Chapter 20 Chapter 6 Benge Restoration
The appearance of Shoji Shimada saved the novel.
The Japanese reasoning literary world has spent 30 years under the shroud of "Qing Zhang's Curse".Frankly speaking, even if Matsumoto Seicho is a great enough mentor, hundreds of writers have been writing under the same tone for 30 years, and readers will definitely experience aesthetic fatigue.Writers such as Morimura Seiichi and Natsuki Shizuko created the last pinnacle of socialist reasoning. By the 1980s, this type of work had inevitably declined.
In addition to the so-called "aesthetic fatigue", there is an objective factor that makes this decline inevitable-that is, the replacement of the main readership.In the 1980s, a new generation of Japanese citizens became the main force of society—most of them were born in the 1960s and 1970s, and they had not experienced arduous post-war reconstruction, let alone brutal wars.It is biased to call this generation the "Beat Generation", but they do not have any sense of crisis and prefer to pursue pleasure and sensory stimulation.
Most people of this generation don't "catch" the socialist realism style; they even stay away from those deep and serious condemnations and criticisms.This generation generally believes that society is indeed unsatisfactory, but a few casual curses are enough, why spend a lot of time reading a "blame novel" of more than 300 pages!In such a general environment, socialist reasoning has obviously lost the soil for survival.
As a result, the Japanese reasoning circle suddenly set off a trend of "returning to the original character", and there are two representative things.
The first one is that from the mid-1970s, the publishing house began to publish a large number of works by masters of the Bengge period.In just a few years, the complete works of Edogawa Ranpo, the complete works of Yokomizo Masashi, the complete works of Takagi Binguang, the complete works of Mugi Takataro, and the complete works of Yumeno Hisaku have been listed, with a total of nearly 300 varieties.This kind of publishing efficiency is unimaginable even in Europe and the United States in the "golden age".It can be seen from this that the readers of this period yearned for authentic reasoning that was filled with romanticism and could satisfy sensory stimulation.
The second is that in February 1975, Fu Bo, a Japanese Chinese and critic of Japanese reasoning literature research, founded the magazine "Phantom City" to vigorously introduce and promote Japanese reasoning culture.The magazine received support from all walks of life in Japan, and soon became one of the most influential reasoning publications in Japan. The "Phantom City" magazine regularly holds essay competitions, and many writers of this style have made their debut and become the standard-bearers of the reasoning of this style in the new era.Among them, the most outstanding and representative ones are Tsumao Awasaka who created the "Aiichiro Series" and Mikihiko Renjo who created "A Kikyo Flower" and later won the Naoki Award.
From these two phenomena, it is not difficult to see that the "big counterattack" of Benge's novels already has an objective basis, and an era of revival seems to be at hand.However, what kind of posture should the original reasoning in the new era appear?It is definitely not acceptable to copy works from the New Youth Period and the Precious Stone Period. Doing so can only make the basic reasoning go backwards.Readers hope to see the original reasoning that belongs to the end of the 20th century, or even the 21st century. What kind of reasoning should this kind of reasoning be?
Just when everyone was at a loss, a genius turned out to be the savior of intrinsic reasoning.This person is the male number one in this section, Shimada Shoji known as the "God of Reasoning".
Shoji Shimada was born on October 12, 1948 in Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture.His father served in the army during the war and was permanently stationed in Hiroshima.Once, he rushed from the suburbs of Hiroshima to the city center to perform a mission.Halfway on the way, Shimada's father suddenly remembered that he had an official business because he was drunk yesterday and forgot to deal with it.If you rush to the city like this, you will definitely be scolded by the chief.So he turned and returned to the suburbs.
Suddenly, there was a loud noise behind Shimada's father, and the earth seemed to be torn apart.Looking back, a mushroom cloud rose in the center of Hiroshima, changing from orange to black and then from black to white.Only later did the Japanese know that this thing was called an atomic bomb, and it was a "gift" from the Americans.
Shoji Shimada later recalled: "If it hadn't been for an accident, my father would not have escaped this disaster, and I would not have appeared in this world. What a terrible thing this is for mystery novels!"
The young Shimada Shoji experienced the most difficult days after the war in Japan, which made his works never lack thinking about social issues.He started writing mystery novels when he was in elementary school, and read his works aloud to his classmates during recess.
Shoji Shimada is a very talented person who graduated from Musashino Art University.He worked as a truck driver, illustrated magazines, and even became an astrologer at one point. In 1976, Shoji Shimada produced an LP record "LONELY MEN", which was completely composed by himself.
In 1979, Shoji Shimada created a shocking novel, and submitted the manuscript to the jury of the Edogawa Ranpo Award to participate in the competition for the "Edogawa Ranpo Award" in 1980.This manuscript posed a problem for all the judges-no one had read this style of mystery novel, and no one could evaluate the pros and cons of this novel.Takao Tsuchiya, a highly respected judge, said bluntly: "I really don't have the ability to evaluate this work, although I think it will change the pattern of the entire mystery novel." In the end, because it was too "heterogeneous", it lost to Izawa Motohiko's "Simaru Vision". Line", ranked second.However, Kodansha still published the work in 1981.
It tells the most gorgeous story in the history of reasoning literature, and an incredible trick is used in the story. 40 years ago, the painter Umezawa Heiji was killed in the secret room.He left a note, which records the method of making the immortal goddess Asold - as long as the parts of the bodies of six girls with different constellations are taken off and put together, Asold can get eternal life.Moreover, these 6 girls who meet the conditions live beside Mei Ze.Then, the six girls were killed one by one, and their bodies appeared all over Japan, and the most crucial piece was missing from each body!However, Umezawa Heiyoshi is already dead...
It is no exaggeration to say that it is a work of genius born prematurely.Its creativity and layout belong to the 21st century, but it was written 20 years in advance by the genius Shimada Shoji - it's no wonder that the judges are particularly at a loss and helpless in the face of the work.
In the novel, Shoji Shimada portrayed the most alternative detective in the history of Japanese reasoning-the astrologer Mitarai. "Mitarai" means "toilet" in Japanese, and "Jie" means "clean".Therefore, the detective's name is actually "cleaning the toilet".This setting comes from Shimada Shoji's childhood experience: the Japanese pronunciation of "Shoji" is very similar to "sweeping". Whenever the teacher asks who is on duty today, the whole class will always shout: " Shoji! Shoji!" Shimada Shoji recalled: "When I was a child, I cleaned more times than all my classmates combined." Later, he simply named the detective "Mitarashi", which is also a kind of Silent "Tucao".
Mitarai was born in Yokohama at 8:28 am on November 27, 1948. She is a Sagittarius and a student of Kyoto University.His IQ is above 300; his appearance is an eternal secret, because Shoji Shimada does not allow anyone to paint his portrait; his profession is an astrologer, but no one can tell what he relies on to support himself; he has extraordinary Bass skills, but never bothered to do it for a living.
Mitaraiji is a total weirdo.He is usually decadent, but when encountering strange cases, he is full of vitality; he often keeps silent, but has an uncontrollable oratory habit; he once talked for dozens of minutes, just to explain to others why he never wears a watch; He despises his compatriots extremely, cursing their inferiority unscrupulously; he admires Sherlock Holmes very much, but declares that Holmes is just a liar who loves to brag and is addicted to drugs; The earth is round, so the earth is round; he thinks the sky is blue, so the sky is blue; The detective is called Mitarai Kei!
Afterwards, Shoji Shimada published the second work of the "Mitarashi series" in 1982.The mystery of this work is more gorgeous and magnificent, further establishing the creative concept and characteristics of Shoji Shimada.
After the publication of these two works, it sparked an unprecedented controversy in the Japanese reasoning circle.Many writers and critics wantonly attack Shimada Shoji, thinking that his works are seriously divorced from reality, "childish, ridiculous and whimsical", which is a disrespect to Matsumoto Seicho and many socialist predecessors, and is an attempt to lead Japanese reasoning literature to destruction. no return.Some people even bluntly said: "A writer like this should immediately clean him out of the reasoning world." Shoji Shimada later admitted that he was under unprecedented pressure at that time.
Shoji Shimada, on the other hand, received the greatest support from readers.People like this kind of "magnificent" mystery, like the mitarai who subverted everything, like, this kind of "mystery novel belonging to the 21st century".More importantly, many young people who are interested in reasoning and creation have finally defined their own development direction after seeing Shoji Shimada's works.After a period of exploration, these people finally became masters, and then created a new basic reasoning-about the experience of these young people, we will mention it in the next section.
After the publication of these two works, considering the general environment at the time, Shoji Shimada realized that his ideas needed a gradual promotion process, and readers and writers could not be expected to completely abandon their past habits overnight.So, in 1984, Shoji Shimada created.
This is an original reasoning with realism, and it was a popular "reasoning on travel" at that time.In this book, Shoji Shimada portrayed another series of detectives—the criminal policeman Ji Shizhushi.
Yoshishiki Takeshi is a completely different person from Mitarai.He was born on January 18, 1948, under the zodiac sign of Capricornus, and is a criminal police officer of the First Division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.Compared with Mitarai, who is like a dream, Yoshishiki Takeshi is a typical realist figure.He has black hair, big eyes, double eyelids, high nose bridge, thick lips, broad shoulders, 1.78 meters tall, fit and fit, resembling a mixed-race model, and is an ideal object in women's minds.Even if his separation and reunion with a woman named Tongzi is unpleasant, it does not shake his glorious image of "good man".
In his work, Yoshifu Takeshi is tenacious and meticulous.He was never as whimsical as Mitarai — although his brains were no worse than that of the astrologer — but followed the clues from beginning to end and traveled tirelessly all over Japan.Most of the cases encountered by Yoshifu Takeshi are related to the timetable, so we will follow him around in each work, sometimes feeling tired and sometimes feeling trivial.However, whenever Yoshishiki Takeshi tells the truth, leaving the murderer nowhere to hide, all readers will sigh sincerely: "This trip is really worthwhile."
The "people-friendly" Yoshiki Bamboo History has conquered readers and critics in one fell swoop, and Shimada Shoji's ideas have also been understood and advocated by more and more people. "Jifu Bamboo History Series" has a total of 16 works, among which "Fantasy and Heavenly Movement" and "Fantasy" are representative works.
Shimada Shoji's philosophy is to "restore the original character".In his opinion, the original face of mystery novels should only be what Edgar Allan Poe showed in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue"-the story is closely related to mysteries, the appearance of which is gorgeous and incredible, but the part of the answer needs to be solved. Strict respect for science and common sense - "If Poe had written the solution of the story as a 'demon's game,' Murders in the Rue Morgue would be at best a good Gothic novel and would make no breakthrough. But , he explained everything scientifically, so that there are 'detective novels' in the world."
In Shimada Shoji's view, this concept and model is his ideal "basic reasoning".Shoji Shimada does not reject the European and American tough guy school, Benge's metamorphic reasoning and social reasoning, but he believes that these are "derivatives" and not real mystery novels.Since mystery novels have such characteristics when they are created, what I have to do is to restore their original appearance.
Shimada Shoji also believes that the reason why "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is so charming is that Poe used the most advanced scientific and technological achievements and theoretical knowledge of that era, coupled with rigorous logical deduction, so that there will be such a seamless plot. s work.With the advancement of time, science and technology and theoretical knowledge are constantly improving, and mystery novels must apply these results as soon as possible to ensure that they will not be abandoned by readers.If the original reasoning wants to regain the "ground" from the social reasoning, the elements in the work cannot stay in the chaotic or horizontal ditch era, but need the new ideas of the times. "The achievements of the 19th century are reflected in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", and the current novel should undoubtedly reflect the progress of the 21st century world..."
Therefore, we can see that no matter it is or not, it unreservedly embodies Shoji Shimada's philosophy-mystery-solving is paramount, the mystery is gorgeous, the answer is reasonable and has a sense of the times.After being recognized, Shoji Shimada has no ties, and can realize his pursuit freely.
In 1990, he created a long reasoning and opened the "New Royal Washing Series"-this series includes , , , and four works. In 1993, Shoji Shimada settled in Los Angeles, USA.Afterwards, he successively created such masterpieces as "The Ghost Incident of the Russian Warship", ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,In these stories, we can see the limit of human imagination: the 2,000-year-old man-eating nan tree, the devastated earth after the nuclear war, the murder of vampires, the ghost of the Russian princess... Mitarai and his assistant Ishioka travel around the world , to solve these incredible mysteries.What supports these mysteries are new era scientific and technological achievements such as cloning technology and DNA code.
Shoji Shimada is constantly challenging readers' psychological limits.Whenever you think his imagination can't be improved, he can always use better ideas to bring readers a huge psychological gap.In this era of information explosion and eccentricity, the appearance of Shimada Shoji meets the needs of emerging readers. In 2010, Shoji Shimada completed his new work "Sara-Fantasy in a Closed Country", which swept all the reasoning rankings in Japan.People exclaimed: "The footsteps of the god of reasoning did not stop, but walked faster and faster."
In addition to creation, Shoji Shimada is very concerned about the popularization and promotion of reasoning culture.The "Shoji Shimada Quarterly" hosted by him will regularly publish the latest reasoning information and development directions; the "Benge Reasoning Manifesto" he publishes every year has become the most authoritative book of the year; At the same time as Taiwan, the "Shoji Shimada Reasoning Award" was established to encourage newcomers to create original reasoning-this is also the first reasoning award established by Japanese writers in China.
As the savior of Benge reasoning, Shimada Shoji's achievements are perfectly reflected in the "New Benge Movement" that began in 1987.Many of his believers took him as their spiritual leader and creative mentor, held high the banner of "Fuxing Benge", overthrew the "Qingzhang Curse", and established a new era of Japanese reasoning.