I am a literary giant in Japan

1999 5 Month 15 Day.

Released on May 10th, the online edition of Kitagawa Bunko, with its three top-tier works—the final chapter of Ju-on 1, Kara no Kyoukai 2: Murder Investigation (Part 5), and Ring 2: Spiral—successfully surpassed the "Four Heavenly Kings" of the light novel world in sales. In less than half a year since its release, it went from an unknown online website to the top of the "This Light Novel is Amazing" ranking!
On the same day, on the Oricon Light Novel Literature Credibility Chart, Kitagawa Bunko also stood out with its impressive online sales exceeding 5 million subscriptions, becoming a milestone in the history of Japanese light novels and forcing countless successors to look up to and worship it.

These milestones of success greatly encouraged the editorial team of "Beichuan Library," ensuring they wouldn't feel ashamed within the Beichuan cultural and entertainment family.

After all, the two top literary magazines, Beichuan and Dazhong, which are half-brothers, are so dazzling that Beichuan Library, as the younger brother, always feels uncomfortable living in the shadow of its older brothers.

The physical magazine "Kitagawa Bunko," released on May 15, became a sensation across Japan once again, with its first print run reaching a record-breaking 1 million copies in the light novel genre. Judging from this data, light novels have become a top-tier genre that can stand shoulder to shoulder with fine literature and popular literature, and are no longer "something only children can read."

The MPMan Japan 1, which was also released on the same day, sold extremely well. The official website of Kitagawa Technology, which is associated with it, crashed thirteen times in one day due to excessive downloads!

Seeing such a booming sales scene, the Mitsubishi Group, which specializes in electronic technology products among the six major conglomerates, couldn't resist the urge and added another 50 billion yen to its original investment of 20 billion yen, hoping that its subsidiary could produce a new MP3 model next month to compete with the leading MPMan Japan1.

After returning from Stockholm, Kitagawa Hide became oblivious to the world around him, focusing solely on his studies.

After MPMan Japan1 was released, he only cared about the number of e-book downloads and the acceptance of Japanese readers of reading novels on small screens. After discovering that they were just like readers next door, with little resistance to this kind of novelty, he shifted his focus back to his own novels.

Hideaki Kitagawa is undoubtedly a name that the Japanese literary world cannot forget, and he is also a well-known writer on an international scale.

Just like Jackie Chan, the global action star next door, he needs to cultivate his name into a well-known IP, and then use that to expand the size of the Kitagawa Group, so that countless people can make a living by following it.

However, if you want to build yourself into a top brand, you must have a series of representative works.

Early works that established his style include "Drunken Master," "Project A," and "Wheels on Meals." In his mid-career, the "Police Story" series solidified his position, and "Rumble in the Bronx" and the "Rush Hour" series broke into the international market.
Jackie Chan's experience has provided Kitagawa Shu with the most accurate reference.

If he wants to continue to shine, he needs to focus on the Japanese market while expanding into more international overseas markets and elevating his literature to a higher level.

Therefore, his recent works, "July 22" and "Lolita," also take this into consideration.

In order to fulfill his promise to the little girl Olivia as soon as possible, Kitagawa Hideaki first wrote "Lolita," a shorter story with a relatively simple plot.

At 7 p.m. on the 15th, after Yumeko helped review the manuscript, Kitagawa Hide sent the English version of "Lolita" to Olivia via email and instructed the girl to translate it into French for publication.

"It's clearly the dying monologue of a deranged death row inmate, yet it evokes a strangely poignant beauty."

This was Yumeko's first reaction after reading "Lolita".

She tilted her head, finding it hard to believe that a perverted pedophile like Henry Humbert could be the male protagonist written by Hideaki Kitagawa.

In his previous books, Hideaki Kitagawa tended to write about positive, ambitious male protagonists in a very Japanese style.

After all, Japanese writers, like teachers, have a social responsibility to educate the public and guide public opinion.

In Kitagawa Hide's overseas works, the male protagonists are mostly charming and charismatic, like Alyosha, Santiago, and the Little Prince.

In "Lolita," Humbert is clearly a perverted man with a distorted desire for sexy young girls, and a criminal who is very unpopular in the conventional sense.

Based on his experiences and actions in the novel, if he were in present-day Japan, he wouldn't be wrong to be executed a hundred times over.

However, the novel's setting, which Kitagawa Hide, places in the more open American West, greatly mitigates the sense of immorality in the characters' portrayal.

Overall, however, this kind of character design and plot will still be difficult for many people to accept.

Yet, it was precisely in this kind of work that Yumeko found a sense of redemption in "Lolita".

"Why?" she wondered, and then turned to the original author, Hideaki Kitagawa, for help.

This question has actually troubled countless readers and literary critics in previous lives.

The plot and setting of "Lolita" led to its severe ban before its release, and all adaptations were prohibited from sale. In the eyes of many people in the 50s, this thing was simply a monstrous threat.

But after years of banning it, the newly released "Lolita" instantly silenced all critics with its phenomenal sales and adaptation into a classic film and television series.

You can't deny that readers love it, they love it to the point of obsession.

Why do these "perverted" works sell so well?

The central theme is even something that Westerners find extremely dreadful: "sexual fantasies."

Are all Westerners inherently perverted?

"The fact that you can feel the redemption and the less intense nausea is probably because my emphasis on portraying the tragedy of the 'abyss of desire' resonated with you deep down."

As a newcomer, Kitagawa Hide had countless analyses of "Lolita" by top literary critics in his mind, and quickly answered Yumeko's doubts.

"'The tragedy of the abyss of desire'?" Mengzi seemed to understand but not quite.

Kitagawa Hide nodded and explained, "This is a complete tragedy. Its tragedy is not because of gain and loss, nor because of loyalty and betrayal, nor because it is a story of family destruction and death involving life ethics and a crime of passion involving criminal law."

I believe that many readers and critics, after reading it, will most likely categorize the above points as the core of the tragedy of "Lolita".

In my view, its tragic abyss stems from desire.

Beneath all the language involving pornography, I strive to present a serious narrative on the theme of 'desire'.

There has been a common phenomenon in the history of Western literature—obscenity, as a manifestation, has been ubiquitous in serious literature.

From biblical times, 'original desire' and 'original sin' have been juxtaposed.

Do you remember my novel, *Paradise Lost*?

Although the novel was based on the personal experiences of author Tomomi Muramatsu, it is generally believed that it mainly reflects the sense of loss in love and social existence felt by middle-aged people.

But at a deeper level, it is also an analysis of desire and the terrifying abyss of tragedy caused by desire.

However, unlike Paradise Lost, the path to redemption in Lolita is not due to shame, but to introspection born of wisdom, which is the significance of Lolita.

This should also be what you call a sense of redemption.

Kitagawa Hideki rarely discusses very detailed literary techniques with others; even in his several university lectures, he didn't delve into the details.

Because he felt that his true understanding of literature was far inferior to that of the masters who had developed these theories. He was good at picking up scraps of others' ideas, but when it came to analysis and explanation, he was afraid that he would make many mistakes and be showing off his limited skills in front of an expert.

When the person he was asking questions of was Mengzi, he was always happy to explain and explore the topic in depth. They were lovers, the love of their lives, and each other's companionship meant that Mengzi had become an integral part of his life over the past four years.

When discussing these things with Yumeko, Kitagawa Hide felt completely at ease and more relaxed.

Yumeko nodded as she took notes of Kitagawa Hide's "long speech" like a student.

She also enjoyed these discussions and exchanges with Kitagawa Hide.

This looks like an exchange between an editor and an author, completely professional and academic. To the average person, it might be misunderstood as a strained relationship between the two, more like a superior-subordinate one.

In reality, it was only at times like these that Yumeko could truly feel her own existence and Kitagawa Hide's love as her husband.

Unable to express these subtle emotional changes within herself, she could only respond with hugs and kisses.

Kitagawa Hideki, on the other hand, could really understand this point.

So this is what the Murakami couple, who were always considered "freaks" in the original history, were like.

No wonder Murakami said in front of the media, "My first reader will always be my wife, and I am willing to revise my manuscripts countless times for her."

Compared to couples who are only superficially together, they have a spiritual bond that sustains them. Their feelings may seem ordinary, but they are actually very deep!

While the two were discussing literature, Olivia, who was far away on the Yale University campus, blushed with shock at the bold descriptions in "Lolita".

The relationship between an older man and a young girl is an eternally taboo topic, and something countless women have fantasized about during their girlhood.

Olivia loved two little girls in Hideaki Kitagawa's novel: Annabelle, Henry Humbert's first love in his youth, and Lolita, whom he later became obsessed with.

Annabelle, in particular, with her kind and innocent nature and desire to become a nurse, reminded Olivia of her own childhood.

How did Kitagawa know about this experience when I hadn't mentioned it to him?!

Olivia was both surprised and delighted.

As for the willful, capricious, and quirky Lolita, there's no need to say more; she's practically the epitome of Olivia when she first met Kitagawa Hide!

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my desire."

My sin, my soul.

Lori-Ta: With the tip of your tongue pointing upwards, take three steps down from the palate and gently place it on your teeth.

Lo. Li. Ta. In the morning, she is Lo, just ordinary Lo, wearing one sock and standing four feet ten inches tall. When she wears baggy pants, she is Lola. At school, she is Dolly. When she signs her name formally, she is Dolores.

But in my arms, she will always be Lolita.

The novel "Lolita" is about 42 words long, which Olivia definitely couldn't finish reading in one go. After receiving an email from Kitagawa Hide, she stayed curled up in bed reading the novel.

From around 7 a.m. until now, past 7 p.m.

After reading for more than twelve hours, her eyes were sore and aching. Her phone rang several times, probably because her sudden absence from class had kept the professors in the literature department up at night.

It's also possible that the elites of the Skull and Bones Society were somewhat at a loss after suddenly losing their leader and backbone.

At Yale University, Olivia was such a prominent figure that if she didn't show up for an hour, countless people would panic.

But at this moment, she only wanted to immerse herself in "Lolita".

I can't finish watching it all; I definitely won't finish watching it all today.

But she really wanted to watch it all in one go, to see the ending of Lolita and Humbert's story.

She really wanted to know why Humbert Humbert was already a death row inmate at the beginning, and what the fate of the two of them would be.
Did Humbert kill his beloved with his own hands?

This ending is beautiful and romantic, but it's also too common and cliché.

Kitagawa-sensei would never have written it like that.

She really wanted to flip to the ending and take a look, but looking at MPMan Japan 1 in her hand, she held back.

Pressing the buttons back and forth is really too troublesome.

In this respect, e-reading is nowhere near as good as physical books.

So Olivia could only suddenly mumble and recite the opening lines that she had long since memorized.

"Lo, Li, Ta, O, Li, Wei, Ya, oh~ light of my life, fire of my desire~"

Olivia was smiling sweetly under the covers, almost rolling around in bed.

Just then, the blanket was suddenly held down firmly by two hands.

The only person who would dare to joke around with her like this is Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden!
"You idiot! Olivia! You skipped class all day, do you know the whole Literature and History department is in complete chaos?!"

Victoria happened to hear Olivia giggling under the covers, and hearing her inexplicable, theatrical-sounding words.

"Oh, it's just one day, what's the big deal?" Olivia poked her little head out from under the covers with difficulty and yawned like a kitten. "What time is it now, Victoria?"

"At 8:31 p.m., you missed both Stephen King's lecture and the Skull and Bones Society's regular meeting. In the long history of the Skull and Bones Society, you are the first president to miss a regular meeting. If it weren't for Donald Jr.'s explanation, you might have become the first president in the history of the Skull and Bones Society to be expelled by the members for missing a regular meeting!"

Victoria glared at her best friend, annoyed.

The power of Skull and Bones is so great that even Yale University dares not ignore it.

Each president inevitably becomes a powerful figure in a certain sector of American society.

But her best friend, Miss Olivia Wertheimer, treated this important task as a joke!
"Okay, okay, I've noticed that you're becoming more and more like my mommy since we came back from Stockholm."

Olivia crawled out from under the covers and waved her MPMan Japan 1.

"Guess what I'm looking at?" (End of Chapter)