Chapter 21 The Conspiracy of the Decagon Pavilion

The absurd seems to be better... The important thing is to have fun very rationally in the world of speculative fiction. In the previous section, we talked about Shoji Shimada, the savior of Benge reasoning.Shoji Shimada is an out-and-out idealist, but his greatness and wisdom lie in the fact that he knows how to use realistic means to realize his ideals.Under the background of 30 years ruled by socialist reasoning, the necessary means are indispensable to achieve the goal of "returning to the original character". Shoji Shimada took two approaches.One is mentioned in the previous section. He wrote the "Jifu Bamboo History Series" with a socialist style, and slowly influenced the entire reasoning world in an "improved" way, and did not try to "overthrow" the socialist school in a short period of time. ; Another method is more effective-that is, to cultivate new forces of natural reasoning from young people.

In order to achieve the second goal, Shoji Shimada worked tirelessly all over Japan for quite a long time.His destination is universities everywhere, where he regularly holds lectures and exchange activities, sowing the fire of original reasoning.Various clubs exist in schools at all levels in Japan, which have become an integral part of the Japanese education system.Shoji Shimada attaches great importance to the power of clubs and vigorously supports the development of reasoning clubs in universities.As it turns out, Shoji Shimada was a visionary. The reasoning club of Kyoto University is one of the earliest clubs established in Japan, with a very deep foundation.Shoji Shimada is very optimistic about the prospect of this society, and often comes to Kyoto University to communicate with students.

One day, Shoji Shimada gave a lecture at Kyoto University.When talking about the lack of enthusiasm, suddenly, a student sitting in the first row of the auditorium stood up. "I'm sorry. I've thought about a question for a long time, and I must ask you in person." The student was thin and childish, but he tried his best to pretend to be a mature scholar. Afterwards, Shoji Shimada recalled that he thought the student's appearance was really funny and cute. "What's your question?" "Excuse me..." The student was not afraid of the stage, "In your novel, what model is the motorcycle that detective Mitarai rides?"

Shimada Shoji said that this is the first time someone has asked this question, and he is very happy.As a result, the student became Shimada Shoji's year-end friend, and he got Shimada Shoji's contact information after the speech-thus, the fate of Benge's reasoning was changed. After the speech, Shoji Shimada received a call from the college student every day.The content of the conversation covered all aspects of mystery novels, from concept to promotion, from tricks to plots, and there were many questions like "motorcycle models". "I would be very surprised if one of the calls with him was kept under 30 minutes."

This exchange went on for a long time.One day, the student suddenly sent a manuscript to Shoji Shimada, saying that it was a mystery novel created by himself, and "requested" Shoji Shimada to read it and make suggestions.However, Shoji Shimada was entangled in trivial matters, so he didn't read the manuscript in the first time. After a while, the student suddenly called Shimada Shoji to a coffee shop.He stuffed the manuscript into Shoji Shimada's hands and asked him to stand where he was and read his novel immediately, otherwise, he would never leave the coffee shop today!Shoji Shimada was completely conquered, so he could only look down at the manuscript "honestly"—later we learned that this college student was Ayatsuji Kototo, and this novel was the beginning of the new reasoning "Tenjiaoguan Murder Announcement" ".

Ayatsuji Kotohito, whose real name is Uchida Naoyuki, was born in Kyoto on December 23, 1960.He loved mystery novels since he was a child. After reading Maurice LeBlanc's "Arson Robin Series" and Edogawa Ranpo's works when he was in the fourth grade of elementary school, he determined to become a writer of mystery novels.Therefore, he was admitted to Kyoto University without hesitation, and immediately joined the reasoning club. The Reasoning Society of Kyoto University has a publication called "Crow City", which specializes in publishing the exercises and some theoretical articles of the members of the society.Many of Ayatsuji's works were published in this magazine, and all of them were officially published later.Encouraged by Ayatsuji, he created a novel called "The Island of Mourning" and competed for the Edogawa Ranpo Award, but he did not win in the end.And this manuscript is the novel that he forced Shimada Shoji to stand in the coffee shop and read it in one go.

Shimada Shoji liked this novel very much, and he also paid more and more attention to Ayatsuji pedestrians, and the two established a relationship between teachers and friends.Ayatsuji pedestrians accepted Shimada Shoji's suggestion, revised the manuscript, and renamed it "Jujiaoguan Murder Announcement".The detective in the book is named "Kyoshi Shimada", a combination of "Shoji Shimada" and "Kyoshi Mitarai", in honor of his mentor. In 1987, "Tenjiaoguan Murder Announcement" was officially published, and the new reasoning was established.This year is therefore defined as the "New Benge First Year".

Compared with Shoji Shimada, who advocates "restoring the original form", advocating the dreaming of mysteries, and scientifically answering theories, the head of the new original reasoning is more "radical".He thinks that instead of making Poe-style "revisions" to mystery novels, it is better to create a new style of reasoning that surpasses Poe in all aspects.This is also where Shimada Shoji and Ayatsuji pedestrians disagree.Therefore, Shoji Shimada has always been regarded as a mentor of new-benge reasoning, but not a real new-benge writer.Many readers in China think that "Shimada Shoji" means "Xinbenge", which is not accurate.

In "Murder Announcement at Jujiaoguan", Ayatsuji Xingren said clearly through the mouth of the characters in his pen: "...I don't want the socialist realist reasoning that is prevalent in Japan for a while....What about corruption, political insiders, and what is a distorted modern society The tragedy caused, please leave. No matter how you are accused of being out of place, the most suitable for mystery novels are still famous detectives, mansions, suspicious residents, bloody tragedies, impossible crimes, unprecedented big tricks... absurdity seems better ... the important thing is to have fun very rationally in the world of speculative fiction."

This passage can be seen as a manifesto for the new intrinsic reasoning.Someone once commented on the difference between Benge and Xinben like this: "The reasoning of Benge is to build a secret room first, and then kill people in it; the new Benge is to kill people first, and then build a secret room around the corpse." The author thinks this metaphor is appropriate. Since its inception, the new Benge reasoning has been accused of lacking a sense of reality and responsibility, but it meets the needs of the new generation of readers who desire excitement, romance, and freshness, and thus has become the backbone of today's Japanese reasoning.

Inspired by Shoji Shimada's "Murder Announcement at Ten Gakukan", it belongs to "architectural reasoning", which is a typical neo-benji reasoning mode.The so-called "architectural reasoning" means that the stage where the story takes place is a strange building that is relatively isolated from the world; different from the traditional "Blizzard Villa", this building is not only isolated, but also has various "problems" in itself .These "problems" are often the key to solving the problem, that is to say, the building in the new Benge reasoning is not only a stage, but also a prop, but also a "central idea". This "architectural reasoning" has influenced almost all Xinben writers.In addition to Ayatsuji Kototo, the representative writers of the Shinbenge School, Utano Akio, my grandson Takemaru, and Hozuki Rintaro, who will be discussed later, all made their debuts by relying on "architectural reasoning".The king of heaven Keigo Higashino disdains this kind of setting very much. He sarcastically said in his work: "If you really have so much money to build an unparalleled house for killing people, why not hire a top killer with the money and kill the target directly ?” Keigo Higashino's "complaint" is not unreasonable, but this is the concept advocated by Xinbenge, and it will not be shaken. After the publication of "Tenjiaokan Murder Forecast", Ayatsuji devoted himself to creation, and successively wrote excellent works such as "Guan Series", "Whispering Series", "Murderer Series" and "Death Prophecy of Nursery Rhymes".Among them, the most talked about by readers is the "Pavilion Series" which is in the same line as "Tenjiao Pavilion Murder Announcement".Each entry in the series takes place in a peculiar building, usually designed by the late and talented designer Seiji Nakamura.By 2010, the series had launched 10 volumes, among which "The Ghost of the Clock House" created in 1992 won the Japan Mystery Writers Association Award. After becoming famous, Ayatsuji pedestrians can be described as smooth sailing.Needless to say, he has a successful career, and he has also found a happy destination in life.With the help of Shoji Shimada, Ayatsuji pedestrians married Inuimi Ono, a classmate of the reasoning club at Kyoto University and a talented girl.Yes, you read that right, it is Inuimi Ono who wrote the "Ghoul Series" and "Twelve Kingdoms".Looking at the literary world in the world, I am afraid that there are not many mom-and-pop stores that "operate" so efficiently. Ayatsuji Pedestrian is a "big smoking gun", puffing clouds and fog every day without stopping.Those who have been to his house will be surprised to find that the cigarettes in his house are no less than the collection of books, and they are all over every corner.It is said that there is still a row of cigarettes stacked in the bathroom of Ayatsuji's house-Shoji Shimada said that toilet paper may not be found in his bathroom, but cigarettes will definitely not be found.The most incomprehensible thing is that what Ayatsuji pedestrians like to do most is to smoke hard while telling others that smoking is very harmful to health-and, Ayatsuji pedestrians are really not joking. Ayatsuji is also a mahjong master and won the 1999 30th Japan Mahjong Masters Championship.Driven by him, many reasoning writers have become Mahjong fans.In a magazine, Ayatsuji Xingren described in detail his experience in a certain mahjong competition, and even drew the tiles in his hand in each round.In that magazine, there were only 30 pages about the creation introduction of Ayatsuji Xingren, but the description about him playing mahjong accounted for 50 pages-presumably the editor-in-chief of the magazine must be very crazy. But having said that, perhaps only a person with such a personality can create a new whimsical reasoning. In recent years, Ayatsuji has created many mystery novels with horror and suspense, such as "The Last Memory", "Deep Mud Hill Strange Story", "Another", etc., which have been recognized by readers.He also tried to extend the reasoning culture to the field of comics and video games, which also achieved good results. With the establishment and development of new Benge reasoning, in 1994, Ayatsuji established the so-called "Seven Principles of New Benge".As we mentioned earlier, during the heyday of classical detective novels, the American Van Dyne once formulated the "Twenty Points".As the head of new original reasoning, Ayatsuji believes that it is necessary to establish similar rules to further standardize the creation of new original reasoning. What needs to be pointed out here is that many media and readers believe that the "seven rules" were proposed by Shoji Shimada, but this is not the case.The author once verified Shoji Shimada face to face, and he made it clear that these rules were proposed by the writers of the Neo-Benge School represented by Ayatsuji Hiroto, and had nothing to do with him. Shimada Shoji also pointed out that he has always used Edgar Allan Poe's reasoning as his creative standard, and has always "despised" the so-called "rules".Shoji Shimada believes that Van Dyne misinterpreted the original intention of Allan Poe, and very stupidly put forward many rules and regulations that restrict the development of mystery novels. This is wrong-as long as the principle of combining mystery and scientific theory is followed, there is no element that cannot be read. in use.Similarly, Shoji Shimada believes that the "Seven Principles of the New Book" hinders the development of mystery novels and should not be advocated.As Shinmoto's mentor, Shimada Shoji and Ayatsuji have always had disagreements on this issue.However, this does not affect their relationship and their respective creations. The so-called "seven rules of the new book" are: 1. Build the stage of the story in a closed space like an isolated island.After the incident, the characters who have already appeared on the scene are not allowed to leave, and the police or other outsiders are not allowed to enter.Of course, advanced scientific searches are also not possible. 2. Set the place where the event takes place in an artificial building with a door that can be locked, or around the building. 3. Introduce all the people who lived or were guests at the place where the incident occurred at the beginning of the novel. 4. Arrange certain events to happen, preferably a murderous tragedy, and it still takes place in a secret room. 5. Arrange the person who plays the role of detective to appear in the place where the tragedy happened from the very beginning. 6. Arrange tragedies to happen one after another, but the murderer is still not found. At this stage, some wrong reasoning of the detectives may also be included. 7. Finally, the detective is arranged to point out the murderer, and for readers, the murderer must be an unexpected person. It is not difficult to see that the "seven rules" themselves have a lot of joking elements, and there is no need to implement them one by one in a rigid and dogmatic manner.However, it shows that as a newly rising force, the new Benge reasoning has seized the market irresistibly and become the mainstream of Japanese reasoning literature. Of course, the rise of Xinbenge is not enough to rely on Ayatsuji alone.Fortunately, he has a group of equally talented classmates; even more fortunately, these classmates are also enthusiastic about the "reformation movement" of intrinsic reasoning.