I am a literary giant in Japan

Tsarist Russia, Moscow, Central Administrative District, New World Publishing House headquarters building.

Editorial office area, editor-in-chief's office.

On Alexei Varnov's desk sat a half-open bottle of brandy. In Tsarist Russia, drinking in the workplace was neither unusual nor a big deal.

As long as you can guarantee you'll do your job well, you can even throw a party in the office.

Of course, in reality, employees who did this were eventually fired by their bosses for various reasons.

On the issue of capitalists, countries all over the world are remarkably consistent, and Tsarist Russia, with its fierce and unruly people, is no exception.

"Would you like a drink? It's still chilly in Moscow in April."

You know, strong liquor is always the best way to ward off the cold.

Alexei took another sip of brandy, his expression of enjoyment similar to that of Kitagawa Hide when he finished his first sip of cola.

Kitagawa Hide smiled and shook his head.

The air was thick with the smell of alcohol, which he didn't particularly like, but that was the case all over Moscow. It was much better than Yevgeny's house.

"Well, that's why I don't really like you Easterners, especially the Japanese."

Being too rigid and methodical won't get you anywhere in Moscow.

Alexei smiled as he opened the manuscript Kitagawa Hide handed him, then added a sentence.
"Of course, Mr. Kitagawa is an exception. You are the most welcomed foreign writer in the entire Russian literary world, without exception."

Alexei enjoys drinking, but that doesn't mean his emotional intelligence and brain are as low as those of drunkards.

On the contrary, he always liked to flatter the other person when he spoke, which shortened the distance between the two of them. He was the most well-regarded senior executive of "New World", and his professional ability was worthy of the position of editor-in-chief.

"You flatter me," Kitagawa Hide said modestly.

This country is too chaotic. If he doesn't watch his words and actions, he's worried that he might accidentally step on a landmine and get shot by someone with an AK47.

In his past life, people said, "Happy America, shooting every day." After visiting Los Angeles and then Moscow, Kitagawa Hide felt that this proverb also applied to Moscow.

Countries that don't ban guns give people a sense of subtle danger.

"Haha, enough with the small talk, let me see your new work first."

Alexei stopped talking, glancing subconsciously at the book title and synopsis.
"When I heard from Haig (the boss's son who came to negotiate with Kitagawa Shu) that you were willing to submit your work to us, I was so excited!"
Your books, "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "In Search of Lost Time," are still on the bookshelf in my study.

To be honest, I've never seen any writer so effortlessly create a novel with the flavor of other countries.

After showering him with compliments, Alexei carefully read the introduction written by Kitagawa Hide.

"Childhood" is the first part of an autobiographical trilogy written by Hideki Kitagawa based on the personal experiences of Alyosha, a boy from the slums.

The novel covers a slice of Alyosha's life from the age of three to ten.

After losing his father at the age of three, Alyosha Peshkov was taken to his maternal grandfather's house by his mother and maternal grandmother.

My maternal grandfather, Kashlin, was a small dye shop owner who was on the verge of bankruptcy.

He was irritable, capricious, greedy, and selfish; his two uncles, Mikhail and Yakov, were also crude, selfish, and petty men, and even their third generation had similar character traits.

My maternal grandfather's house was always filled with a thick fog of intense hatred between people.

All the adults seemed to be poisoned by hatred, and even the children were enthusiastically involved.

When "childhood" is mentioned, most people's first reaction is fondness, nostalgia, and wistfulness; it is an indelible part of youth.

The famous singer Luo Dayou next door has a song with the same title, whose lyrics vividly depict the beauty of childhood: "Waiting for get out of class to end / Waiting for school to end / Waiting for childhood games."

Kitagawa Hide's "Childhood," set against the backdrop of Tsarist Russia in the 1870s and 1880s, exudes a suffocating and despairing atmosphere even from the brief synopsis.

"Interesting entry point, interesting ideas, and interesting topics."

Alexei showed great interest in Childhood, but at the same time, he was worried that he could not tell Hideaki Kitagawa about it.

Against the backdrop of a constantly changing era, Tsarist Russian literature has lost the resilience and creative vitality it once possessed.

In recent years, affected by the disintegration of the Soviet Union, geopolitics, and social and industrial transformation, Tsarist Russia has been in turmoil, with a pervasive sense of impending collapse.

In order to cater to politics and the authorities, the Russian literary world at this time was vigorously promoting "lieutenant novels" and "trench realism."

Almost all magazines published by publishing houses feature serialized novels based on so-called real experiences and profound emotions, depicting the courage and resilience of ordinary soldiers in war.

Alexei privately referred to him as a "Tsarist-style hero," in contrast to the "American hero" who emphasizes individual heroism.

This kind of literary market and atmosphere is clearly pathological.

But no one dared to break the rule, nor dared to risk their lives.

The film "Childhood," which went against the grain, didn't reach the point of being banned by the authorities; the authorities certainly have that much tolerance.

The question is, will the literary market accept this?

Putting these issues aside, Childhood was indeed a work that impressed Alexei.

Let's read the main text first.

Alexei knew that his "crown prince" had given Kitagawa Hide a sky-high contract and demonstrated his sincerity, which meant that no matter what Kitagawa Hide wrote, they would have to sign it.

If they didn't sign, it would be a slap in the face to Hagrid, something that Hagrid, who was about to take over as president, absolutely could not tolerate.

Therefore, Alexei would never refuse Kitagawa Hide.

The worst-case scenario is that we can negotiate to revise the document.

While praying that Kitagawa Hide wouldn't write anything too outrageous, he eagerly flipped through the thick stack of manuscripts in his hands.

"No chapter titles? That's quite rare in modern novels."

Alexei was surprised to see only the lonely words "Section 1" at the beginning.

However, many established writers have their own little writing habits. Perhaps this was Kitagawa Hide's personal characteristic. Anyway, it was harmless, so he didn't point it out.

Alexei continued reading.

“In the dimly lit, cramped house, my father lay sprawled on the floor.”

He was dressed in white, barefoot, and his fingers were twitching limply. His happy eyes were tightly closed, becoming two black holes; he grinned, baring his teeth, as if trying to frighten me.

My mother knelt beside him and used the small comb I often used to saw watermelon rinds to comb my father's hair.

The mother, wearing a red apron, muttered to herself gruffly, tears streaming incessantly from her swollen eyes.

Kitagawa Hide doesn't understand Russian; he only learned his current vocabulary of everyday phrases while in Japan.

Fortunately, the intellectuals here all speak good English, so he was able to communicate with them smoothly using a mix of English and his rudimentary Russian.

Kitagawa Hideo had never seen the original Russian version of "Childhood," only the Chinese translation, which was full of a strong translational tone. The version he wrote was a heavily modified English version based on the Chinese translation.

English vocabulary is relatively simple and clear in meaning, but it is not as ornate as Chinese vocabulary, so reading it may make people feel that Kitagawa Hide's writing style is nothing special.

But there is one additional benefit.

That is, it would allow the novel's content to be expressed more directly to the Russians.

Alexei was aware of this, but he didn't pay much attention to it.

He noticed this problem when he read "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "In Search of Lost Time".

But who would criticize a top writer who, despite not writing in his native language, still manages to amaze the world's literary scene?

If you feel that his non-native language works are not well-written, you can always hire a top translator to polish them.

The core of a novel is always the three elements of plot, characters, and setting; the literary style it embodies is merely a superficial aspect.

Alexei quickly became engrossed in the story of Childhood.

The novel begins with the death of Alyosha's father, and then tells the reader that his brother also died of illness.

Impoverished and destitute, the mother had no choice but to have his maternal grandmother take him to stay with his maternal grandfather in Nizhny Novgorod.

My maternal grandfather, Kashilin, was a boatman in his youth. Later, he saved up enough money to open a small dye shop and became a small capitalist with some power.

However, Tsarist Russia in the 1870s and 1880s was experiencing social unrest and the reform of serfdom. As a capitalist, Kashirin's quality of life deteriorated. His dye works could no longer exploit a large number of serfs, and business was not good, which caused his temperament to change drastically.

"I'm not just talking about myself; I'm talking about that narrow, suffocating, terrifying scene, the real life that ordinary Tsarist Russians once had, and that hasn't disappeared even now."

My maternal grandfather's house was filled with hatred; everything between the adults was based on hatred, and the children eagerly joined in.

By the time Alexei reached the second section, he could already feel the suffocating atmosphere emanating from the novel's text.

But Kitagawa Hide was clearly not satisfied with its effect, and continued to deepen its atmosphere of despair with words and plot.

What ordinary Tsarist Russians experienced in that era, and what they are experiencing in this era, are things that Alexei and other middle-class and upper-class people either know or don't know, or they are pretending to be ignorant.

Kitagawa Hideki clearly wants to bring these issues to the forefront!
Therefore, he used phrases that many Russian writers dared not use, such as "the real life that ordinary Russians once had and that has not disappeared until now!"
Alexei wiped the sweat from his forehead.

This is already on the verge of crossing the line.

But if he were to revise these words, he felt that "Childhood" would completely lose its essence.

I have a bit of a headache.

Alexei decided to continue reading and put the problem aside for the time being.

In the second section, Kitagawa Hide writes a key scene of a family dinner at his grandfather's house from the perspective of Alyosha, who is new to the area.

This seemingly chaotic plot actually introduces each important character in a very clever way.

Anyone who has written a novel knows that an author's ability to control the number of characters is limited.

Throughout history, the only person who could bring hundreds of characters to life in a single book is probably Cao Xueqin.

Most of the time, even established literary figures like Hideaki Kitagawa rarely attempt to test the limits of this difficult technique in literary creation.

At a family dinner, with so many people present, Alexei remembered them all immediately!
This skill alone was enough for him to decide to sign a contract and publish his book, "Childhood"!
"Absolutely brilliant! Especially the character of the grandfather, Kashirin, who was so lifelike and truly amazing."

An hour later, after reading the first six sections, Alexei was amazed and couldn't help but take another big gulp of brandy.

In the novel's synopsis, Kitagawa Hide has already revealed the grandfather's personality, but this has not affected the content of the main text at all.

This domineering and irritable old man called his wife a "dead old hag," his children "bastards," and his grandchildren "little beasts," constantly yelling, "Get out of here, all of you! This is my money! None of you get a share!"

Especially his outburst at the family dinner, yelling at his grandmother, "Old woman, look at the beasts you've given birth to!"

The dramatic shift in character caused by the sudden rise and fall of an ordinary person is vividly portrayed, leaving the reader in awe.

This is just the role of the maternal grandfather.

The numerous other details and character settings made Alexei, who had not experienced Tsarist Russia in the 1870s and 1880s, feel as if he were there.

No wonder that after writing "One Hundred Years of Solitude," many Colombian literary figures insisted that Hideaki Kitagawa must have carefully studied Colombian history and customs.

If Kitagawa Hide hadn't done this kind of research, how can you explain how he could write so detailed and truthfully?
This is incredible!

Yevgeny and Alexei said that Kitagawa Hide was visiting Tsarist Russia for the first time, and even if he had some prior knowledge, it was all theoretical.

So, is the sense of history and authenticity he presents now all derived from his recent field research?

Alexei felt it was necessary to learn more about Kitagawa Hide's research process!

"I'm glad you think it's good." Kitagawa Hide was satisfied with his reaction.

If a seasoned veteran who has been navigating the Russian literary market and circles for years can be so certain about "Childhood," then it's highly likely that it's a sure thing!
His hard work these past few days has paid off!
“There’s just one small problem,” Alexei said suddenly, glancing at the manuscript in his hand.

Kitagawa Hide quickly asked, "What?"

“You used English, but there aren’t many people in our area who can speak English. Such a good work must be translated by a top-notch translator.”

Alexei frowned and said,
"The problem is that, as far as I know, there doesn't seem to be a translator for 'The New World' who meets this criterion."

"Uh," Kitagawa Hideya realized this was a big problem, but he really didn't know anything about Russian.

“This problem must be solved, but don’t worry, I will send someone to find the best translators.” Alexei didn’t want the cooked duck to fly away now, so he told Kitagawa Hide this in order to make him understand that “New World” would attach great importance to “Childhood”.

It was taken far more seriously than Kitagawa Hide had anticipated! (End of Chapter)