novelraw Chapter 137 The Critics' Battle
Chapter 137 The Critics' Battle
Chapter 137 The Critics' Battle
Over the next three days.
Kyosuke Maijo has always been at the Kinokuniya Bookstore in Ginza, signing autographs for his fans.
This difficult experience made Maijo Kyosuke clearly understand.
In Japan, let alone becoming a literary giant.
Even becoming a slightly famous bestselling author is absolutely impossible by simply holed up in a study and writing.
Fortunately, the most difficult days are over.
Besides signing autographs and taking photos with readers, Maijo Kyosuke now has a lot of free time to sleep in and brainstorm ideas for his next book.
However, there were some things that Maishiro Kyosuke hadn't forgotten.
For example, when giving three autographed "collector's edition" copies of "The Tokyo Zodiac Murder Mystery" to the owner of "Tatara Used Bookstore", Tatara Katsumi sent them.
When you have time, contact Cheng Yi, that fierce guy who's like both a wolf and a tiger, and listen to his stories about the ups and downs of Kabukicho in Shinjuku.
Or perhaps he could chat with Jiang Liumei, who often comes here to help him, about life and talk about poetic and artistic things.
In short, although it sounds busy, it is also very fulfilling.
1980 1 Month 28 Day.
The third issue of "Top Hat" magazine was quietly released in bookstores and newsstands throughout Japan.
The reason for the silence and lack of publicity was not because Kodansha and Eri Miri were unwilling to promote the "Top Hat" magazine.
However, as a short mystery novel magazine that jumped into the top three in circulation in Japan after only two issues, it is a remarkable achievement.
Top Hat magazine itself is a living advertisement!
To publish a GG-related article in Top Hat magazine now, all that's missing is to flatten Jiang Liumei's magazine department.
Because just being associated with Top Hat magazine generates a lot of buzz!
In other words, given the current popularity of Top Hat Magazine, it's only possible for Top Hat Magazine to promote others, not for others to promote Top Hat Magazine!
Not to mention, many Japanese mystery writers had previously questioned Kyosuke Maijo's writing ability, but after Kyosuke Maijo's "Convergence" was published, it became a huge success.
Those who looked down on Maishiro Kyosuke, questioned him, and mocked him all fell silent, as if they had been poisoned.
This made the popularity of Top Hat magazine reach an unprecedented level!
However, the readers' praise for Kyosuke Maijo is different from their ecstatic joy at being able to read a good mystery novel.
Many Japanese mystery writers were green with envy at the popularity of Kyosuke Maijo.
They started secretly buying articles to claim that "The Mystery of the Death Row Inmates" did not reach the level of a "masterpiece"!
As a mystery critic and writer, known for his sharp criticism of other authors, and a huge fan of Kyosuke Maijo, Kiyoshi Kasai was not angry at all upon seeing this news; on the contrary, he was quite excited!
Because I've long been disgusted by those guys who lack ability but can't stand seeing others succeed.
Now, seeing these guys get utterly thrashed by Maishiro Kyosuke's "Conclusion," they all remain silent like defeated dogs, resorting only to buying articles to smear Maishiro Kyosuke.
Kiyoshi Kasai's gene for "bombarding" others has awakened once again!
He immediately took advantage of the fact that the third issue of Top Hat magazine published "The Mystery of the Death Row Inmates," which he had already read.
Kiyoshi Kasai leveraged his expertise as a mystery critic, publishing a series of articles in the newspaper praising Kyosuke Maijo and ruthlessly criticizing other Japanese mystery writers!
"If I had to choose the best short mystery story I've ever read, it used to be Maishiro's 'Convergence,' and now it's Maishiro's 'The Mystery of the Death Row Inmate'!"
"Because 'The Death Row Inmate' is a truly unparalleled masterpiece that surpasses Ellery Queen!"
"Only after reading 'The Mystery of the Death Row Inmates' did I truly realize the vast distance between genius and ordinary people!"
"If I were to put Ms. Mai on my personal rating scale, she would always be a perfect 100!"
"Because Mr. Wu Cheng's works are not only exceptionally well-written, full of ingenious plots, possess a remarkable temperament, meticulous logic, great emotional tension, and a lingering aftertaste, but also have a perspective on reasoning that is difficult for other writers to match!"
"This is the biggest difference between Teacher Wucheng and others, and it's something those who slander Teacher Wucheng and think she's just trying to attract attention will never understand in their entire lives!"
"The so-called 'view of reasoning' refers to Professor Mai's in-depth research on Professor Ellery Queen, one of the three great masters of classical reasoning and considered the 'King of Logic'."
"Overall, it's a problem in Ellery Queen's later works: the detective's solutions don't solve the case, and detectives can make mistakes."
"To put it simply, detectives are also ordinary people, and they can be misled by false clues."
"But at a deeper level, it's about exploring the logical plausibility and the correctness of the solutions in detective novels."
"For example, in 'The Death Row Inmate Mystery,' even though decisive evidence has been found proving that the murderer must be an outsider, and an almost impeccable process of elimination has been used, due to special circumstances, eighteen suspects emerge, none of whom are the murderer. This is a contradictory problem."
"Even if the detective used perfect logical elimination, it wouldn't completely eliminate this contradiction!"
"This terrifying perspective on reasoning is extremely difficult for both readers and writers to handle. To be honest, as a mystery critic and writer, when I read the first solution to 'The Death Row Inmate Mystery,' I was genuinely worried for Ms. Mai Cheng!"
"But as it turns out, my worries were completely unnecessary. In the story of 'The Mystery of the Death Row Inmate,' Ms. Maishiro planted a multitude of foreshadowing elements that even current Japanese mystery writers haven't managed to include in their long-running works!"
"By repeatedly revisiting these foreshadowing clues, a second solution is developed, ultimately leading to a perfect closed loop in the logical process!"
"Mr. Mai's profound understanding of mystery novels and his unique perspective on the subject are beyond the comprehension of those half-baked writers who only know how to criticize others. Even many well-known, top-tier writers are completely unqualified to compare with Mr. Mai!"
"If we're looking for someone still alive in this world who shares the same deductive reasoning as Mr. Maijo, then only Mr. Dana, Mr. Seishi Yokomizo, and Mr. Seicho Matsumoto are qualified!"
It's clear that Kiyoshi Kasai's manuscript wasn't prepared in a single day; he likely started writing it after reading "The Mystery of the Death Row Inmate" on January 20th.
The front page of the newspaper wasn't the end of it; the second page still featured Kasai Kiyoshi's undisguised admiration for Maijo Kyosuke and his disdainful attacks on other Japanese mystery writers.
"I won't go into too much detail about Mr. Wu Cheng's in-depth research on Mr. Ellery Queen and his views on reasoning in the newspaper, because there is just too much to talk about."
"If we were to dissect 'The Mystery of the Death Row Inmates' one by one, we could write a book about it, 'Maishiro Kyosuke and the Later Queen Theory,' which would specifically explore the powerful reasoning of Professor Maishiro."
"However, I have one more thing to say."
"This line is directed at those Japanese mystery writers who only follow trends!"
"Whether it's the currently popular social realism mystery genre in Japan, the now-declining orthodox mystery genre, or other unconventional mystery genres or 'setting-based mystery'..."
"Any mystery novel related to 'solving and setting up a mystery' will inevitably revolve around two points."
One question is, "Who did it?"
One question is, "Why do this?"
"Such a simple question has evolved into a 139-year history of world mystery fiction, giving rise to two major mysteries in the field: Who did this? What was their motive?"
"But even with just these two simple questions, what Professor Maishiro wrote is a masterpiece that should be hung in a museum for future generations to admire!"
"Some writers produce nothing but a pile of excrement!"
"I heard that many people who read 'Conclusion' in the last issue of 'Top Hat' magazine realized how powerful Ms. Maijo is and started asking Kodansha's magazine department to reject the article?"
"Then I can only say that you guys are very self-aware!"
"Because 'Convergence' was just an appetizer for Ms. Mai Cheng, 'The Mystery of the Death Row Inmate' truly represents the pinnacle of short mystery fiction!"
"Not only is the reasoning process meticulous and rigorous, successfully identifying the true culprit from eighteen suspects through two rounds of elimination, but it also presents a very novel mystery of the murder motive, along with its solution!"
"How can a divine work, capable of achieving perfect riddles, perfect logic, and perfect motives, be desecrated and slandered by third-rate writers like you!"
Kasai Kiyoshi's lengthy article published in the newspaper infuriated all the Japanese writers who looked down on Maijo Kyosuke!
Their thinking was very simple: "I can't beat Maijo Kyosuke, but I can't bully a little Kasai Kiyoshi like you?"
Thus, the "battle of critics" that began on January 28, 1980, in the Japanese mystery literature scene was started by Kiyoshi Kasai and a group of third-rate writers!
Kyosuke Maijo knew Kasai Kiyoshi's personality very well in his previous life, and he was also well aware that Kasai Kiyoshi's love for orthodox stories was no less than his own.
So when he saw Kasai Kiyoshi debating with a group of scholars in the newspaper, Maijo Kyosuke didn't think it was any trouble.
In any case, true mystery critics enjoy this process.
Only through mutual criticism and insults can those people recognize what the real reality is.
As for why Maijo Kyosuke didn't go and help Kasai Kiyoshi,
There are two reasons for this.
On the one hand, these second-rate writers were so frightened by his single piece, "Conclusion," that they rejected a large number of their manuscripts and dared not compete with him.
This only proves that these guys are a bunch of cowardly weaklings who only care about the weak and fear the strong. They can be easily swept away by a mystery critic like Kiyoshi Kasai with just a little effort!
On the other hand, Maishiro Kyosuke currently has many things to deal with. In addition to presiding over the book signing event, he also has to write the long-form "hard-boiled mystery" "Never Sleeps" and prepare for the short story "Police Psychological Deduction" "The Third Statute of Limitations" to be published in the fourth issue of "Top Hat" magazine.
And there's another important thing: the centennial celebration of "Tatara Used Bookstore" is just two days away.
Since I've already received a favor from someone, I can't help but support Yoshiaki Takagi.
These various matters weighed heavily on Maishiro Kyosuke at once, though not to the point of making him feel overwhelmed.
But he really couldn't spare the time to help Kiyoshi Kasai confront those second-rate Japanese mystery writers.
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