Chapter 51 chaotic sky

Edogawa Ranpo often writes on the signature board, "The floating world is a dream, and night dreams are real." What is the meaning of this sentence?Quoting the random explanation: Since my youth, I have learned a lot from Edgar Allan Poe's self-narration: "The reality of this world is all a dream to me—it's just a dream. On the contrary, the strange thoughts that appear in the dream are not only the food of my life, but also my reality." Among the more recent writers, the Englishman Walter de la Maia has continued in its spirit: "I would like to break away from the real world. Compared with reality, fantasy is more real."

If someone asks me to write an inscription on the signature board or poem paper, I will condense these words into "The floating world is a dream, and night dreams are real", and give it to the other party. Whether it is Edgar Allan Poe or De La Maia's thoughts, it can be interpreted as: Compared with the boring reality and floating world, the reality and imagination felt in the world of dreams and fantasy are more praiseworthy.Perhaps such a description is very suitable for Edogawa Ranpo, who claims to be the owner of the phantom castle. In fact, Ranpo is not the author of a self-closing fantasy story.Many commentators have pointed out the two sides of Ranpo—idealism and pragmatism.As the originator of detective novels, Edgar Allan Poe stated in "The Philosophy of Creation", a certain type of writer urgently needs to deduce beauty and madness, strangeness and fantasy with full tension in a calm way; To fly freely in art and literature, it is indispensable to establish a solid foundation and foothold in reality and the secular world.

Ranpo Edogawa, whose real name was Taro Hirai, was born in Nabari Town, Naga County, Mie Prefecture on October 21, 1894.His father is Shigeo Hirai, his mother is Kiku Hirai, and Ranpo is the eldest son of the family.After graduating from Kansai Law School (now Kansai University), Hirai worked as a secretary for the Naga County Government in Nabari Town.And the mother and grandmother and Zuo all like to read novels created by talk books, Heiyan Leixiang and so on.Shigeo Hirai's parents were both descendants of the famous Chang Todo clan. Hirai Taro was deeply influenced by his mother and grandmother. He loved reading Iwatani Xiaobo's works since he was a boy, Kikuchi Yuyoshi's translation "Secret of Secrets", obsessed with Heiyan Leixiang's "Ghost Tower", and Oshikawa Haruno Novel by et al.Since elementary school, he has longed for printing, publishing, and even wrote a magazine independently.In the future, the family moved to Nagoya because his father changed jobs and started a business.Unexpectedly, when Taro was in middle school, his father went bankrupt, so Taro had to work alone to earn money, and then entered Waseda University.

Taro's interest in detective novels has never diminished.In his sophomore year, he read a lot of works by Edgar Allan Poe and Conan Doyle, and started to edit the manual book "Strange Talk" of speculative fiction memos, and completed the exercise of secret room novels "Arquebus".At that time, Taro, a hard-working student, even dreamed of traveling to the United States and becoming a detective novelist in a foreign land. After graduating, Taro joined Kato Yoko, a trading company in Osaka, and changed jobs about a year later. He worked as a clerk at the Toba Shipyard, owner of a second-hand bookstore, editor of "Tokyo PACK" magazine, owner of a Chinese soba noodle stall, employee of the Tokyo City Hall, A reporter for the Osaka Jiji Shinpo, a manager of the hair oil manufacturing industry, etc., has gone through various careers.During this period, he was fond of reading the works of Junichiro Tanizaki and Dostoevsky.

In a poor life of constantly changing jobs, Taro came across "New Youth" which was founded in 1920.Taro, who got married and had a child two years ago, but was still unemployed, believed that "the time has finally come to create a detective novel", so he took up writing and completed "Two Cents" and "A Receipt".He once sent the original manuscript of "Two Cents of Copper Coin" to the British literary critic Bachang Gudie, asking him to give him criticism and advice, but he did not get a response.So Taro withdrew the manuscript and re-submitted it to the editor-in-chief of "New Youth" Umura Morishita.It was at this time that he decided on the pseudonym "Edogawa Ranpo".

After reading "Two Cents", Umura was amazed by the wonderful Braille code, the strangeness of the plot and the reversal of the ending, and thought "After Belinsky read Dostoyevsky's debut novel, he shot late at night. The Joy of the Door", asked Kosai Fuki, who is familiar with European and American detective novels, for his opinion on "Two Cents", and he was also very surprised.In 1923, Amamura released a notice in the April issue of "New Youth": "People always think that 'Japan must also produce detective novels that are not inferior to foreign works', and such an excellent work has indeed appeared. A truly not inferior to the Foreign masterpieces, no, in a sense, the works born this time are pure creations that are even better, and they are the works of Edogawa Ranpo published in this issue." At the same time, Fuki's recommendation was published arts:

Even if I eat four meals a day, I still have to read at least one detective novel to feel full. I would like to thank Mr. Morishita for recommending excellent works such as "Two Cents". (Omitted) It is very gratifying that there are detective novelists in Japan who are close to well-known foreign writers. "A Receipt", which was submitted at the same time as "Two Cents", was published in the July issue.Immediately afterwards, Ranpo published "Fatal Mistakes", "The Two Wastes", and "Twins". "The Red Room", "Walkers on the Ceiling", "The Human Chair".Among them, "Psychological Test" made Ranpo decide to become a professional writer.

In 1926, Ranpo published "Inhuman Love", "The Strange Tale of Panorama Island", and "Mirror Hell".In these works, Ranpo freely uses the techniques of detective novels such as mystery and logic, tricks, unexpected reversals, etc., to construct a unique fantasy world.It is conceivable that Ranpo will be popular and it is a matter of course. French literature researcher and writer Shibusawa Tatsuhiko once pointed out: In Ranpo's novels, he is born with an extraordinary temperament.A man with unusual hobbies spared no expense in money and time, and worked so hard to realize his treacherous dream, which caused an uproar in the world.This mode accounts for the vast majority.

What Ranpo pursues is the dark womb of Utopia, and its creative impulse contains unconscious womb wishes. These reviews mainly point to Ranpo's early short stories, especially works such as "The Strange Tale of Panorama Island". With the reconstruction of the Great Kanto Earthquake completed, the era of mass publicity, mass consumption, and mass culture began.Magazines such as "Bitter and Joy" in 1924, "King" in 1925, and "Popular Literature and Art" in 1926 were launched one after another.In addition to "New Youth", there are also magazines dedicated to introducing detective novels, such as "Detective Literature and Art", "Film and Detective", and "Detective Fun".And due to the guidance of Ranpo, Henggou Masashi, Koga Saburo, Oshita Utaku, Yumeno Kusaku, Watanabe On, Mizutani Jun, Umino Shisan, Kosai Fuki, etc. based on "New Youth" gradually became active. .Detective fiction, a new literary art, has gradually formed itself in the world of popular literature where only period novels were thriving in the past.

However, Ranpo feels extremely uncomfortable with classifying detective novels as popular literature and art.At the invitation of Kosai Fuki, he decided to join "Popular Literature and Art", met like-minded Hasegawa Nobu, Hirayama Lue, Shirai Kyoji, Tushi Qingji, Kunieda Shiro, Naoki Sanwu and others, and commented on "Detective Are novels popular literature? ".Ranpo believes that pure detective novels are like a mixture of profession and art, and they are works that only a small number of readers can understand. From 1926 to 1927, Ranpo challenged newspaper serialization for the first time with "One Inch Master".This is an excellent opportunity to spread the message of detective fiction to the two million readers of Asahi Shimbun in Tokyo and Osaka.Unexpectedly, due to his high self-demand, Luanbu didn't like the left and right of the works, fell into self-loathing, and even announced the closure of his pen.Then, he let his wife run the apartment rental independently and embark on a wandering trip.

When the Asahi Shimbun was writing "One Inch Master", I decided to temporarily close my pen.The stupidity of the work made it unbearable for me. I just wanted to give up halfway, but I was not allowed.In the end, the serialization was finally ended under extremely reluctant circumstances.It's just the pain that haunts me.Even reading the novel makes me want to vomit. Ranpo recalled the well-known proletarian literary theorist Hatsunosuke Hirabayashi and said: "There is no critic who can guide, whip, and inspire me in the early days like him, and I am in awe." At that time, Hirabayashi classified detective novelists As "healthy school" and "unhealthy school" (later classified by Koga Saburo as "Benge" and "Biange"), at the same time, he made the following comments on Ranpo, which seemed to indicate that Ranpo would devote himself to writing in the field of popular novels : Writers like Ranpo who sprint towards the peak of sharpness, strangeness, and accident with the acceleration of gravity like a free fall, if they don’t temporarily change direction and find a calm attitude, they may fall into a dead end and be unable to move. . As a veritable modern detective novelist in Japan, I have deep expectations for Ranpo.And this expectation can only be realized if the author maintains a rigorous attitude and strives for perfection.Once you relax, you won't be able to complete the work. At least the Japanese detective novel world, which started with Ranpo, will fall into an unbearable tragedy. After the 14-month-long first seal, Luanbu tried to make a comeback. This work was the masterpiece "Yin Beast" in 1928. Although "Yin Beast" has the structure of a true reasoning novel, the content is extremely sensational. It describes sadism and masochism. .Like "Panorama Island Strange Tales", it was Henggou Zhengshi, who was the editor of "New Youth" magazine at the time, who decided to publish "Yin Beast". Ranpo is very good at the opening, especially the beginning of "The Strange Tale of Panorama Island", which makes people feel that there will be a stormy and breathtaking plot development in the future, which is outstanding.So far, I still firmly believe that this work and "Yin Beast" are the two pinnacles of Ranpo literature. After Luanbu returned to the literary world, "Yin Beast" was so well received that the magazine of this issue was reprinted three times.Immediately afterwards, Ranpo went into the most highly rated long series in later generations.In addition, in works such as "Smoke Insects", "A Man Traveling with Stickers", and "Insects", Ranpo's unique danmei style of writing has been further deepened.These works are dressed in hideous reveries of homosexuals, disabled makers, corpse rape, etc., and deeply arouse the poetic sentiment in the readers' hearts, each of which can be called a masterpiece.However, Ranpo, who is regarded as the leader in the detective novel world, is troubled by it. Hisaku Yumeno, who published the masterpiece "Brain Hell" before the war, once said: "... Is it possible for a novel like Conan Doyle to appear in Japan? ... (slightly) compared to Edgar Allan Poe's legacy in the world It is the first time I have smelled the thick black sugar flavor created by Ranpo." ("My Thoughts on Edogawa Ranpo").He accused Ranpo's original detective novel "Psychological Test" as an imitation of European and American creations, but he criticized "Daydream", "Red Room", "The Dancing One-Inch Wizard", and "Insects" based on Ranpo's literary talent. Wait for the praise to be added.Even so, Ranpo is still not confident. After the closing period, I wrote "The Beast", "Smoke Bug", "The Man Traveling with Stickers", and "Insects".In any case, these are not true detective novels at all, and as Mr. Hirabayashi's so-called metamorphosis works, I think they are long out of date. Ranpo wrote the title "To Live Is to Compromise" for the section "1929" in Forty Years of Detective Fiction. In the world of private property and a free economy, not having money means being a slave. (omitted) Such motives are extremely impure and disgusting, but to make a living from novels, which I myself feel badly, is the most effective and easy way of making money. (Omitted) Finally I compromised.To be alive is to compromise. Ranpo exhausted his enthusiasm for creating detective novels in the early stage, and after he demanded too much from himself, he even announced the closure of his writing out of disgust for his own works.When writing again, this strict artistic creator transformed into a so-called professional novelist. Spider-Man, 1929 (The Talk Club, August-June 1930) 1930 "The End of the Quest" ("Literary Club" January to December), "The Magician" ("Talk Club" July to June 1931), " Golden Mask (September issue of The King to October 1931), Vampire (September issue of Hochi Shimbun to March 1931) 1931 "Blind Beast" (January issue of "Asahi" to March 1932), "White-haired Ghost" (April issue of "Fuji" to April 1932), The King of Terror (June to May 1932 of The Talk Club) 1933 "Demon Insect" (December issue of "King" to October 1934 issue) 1934 "The Leopard in the World" ("Talk Club" January issue to May 1935 issue), (January issue to November issue) The Ghost in Green, 1935 (January to February 1937 of the Talk Club) Most of the works listed above are thrilling action dramas in which the famous detective Kogoro Akechi fights wits with alien monsters such as Spider Man, Magician, Golden Mask, and Leopard. "For readers of detective novels, the story may be inseparable from the absurd and absurd adventures and strange content, but it is unexpectedly well received." After "The Unbelievable Crime of Dr. Mu Luo" and "The Evil Spirit", which was long-lost in 1933, "New Youth", which aimed at this novel as a novel, ceased, and it seemed that it no longer devoted all its efforts to creation.In 1931, "The Complete Works of Edogawa Ranpo", a collection of works from previous years, was published in thirteen volumes by Pingfansha, and received rave reviews.This set of complete works can be said to have consolidated Ranpo's status as a popular novelist. In addition, in 1929, Ranpo published his first collection of essays, "Wicked People's Volunteers", and started Ranpo's footsteps in the name of essayist. "Ghost Words" (1936), "Phantom Lord" (1947), "Essay Detective Fiction" (1947), "Phantom City" (1951), "Continued Phantom" City" (1954), "Overseas Detective Writers and Works", "My Dream and Reality" (1957).Needless to say, Ranpo’s accomplishments in detective novels, his contributions also include autobiographical review, cultural commentary, knowledge collection about homosexual literature, etc. Each article is based on rich reading base and insights, and is concise, It is a collection of high-quality essays worth reading again and again. Ranpo's popular novel has mixed reviews and praises, but it is an indisputable fact that its unique charm has deeply attracted the public other than the readers of "New Youth".Those adventurous strange stories intertwined with suspense may have similarities between the stories, and the author is too inferior, but his writing and description are superb. Even after more than half a century, each work is still talked about by later generations. It is really amazing to read it happily, and adapt it into a TV series or movie, and even further into Kabuki.In recent years, under the leadership of Rikkyo University, the academic circle has re-evaluated the relationship between Ranpo's popular novels and urban culture and mass culture. Ranpo's popular novel has an unexpected impact.In 1936, Ranpo's first juvenile novel began to be serialized in "Youth Club". The main line of the story was the confrontation between the phantom thief with twenty faces and the famous detective Kogoro Akechi.From then on, the adventure story of the juvenile detective team headed by the wise assistant Kobayashi boy assisted in handling the case, won the support of young readers across the country, and the craze continued until after the war. It is a rare longevity series.Ranpo's posthumous work is the same series "Superman Nikolai" (1962). "The plot is like a remake of Arsen Robin. It is much easier to write a juvenile book than an adult book. It is about a juvenile publication, and there has never been a similar work, so it is very popular. Because I often receive letters from children, Encouraged, I decided to serialize a full-length juvenile novel every year." ("Forty Years of Detective Fiction") Many popular novels led to Luanbu being regarded as synonymous with erotic and ugly, but juvenile novels made him meet in unexpected places. confidant. After the war, Nakai Hideo, who wrote the anti-mystery masterpiece "A Tribute to Nothingness", noticed the stage of Ranpo Boys' works-Tokyo. Since when did the writer stop being obsessed with and pity the rogue Tokyo and create novels? The lonely wasteland (omitted) that will definitely appear at the beginning is the primitive scenery that teenagers living in the city are afraid of. Ranpo is one of those rare people who has this pure fear in his heart until the end, and knows how to express it directly. In fact, Ranpo is the phantom thief with twenty faces who is too lonely and has to change his appearance one after another to appear in front of the boy. In 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident broke out, and the era was moving towards the Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War. Against this background, "Smoke Insects", which can be interpreted as anti-war, was ordered by the Metropolitan Police Department in 1939. delete.Immediately afterwards, the second Konoe Cabinet was established, the Japan-Germany-Italy Triple Alliance was concluded, the Dazheng Yizan Association was organized, and the July 7 ban was issued.In the increasingly difficult environment of creation, the publishing house also suspended the re-editing of Ranpo's works.In 1940, Ranpo decided to live in seclusion after ending the serialization of "The Tower of Ghosts". I didn't have the dexterity of a popular writer, but I aspired to write detective novels and weird novels out of my instinct to explore my own psychological bottom, love logic, and strange fantasies. Therefore, I can't be like other detective writers. In that way, I switched to creating other types of novels in a short period of time. In 1941, when the publication of books was essentially prohibited, he began to produce "Chronicle of Paste Miscellaneous".He collected the history of the Hirai family's ancestors to his own life, reports, letters, manuscripts, photos, etc. related to his works, into a large scrapbook with a cover made of his mother's kimono obi, a total of two volumes.Ranpo wrote the "Preface" as Taro Hirai: "In this situation, it is almost impossible to live on the manuscript fee, so I decided to take a break for a while. When I was bored, I suddenly had the idea of ​​​​making this post. I will be determined to write detectives Since the novel, the prints that I cut out in my spare time and put them in the scrapbook at will, organized them in chronological order, and also dug out other miscellaneous essays, trying to briefly describe my past. (Omitted) This is of course not for anyone to read, mainly as my own I have a memo to talk about for comfort, and at the same time feel that this may have some meaning to my family and descendants.” The two "Chronicles of Stickers" produced during this period were later transcribed into a photo-based version by Kodansha (1989), and a complete copy was also produced by Tokyo Sogensha (2001).Ranpo's memoir-style autobiography "Forty Years of Detective Fiction" was completed based on this "Chronology of Posts". Ranpo creations during the war, including the "Wisdom Ichitaro Series" published under the pseudonym Ryunosuke Komatsu in 1941, which mainly described the scientific wit of young people, and the spy novel "Great Dream" in 1943, But most of the scientific conspiracy novels created to suit the current situation are nothing new. What is worth mentioning in this war is that Ranpo, who once chose to be a vagabond, world-weary and deeply artistic artist because of his aversion to self-importance, has gradually shown a different appearance.He interacted with neighbors such as his neighbors and became a good citizen during the war. He not only actively participated in air defense exercises, but also served as a cadre of the town association.Ranpo, another social and social practitioner personality emerges.Presumably he possessed this qualification in the first place, and this became the driving force behind the revival and popularization of detective novels after the war. On August 15, 1945, the Pacific War ended.At the same time when he received the notice of the defeat, Ranpo believed that "the United States, the country of detective stories, has occupied Japan, so even if the inherently popular novels in Japan decline, I believe that detective stories will also become popular."And if he really lived up to his expectations, the popularity of post-war detective novels was in full swing.Starting with "Gem" in Iwatani Bookstore, as many as 14 kinds of detective fiction magazines competed on the same stage at once, and the grand occasion was unprecedented. With Yokomizo's official history published successively, , , etc. as the keynote, Ango Sakaguchi published, Kikuo Kakuda published "The Tragedy of the Takagi Family", and Binguang Takagi published "Tattoo Murder Case".Opened the era of long Benge detective novels.In addition, there are newcomers such as Asuka Ko, Shigeru Kayama, Fuutaro Yamada, Kazuo Shimada, and Sando Otsubo.Ranpo's old works have also been republished, and works such as "Psychological Test", "One Inch Master", and "Ghost Tower" have been successively made into movies.In 1947, Ranpo presided over the "Tuyaohui", a friendly association for detective novel lovers, which was changed to the "Detective Writers Club" the following year.As if trying to fill in the gaps during the war, Ranbu tried his best to collect paperback editions of overseas detective novels, focusing on tracking the latest trends and research on detective novels.He also participated in the performance of literati dramas and radio programs, and traveled to various places to give speeches on the promotion and introduction of detective novels. In order to expand and consolidate the civil rights of detective novels, he actively participated in related activities.Ranpo can be said to be the leader of detective novels, fully supporting the enlightenment popularization movement. However, the most important creations gradually came to a halt.From 1949, Ranpo began to serialize the juvenile work "The Bronze Demon", but in addition to adapting Roger Scarlett's "Angel's Murder" into "The Horror of the Triangle Pavilion" in 1951, there are also Except for the short story "Murder Weapon", I only wrote the first episode of the series.The collection of detective fiction reviews "Phantom City" published in the same year is the culmination of Ranpo's previous reviews and research on detective novels. The book won the Japan Detective Writers Club Award. As for Benge's full-length work, it was "Human Fantasy Show", which was not serialized in "Gem" until 1954.In the same year, the Tokyo Kaikan in Marunouchi held the Ranpo 60th birthday banquet with more than 500 participants. Stars gathered at the scene, and Ranpo donated one million yen to the Detective Writers Club during the banquet, and announced the establishment of "Edo Chuan Ranpo Award".The first "Dictionary of Detective Fiction" was awarded to Kawataro Nakajima.The Pocket Reasoning Series was awarded to Hayakawa Study for the second time, and changed to the Reasoning Newcomer Award from the third time. Afterwards, writers such as Niki Etsuko, Takikawa Yasushi, Shinzhang Fumiko, and Chen Shunchen were created, and it is still the newcomer's top prize to this day.Among them, Etsuko Nigi, who wrote best-selling works such as , and other works at the same time, Matsumoto Seicho transformed the pre-war detective novels, which gave people a gloomy impression, and became a new literature renamed "mystery novels" by Mugi Takataro.In Japan, which has entered a period of high growth, mystery novels have become intellectual entertainment books and are gradually becoming popular. While serializing "Human Fantasy", Ranpo also wrote "Shadow Man".Many people expect that "Human Phantom" will be the first full-length work of Ranpo. However, although the criminal motive is unique, it cannot be regarded as a detective novel that breaks through the previous style of Ranpo, and the content of "Shadow Man" is also like It is a collection of popular novels before the war.Only "Crossroads" written in flashback in cooperation with Kenji Watanabe was ingenious and well received, but Ranpo's statement "I'm not very happy that "Crossroads" co-operating with Watanabe was praised" ("Detective Fiction IV ten years").In the following year, 1955, Ranpo only wrote "The Moon and Gloves" and "Air Raid Shelter", and devoted the rest of his time to the promotion of detective novels, critical research and writing of juvenile books. In addition, from 1957 onwards, Ranpo stepped forward to rebuild the "Gem" which was in a business crisis, and became the editor-in-chief.He invited celebrities from all walks of life to write detective novels, devoted his enthusiasm to finding newcomers, and published "Fraudster and Air Man" in 1959.This is a brand new novel, and it is also Ranpo's last novel before his death. In 1960, Seicho Matsumoto wrote the commentary "Edogawa Ranpo" in "The Second Collection of Japanese Mystery Novels Edogawa Ranpo Collection" mentioned: In the dozens of short stories, Luanbu burned his life to the brim.Those short stories really shine with eternal light. Ranpo began to write popular novels in the second half of the period, and was criticized by some people.Although I don't quite agree with it, the pain and self-loathing that Ranpo wrote these popular works are just as mentioned above.However, just looking at this series of long-form works themselves, their purpose is to build a unique world, which is beyond the reach of the subsequent imitators of Ranpo, which highlights the extraordinaryness of Ranpo. This is a fact that Ranpo also admits when recalling the past.With this as Ranpo's evaluation during his lifetime, senior readers of detective novels should deeply agree with it. In 1961, the blockbuster memoir "Forty Years of Detective Fiction" was published. In the same year, Taoyuansha published it. Ranpo edited it himself, and attached all 18 episodes of "The Complete Works of Edogawa Ranpo" with self-explanation.At the same time, Ranpo was awarded the Purple Ribbon Medal based on his long-term contributions to the mystery fiction industry.Since then, Ranbu has been disturbed by high blood pressure and Parkinson's disease from time to time.However, he was still sick, and in 1963, he reorganized the "Detective Writers Club" into the "Japan Mystery Writers Association", and became the first chairman. Two years before his death, Ranpo entrusted Anda Yitang, the abbot of the Jingming Temple in Yi County, Tsu City, Mie Prefecture, to give him a Buddhist name. The letter from that time is still preserved today.The legal name is according to Ranpo's last wish.
On July 28, 1965, Ranpo, who had been recuperating at home for a long time, died of cerebral hemorrhage at the age of seventy.On August 1, the funeral of the Japan Mystery Writers Association was held at the Aoyama Funeral Center. The cemetery is located in three places: Tsu City Jomeiin Temple, Fuji Cemetery, and Tama Cemetery. Masao Yamamura and Kikuo Kakuda described the situation of Ranpo's death respectively. The ward is a Japanese room with eight tatami mats facing the garden.Bedding was spread in front of the wall, and the teacher closed his eyes and lay on his back on the bed.The arms protrude out of the quilt in a figure-eight shape, filled with various injection needles, a large number of rubber tubes are spread on the tatami, and the oxygen tube is fixed with medical tape on the nose, which is unbearable to look at.Due to the severe panting, the chest rose and fell violently, and painful moans came from the teacher's mouth from time to time. (slightly) While I was standing by the phone, the teacher passed away.According to all the writers present, the teacher finally took a deep breath, opened his closed eyes suddenly, and looked around the audience as if confirming each one. After a while, he quietly closed his eyes and passed away. The attending physician announced his death at 4:7 p.m. A person who has been unconscious for a long time and does not respond to how many calls, when the doctor announces his death, the wife and son around the pillow call out affectionately, and he suddenly opens his eyes.His eyes were clear, and when he quietly glanced at the people around him, tears slowly slid down his cheeks, then gradually closed his eyes, and fell into a long sleep.At this moment, what is it that flashes through Ranbu's mind?Luanbu, who claims to be a decadent and self-interested, really exists in his heart, is it the same sad human nature that is no different from ordinary people and reluctant to part with his wife and children? Masao Yamamura recalled that Ranpo, who was enthusiastic about performing literati dramas, once sighed: "It is really enviable that an actor can play a dead person in a play." And his wife Aron, who has insight into her husband's thoughts, said: "He thinks that life is For one scene, he wants to perform as many scenes as possible." It can be deduced that perhaps that is the most true feeling of Ranpo.Thinking back carefully, the works left by Edogawa Ranpo to later generations are just phantom literature standing between life and death and in the nether world. In 1969, the first "Complete Works of Edogawa Ranpo" after Ranpo's death was published, and caught up with "The Complete Works of Yumeno Hisaku" and "The Complete Works of Kusheng Juran" in time. The timing of the revival of heresy literature such as "The Works of Oguri Chutaro" set off a whirlwind.Later works were collected in Kadokawa Bunko and Chunyang Bunko. If you read them together with Baiyangsha's Boy Detective Team series, you can get in touch with almost all of Ranpo's novels. Since 1978, "The Complete Works of Edogawa Ranpo" with 25 episodes has been released; since 1987, "The Edogawa Ranpo Reasoning Library" with 65 episodes has been published.In addition, there was "Phantom City Supplement--The World of Edogawa Ranpo" edited by Hiroshi Shimazaki in 1975, and "Edogawa Ranpo--The World of Edogawa Ranpo" compiled by Nakajima Kautaro in 1980. Comments and Research", in the previous Ranpo reviews, the important works can be said to have been completed so far.In 1984, Matsuyama Yan tried to interpret Ranpo in the 1920s from the perspective of urban literature, so he published "Ranpo and Tokyo".And won the Japan Reasoning Writers Association Award. In 1994, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ranpo's birth, Ranpo made another whirlwind."Winter 1934—Ranpo" written by Mitsuhiko Kuze with Ranpo as the protagonist in the fifth year of the year before last won the Yamamoto Wuro Prize.In terms of movies, Akio Shishoji's remake of "The Walker on the Ceiling", Toru Kawashima's adaptation of "The Man Traveling with Stickers", and two RAMPO films directed by Okuyama and Dairin Taro respectively became a topic, and magazines also competed. Launch a special.Taking the centennial birthday as an opportunity, Ranpo's status as a national writer has been further established. Since then, almost every year, Ranpo's works have been remade into TV dramas and movies, or published in library books and special episodes of magazines.The major topic in recent years should be the fact that Edogawa Ranpo's former residence was taken over by Rikkyo University in 2002. Ranpo's former residence is adjacent to Rikkyo University in Ikebukuro, Toshima District. It covers an area of ​​about 1,200 square meters. Lived here for thirty-one years.The relics left in the residence include about 20,000 volumes of modern materials in the old collection, 3,500 volumes of about 950 types of modern materials, and about 5,000 types of custody materials.These huge amounts of materials and cultural heritage were entrusted to semi-public universities for preservation, and some of them were released in the "Twentieth Century Exhibition of Edogawa Ranpo and the Public" held at the Tobu Department Store in Ikebukuro in the summer of 2004. Organized into "Phantom Warehouse" co-edited by Hirohisa Shinho and Joe Yamamae.There are two catalogs of "Exhibition Catalog of Edo Literature Works in Edogawa Ranpo Collection" edited by Rikkyo University. Rikkyo University established the "Edogawa Ranpo Memorial·Popular Culture Research Center", and launched "Popular Culture" in 2009.And proceeded to re-enact the draft of "The Chair in the World", which is very exciting. The above briefly reviewed Edogawa Ranpo's life, even so, it is still difficult to grasp the whole picture of Dai Ranpo.In addition, his footprints remain in the memories of many people, as well as in "Chronicle of Pasting Miscellaneous" and "Forty Years of Detective Fiction", but there are almost no critical biographies that describe his overall image from a consistent perspective.Although this is unbelievable, even enthusiastic scholars can only look up at the huge mountain of data and sigh in admiration. However, the new version of "The Complete Works of Edogawa Ranpo" edited by Hirohisa Shinho and Jo Yamamae, which has been rigorously edited, contains 30 volumes; the "Edogawa Ranpo Reference Book" edited by Nakasho is full of content; Yusuke Hamada discovered the draft of "Two Cents of Copper Coin" and edited "The Dream of Zibuyu", etc., which gradually completed the basic materials of Ranpo as a national writer representing Showa literature, and the support activities of Rikkyo University will also be grand in the future. Expand.The writer Edogawa Ranpo and his many works, as the real dreams described by the mortal Hirai Taro, will always stay in the readers' spiritual hometown full of nostalgia. I heard that Edogawa Ranbu finished the manuscript, or when he was in a good mood, he would always whistle or hum "The Sky of Hometown". "The Sky of My Hometown" was published in "Meiji Singing (First Volume)" in 1888, with lyrics written by Takeki Owada, and the original song is a Scottish folk song. Those of us readers who love Edogawa Ranpo will always have a nostalgic hometown sky, the vast "ranpo sky".