Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 321: The Weathervane of Japanese Literature
"Damn, what does Shincho mean by this?" The June issue of Shincho was thrown hard on the desk, and Matsushita Chongsuke roared with a little shame and anger.

The office door with the nameplate of "Editor-in-Chief" trembled slightly. The editors sitting outside couldn't help but stick their heads out to take a look at the window with tightly closed blinds, but soon shrank back in silence.

"Speaking of which, Kishida-kun is really brave. He dared to go to the chief editor with the June issue of Shincho." An editor exclaimed to a colleague at the next desk.

Another editor also stopped his work upon hearing this and sighed, "Yes, yes, young people are really brave. Shincho really went too far this time. Publishing such a review and such a novel is clearly an attempt to cause trouble for us, Bungeishunju, and the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize."

"You watched it too? What did you think?"

"Of course I have. If you ask me, I would say——"

"Just tell me, bastard..."

"If you ask me, both this Chinese writer named Zhang Chao and this book "Kei no Eiko" are better than those written by Wataya Lisa and Kanehara Hitomi."

"Eh... do you think so too?"

"I'm just telling the truth. Although Wataya Lisa and Kanehara Hitomi are excellent, it may be because they are female authors. Their inner spirit is too thin and fragile..."

"Yeah, the perspective seems to be a bit narrow."

“The social criticism of “Slit Tongue” stops at the surface tearing of the skin, and “The Back That Deserves a Kick” is just a storm stirred up by a rebellious girl in a greenhouse... In comparison, “Criminal Eiko” seems to be much more profound in its depiction of reality!”

"Why are you using such serious criticism? It sounds so sharp!"

"I told you what I said was the truth! After they won the award, every book they wrote had to have the words "Transformation Work" on the cover."

"Yes, yes, and when will the prefix 'female writer' disappear completely?"

"Huh? Just like no one will emphasize that Haruki Murakami is a 'male writer'? I'm afraid it will take another few decades."

"This is my wish...Shh, it's coming out!"

The two editors ended their conversation and bent over their desks, pretending to work hard, but their attention was all on the editor-in-chief's office door that opened with a click.

The 30-something editor, Masahiro Kishida, was personally escorted to the door by Takasuke Matsushita. He then turned around and bowed deeply to the grumpy editor-in-chief, saying, "I will definitely not let the president down."

Then, under the strange looks of other editors, he returned to his small workstation located in the worst corner of the office.

On his desk, a copy of Shincho magazine was spread out, and the page he had opened was the last page of the excerpt from Zhang Chao's Criminal Eikoh. At the end of the page, there was a big message printed "Scheduled to be released on June 6th/Officially released in July."

As a graduate of the Faculty of Literature at the University of Tokyo, he possesses a literary appreciation ability far above the average level. He can naturally see that although Shincho magazine has "overpraised" the novel Keiji no Eiko, it is generally in line with the charm displayed in the excerpts from the novel.

But those several hundred words of "Editor's Note" do contain implicit criticism of the "Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize" sponsored by "Bungei Shunju".

As Japan's oldest pure literature magazine, Shincho also has its own various literary awards, including the Newcomer Award; although the awards sponsored by the two magazines will cover works published in each other's publications, their value orientations are quite different.

In general, New Wave focuses on "art for art's sake" and encourages experimental writing that breaks the traditional narrative structure; whereas Bungeishunju focuses on the social involvement of literature, and its winning works often involve historical reflections or current issues.

The value dispute between Shincho and Bungeishunju is essentially a struggle between the avant-garde and the establishment within Japanese literature that has lasted for hundreds of years. The former is like a literary laboratory, using magazines as test tubes to cultivate narrative mutants; the latter is like a literary museum, collecting specimens of the times through awards.

In recent years, the "Akutagawa Ryunosuke Award" has been awarded consecutively to Lisa Wataya and Hitomi Kanehara, who are both in their early 20s, which has caused a huge sensation both in the literary world and among the general public.

The sales of the current issue of Bungeishunju, which published the works of the two winners, exceeded 80 copies, double the usual amount.

In comparison, the awards given out by Shincho magazine in recent years, especially the Newcomer Awards, have been much dimmer. Neither Asao Daisuke, Sato Hiroshi, nor last year's award-winning female writer Yoshida Naomi, have attracted enough attention.

The popularity of award-winning writers is a barometer of literature. The continuous emergence of female winners of the Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize, including Wataya Risa, Kanehara Hitomi, and Aoyama Nanae, has had a significant impact on the creative trends in the Japanese literary world.

For example, the judges' excessive exaggeration of the "pain sensitivity" of women's works can easily be reduced to "young girls' subculture curiosity" in practice; and new female writers, in order to cater to the expectations of the awards, often process their personal experiences into standardized trauma narratives.

Sales data from Kadokawa Bookstore shows that the first print run of works labeled "Akutagawa Prize-winning Female Writers" increased by an average of 40%, but sales of the third work generally plummeted by 60%.

This is because "literary capital" is using its own aesthetic logic to alienate the works of young Japanese writers into "painful girl economics", resulting in the interruption of historical narrative in Japanese literature. Grand narratives such as the Hiroshima trauma and the political passion of the Anbo generation in Japan's postwar literature are almost extinct in women's writing.

At the same time, ironically, these works that focus on "skin pain" have also led to the degeneration of literary critical spirit - when people like Hitomi Kanehara replaced shackles with tongue rings, they were no longer rebelling against patriarchy, but "freedom that is not free enough."

These are the hidden worries in the Japanese literary world as perceived by Shincho magazine’s literary values.

Now, seeing that young writers in Japan are not strong enough, Shincho directly introduced Zhang Chao as a "catfish", trying to use Zhang Chao's considerable international influence to stir up the trend of Japanese literary world and shake the invisible monopoly of the Bungeishunju system over Japanese literary world.

Masahiro Kishida saw this point clearly, and couldn't wait to take the magazine to find Matsushita Chongsuke. After explaining the pros and cons, he quickly made the other party realize the seriousness of it -

Although Zhang Chao has attracted some attention in Japan, it is mainly in the field of popular literature. Whether it is "Your Name", which is regarded as a light novel, or "Vanishing Lover", which is quite popular, they only have commercial value and will not impact the value system of the Japanese literary world itself.

Who is the biggest beneficiary of this value system? Naturally, it is the leading magazine Bungeishunju.

Although Bungeishunju itself has transformed into a comprehensive monthly magazine and is no longer the pure literature magazine it was when Kikuchi Kan founded it, Bungeishunju Co., Ltd. still has Bunshun Bunko, Bunshun Shinsho, as well as ALL Reading, Bungeishunju Bessatsu, and Bungeishunju Bessatsu to maintain its literary base.

Not to mention the "Akutagawa Ryunosuke Prize" and the "Naoki Sanjugo Prize", the two most important literary awards for newcomers that cover both pure literature and popular literature.

Bungeishunju naturally has to maintain the stability of this system.

Although Shincho was once a magazine that produced many Japanese literary giants, such as Natsume Soseki, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Kawabata Yasunari, Dazai Osamu, Mishima Yukio, and Oe Kenzaburo, it has shown signs of decline in recent years. The best new writers are always discovered and rewarded by Bungeishunju first, not Shincho—even if some of their works were first published in Shincho.

So normally speaking, it is irrelevant for "Shincho" to use some new works and young writers to make sarcastic remarks about "Bungei Shunju", let alone a foreigner.

But now Zhang Chao is different.

He is a writer who has attracted huge attention in the United States. His "Due East" trip was also widely reported by the media in Japan. He also made a splash at a charity dinner in American upper society, triggering large-scale social reflection and discussion.

With the explosive popularity of Weibo, a reading and sharing social platform, Zhang Chao can no longer be simply defined as a "writer" - he is more like a walking cultural symbol, a pachinko machine that keeps winning big prizes, and an invitation to a dance that no one can refuse.

Among Japanese readers of youth literature, "Zhang Chao" has become a popular term. Everyone wants to register on his Weibo website in various ways to see what books Americans and Chinese are reading.

By promoting Zhang Chao's works, Shincho attracted the collective attention of the Japanese literary circles and enthusiasts to a great extent. The sales of the June issue of Shincho reached a peak in recent years in a short period of time, selling nearly 6 more copies than usual.

The discussion about Zhang Chao also sparked widespread discussion on the Yahoo 2channel (2ch) forum in Japan, with the most representative post being:

"Zhang Chao's "Criminal Eiko" is really profound!"

[Everyone is discussing this article "Kei-no-Eiko" in the June issue of Shincho recently, right? I was also dragged here by a friend. I had no interest in this kind of "foreign writer" topic, but after reading a few paragraphs, I was really attracted. ]

[Zhang Chao's writing style is also very special, with both traditional narrative techniques and modern elements, which makes people feel very fresh. I think "New Wave" really chose the right person this time. I hope Japanese writers can also write such works! But it seems that there are none! ]

The discussion below the post was very lively -

[I also read the June issue of Shincho, and was really attracted by Zhang Chao's writing style. Especially his unique perspective, which feels very different from traditional Japanese literary works.]

[Some friends said that this was just a gimmick by Xinchao to increase sales! ]

[This move by Xinchao was a bit risky, but also quite courageous. However, Xinchao did make money this time, and its sales soared in a short period of time. This shows that readers still like to argue! ]

[I hope that "Kei no Eiko" can make Japanese literature more lively, which is a success in itself. I hope to see more foreign writers like Zhang Chao appear in the future and bring more vitality to Japanese literature. ]

[Zhang Chao-sang is awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome…]

……

With a click, Masahiro Kishida clicked the "X" on the upper right corner of the browser, and then exclaimed: "From all these, this Zhang Chaosang is not a 'catfish', but a 'hammer'!"

The task assigned to him by Matsushita Chongsuke was to organize a group of literary criticism forces affiliated with Bungeishunju to launch a counterattack against Shincho, but without being too disgraceful, especially not offending Zhang Chao.

After all, Zhang Chao himself is almost certainly unaware of and has no interest in getting involved in the "internal strife" in the Japanese literary world. What's more, he is very popular now and his works are selling very well in Japan. After all, "Bungei Shunju" is not the whole of "Bungei Shunju". The publishing houses under "Bungei Shunju" are also involved in the scramble for the copyright of Zhang Chao's works.

As the editor-in-chief of Bungeishunju magazine, Takasuke Matsushita's vision is higher and broader than that of Masahiro Kishida. Masahiro Kishida only saw provocations and crises, while Takasuke Matsushita saw opportunities after his rage.

Since the wave has been set off by Shincho, what Bungeishunju should do is neither to avoid nor to suppress it, but to ride the wave.

As a sponsor of "girl writers" such as Risa Wataya, Hitomi Kanehara, and Nanae Aoyama, Matsushita Takasuke hopes to use this wave to clear their names - these young female writers do not write "convenience store literature", and the trend of female creation led by them is not a symbol of stagnation in Japanese literature.

Therefore, Masahiro Kishida must make full use of the existing situation and take advantage of the loopholes in the Shincho reviews to counterattack.

"Teacher Sato, have you read Shincho?... Such comments are too much... Although Keiichi no Eikoku is good, literary works are also regional... Yes, cultural barriers... No matter how profound Keiichi no Eikoku is, it is limited to a specific context and cannot be a yardstick for measuring Japanese literature... Hi, I look forward to your masterpiece!"

"Mr. Ueno, have you read Shincho? ... In fact, the anxiety of the convenience store girl working in Lisa's work reflects the collective trauma of the "employment ice age generation"! And the physical transformation of Hitomi and Split Tongue represents the Heisei youth lost in consumerism! These are social problems unique to Japan and cannot be belittled or ignored! ... Hi, I look forward to your masterpiece!"

"Ehara-san... Oh, you know it too. "Kei no Eiko" is a really good novel!... But no matter how good "Kei no Eiko" is, it's not good enough to 'reconstruct' contemporary Japanese literature!... Yes, although experimental writing is important, the literary world needs diverse voices, including traditional narratives and works with strong social intervention... Hi, I look forward to your masterpiece!"

……

After communicating with a circle of literary critics, Masahiro Kishida put down the phone contentedly. He looked up and saw several of his editorial colleagues looking at him with smiles.

"Dear seniors, you..."

"Kishida-kun, you work really hard!"

"where……"

"I guess you'll be promoted soon?"

"how come……"

"You must treat me when the time comes!"

"I must...ah, no, I mean, I didn't..."

"Hey, why are you being so modest? We all saw it!"

In the sarcastic atmosphere unique to the Japanese workplace, Masahiro Kishida's back soon became wet.

(End of this chapter)