Chapter 274: *A Personal Matter*

There were two main reasons why Akiwara Yuto agreed to Jin Shang's request so readily.

In the current literary world, the vitality of traditional literature is just like cherry blossoms, about to fade away.

If he could make this cherry blossom bloom a little longer, it would undoubtedly prove to the outside world that he possessed extremely high literary talent.

Besides that, Jin Shang's sincerity regarding literature also moved Akiwara Yuto to a certain extent.

After leaving the teahouse, Akiwara Yuto took a private car back home and returned to his study to continue thinking.

How should he fulfill this request?

For example, by continuing to write more works like Yasunari Kawabata's?

By further promoting aesthetic literature?

After pondering for half a day, he abandoned this plan.

Among Yasunari Kawabata's many works, *Snow Country* could completely be considered the most representative one.

Besides that, his other three representative works, such as *The Dancing Girl of Izu*, *The Old Capital*, and *Thousand Cranes*.

Although the literature and stories were still beautiful, they did not make any breakthroughs based on *Snow Country*.

It could only be said that they were still aesthetic literature representing "sorrow."

And in this world, Jin Shang was already the representative of aesthetic literature; no matter what he wrote, it would be considered by the outside world as a tribute and supplement to him.

Therefore, it would be best if he could write something different, preferably creating a new school based on the current traditional literature.

Akiwara Yuto took out a pen and wrote three names on a piece of paper—Natsume Soseki, Mishima Yukio, and Oe Kenzaburo.

Looking at the names, he began to think about them one by one.

Natsume Soseki, nicknamed the "Banknote Literati," was Ryunosuke Akutagawa's teacher.

He had a high status in the history of modern Japanese literature and was called a "national great writer," having written many things in his life, such as *I Am a Cat*, *Botchan*, and so on.

The styles of these works were not very uniform; some leaned more toward romanticism, while others were realism.

But the fact that his works could become famous must also have been related to his struggle against the mainstream naturalistic literature of Japan at that time.

Placed in this current era, it might not have such a great impact.

So for his purpose, it seemed to have little meaning.

Akiwara Yuto thought for a while and crossed out this name.

Mishima Yukio, who had the nickname of the "Seppuku Writer," and it was said that his death scene was one of the reasons that indirectly prompted Yasunari Kawabata to commit suicide.

He was one of the masters of post-war Japanese literature, not only possessing a high reputation in the Japanese literary world but also having high praise in the Western world, with some even hailing him as the "Hemingway of Japan."

In Akiwara's view, his works were very excellent, and the features of his writing were filled with violence, blood, and darkness.

However, such works could not be separated from his radical thoughts, which also led to his final death.

On November 25, 1970, Mishima took people to kidnap the commander of the Self-Defense Forces' Eastern Headquarters, then gave a speech to the Self-Defense Forces officers, calling for "true samurai" to launch a mutiny with him, demanding the overthrow of the constitution and the protection of the Emperor.

After all the soldiers remained indifferent, Mishima returned indoors and stabbed his abdomen with a short sword, cutting out his intestines.

To help him with *kaishaku* (decapitation), his followers slashed him four times in a row before successfully cutting off his head.

Without a doubt, this scene gave his close friend Yasunari Kawabata tremendous stimulation.

As for his works, Akiwara Yuto naturally dared not use them.

Otherwise, if any special right-wing thoughts were interpreted from the content of the works, his literary path would undoubtedly be stained with a black mark.

Thinking of this, he took his pen again, crossed out this name, and looked at the last name.

Oe Kenzaburo, the second Nobel Prize winner besides Yasunari Kawabata, was an old friend of Mo Yan and also an admirer of Lu Xun.

Compared with Mishima Yukio's right-wing thoughts, he could completely be called an anti-war writer.

And his anti-war background was also closely related to the era he lived in.

When he was 10 years old, Japan surrendered to the United States and was reformed by the latter to issue a new constitution.

When he was 13, because of the influence of Chairman Mao, the "Red Army Movement" broke out in Japan, and this movement failed under the suppression of the government at that time.

But these two huge historical events had a profound impact on Oe Kenzaburo.

Because of his constant reflection on reality and the future, his works contained many anti-war styles.

Even he himself had stated many times: "Japan should apologize for the war and settle the history of the past."

However, the most critical point for which Oe Kenzaburo's works were praised was actually the integration of Japanese tradition and Western modernity.

Unlike Haruki Murakami's attitude toward Japanese traditional literary works, although Oe Kenzaburo also widely absorbed the thoughts of foreign literary works, he had great respect for Japanese traditional literature.

In many works, he made extensive use of the symbolic techniques in *The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter*, creating an imaginative world that tightly condensed reality and mythology together.

It was precisely this feature that allowed his book, *A Personal Matter*, to successfully gain the unanimous recognition of the Nobel Prize in Literature committee.

Akiwara Yuto pondered repeatedly for half a day and found that Oe Kenzaburo's works were the most suitable for him to "transport" at present.

First, the era background Oe Kenzaburo lived in was almost the same as his, and the time he won the Nobel Prize was also exactly 1994.

Second, although Oe Kenzaburo's works absorbed a large number of Western literary thoughts, unlike Haruki Murakami, they were ultimately a development based on Japanese traditional literature and were a unique school.

Having made his decision, Akiwara Yuto poured himself a cup of tea and began to write furiously.

This time, he intended to write Oe Kenzaburo's representative work, which was that book, *A Personal Matter*.

In this story, the protagonist's surname is Bird, and his wife gives birth to a disabled infant, causing Bird to suddenly fall into a difficult situation.

Bird wants the doctor to kill the infant through a delayed surgery, but the doctor indicates that "one cannot directly move to kill the infant," but privately suggests that Bird "adjust the amount of milk fed to the infant," or simply "use sugar water instead of milk."

Out of fear, Bird first chooses to escape.

He leaves the infant at the hospital and manages to let it weaken and die.

He himself hides in the bedroom of his old lover, Himiko, and falls into a sea of love and desire.

Himiko is both an angel and a witch; she gives Bird comfort, makes Bird forget his worries, and also lures Bird to constantly degenerate.

At this time, a telephone ring sounds in the darkness, but this long-awaited phone call does not bring news of the infant's death due to exhaustion.

On the phone, Bird is informed that the neurosurgery expert, the vice president of the hospital, has decided to perform surgery on the infant.

No one dares to predict the result of the surgery; if the effect is not very ideal, Bird will have to accompany a plant-like child for the rest of his life.

This is a reality that Bird refuses to face no matter what.

He rejects the doctor's suggestion and brings the infant back from the hospital.

Bird and Himiko plan several schemes, including burying the sick child through the hands of a black-market abortion doctor.

In the bitter wind and rain, the infant's crying causes Bird to unfold a fierce conflict in his heart.

Finally, he decides to send the child back to the hospital for treatment to take on his life's responsibility.

After about half a week, Akiwara Yuto finally finished this work.

After careful deliberation, he did not publish this work immediately but sent the manuscript to Jin Shang first... ===== CHAPTER 275 =====