I am a literary giant in Japan

"Yes, it's related to the new book." Kitagawa Hide directly told Saito Rena the general idea of ​​Gorky's trilogy on the phone.

".The protagonist's childhood life from the age of three to ten is the first part of the trilogy. Is it going to reproduce the living conditions of the lower classes in Tsarist Russia in the 19s and s?"

Saito Reina repeatedly sorted out the information she had received from Kitagawa Hide, repeating it aloud while scribbling on the draft paper with a fountain pen.
"In the 19s and 1870s, if I remember correctly, Tsarist Russia had just undergone the reform of serfdom and was already developing on the road to becoming a modern industrial power.

But it seems that the incompleteness of the reforms has led them to retain a large number of feudal remnants, and the Tsarist autocracy has not changed."

When she was in school, Rena Saito liked to read foreign history to expand her knowledge and improve her cognition.

When talking about Tsarist Russia of that era, a lot of historical information instantly popped up in her mind.

"Yes. At that time, Tsarist Russia was still essentially a feudal militaristic empire. When Alexander III took over, the entire country was at a crossroads. The direction was not only a huge problem for him, but also a matter for countless people at the bottom to consider.

Turbulent times, unstable political situation, and divided classes are the best soil for nurturing literary works.

That period background is also very suitable as the world view background of the novel. "

Kitagawa Hide interjected.

The reason why Gorky's trilogy has been passed down through the ages is, on the one hand, due to his superb literary writing ability, and on the other hand, it is also due to the turbulent and fascinating era at that time.

With the "previous lessons" of "Remembrance of Things Past" and "One Hundred Years of Solitude", Saito Rena was not puzzled as to why Kitagawa Hide chose to write about the turbulent period in foreign history.

After all, "Remembrance of Things Past" was written in the first person about France during World War I and World War II, and "One Hundred Years of Solitude" describes the ups and downs of a large Colombian family.

If a work wants to be famous forever in the history of world literature, it must stand the test of time and the times. Obviously, this type of subject matter will be much easier to become popular than those that focus on love.

There is no doubt about this.

But she still had a small doubt: "Why choose Russia? I mean, the literary market there is actually very prosperous, and the rejection of foreign literature is also quite high."

"You mean this is a thankless task, right?" Kitagawa Hide quickly got her point.

Saito Reina nodded, but then smiled at her phone and said, "Of course, this is just my professional judgment as a practitioner and editor-in-chief.

You know, after being in this position for a long time, it is inevitable that you will be affected by the market and the so-called rules.

But haven’t we always been doing things that are counter-intuitive and anti-market?
And this time we've agreed that we have to teach those bastards in the Western literary world a lesson, so of course we have to come up with something different and different.

In short, no matter what you want to write and for what purpose you want to write it, I, as your editor-in-chief, will absolutely and unconditionally support you! "

Kitagawa Hide had heard similar responses from Saito Rena countless times.

But every time she revealed her feelings so sincerely, Kitagawa Hide felt warm in his heart.

No matter how time changes and what the two have become, as long as the new book is mentioned, they can instantly return to the way they were when they were sitting at Yamada Tetsuo's barbecue stall!

"I see. Once I have sorted out the itinerary and details, I will email you the relevant information immediately."

Kitagawa Hide held his phone between his ears, glanced at the already written design collection, and added,
“By the way, this new book doesn’t need to focus on ‘hiding’ like before.

Since it is a clear challenge to the West, it is better to say it openly and let the readers look forward to it.

Overseas, I will also ask Beichuan Entertainment to spare no effort to find familiar channels for publicity and promotion, so as to warm up readers all over the world first!"

Previously, in order to maximize the publicity effect of the trilogy "We Who Are Disabled But Determined", Kitagawa Hide asked Kitagawa Entertainment to increase its investment in publicity.

The current economic situation in Japan is very general. Even though the millennium that everyone has been looking forward to is approaching, Japan's economy still does not seem to show any signs of improvement.

In this environment, most companies are reducing costs and increasing efficiency, preparing to spend the longest economic winter in history with their employees.

When he asked Beichuan Entertainment to increase its publicity budget, he was rejected by many major shareholders on the board of directors.

Fortunately, he and Mengzi are the largest shareholders of Beichuan Entertainment, and those people have little influence and can be ignored.

However, the fact that Beichuan Entertainment had to push for an upgrade in investment in publicity and promotion despite numerous doubts still brought some systemic risks to its cash flow.

Fortunately, the final result was good.

After the completion of "The Crucible", its reputation continued to rise, and now, before the film version has officially formed a crew, several top consortiums are willing to invest and support it.

There is no need to say much about "Children of the Dark".

The best-selling movie in Thai film history was adapted from a novel written by a Japanese writer.

Just this matter is worth it for Kitagawa Hideo to brag about for the rest of his life.

The profits that the movie brings to the creative team are enough to make all of them financially independent.

As for the last one, "A Wonderful Journey", although it cannot be compared with the previous two in terms of commercial value, it has won many awards in various pure literature awards, and it also silenced those haters who were criticizing Kitagawa Hideo for being more and more commercial.

The success of this trilogy has made people within Beichuan Entertainment no longer question Beichuan Xiu's publicity and investment behavior.

Today, Kitagawa Entertainment's overseas channels and publicity have surpassed Kawaide Shobo and is the most influential publicity department in the Japanese publishing industry.

The flowers of the past have finally borne fruit, and this time Kitagawa Hide will enjoy the sweetness brought by these beautiful fruits!
"Yes. At Hede Bookstore, we will at least help you promote your new book according to the author contract we signed.

But you know, this is such a big deal, and it's all for the "one go" mentioned earlier. Sister Shizuko, even if she is asked to gamble the future of the entire Kawade Shobo, she probably won't even blink an eye."

"I understand. So for this new book, in order to live up to all of your expectations, I will definitely show an unprecedented writing attitude and effort to repay your support."

Kitagawa Hide said this seriously and solemnly.

Before this, although his attitude towards his career was obvious to everyone and no one thought he was not serious, from the beginning to the end, Saito Rena and others always felt that Kitagawa Hide was still holding back and was not really trying his best.

From Rena Saito's perspective, the only time she felt that Kitagawa Hide put his heart and soul into a book, and about 70% to 80% of his effort, was in "No Longer Human" which he wrote for Yan Jing-san's family.

At that time, Kitagawa Hide was really pissed off by the bastards of Aum Shinrikyo. He was so angry when he wrote the book that he even stayed at home for several days in a row, making people think that he was about to lose his mind.

After that, no matter how strong the opponent was, it seemed that they could not force Kitagawa Hide to that level.

Reina Saito was at a loss for words about her feelings towards Kitagawa Hide.

If she had watched the popular anime series later in the original history, she might be able to describe some similar feelings.

Kitagawa Hide is like the protagonist Saitama, the "Bald Cape Man" in "One Punch Man", who has been looking for an opponent who is equal to him, but has never found one.

No villain can bring out his strongest form.

Now Kitagawa Hide has a tendency to explode actively, which makes Saito Rena extremely happy.

She felt that in this state, perhaps Kitagawa Hidema could write a masterpiece that could rival the best works in the history of world literature!
Before hanging up the phone, Kitagawa Hide suddenly said, "Because that is also the hometown of Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy."

"Eh?" Saito Reina didn't react for a while. It was a long time after Kitagawa Hide hung up the phone that she gradually came to her senses.

Yes.

No matter who writes novels in this world, as long as literature is mentioned, Master Tolstoy is a mountain that cannot be avoided.

It is almost a pipe dream to want to climb and surpass this mountain.

But if one could get a little closer to him, get closer to him, or even touch him, it would be something that countless writers would be willing to spend their entire lives doing!
1999 3 Month 18 Day.

The March issue of "Wenyi" was published on time amid public attention.

In the previous issue, because of the serialization of the final chapter of "A Wonderful Journey", "Wenyi" achieved a small breakthrough in sales and firmly sat on the top position in the Japanese publishing industry in the first half of 1999.

Following closely behind, "Dazhong" and "Beichuan" also achieved impressive data, squeezing out the half-dead "Xinwenxiang" and ranking second and third respectively.

But this time, there was no new book by Mr. Kitagawa, nor any serialized novels by any big-name writers, so the March issue of "Wenyi" was generally not favored.

However, before the release, the cunning Kawade Shobo Publicity Department suddenly announced a blockbuster news:

Although the March issue of "Wenyi" does not include Mr. Beichuan's new book, the "New Book Trends" section of the magazine will focus on introducing a new "world classic" by Mr. Beichuan that is about to be published.

While writing the "Ring World Series" this month, Kitagawa Hide received a lot of doubts.

Especially the leading figures in the Japanese literary world, who, while reading "Ring World" shouted "It's so good", at the same time strongly criticized him for being the "number one in the world" in Japanese literary world but not setting a good example for the younger generations.

He doesn't care about the crumbling Japanese pure literature that has yet to be reborn, and instead insists on engaging in the hated "electronic reading", "light novels" and "horror science fiction".

it's good now.

Kitagawa Hide meets their needs directly.

This time, not only will he write the pure literary novel they want, but it will also be aimed at readers all over the world, with overseas themes and background, a large length, and profound intentions. It is also the first time that Kitagawa Hide has authorized the publicity department to label his unpublished work as a "world classic"!

The most taboo thing in the literary world is to open champagne at halftime and be arrogant.

The older generation of writers advocated being humble towards all peers. Even if you have the writing ability of Tolstoy, you must be careful in what you say and do so as not to bring yourself to criticism.

But this time, Kitagawa Hide tacitly allowed Kitagawa Entertainment and Kawaide Shobo to promote the new book with great fanfare, as if they had to release it after a long delay, which really shocked many people.

There’s something wrong with this style of painting!
But if you think about it carefully, hasn't Kitagawa Hide attracted enough criticism in the past few years?

Since his debut in March 1995, he has been writing books amid countless doubts and criticisms.

Even the official Nobel Prize in Literature has discredited him, blocked him and banned him from running for the nomination!

The possible criticism such publicity might bring is nothing compared to the unfair treatment he has suffered before.

And anyone with a discerning eye can see it.

Kitagawa Hide's new book is truly heading for the pinnacle of literature!

This was the first time that he took the initiative to pursue something literary and expressed his desire and ambition to strive for it!
After realizing this, the literary critics who had originally wanted to criticize and attack him for this matter suddenly changed their tone and focused their attention on the new book he was about to write.

"Youthful spirit!"

This was a very insightful comment that Takeuchi Osamu made to Kitagawa Hide while he was on his hospital bed.

If you think about it carefully, it seems that only those young writers who are young and proud of themselves would do this and promote themselves so vigorously.

They are fearless, not afraid of failure, and not afraid of power.

But compared to those "giants in words and dwarfs in actions", they have the strength to match their ambitions.

It’s just that time has passed, and we’ve seen it too many times. Besides, Kitagawa Hide has never been so “unstable” before, so it’s a little hard for everyone to accept it.

"This is not what a literary 'number one' should do," someone commented.

However, soon, netizens on the Internet began to criticize these so-called "experts".

"What's wrong? Teacher Beichuan is only 27 years old!

If he hadn't debuted early, became famous quickly, and written so many novels, Mr. Beichuan would have only been working in society for less than four years!
I have just entered my fourth year of working in society, and my thoughts are even more "Hanzawa Naoki" than Hanzawa Naoki! "

"If they were studying for a master's or doctoral degree at university, people of Professor Beichuan's age might not have graduated yet!"

"So what if it's a 'world classic'? Kitagawa's previous works, Norwegian Wood, No Longer Human, Snow Country, The Dancing Girl of Izu. Which one of them can't be considered a world classic?

If we talk about those works that foreigners cannot accept, then "One Hundred Years of Solitude", "The Old Man and the Sea" and "Remembrance of Things Past" should be counted, right?

A writer has at least five world-class literary works to his name, and now he publishes a new book and claims it is a world-classic, what's wrong with that? !

Not to mention that these days, even Toyota has to say that it is on par with BBA when launching a new car for marketing purposes! "

As time goes by, the voice on the Internet has gradually replaced that of the physical world, and more and more people are beginning to "wake up" and no longer think that marketing is something difficult to talk about.

Before Kitagawa Entertainment and Kawaide Shobo came up with their prepared emergency public relations for this matter, countless netizens had already spoken out in support of Kitagawa Hide.

Of course, whether questioning or supporting, these voices are made by small groups and have nothing to do with the general public.

All they have eyes for now is Kitagawa Hide's new book.

What exactly will Mr. Kitagawa write?
That's the only thing they want to know.

So on March 3, the March issue of "Wenyi" which was not favored by the industry was sold out in the Tokyo area in less than half a day after it was released.

New products are constantly being added, and Kitagawa Hide's new book "My Trilogy" has also entered the eyes of countless people through "Wenyi".

"Childhood, In the World, My University? Set in the Tsarist Russia in the 1870s and 1880s?"

After hearing the news, Audemaison, who was far away in France, immediately got a copy of "Literature and Art" and was immediately shocked by the creativity of Kitagawa Hide's new book.

His first reaction was that Kitagawa Hide wanted to write a Tsarist Russian version of "Remembrance of Things Past".

But after calming down, he immediately thought that if this was true, there would be no need for him to hype it up so much.

"Remembrance of Things Past" is good, but it is still a little far from the level of "world classic" he wants.

As the original author, Hide Kitagawa could not have been unaware of this.

"So, is he really planning to write a new book that will surpass all his previous works?" (End of this chapter)