Chapter 93: It seems that this matter cannot be concluded

Chapter 93: It seems that this matter cannot be concluded

Chapter 93: It seems that this matter cannot be concluded (there will be another update later)
"I think the literary level of the two works, 'Hear the Wind Sing' and 'Pinball, 1973', is not high enough to win the award," said Natsuki Ikezawa, a judge of the Akutagawa Prize.

"Contemporary Japanese literature can be divided into pure literature and popular literature. The former focuses more on literary and artistic perspectives, while the latter focuses more on commercial sales. In writing, the author will focus on catering to the tastes of readers.

In my opinion, Kitagawa Hide's novels are neither pure literature nor popular literature. If I must say, I think it is a hybrid product. Oh, I don't mean to slander Kitagawa Hide.

In the eyes of a group of us who have devoted ourselves to literary research for decades, Kitagawa Hide’s novel deliberately puts on the shell of pure literature and uses the plot of popular literature. His behavior of wanting to win the Akutagawa Prize but not wanting to give up the sales of his books is very frivolous. As a pure literature writer, his behavior is despicable.

Shintaro Ishihara started to talk big in front of the camera of the reporter.
"We will not award the Akutagawa Prize to such a writer. This is disrespectful to other pure literature writers. Perhaps he is more suitable for the Naoki Prize or the Mishima Prize, haha."

The TV screen changed, and in the chaotic conference room, a female reporter handed the microphone to Ichiko Sadaji: "Academician Ichiko, as a recognized leader in the literary world, what do you think of the fact that Mr. Kitagawa did not win the award?"

“I personally fully support the decision of the Akutagawa Prize jury. It is true that Kitagawa Hide’s novels have a certain magic and appeal, but they are too popular and lack critical thinking.”

Ichiko Sadajū wore an ancient long gown, his hands behind his back, and openly belittled the literary quality of Kitagawa Hide's novel.

Others may not be qualified enough to say such things, but as a member of the Japan Academy, he is fully qualified, and after saying this, no one would say that he is overestimating his own abilities.

"Being too popular is a disadvantage? Bullshit! Bullshit!"

Tetsutarou Mori picked up the remote control and turned off the TV. Then he lit a cigarette and took a deep puff, his face revealing an unconcealable disappointment and indignation.

Previously, by praising "Hear the Wind Sing", he finally became a well-known literary critic from a second-rate literary critic. After that, Kitagawa Hide published "Ball" and "A Wild Sheep Chase", each of which was better than the last, which made him unable to stop and he once again wrote a lot of literary reviews to praise it.

While blowing the flute, Tetsutarou Mori discovered something interesting.

Although Kitagawa's novels are very popular, the industry seems to have some complaints about him, and Kodansha rarely comes out to support its own Newcomer Award winner.

Over time, literary reviews in other newspapers and magazines were mostly aimed at belittling and satirizing Kitagawa Hide, as if you couldn't survive if you didn't cater to the views of the mainstream media.

In this way, he, a rare "Beichuan blow" in the literary criticism circle, became extremely valuable. After he wrote several articles praising "Youth Trilogy", many newspapers and magazines soon asked him to write articles.

The requirement is to mindlessly praise Kitagawa Hide and go against the mainstream of the commentary community.

Mori Tetsutarou is very familiar with this kind of thing!
This was the kind of work he used to do, so he became more skilled at writing, became more famous, and earned more money.

When "No Longer Human" was published, Mori Tetsutaro panicked for a while when he learned that Kitagawa Hide had suddenly jumped to Kawaide Shobo and seemed to have changed his career path.

It can be said that to this day, his little destiny has been inexplicably tied to Teacher Kitagawa.

Beichuan blowing is his identity for a living, but if this book fails, then his blowing will seem very ridiculous.

When it comes to literary criticism, there is actually no right or wrong in it. You just write something that others want to read and publish it.

If readers want to see criticism, then you criticize; if they want to see flattery, then you flatter.

But for the same author, your position must be firm and consistent enough. If you always waver, you will offend both readers who like to read literary reviews and the author's readership.

Fortunately, Mr. Kitagawa didn’t poop a big one.

"No Longer Human" is a pure literary novel that is both literary and commercial. Its influence is so great that even Tetsutaro Mori, the "Shennong", was depressed for several weeks before he slowly recovered.

Actual sales in the first month exceeded 90 copies!

It’s also thanks to the fact that “No Longer Human” was published in the second half of the year, otherwise there would be no chance for other books.

The Akutagawa Prize was announced today, and Tetsutaro Mori sat in front of the TV with great interest, just waiting for Kitagawa to brag about the award.

Now, you tell me that the winner of the Akutagawa Prize is not Mr. Kitagawa!

Looking at the title on the manuscript paper: "Why was the Akutagawa Prize awarded to Kitagawa Hide?", Mori Tetsutaro fell into deep thought.

How to do?
Are you criticizing Mr. Kitagawa along with the Akutagawa Prize?

Then neither his own readers nor his readers will buy it, and the character that he had worked so hard to establish will collapse.

I also want to become a big name in the literary criticism circle and buy a luxury house and a luxury car!

If you don't follow the Akutagawa Prize, you're going to have to publicly question the Akutagawa Prize's judging committee, the editorial department of "Bungeikai," and a group of literary giants.
Who was the last person to do this?

Oh, Professor Osamu Takeuchi from the Faculty of Literature at the University of Tokyo.

"Damn it, I can't make a decision!" Mori Tetsutaro kept scratching his head, caught in a dilemma.

After a while, he suddenly saw a report in the Yomiuri Shimbun: the famous pure literature novelist Kitagawa Hide was invited to the University of Tokyo to give an open class on pure literature appreciation!
Wait, when is the open class?

He pulled the newspaper over and saw the specific date: September 1995, 9, 5:9 a.m., and the location was the large lecture hall in Building 1 of the Faculty of Literature at the Hongo Campus of the University of Tokyo.

Let’s go and watch the open class the day after tomorrow before making a conclusion!
"Why wasn't the Akutagawa Prize awarded to him?"

The Prime Minister's Office, the Prime Minister's official residence.

It was already 11: in the evening. Tomiichi Murayama frowned and looked at the faces of Shintaro Ishihara and others on TV with some displeasure.

"Maybe Mr. Kitagawa's qualifications are not enough." Secretary Ozawa was sweating profusely at this moment. He had found many classmates and younger students who graduated from the University of Tokyo, and only then did he quietly facilitate Kitagawa Hide's open class at the University of Tokyo.

At first, even with the recommendation of Professor Takeuchi Osamu, the president of the University of Tokyo and others were somewhat unwilling. You let a former security guard who only has a high school education and has not even attended a junior college to teach the "Gold Watch Group". Where would the face of the University of Tokyo be?
Of course, there are also many voices of support within the University of Tokyo, especially among students, who are very eager to listen to Kitagawa Hide's lectures - young people are almost unanimously admiring this newly emerging pure literature writer.

They don’t care about Kitagawa Hide’s education and identity!
People who value this are often elders who have a certain social status and pay more attention to class differentiation and seniority.

Secretary Ozawa put a lot of thought into facilitating the open class in order to please the current Prime Minister.

it's good now!

The Akutagawa Prize was not even awarded to Kitagawa Hide!

Is this what the industry is openly targeting?

In this case, if I continue to show goodwill and support Kitagawa Hide, will I make the majority of writers enemies?

Also on TV is Academician Ichiko Sadajiro, a leading figure that even Murayama Tomiichi could hardly invite!

Tomiichi Murayama didn't think too much about it. He took a week off after watching "No Longer Human" and gradually recovered his strength.

The literary quality of this book is beyond doubt, and its hot sales also represent the public's tendency.

More importantly, Kitagawa Hide criticizes cults and calls for anti-cult efforts in his book, which is highly consistent with his current main work!

If the influence of No Longer Human and Kitagawa Hide could be expanded, Aum Shinrikyo could be punished more quickly. Murayama Tomiichi had a feeling that his time in office was running out. If he dragged on, who knew whether Asahara Shoko, the leader of Aum Shinrikyo, would be "pardoned" by the next prime minister?
"Sir, what do you think?" Secretary Ozawa asked tentatively.

Tomiichi Murayama tapped the Yomiuri Shimbun on the table and said, "On September 9, I will invite some friends to observe his open class."

"Yes! I understand!" Secretary Ozawa breathed a sigh of relief, and then cursed those trouble-making literati in his heart.

The same doubts and suspicions are also occurring across Tokyo.

At Tomoyo Kobayashi's house, at Sasaki's boss's house, at the house of a lawyer named Hiroshi Yamaguchi, at a barbecue stand, at the convenience store where Mayumi Aso worked part-time, at major bookstores, and at various schools.
Countless people stared at the TV, only to be disappointed in the end.

The real winner, Kazushi Hosaka, reached the pinnacle of his life because of this incident.

He never imagined that he became famous not because of the novels he wrote, nor because he won the Akutagawa Prize that is coveted by new writers, but because he snatched the honor that belonged to Mr. Kitagawa!
Of course, all this fame soon turned into infamy, and it would not be long before he was accused of being autistic and ordered to quit the circle.

There was also a group of people who were furious about this matter, and were so angry that they wanted to run directly to the Akutagawa Prize selection ceremony and tear Ishihara Shintaro and others apart.

These people are the judges of the Naoki Prize and the Mishima Prize.

The value of these two awards is comparable to that of the Akutagawa Prize.

The Asahi Shimbun once summarized all the awards in the prosperous Japanese literary world and ranked them in a pyramid form.

Although the industry scoffs at this behavior and thinks that he is tarnishing the sacredness of literature, since there is no best in literature, how can there be a ranking?
But the reality is that everyone privately agrees with this ranking, and it does reflect the current ecology of the Japanese literary world.

All literary awards are divided into two categories, namely pure literature awards and popular literature awards.

The first prize for pure literature is the Tanizaki Prize, which stands out from the crowd and has no rivals. It can be said to be the Nobel Prize of Japanese literature.

The second position is occupied by the Akutagawa Prize and the Mishima Prize, which are equivalent to two trump cards. They are second only to the Tanizaki Prize, and the party can disdain other literary awards at will.

There are many literary awards ranked third, mainly the Newcomer Awards of the five major publishing houses, as well as the Noma Literary Award, a literary award promoted by well-known chaebols.

The literary awards in this position are of varying quality, with the Five Major Newcomer Awards being the most famous and most recognized, followed by the others.

The reason why they are ranked third is that as long as you win any literary award of this level, you will be officially debuted, and the industry will at least recognize your identity as a new pure literature writer.

As for the fourth and fifth prizes, they are just fake awards, better than nothing. The literary community does not recognize their value.

Among the popular literature awards, the one that stands out is the Yoshikawa Eiji Award, which, like the Tanizaki Award, beats all other awards.

The second position is Naoki Shang, who is also unique.

I won’t mention the ones after the third place, because popular literature is naturally despised by pure literature. If you can’t get the first or second place in literary awards, then you are a waste and not worth mentioning. When you are dining with pure literature writers who have got the third place or above, you are not worthy of sitting at the table.

In front of reporters, Shintaro Ishihara said to the national audience, "Maybe he is more suitable for the Naoki Prize and the Mishima Prize", which directly blocked his chances of winning these two awards.

The Naoki Prize and the Mishima Prize consider themselves to be on par with the Akutagawa Prize. Even if you don't award them to Kitagawa Hide, they would be happy to award them to Kitagawa Hide!
Now that you have said this, if we award it to him, wouldn't that be admitting that your Akutagawa Prize is better than ours?

If we can give awards to writers you look down upon, isn't that a public admission that our value is not as good as yours?

It wasn't that complicated.

The Akutagawa Prize can also miss out on people, so it is reasonable for them to pick up some of the missed ones.

But the question is, why can’t Kitagawa Hide’s two novels of such quality win awards?

Everyone thinks he deserves the award!
You don’t give it!
The reason is that he doesn't deserve it.

One more thing, I think he is suitable for these awards of yours.

How can people have fun then?
People in the know have already heard from Shintaro Ishihara's words that they are deliberately targeting Kitagawa Hide.

Anyone in the industry who is not afraid of death and is willing to offend the Ishihara school and the Ichiko Sadatsugu academic school can try to present an award to Kitagawa Hide.

At this point, everyone realized that there seemed to be no way this matter could be resolved.

There is bound to be a bloody battle between Kitagawa Hide and the Akutagawa Prize!
Everyone also began to look forward to Kitagawa Hide's response, wondering how he felt about not being awarded the Akutagawa Prize.

Therefore, after the incident, everyone's attention quickly shifted to the open class on September 9th.

This is the first time that the legendary Mr. Kitagawa has appeared in public!

To date, Kitagawa Hide’s four novels have been popular for half a year, but no one has seen his true face.

Kitagawa Hideya, who had just sent a bunch of friends to "Peter Cat", also felt the malice of the Akutagawa Prize. To be honest, he didn't care about not winning the prize.

For Japanese writers, these awards are extremely valuable. For example, writers like Keigo Higashino and Shiro Dango dream of winning the first or second place literary awards.

There are also many writers who have a contradictory feeling of desire and disdain for this. They hope to win the award, but at the same time they feel that the award is dark and unworthy of them.

The best example is Dazai Osamu, the original author of "No Longer Human".

In the original history, this guy was begging for the Akutagawa Prize until his death. He was nominated three times and lost three times.

He even kept writing letters to please the judge of the Akutagawa Prize who disliked him the most, Yasunari Kawabata.

Like a poor puppy, he wagged his tail and begged for mercy, hoping that the other party would give him the award.

Then they were mercilessly mocked and ridiculed.

He never won an award until he died.

Kitagawa Hide doesn't have this complex, but others are worried that he might be unable to get over it, so they try to comfort and enlighten him, fearing that he won't be able to bear it and might commit suicide or something.

What disgusts him the most now is Shintaro Ishihara's attitude of banning and hiding him.

Is the Akutagawa Prize a big deal?

Kitagawa Hide searched his arsenal, needless to say, "I Am a Cat", a book specifically designed to satirize capitalist tycoons and stinky writers.

Besides this, he has another powerful weapon, which he has to use——

"Literary Award Serial Murder Case"!
(End of this chapter)