I am a literary giant in Japan

"hiss--"

Even Vladimir, who had extensive experience in the lower classes, couldn't help but gasp after watching this short clip.

Lyudmila is a female character who appears in "Childhood". She is a distant relative of Alyosha's second uncle and has to live with Alyosha's maternal grandfather after her mother's death.

Her stingy grandfather made her learn to be a maid from her grandmother and others to pay off their debts. Later, after her grandfather kicked Alyosha and the others out of the house, Lyudmila also ended up in Nizhny Novgorod.

She and Alyosha had known each other since childhood; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were childhood sweethearts.

During the serialization of "Childhood," many readers believed that she and Alyosha would become a couple, and might even eventually get married.

Lyudmila's biggest problem is her disability.

After her mother died, her gambling-addicted father tricked her into going to the city and then "sold" one of her legs at a low price.

After losing a leg, Lyudmila was completely excluded from the circle of rural girls, which led to her becoming acquainted with thirteen-year-old Alyosha.

Unexpectedly, in "My Childhood," this girl with a tragic fate did not have a good ending, but instead died in such a miserable way!

In the 1870s and 1880s, the people of Tsarist Russia were oppressed by both serfdom and the Tsarist regime. It was common for them to be poorly clothed and starving. The trade of selling the bodies and organs of relatives was rampant and difficult to eradicate. Even more horrific cases of cannibalism involving the exchange of children also occurred.

This shameful history was cleverly concealed by the Russian literary and cultural circles within the context of the exhilarating revolution.

Later, the people were only focused on the victory and passion of the revolution, and under deliberate guidance, they completely forgot this painful memory.

Shu Kitagawa's "In the World" is not just about being explicit; it's about touching on topics that shouldn't be touched!
No wonder Igor went to such lengths to approach me, saying that only the Moscow International Publishing House, which I control, is qualified to publish "My Apprenticeship".

Vladimir breathed a sigh of relief. On a personal standpoint, he admired writers like Hideaki Kitagawa and hoped that more of this kind of heavy and serious pure literature could appear on the market.

Instead of seeing nothing but "Lieutenant Literature" and "War Literature" whenever he walked into a bookstore or newsstand, as if this nation only knew how to fight, fight, fight.

However, from a political standpoint, it would be difficult for him to unconditionally support Hideaki Kitagawa and Alyosha's autobiographical trilogy.

As Igor said, agreeing to publication means going against the entire vested interest group, even if they are your enemies. Offending them all at once is a bit reckless.

"How many more such storylines are there, and how much space do they occupy in the narrative?" Vladimir didn't rush to answer, but continued to ask.

Igor paused, adjusted his glasses, and said, "Almost all of them."

Vladimir fell silent again.

"Even you can't publish this novel?" Igor was greatly disappointed.

Before his arrival, he inquired with various factions and finally learned that only the Secretary-General of the Security Council was a staunch "people's faction" whose background and political leanings were completely different from those of the conservatives.

He had initially thought that Vladimir's power would be sufficient to protect "My Apprenticeship," but now it seems...
Vladimir glanced down at the translated manuscript in his hand, then at the book "Childhood" on the table, and finally fixed his gaze on the portrait of the great man displayed at the highest point in the office.

"It's not completely impossible."

After much deliberation, he finally relented.

Hideaki Kitagawa's "Childhood" is so deeply moving that it perfectly matches his ideal of excellent Tsarist Russian literature.

The thought that Alyosha's autobiographical trilogy might all be of such high quality made it hard for Vladimir to accept that it couldn't be published normally.

"What do you mean?" Igor's eyes lit up again.

With just "Childhood" and this copy of "My Apprenticeship" in his hand, once the works are published, he, the translator, will be remembered in history and become an indispensable figure in the history of world literature.

Igor, who had been diligently studying literature for decades, could not resist this temptation.

"First, please finish translating 'My Apprenticeship' as soon as possible. I need to review the detailed manuscript before making a decision."

Secondly, although the Moscow International Publishing House is nominally under my jurisdiction, most of its editors are professors from well-known universities who don't think much of me as a politician. To persuade them, Professor Igor, you have to personally intervene.

Third, if *My Apprenticeship* is successfully published under my supervision, then the final book, *My Universities*, must also be published by my people, including the trilogy collection.

Vladimir held up three fingers.
"These are three things that must be done."

“Understood. I will try my best to communicate with the New World.” Igor nodded.

As long as "In the Human World" can be published, he would be willing to fulfill not just three conditions, but three hundred or three thousand!
After the two reached an agreement, Igor immediately packed his things and prepared to head to the editorial office of "New World" to tell Alexei the "good news".

Just before he was leaving, Vladimir suddenly called him back.

"Um... Professor Igor, if it's convenient, could you give me Professor Kitagawa's contact information?" Vladimir scratched his head.

Kitagawa Hide, far away in Tokyo, Japan, had no idea that the publication of "In the World" would be so complicated until he suddenly received a phone call from Vladimir.

The thought that the other party would take over the baton from "Tsarist Russia No. 1" at the end of this year, complete the handover next year, and then become a great man that cannot be ignored in the 21st century made Kitagawa Hide break out in a cold sweat.

Fortunately, no matter how much this little butterfly flaps its wings, it cannot affect the world's political landscape or the future of the country. He was slightly relieved when he learned that the other party was calling about "In the World".

"Moscow International Publishing House? I have no problem with that. I own the copyright to the trilogy. I can publish it anywhere, as long as it can be published."

Kitagawa Hide knew the call was just to let him know, so he readily agreed.

As for the three requests he made, there were naturally a group of "great scholars" from Tsarist Russia, such as Igor, to help Kitagawa Hide "debate" them, so he didn't need to worry about it.

"I'm glad you understand. I'll contact the publisher about the rest, so you don't need to worry."

Thank you for listening. Please inform my secretary in advance of your next visit to Tsarist Russia.

Vladimir's voice was deep and powerful, clearly that of a man brimming with confidence.

After the other party hung up the phone, Kitagawa Xiucai realized that his back was completely soaked.

Is this the oppressive aura of a top leader?

Come to think of it, the other side will begin a more than 20-year reign over Tsarist Russia starting next year, during which time even those oligarchs who thought they were invincible will be dealt with one by one.

How could you do this kind of job without exceptional temperament and confidence?
But it's still a little scary. Kitagawa Hide put down his phone, and Yumeko, who had been secretly watching from the side, immediately leaned in and asked, "Honey, who called?"

She rarely saw her husband with such a solemn expression.

Previously, when Hideki Kitagawa was writing "1Q84," the Emperor personally met him, but Yumeko didn't seem particularly nervous.

“A terrifyingly strong man,” Kitagawa Hide said, enunciating each word clearly.

Seeing that he was unwilling to explain further, Mengzi obediently took his hand and gently leaned into his arms.

Kitagawa Hide held Yumeko in his arms, pondering Vladimir's true intentions.

When Alyosha's autobiographical trilogy was published, the reaction in Tsarist Russia was not so great.

Is it because the author is Japanese that they are unhappy?

wrong.

If it were because of nationality, then when Kitagawa Hide wrote "Childhood," they should have been very upset, and would definitely not have supported "Childhood" so unanimously as they do now.

"What is it?" Kitagawa Hide's gaze unconsciously drifted to the calendar on the table. It was a fan-made item based on Jabami Rei's photobook. After it was finished, Jabami Rei didn't care whether Kitagawa Hide wanted it or not, and just signed her name and gave him a copy.

On the calendar, the number May 9, 1999 stands out prominently.

and many more!

The first two parts of Alyosha's autobiographical trilogy were published in 1913 and 1916 respectively, between the failure of the First Revolution and the later world-famous October Revolution.

Because of the initial failure, the imitation of the Western capitalist system began to prevail in Tsarist Russia, and all sorts of "new revolutions" filled the intellectual and literary circles, and the entire proletarian literature of Tsarist Russia was in a state of turmoil.

In the first two parts of the trilogy, Gorky imbued them with a strong fighting spirit and explored many theoretical aspects of the characteristics of the new proletarian literary creation method, proposing the idea of ​​combining realism and romanticism.

Based on these ideas, "Childhood" and "My Apprenticeship" were both full of fighting spirit and romanticism, causing a sensation and inspiring countless people who followed.

Because of the special historical background, a number of great figures at that time liked Gorky's works very much and vigorously promoted and supported him. This is also why the two books, which addressed so many sensitive issues and phenomena, were never banned.

It’s different in the past.

In the 90s, Tsarist Russia had just experienced turbulent events such as disintegration, reshaping, and regime change, so the top leadership would definitely prioritize maintaining stability.

At this point, wouldn't it be suicidal for a writer to stand up and point out such acute social contradictions?
The stage of "Childhood" is set in the grandfather's home, and it was able to evade censorship by claiming to depict the lives of people at the bottom of society.

The stage for "My Apprenticeship" is set directly in the vast city of Nizhny Novgorod, a microcosm of Tsarist Russia, so the novel will certainly be subject to strict censorship.

Recently, Kitagawa Hide has been preoccupied with how to make "July 22" a sensational publication in the Western world, completely forgetting that "My Apprenticeship" might also displease some of the privileged classes in Tsarist Russia.

Fortunately, Vladimir suddenly came out to endorse it; otherwise, the novel might not have been published, or it might have been censored beyond recognition before being serialized, which would have been a huge loss for him!
Without Vladimir's phone call, "My Apprenticeship" would most likely have been published in a completely different Russian version without his knowledge, which would have been heavily criticized by readers, destroying all the goodwill that "Childhood" had built up, and consequently affecting the Nobel Prize selection next year.

If that's really the case, Kitagawa Hide will have nowhere to cry!
"We can no longer be so reckless in copying texts; we must pay more attention to the influence of different eras."

Kitagawa Hide made a mental note of this, constantly reminding himself not to make the same mistake again.

Meanwhile, the online version of "Kitagawa Bunko" was also launched on May 10th, updating the library with a new batch of books and quietly promoting a new electronic product, MPMan Japan1, that Kitagawa Bunko is about to launch.

MPMan Japan1 is actually a Japanese-style MPMan F10 (the world's first MP3 player).

Having lived through the era of e-reading in his previous life, Kitagawa Hideaki knew better than anyone that the beginning of e-reading was neither online reading nor later Kindle and other e-readers; it originated from a small and exquisite music player, the MP3.

There's actually a little story behind the creation of the world's first MP3 player.

The story begins one day in March 1997, when Mr. Moon, a department manager at Samsung Corporation of South Korea, was on a plane returning to Seoul from a business trip to the United States.

On his laptop, he saw a report that his colleague had sent him.

This is a briefing on the synthesis of images, text, and MP3 music.

When Moon finished reading and took off his headphones, he noticed that the passenger next to him was listening to music on a Walkman. Moon was immediately inspired: If MP3 music files on a computer could be directly extracted and played with a separate player, wouldn't that be the best portable music player?

The Walkmans that are popular nowadays all use cassette tapes, which are not only bulky but also have a limited selection of songs.

After all, nobody carries a dozen cassette tapes when they go out.

After returning to South Korea, he presented this idea to the then-president.

Unfortunately, Samsung was undergoing organizational restructuring at the time and had no time to attend to Moon's development proposals.

Six months later, the Asian financial crisis hit Samsung hard, and Moon was forced to retire early.

After leaving Samsung's headquarters, Moon joined Samsung subsidiary Saehan as president. Through Saehan, he turned his ideas into reality and launched the world's first MP3 player, the MPMan F10, last year.

The MPMan F10's small size and core features, such as the ability to directly download songs to the device, instantly amazed the entire Korean market.

Unfortunately, Saehan lacked the resources for widespread promotion, and the MPMan F10 used extremely expensive flash memory, ultimately becoming a relic of the past.

While the MPMan F10 may not have been the first truly popular MP3 player, it was perfectly capable of being used for reading e-novels.

So, under the name of Kitagawa Entertainment, Kitagawa Hide used his immense popularity and status in South Korea to buy all of MPMan F10's inventory and production line for only 1.2 million won (equivalent to about 1700 million yen).

Kitagawa Bunko's upcoming MPMan Japan1 is a mini e-reader specifically designed for reading novels.

When they first heard his idea, Shizuko Kawade and Rena Saito shook their heads repeatedly, thinking that with such a small screen and so few words, it would be difficult to read anything, let alone expect readers to use it to read novels. Who would buy it?

They simply assumed it was Kitagawa Hide's "personal hobby" and no one paid any attention.

November 5th at 10am.

Junji Ito, who had been waiting in front of his computer, had just refreshed the Kitagawa Bunko website when he was startled by the image of MPMan Japan1 that popped up in front of him! (End of Chapter)