughts on the social system, criticisms of money relations, and praises of truth, goodness and beauty.
Just these things alone would take you old fools hundreds or thousands of years to learn!
What qualifications do you have to point fingers and comment on a top literary master?
Are you just relying on your writing skills which are not even as good as stinky dog ​​shit?

Hahaha, how ridiculous! "

Paul DeMan's "dirty words" shocked everyone present.

There are countless literary giants from various countries participating in the "World Literature Symposium Festival" this time, and there are more than thirty people gathered in this small reception room.

They had heard of Paul DeMan, the godfather of the "Yale School", but after seeing and hearing him with their own eyes and ears, they still felt a little shocked.

They really couldn't imagine that a world-famous university professor and literary critic could be like a street shrew and spew all kinds of shit at other people.

The old man's machine-gun-like tongue made it impossible for them to say anything back, and they could only stare blankly as they were scolded.

Paul de Man's own literary criticism activities mainly consist of re-criticizing the critical activities of other literary critics.

Some of the literary critics he criticized also took literary criticism itself as the object of their criticism.

Therefore, Paul de Man's critical activities are often ridiculed as "criticism of criticism of criticism."

This kind of nesting doll-style debate is despised by most literary critics, who consider it pure trouble-making.

Originally, when encountering such a professional troll who is both authoritative and difficult to deal with, most people would choose to avoid him and not engage in meaningless arguments with him.

However, many of Paul De Man’s ideas and opinions were so shocking and “dangerous” that many people felt they had to fight back and subconsciously started to criticize him.

Just like now, everyone was originally just conducting a simple discussion and analysis of "The Little Prince" which had just spread to the United States, but as the conversation went on, when Paul de Man's offensiveness came out, everyone couldn't stand it and began to refute him one by one.

Finally it became like this.

Paul DeMan was spitting everywhere, debating with a group of scholars and leaving the others speechless.

"You, you" an old man pointed at Paul Deman, wanting to say something but unable to say anything.

"What do you mean? Am I wrong? Have you really read The Little Prince carefully?

Not to mention the adult philosophy it contains, just talking about children's literature, can you name a better novel of the same type?
Can I? Can I? Can I?

You can't! You can't!
Since you can't, just shut up, watch carefully, listen carefully and that's it!"

At this moment, Paul DeMann was like Captain America in the Avengers, except that he needed to say, "I can spend the whole day with you."

Of course, he is not like Captain America who was beaten badly but still remained stubborn. He beat others badly and still pursued them relentlessly!

"Teacher~"

At this moment, Olivia and Victoria appeared at the perfect time and cleverly resolved the embarrassment of a bunch of big names.

There is nothing wrong with this debate in itself, but if the debate lasts too long and is too intense, it will also have an impact on Kitagawa Hide, a third party.

Just like the saying circulating in the entertainment circle next door, "One fan is worth ten haters."

If Paul de Man uses this double-edged sword well, he will be the pioneer who has made Kitagawa Hideo invincible in the American literary world. If he uses it poorly, he may even lose his own head.

"Hey, my sweetheart is here!"

When Paul DeMan saw Olivia, his expression suddenly changed and he became Professor DeMan, who was extremely respected by the students of the Department of Literature at Yale University.

He liked this little girl from France very much. He believed that she was a good student who could inherit his mantle both in terms of her character and literary talent.

Olivia was one of the few Yale students who had won the favor of Paul DeMan.

Seeing such a little girl instantly "conquer" the big troll Paul de Man, those literary bigwigs couldn't help but look at Olivia a few more times, curious about her identity and background.

While the "World Literature Symposium" was arguing over whether Kitagawa Hide's "The Little Prince" was a high-quality children's literature work,
In Japan, the reputation of "The Convenience Store of Sorrow" has finally reversed and it has gained good reputation and evaluation among readers.

"Wenyi", which was released last month, also started the road to sales counterattack!

The reversal of word-of-mouth was caused by a short literary review written by Tetsutaro Mori later.

In this literary review entitled "The Real "The Convenience Store of Sorrow" in My Eyes", he did not hype up "The Convenience Store of Sorrow", but instead objectively pointed out many shortcomings of Keigo Higashino after his transformation.

At this time, the reviews on "The Convenience Store of Sorrow" on the market were basically polarized.

One side strongly advocates that "The Convenience Store of Sorrow" is a rare good book, and that Keigo Higashino learned from Kitagawa Hide and has at least one-fifth of Kitagawa's skills.

The other side strongly disparages it, believing it to be a hodgepodge of a novel, a typical example of "both this and that" literature.

Readers who have awakened their self-awareness will certainly not judge the quality of a novel based on the one-sided opinions of literary critics.

But readers are ordinary people with serious blindness and herd mentality. Under the impact of various messy opinions, most people will gradually lose their own judgment.

The game between the pros and cons has prevented the reputation of "The Convenience Store of Sorrow" from improving, and most readers remain at the stage of "heard of it, but not read it".

At this time, Tetsutaro Mori took a different approach. The review he wrote neither discussed good nor bad, nor argued right or wrong. It simply objectively evaluated Keigo Higashino's writing ability and the pros and cons of the novel.

"The Convenience Store of Sorrow" itself is a high-quality novel with a rating of 8.0, and the best-selling novel in the original history and the adapted movie prove this point.

When everyone's attention was drawn back to the novel itself and everyone began to consciously discuss the content of the novel, its good points gradually emerged.

“This is a transitional work that is not mature but full of sincerity. Some of the plots and characters are a bit immature, but overall it is good.

The narrative tricks that transcend time and space, the interlocking story plots, and the eye-opening reasoning elements are all writing techniques that most Japanese pure literary novels have never used or attempted.

Regardless of whether it is good or bad, Mr. Higashino at least set a good example for most pure literature authors——

You don’t have to imitate Kitagawa to gain a foothold in the literary world. As long as you have enough personal characteristics, you can carve a name in the Japanese literary world.”

This concluding remark by Tetsutaro Mori has been regarded as a motto by countless grassroots authors.

Over the past three years, Kitagawa Hide has risen from an unknown writer to the top, stepping on the heads of Oshima Hikaru, Ishihara Shintaro, Ikezawa Natsuki, and several other top writers.

His sudden appearance inspired countless people and also triggered wave after wave of imitations of "Kitagawa Hidekaze"'s novels.

Many middle- and lower-class authors have made money by following the trend, and some are still following the trend. But as they write, it seems that the entire Japanese literary world is filled with "Kitagawa Hidefu".

No matter how similar the imitation is, it is just a shadow of Teacher Beichuan.

A shadow cannot leave its name in the history of literature.

A large number of authors began to feel confused and at a loss.

Some have switched to writing detective literature, some have switched to writing popular literature, and the soil for pure literature has become increasingly barren.

Now, "The Convenience Store of Sorrow" has become an intermediate product connecting the two eras, which is indeed of great significance.

After Tetsutaro Mori made this point, the circle of authors first started to develop a craze for reading "The Convenience Store of Sorrow", and then these authors recommended it to their own readers, relatives and friends.

Then it was out of control.

Kitagawa Hide was also surprised when he learned the news.

He is certain that "The Convenience Store of Sorrow" will be a hit, and a very hit, but he is not sure how it will turn around.

I didn't expect that in this world, it would become popular after other authors recommended it to readers and then spread it to the public through readers.

Throughout history, intellectuals have always looked down on each other.

Everyone says "There is no first in literature and no second in martial arts", but the fact is, everyone wants to be the best, and everyone secretly curses, envies, and discredits their peers.

Especially in the online literature that has emerged in the Internet era, reports between authors are much more serious than reports from readers.

This time, "The Convenience Store of Sorrow" climbed out of the quagmire step by step with the support of countless grassroots authors.

It is sad, but also gratifying.

This is how the fire of literature continues.

The biggest beneficiary of this shocking reversal was Hiroki Ryuichi, who gritted his teeth and bought the film and television rights of "The Convenience Store of Sorrow" for 1000 million yen.

This copyright purchase plan did not go as smoothly as he had imagined.

He scraped together money from everywhere, even going so far as to ask his father-in-law and mother-in-law for help, but he could only get together more than 300 million yen. After that, he reluctantly borrowed 200 million yen from the bank.

He thought too highly of banks during economic downturns.

Although the bank also wants to lend a large amount of money, with his qualifications, he really can't borrow too much money.

Seeing that there was still a gap of nearly 500 million yen, just when Hiroki Ryuichi was at a loss, the vice president of Kitagawa Investment, Senhara Masato, swooped in and lent him 20 million yen in exchange for 500% of Hiroki's original shares.

Guangmu Company is a shell company he just registered. Even if it will be used to complete the filming of the movie later, it is not worth much.

In Hiroki Ryuichi's opinion, this money was equivalent to Senhara Masato lending him for free.

In this way, he finally collected 1000 million yen by the deadline and successfully obtained the film and television rights of "The Convenience Store of Sorrow".

Unexpectedly, just a few days after it was published, the reputation of the novel reversed.

Last month, on the Internet, if the popularity of "Hanzawa Naoki" was 100, then the popularity of "The Little Shop of Sorrow" was 1.

And now, just a few days into September, its popularity has soared to seventy or eighty!
The sales volume of "Wenyi" also achieved a turnaround, and it has opened up a certain gap with traditional pure literature magazines such as "Xinwenxiang".

"We have to start filming TV series before the popularity wanes. TV series are better than movies, but they take longer and are more difficult to shoot. Movies are definitely the best choice right now.

If we cooperate with Beichuan Entertainment, we might be able to select popular male and female stars, which will increase the chances of the movie becoming a hit!"

Hiroki Ryuichi is very decisive.

Seeing that the popularity of the novel had begun to rise steadily, he decisively called Kitagawa Yumeko and requested to co-produce a film with Kitagawa Entertainment.

Mengzi has been busy raising her baby recently and rarely deals with Beichuan Entertainment's affairs, but this time it was the filming of "The Convenience Store of Sorrow", and she took it on alone -

The novel was the work of Kitagawa Hideji's disciple, which was equivalent to showing off under the Kitagawa family's name. She didn't want the movie to fail and damage the reputation of the Kitagawa family.

Secondly, due to a conflict with gangsters, Jabami Rei, who was at the peak of her acting career, was hidden away, which made Yumeko very anxious.

Jabami Rei is her and Kitagawa Hide's lifelong friend, and she would never allow her best friend to fail in such a thing.

Although Jabami Rei herself didn't take it seriously at all and was traveling around the world during her vacation, and is probably still lying in the sun in Hawaii, Yumeko couldn't accept this.

She called Jabami Rei back and asked her to play the heroine "Ms. Moon Rabbit" in the first short story of "The Convenience Store of Sorrow".

When Hiroki Ryuichi received the new news, he was stunned.

He knew that Kitagawa Entertainment would most likely give him a little extra help because the novel was written by Keigo Higashino.

But he didn't expect that President Kitagawa Yumeko would directly throw the trump card to him!

Toho Co., Ltd.'s Jabami Rei won the Best Newcomer Award and Best Actress Award in various awards last year. She is recognized as the "Kitagawa Girl". Even if she is temporarily shelved, her status is still among the top actresses.

The salary for an actress of this level would start at tens of millions yen, which is simply not something he can afford.

Then President Kitagawa Yumeko said that Jabami Rei would appear in the film for free and only asked for a share of the box office profits!

In addition, all the male and female stars in the circle who are friendly with Beichuan Entertainment are willing to make guest appearances or even star in the show.

The top couple in the TV industry, Kimura Takuya and his wife, also called him.
Looking at the quality of the script and the cast, Hiroki Ryuichi has no idea how this movie will fail.
On the other hand, Kitagawa Hideya, who was relatively free, received an invitation to the "World Literature Seminar Festival".

But he really didn't have time as he was busy with two books, "Asakusa Red Group" and "The Villain", so he declined Olivia's invitation.

The first five chapters of "Asakusa Red Group" were almost finished, and he revised the manuscript and gave it to Kaoru.

Recently, Kaoru has been busy with exams, mentoring new writers such as Yumiko and Umeki, and revising the manuscript of "Asakusa Red Group", so she has really become half a member of society.

As for the book "The Villain".

Kitagawa Hide and Saito Rena finally got the permission to visit Hayashi Masumi thanks to the relationship with the young policewoman Hikigaya Nako.

However, before that, they will first attend the Tokyo District Court's final trial of the Wakayama poisonous curry case as spectators.

At that time, Hayashi Masumi and his wife will also appear and make a final futile struggle.

(End of this chapter)