I am a literary giant in Japan

Hideaki Kitagawa set the story of "Lolita" in the American West, but the overall writing style of the novel is completely out of place with the rugged American West.

The taboo story of Humbert Humbert and Lolita is like a delicate rose, easily evoking images of France, a country known for its romance.

When Kitagawa Hide wrote "In Search of Lost Time," although the country was set in France, it was during the turbulent years of World War I and II, which is very distant from the French people today, so the sense of immersion is not great.

After *In Search of Lost Time*, he never wrote another novel related to France.

Although Kitagawa Hide has already won the Goncourt Prize for Literature twice with his original works.
Now that I've seen "Lolita," and the manuscript was translated and handed to me by that little girl Olivia, combined with the content of the novel, Odameson can almost confirm that its original setting was France.

"Is it because forbidden love is more common in France, and doesn't have the same impact when placed in the American West, which has a different tone?"

Odameson was completely baffled and could only interpret the setting of "Lolita" as having this purpose.

But this also raises a new problem—

The novel will most likely be rejected by the United States, which is very sensitive about this issue.

If the novel were set in France, their publishing and literary circles might turn a blind eye, or at least not prevent it from being published.

Odameson couldn't understand Kitagawa Hide's intentions, but it didn't matter to him.

After reading "Lolita," his first reaction was to reject Olivia's translation.

Because that manuscript was so rough and lacked any literary merit.

Such an excellent literary work should not have been overlooked by Odameson due to translation issues.

Just do it!

After thinking it over, Odameson immediately asked the editor of the Paris publishing house to bring him a phone, and then made a call to Olivia, who was at Yale University in the United States.

After giving the young girl a scathing critique, Odmaison stated that he would find a translator from the literary world capable of handling the translation of "Lolita," and would never allow Olivia's shoddy version to enter the market.

Originally, this was a great suggestion for Hideaki Kitagawa, the novel, and Olivia, the production company.

But when Odameson said he wanted to completely replace her translation, Olivia instantly turned into a cat that had been stepped on, bristling and meowing. If the person opposite her wasn't a highly respected professor and teacher, she would have almost started cursing!

Audemason and Olivia had a good relationship. When they were at the University of Paris, Olivia was one of his favorite students. However, Olivia was busy with worldly affairs and gradually shifted her focus from literature to business. In the end, she did not become one of the people who would inherit Audemason's mantle.

After leaving the literary world, Olivia became known as "Little Witch" in the business world. Now she is the first non-American female president of the Skull and Bones Society at Yale University in decades. Despite her young age, she is very assertive in public.

However, Odmaison thought that Olivia, this "little witch," wouldn't disagree with him in the literary field. He didn't expect that she would react like this before he could even finish speaking.

“Olivia, I don’t mean to stop your company from publishing Lolita.”

On the contrary, even if I were fully responsible for the translation, I would still be willing to let you publish this novel, and even all the profits.”

Odmaison thought "Little Witch" was worried about the revenue sharing from the novel.

Before Odameson could finish speaking, Olivia shook her head and said, "No, it's not about the money, Professor Odameson."

"It's not about the money? Then what are you worried about?" Odmason was even more confused.

"Professor Odmason, Annabelle and Lolita in Lolita are characters created by Kitagawa based on me."

"Lolita. This is a book he wrote especially for me."

Olivia didn't hide anything and told Odameson what was on her mind.

After hearing her explanation, Odmaison, who was over eighty years old, immediately realized that this was not a question of "who should translate the novel" or "how the profits should be divided".

This is a young girl's first love, a young girl's romantic affair!
“I understand.” Odameson gripped the receiver, suddenly feeling a mix of melancholy and emotion.

He and his wife are both literary giants, and they even worked together at the same publishing house in their early years.

They met, fell in love, and got married in the entertainment industry. For decades, they have been respectful and loving towards each other, and are very happy.

This romance made Odmaison very grateful to God, but such a perfect love also made him miss out on the taste of "naive love" and "unrequited love".

Now he understands completely.

Olivia is experiencing the two most intense emotions of love: unrequited love and unrequited love.

Now, with his days numbered, he understands the importance of relationships in life even more than he did in his younger years.

Since that's the case, he certainly couldn't stop the little girl from pursuing the love she felt she would regret for the rest of her life if she didn't try.

"However, Professor Audemason is right. After all, 'Lolita' is Kitagawa's literary work that is about to be published. If the translation is bad and ruins his reputation in the French literary world, then it would be putting the cart before the horse!"

Once Olivia regained her senses, she immediately realized that she had been driven mad by "love," almost ruining a masterpiece that could have gone down in history.

"How about this? We release two French versions of 'Lolita' at the same time: one is the official translation, and the other is a translation by 'Lolita' herself. Would that be alright?"

She was somewhat unwilling to let Olivia completely abandon her translation.

Odmaison hesitated for a moment, then immediately nodded and said, "That's fine. However, the specific name under which your version will be released needs to be agreed upon by Kitagawa-sensei himself."

“No problem, I’ll call Kitagawa-nii right now!” Olivia said happily.

This novel was written especially for her by Kitagawa-nii, so Kitagawa-nii certainly wouldn't refuse this suggestion!
At that moment, Kitagawa Hide, who was frantically writing "My University" at home in Tokyo, received Olivia's call and agreed to her request without even looking up.

Lolita will definitely be adapted into film and television series in the future, so it would be perfectly fine for Lolita herself to publish a translated version.

This way, we can satisfy the little girl's needs and also generate buzz to get a strong response from readers and the market. There's nothing wrong with that.

After hanging up the phone, Kitagawa Hide was about to continue writing a new chapter of "My University" when he suddenly heard hurried footsteps behind him.

"Teacher Kitagawa, Teacher Kitagawa! It's Teacher Saito on the phone!"

Wearing an office lady uniform and possessing a figure completely out of character for her age and youthful appearance, Haruya Nishiguchi rushed over, panting, and handed the phone to Hide Kitagawa.

"Okay, you should go and get some rest." Kitagawa Hide glanced at Nishiguchi Haruka and nodded in satisfaction.

After his conversation with Shigeo Nishiguchi that day, he sent an internship invitation to Haruya Nishiguchi, who was still studying at the University of Tsukuba. Haruya Nishiguchi had always dreamed of working at Kitagawa Entertainment, and when she received the internship invitation and discovered that the job was to be Kitagawa-sensei's assistant, she almost fainted from happiness!
Nishiguchi Haru, who had been arguing and having a cold war with her father, arrived at her post at lightning speed and became Kitagawa Hide's little shadow.

When Nishiguchi Haru met Kitagawa-sensei in person, he even envisioned a perfect life where he would learn literary creation from Kitagawa-sensei, write excellent works under his guidance, and then gradually inherit his mantle.

then
Teacher Kitagawa gave her a rude awakening.

"Is this level of workload really something a human could handle?"

"If you create for 14 hours a day, and then have to eat and sleep, does Kitagawa-sensei really only have 24 hours in a day, instead of 48?"

"This is just too inhumane! Literary creation requires revising every single word and sentence, even down to the punctuation marks!"

In short, within three days, Xikou Qing felt that most of her hopes for the future had been shattered.

If she were to put that kind of effort into creating, she doesn't know if she could write anything well, but she would most likely die suddenly on the way.
Of course, this rare internship experience also made Haruya Nishiguchi realize that outstanding creators are completely different from enthusiasts like them.

"Don't try to use your hobby to challenge someone else's livelihood."

This statement has a certain basis in reality.

During this period of study, Xikou Qingliao gradually clarified her goals and future positioning.

Instead of striving for a vague and unlikely dream, it's better to calm down, as Mr. Kitagawa said, examine your own heart, and do what you can do.

So Nishiguchi Haruka transformed into Kitagawa Hide's female secretary.

"Go rest? I just got back to Tokyo and arrived at the company!"

Saito Rena, on the other end of the phone, thought Kitagawa Hide was talking to her and immediately retorted.

She is also a workaholic, someone who likes to work overtime day and night.

During their business trip to Norway, Riko Kawada and Riko were basically in a relaxed and detached state.

Now that she's finally back in Tokyo, Saito Rena feels like she has so much to do and can't wait to get to work. Why would she want to rest?
Kitagawa Hide paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "I was talking to Haru, not to you, Saito."

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

Rena Saito also knew about Haruka Nishiguchi's situation. Holding her phone between her fingers, she made a gesture of apology to Hideki Kitagawa, who couldn't see her, before getting to the point.
"By the way, Kitagawa, the matter with Norway has been settled. The Norwegian Literary Society is willing to take full responsibility for the publication and distribution of 'July 22nd,' and they will publish the novel even if the authorities obstruct it."

“Really? That’s great!” Kitagawa Hide knew about the influence and power of the Norwegian Literary Society in Norway and Sweden.

These small, developed Western countries are filled with people who have nothing better to do than eat their fill.

These people love literary creation the most, and they hate official interference and disruption.

The Norwegian Literature Association, which now has sufficient influence and voice, can indeed disregard official constraints.

If they say it's possible, then it really is possible.

"How did you convince them?" Kitagawa Hide asked curiously.

These people have a lot of energy, but they also have a lot of tempers.

"July 22" is a satire of the whole of Norway. In the original story, as soon as the film was released, the creative team was fiercely criticized by liberals from all walks of life in Norway.

"Using your method, I let them see the ending beforehand," Saito Rena answered truthfully. "This ending, really."

"I understand. So they are willing to accept and acknowledge that outcome."

Kitagawa Hide nodded, which also resolved another major question that had been bothering him—

If time and space are shifted, or even if the events in the original history have not yet occurred, will writing a novel in advance cause problems?
It seems that truly excellent works can withstand the test of time!

“In that case, I’ll add ‘July 22’ to my work schedule as well,” Kitagawa Hide said.

Saito Rena glanced at the date and nodded, "Okay. Then be careful not to push yourself too hard. Norway is very lenient on deadlines. Our article will be published in 'In the World' first, and 'July 22nd' will probably be published next month. There's no rush to write it."

“I understand, don’t you know me well enough?” Kitagawa Hide laughed. “By the way, have you consulted the Ministry of Education and the Literary Society about ‘Lolita’? Is there any chance of it being published domestically as well?”

Rena Saito also read this new novel written for Olivia.

She found it hard to imagine that a writer like Hideaki Kitagawa could write such a work, or create a male protagonist like Henry Humbert.

Lolita gave Rena Saito an unprecedented forbidden pleasure.

She felt that if the novel could be published in Japan, it would definitely be a huge hit.

The issue is.
Even Paradise Lost couldn't be serialized in a pure literature magazine at first, but it was eventually published in Nikkei Sports.

Although the world of pure literature has been dominated by Hideaki Kitagawa, many outdated ideas cannot be changed overnight.

The scale and the core themes of "Lolita" are still a bit too much.

"The chances are slim, but I can only try my best. Minister Arima of the Ministry of Education, as everyone knows, is a big fan of your books, Kitagawa."

Even he dared not open that door and let "Lolita" into the market.

Saito Rena spoke the truth.
"I don't think it can be published or released. Unless..."

“Unless what? You want to revise it? I can’t revise a work that’s already been finalized.” Kitagawa Hide shook his head, firmly opposing the suggestion.

Changing even a single word in Lolita would alter the very essence of the novel.

"No, of course not, I don't mean revisions. I mean either try serializing it in the Kitagawa Bunko or try a newspaper."

Rena Saito looked up at the ceiling again. She felt it was time to meet one of the pinnacles of the Japanese entertainment industry with Hide Kitagawa.
"The Asahi Shimbun might agree to serialize 'Lolita'."

"Asahi Shimbun?" Kitagawa Hide was taken aback at first, then understood her meaning. (End of Chapter)