I am a literary giant in Japan

Chapter 250 A refreshing feeling that rushes straight to the head! (Two in one)

Faced with the temptation of Mr. Kitagawa's new book, Chihaya Ruri's arrogance and reserve only lasted for ten seconds, and she soon fell.

She took the book "Literature" given by Kaoru, and with Kaoru's help, she finally squeezed out of the noisy bookstore.

Before leaving, Xunzi kept waving at her and made an appointment to take the subway to school together on Monday.

Watching Kaoru's pretty back gradually disappear from sight, Chihaya Ruri snorted and whispered, "Idiot, how can a young lady take the subway to school?"

Despite what she was thinking, Chihaya Ruri, holding the book "Literature and Art", did not take out her cell phone to call the driver at home, but followed the crowd and walked into the subway station she hadn't been to for a long time.

Because she hadn't taken the subway for a long time, Chihaya Ruri searched for the ticket machine for a long time. After finally buying a ticket, she, who was not good at finding directions, walked around the hall several times before she found the ticket gate. She swiped her ticket with a blushing face and entered the station.

"Phew - luckily there is a women's car in the subway." Chihaya Ruri found a relatively quiet car and sat down, feeling lucky that it was not yet the morning rush hour of the subway.

Otherwise, let alone the women's car and public car, the office workers who come to Tokyo from all over the country to work will fill up the entire subway!
"As expected of Mr. Kitagawa, such beautiful writing and moving words, this is what a 'best writer in the world' should be like!"

"That's right! Compared to the short stories written by Kitagawa-sensei, the three stories written by Momota Naoki-sensei pale in comparison."

"I think both teachers have their own strengths. Mr. Naoki Momota's novels are more story-like, while Mr. Kitagawa's novels are more personal."

"Tsk, have you not read this issue of "Literature and Art" yet?"

"How did you know that?"

"You must not have read the December issue of Literature and Art if you can say that. I won't say much. You'll know once you read it."

Listening to the conversation between several working women in the carriage, Chihaya Ruri became more curious about the "Literature and Art" in her hand.

She was brought up with strict parents and was forbidden to read on public transportation. Her mother said that such behavior was disrespectful and not ladylike at all.

But Chihaya Ruri doesn't care.

Every time she went out, she would fold her skirt to 15 centimeters above her knees, then secretly run to the bathroom to put on hot girl makeup and shed her ladylike temperament.

Before going home, she would dress up in the car to look like her mother liked, and her voice would change from her usual arrogant and domineering tone to a soft and sweet one.

Over the years, thanks to the driver's concealment, she has successfully lived two completely different lives - only in this way can she breathe and not be depressed to death.

Chihaya Ruri crossed her legs and couldn't wait to flip through the "Literature and Art" in her hand. Otherwise, when she got home, the piano, violin, Go, painting, calligraphy, body shape and other courses would drive her crazy and she would not have time to read!
The front page of this issue of "Wenyi" is still given to the hotly serialized "Killing Commendatore".

The final chapter of her favorite "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" will not be serialized further, but will be released in the form of a physical book on Christmas - pre-sale tickets are already on sale, the price is very affordable, and she asked the driver to buy 100 tickets at once.

As for the second part of the serialized "Assassination of the Knight Commander", the Metaphor of Fluidity, after reading it in ten minutes, she only had one feeling in her heart -

Cool!
A refreshing feeling that goes straight to your head!

Several suspenses left over from the first part were revealed in this issue's serialized content, which made Chihaya Ruri suddenly realize and couldn't help but admire Mr. Kitagawa's ability to structure the plot.

Not to mention the new short stories that were published later, just the content of "Assassination of the Grand Master of the Knights Templar" makes countless readers feel that this "Literature and Art" magazine is worth buying!
After finishing reading "Killing Commendatore", Chihaya Ruri still had fifteen minutes before her next stop. After thinking for a while, she decided to pick up "Wenyi" and prepare to watch it on the subway.

Otherwise she would have to wait until she got off the subway and find a quiet seat to finish watching the movie, which would be too torturous and she really couldn't wait.

Turning the pages, the title that came into view was "The Dancing Girl of Izu".

This is the name given by Mr. Kitagawa to the collection of short stories, and it is also the title of one of the stories.

"Are there still dancers and geishas like that?"

Chihaya Ruri, like many office workers in big cities, was very surprised by this.

Since the Meiji Restoration, Japan has rapidly transformed from a feudal society to a capitalist society. It respected the emperor and expelled the barbarians, overthrew the shogunate and carried out the Meiji Restoration. Guns and gunpowder replaced samurai swords and bows and arrows, and many customs of the old society were reduced to ashes in the smoke of gunpowder.

Not long ago, the country experienced a period of expansion during the bubble economy. Even though the bubble has burst and society is in a depression, everyone believes that the country has long escaped from poverty and there will no longer be any shocking number of poor people.

But it seems that Mr. Beichuan is about to expose some dark sides of society that are invisible to everyone.

According to past experience, most of the characters in Kitagawa's novels have social prototypes, and it seems that Kitagawa has just been to Izu.

Therefore, this dancer in Izu is most likely a real dancer!
Speaking of Izu, Chihaya Ruri thought of Kaoruko, who had just parted with her.

She became more interested in these short stories and started reading them immediately.

This issue of "Wenyi" serialized a total of six short stories newly written by Mr. Kitagawa, which is exactly three times the number written by Mr. Momota Naoki.

Chihaya Ruri remembered that a few days ago when the two major publishing houses held press conferences to promote their new books, Mr. Kitagawa was asked some tricky questions by the reporter from Asahi Shimbun.

One of the problems is that the reporter questioned whether Teacher Beichuan was "filling in the gaps" and using quantity to cover up quality.

Although Mr. Kitagawa rewrote the short story this time, he still surpassed Mr. Momota Naoki in terms of quantity.

This is quite a dark humor, which is Mr. Kitagawa's usual style!
Thinking of this, she started reading her first novel.

The name of the novel is "A Scene from the Festival of Requiem".

Chihaya Ruri remembered her mother saying that the Soul-Calling Festival was the name given to the Obon Festival by ancient people. It was popular in the Izu Province and was similar to the Ghost Festival next door.

On the day of the Festival of Souls, there will be various performances and dramas in the villages where sacrifices are held. In ancient times, people worshiped their ancestors and comforted the dead on that day. In modern times, the Festival of Souls has become a "festival" in another sense.

Chihaya Ruri thought this was a horror story, but in fact, Mr. Kitagawa wrote a story about a small circus.

The plot of this story is simple.

It tells the story of a circus girl named Mitsuko, who was luckily promoted to the new top star because the troupe's top star Sakurako accidentally fell off a horse.

The story itself is nothing special. In terms of the plot of the novel, "A Scene from the Festival of the Spirits" is extremely mediocre and cannot be compared with the three works of Mr. Momota Naoki.

But as she read on, Chihaya Ruri soon felt the "Kitagawa Hidefu" blowing towards her and an indescribable feeling of palpitations.

It is an extremely rich style, and even if the author's name is covered, readers can easily guess who the creator is.

Moreover, this new "Beichuan Xiufeng" is different from the previous "Beichuan Xiufeng".

During the Youth Trilogy and Border period, Kitagawa Sensei highlighted the feeling of "youthful love", but this time, it is a feeling of "ultimate beauty" that is so strong that it takes one's breath away.

If I have to make a comparison, Chihaya Ruri felt like the first time she read the haiku written by Mr. Kitagawa.

Sadness, sentimentality, and aesthetics.
But the flavor of this short story is very different from haiku and the pioneering work of mono no aware literature, "Paradise Lost".

Chihaya Ruri could feel the difference, but couldn't put it into words.

She couldn't help but read "A Scene from the Festival of Soul Requiem" again. When she read the ending again, that heart-pounding feeling came back!

This time she figured out the strange feeling of palpitations.

At the end of the novel, Sakurako is performing a rope jumping performance. The rapidly shaking burning wire turns into a bright blue color, and Sakurako is like a goddess embedded in it, and then falls off her horse.

This sudden change surprised everyone.

Only Guangzi, who passed by her on horseback, seemed calm as usual.

"Ah, I've caught up with Sakurako, I've surpassed Sakurako!"

Just as Sakurako lost control of her horse and fell, there was only this clear sentence in Mitsuko's mind.

She is happy, she is joyful, she is excited.

This distorted mentality and expression is in sharp contrast to the gentleness and simplicity of Guangzi in the previous chapter. In addition, Guangzi was once very dissatisfied with the behavior of the leader Yi Zuo.

She hated Isaku for ruining the former signature star Ryuko.

Hated that he treated girls like zombies and tools for his sexual gratification.

Hated him for ruthlessly continuing to exploit Liuzi, who had already lost everything.

She hated Yi Zuo, but in the end she became Yi Zuo's "new signboard".

Mr. Kitagawa portrayed this extreme contrast in character with just a few thousand words.

It made Chihaya Ruri feel suffocated.

After reading "A Scene from the Festival of Spirits", she couldn't stop and continued to flip through the pages.

The second novel is even shorter, estimated to be less than 3000 words, and is called "Life Insurance."

The plot of this novel is also very concise. It tells the story of a father and daughter who make a living by defrauding insurance.

The father is a respected pastor and also works as a taxi driver to support his family. The daughter left her poor hometown early and worked and studied at the same time. She is gentle and well-behaved.

The novel is written from the first-person perspective of the son-in-law.

"I" loved my "daughter" so much that I quit my stable job in Tokyo and followed her back to my hometown to get married.

Because I was frail and sickly, at the suggestion of my "daughter", I bought a high-value life insurance policy and filled in her name as the beneficiary.

In my eyes, she is gentle and kind and loves me very much. "Father" is also very good to us and is an old man who is very easy to talk to.

It was not until my illness suddenly worsened and I died that I became a wandering ghost and finally saw the true faces of the father and daughter at the funeral.

Just like "A Scene from the Festival of the Revenge", the contrasting characters before and after, the suffocating smell, and the new beautiful words by Mr. Kitagawa made Chihaya Ruri experience that feeling of palpitations again.

"What Mr. Beichuan wrote is so realistic!" someone in the carriage exclaimed.

Chihaya Ruri was stunned for a moment, turned her head and found that there was an office lady not far away who was also reading "Literature" carefully.

After her reminder, Chihaya Ruri finally realized why these two short stories gave her a completely different feeling from "Paradise Lost".

Obviously, both are mono no aware literature with beautiful words and low emotions.

The answer lies in what that OL said!

"reality"!
Both of these novels are very, very realistic.

For example, in "A Scene from the Festival of Revenge", Mr. Kitagawa also wrote about the couple who sold sugar-roasted chestnuts, the children playing and fighting in the circus, and the profit-seeking leader Izuku.

In addition, the details reflected in the Yizu Circus are also very realistic.

And this is not a sensory reality, but a "social reality" that can be embedded in people's hearts.

It turns out that in the same country, people of the same age can have such different experiences!
In his previous works, Mr. Kitagawa has basically never portrayed the people on the other side of society.

His mono no aware literature is full of petty-bourgeois "aesthetics", just like the prose novels in junior high and high school Chinese textbooks - beautiful, but not profound enough.

The only novel he wrote about the lower class people, "No Longer Human", has a more realistic style and is closer to the "rogue school" he founded.

In other words.

In these two novels, Mr. Kitagawa seems to have integrated together two completely different literary concepts he created!
No wonder it feels so new and familiar!
After figuring this out, Chihaya Ruri was filled with admiration and worship for Teacher Kitagawa.

As a high school student, there are definitely many things she cannot see.

But just the little bit she can read is enough to make countless readers fall in love with her!

That's amazing!

Teacher Kitagawa!

She gently turned the pages of the book with her fingers, looking forward to the next four novels.

She also watched "Eternal No. 24" by Mr. Momota Naoki.

The novel is very well written, but unfortunately each of the three parts is worse than the previous one. It feels like it starts off strong but ends weak, which is regrettable.

At present, Mr. Kitagawa’s performance has been improving, which is even more surprising.

Chihaya Ruri turned another page.

The third novel is called "People in the Mine". The first sentence "Shinsuke died, and his wife Keiko also died" immediately captured Chihaya Ruri's heart, making her completely immersed in the story as if she was oblivious to everything else outside.

that's it.

Chihaya Ruri was holding "Literature" and reading it intently. Before she knew it, the subway had passed its station and she didn't even notice it.

It was not until she arrived at the terminal and staff got on the bus to clear the passengers that she came to her senses. She got off the bus with her magazine in her hand and ran to the opposite lane to wait for the next subway.

During this time.

She also took the opportunity to finish reading three other novels, including "People in the Mines".

Teacher Kitagawa did not disappoint her at all.

The first five serialized novels were more interesting than the last. Although they were unrelated to each other, the accumulated emotions were layered on top of each other, making her unable to stop and becoming more and more addicted to them.

At this moment, as a new subway train arrived, her eyes slowly focused on the last novel.

“The Dancing Girl of Izu.”

With the preparation of the previous five articles, Chihaya Ruri is now full of anticipation and curiosity about it.

Being given this title by Teacher Beichuan, this must be the best article in the teacher's eyes, the one that can most impress the readers!

I really want to know its content right away!

"'The Dancing Girl of Izu'? The name sounds more like a third-rate erotic novel."

Ichiro Tanizaki made some tea and drank it, but his eyes were fixed on the open copy of "Literature and Art".

He read three new novels by Naoki Momota.

The writing is powerful, but lacks profound meaning.

In order to better suit the market, it is also written into popular literature.

Disgraceful.

But it should be more than enough to deal with that arrogant junior.

Thinking of this, he reached out his hand, turned the page, and his eyes fell on the first article "A Scene from the Festival of Requiem".

(End of this chapter)