funbook-pk Chapter 189 A Brief History of European and American Mystery
Chapter 189 A Brief History of European and American Mystery
Chapter 189 A Brief History of European and American Mystery
Maijo Kyosuke stood up, walked to the refrigerator, took a bottle of cola and a blueberry-flavored Ramune soda, and handed them to Jiang Liu Meili.
Jiang Liu Meili took the blueberry-flavored Ramune soda from Mai Shiro Jingjie's hand.
I felt inexplicably happy.
After pressing the pin on her Ramune soda, Jiang Liu Meili tilted her head back and took a big gulp to quench her thirst. Then she continued to speak to Mai Shiro Kyosuke: "Speaking of the third way mystery critics make a living—translation—we have to briefly explain the history of mystery fiction in Europe and America."
"As is well known, the origin of the detective novel genre can be traced back to five short detective stories by Edgar Allan Poe."
"These are: *The Murders in the Rue Morgue*, representing a locked-room mystery; *The Mystery of Marie Rogé*, representing the early form of the armchair detective; *The Gold Beetle*, representing cryptography; *You Are the Murderer*, representing psychological reasoning; and *The Stolen Letter*, representing a unique perspective."
"After Edgar Allan Poe, three literary giants made significant contributions to detective fiction. The first of these was Charles Dickens, who wrote *Bleak House*. His humanistic concern for criminals is reminiscent of the prototype of social realism detective fiction."
"The second great writer is Wilkie Collins, who wrote 'The Woman in White' and 'The Moonstone.' Because Wilkie Collins used the epistolary structure, multiple perspectives, and jigsaw puzzle writing techniques in his detective novels, 'The Moonstone' became the first universally recognized full-length detective novel in history."
"Its contribution to expanding the length of detective novels is enormous and unparalleled! Not to mention Inspector Kraft in *The Moonstone*, who profoundly influenced Conan Doyle to create the famous Sherlock Holmes!"
"The third great writer is Émile Gabrio, who wrote Monsieur Lecoq. His creation, Detective Lecoq, was the first detective to master scientific investigation."
"Before Lecoq, most detectives relied on pure deduction, but Lecoq's emergence demonstrated the feasibility of forensic investigations. His contribution was so significant that it even propelled the development of the two major genres of crime fiction and police fiction."
Jiang Liumei took another sip of Ramune soda and continued, "After these three great writers made huge contributions to detective novels, a genius emerged out of nowhere, and that was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle."
"The Sherlock Holmes he created has become the most famous detective in the world, without exception. There is nothing special to say about Sherlock Holmes, because that is already common knowledge."
"Let's talk about two other great masters of deduction from the same era as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, one of whom is the master of physical evidence reasoning." Austin Freeman, whose profession was as a doctor, possessed an exceptional understanding of forensic medicine, anatomy, chemistry, pathology, and toxicology, resulting in highly rigorous and meticulously crafted detective novels.
"Even the New York Police Department superintendent, after reading Austin Freeman's works, specifically established the world's first criminal investigation chemistry laboratory for him; his powerful physical evidence reasoning" became one of the two cornerstones supporting detective novels!
Maijo Kyosuke took a sip of his cola, a smile spreading across his face, and picked up the conversation: "As for the other of the two foundations, I guess it's the world-renowned GK Chesterton-sensei, who relies on reasoning based on intuition."
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Jiang Liumei smiled and nodded in agreement: "That's right. The other one is Professor GK Chesterton. His book, 'Father Brown,' doesn't focus on physical things like bloodstains and fingerprints, but rather on crime patterns and criminal psychology!"
"Compared to physical evidence, this kind of psychological reasoning" provided a vast creative space for later creators, profoundly influencing Agatha Christie, Dixon Carr, Ellery Queen, and even Agatha Christie herself claimed to be a student of G.K. Chesterton.
"Under this prestigious position, the Mystery Writers of the United Kingdom was founded in 1928, with G.K. Chesterton becoming its first president without any controversy, a position he held until his death!"
"And during the era dominated by Conan Doyle, Austin Freeman, and G.K. Chesterton, there are two other well-known writers that cannot be ignored."
"One is William Hernan, Conan Doyle's brother-in-law, who created the famous 'anti-hero' novel *Raffiz the Thief*, becoming the most renowned anti-hero detective and breaking the dominance of positive characters."
"William Hernán influenced many crime and spy novels that followed. The famous 007 series, James Bond, bears a strong resemblance to Rafizi."
"And the other one is even more remarkable; he is Maurice Leblanc, the creator of Arsène Lupin. His creation, Arsène Lupin, not only became a figure comparable to Sherlock Holmes!"
Even Lupin III, in an attempt to capitalize on the hype, claimed to be Arsène Lupin's grandson.
"As detective novels continue to innovate and evolve, all sorts of detectives have emerged, including genius detectives, sheriffs, master thieves, blind detectives, writers, critics, and robots."
"As a result, the general public began to get bored. They no longer wanted to read detective novels that were all about solving cases smoothly, like math word problems."
"At this time, a journalist named Edmund Bentley challenged his good friend, G.K. Chesterton, who was also the creator of Father Brown!"
"Edmund Bentley created a 200,000-word novel called *The Last Case of Trent*, attempting to dethrone the mystery genre!"
"It contains many hypothetical scenarios, such as the detective's efforts to solve the locked room mystery being caused by an accident, and the murderer never intended to create the locked room at all —"
"This kind of setup, based on accident or coincidence, was considered anti-mystery at the time," and it was Edmund Bentley's first shot in his attempt to end the mystery novel!
"However—unintentionally, Edmund Bentley not only didn't end the mystery novel, but he also made it a more realistic story, thus ushering in the Golden Age!"
"In 1920, Agatha Christie, the 'Queen of Crime,' appeared before readers with her debut novel, *The Mysterious Affair at Stales Manor*, whose 'psychological reasoning' and literary techniques successfully paved a new path for detective fiction."
Six years later, Dixon Carr, the "King of Locked Room Mysteries," created the short mystery novella "The Goat's Shadow."
Three years after Dixon Carr's debut, Ellery Queen, the "King of Logic," published his "Country Names Series."
The first article is titled "The Mystery of the Roman Hat."
"Thus, the three great masters of classic detective fiction emerged one after another between 1920 and 1929, marking the pinnacle of the history of European and American mystery fiction!"
"At that time, in 1923, Edogawa Ranpo, following in the footsteps of Edgar Allan Poe, ushered in Japan's 'Year Zero of Mystery Fiction'!"
"The pinnacle of the three great masters of mystery fiction, now collectively known as the Golden Classical Mystery," is also called "Honka-style mystery" in Japan!
Jiang Liumei downed her Ramune soda in one gulp and continued, "Teacher Wucheng, I think you are very familiar with the three great masters of the Golden Age Classical Literature, so I won't go into too much detail."
"What I want to say is that with the decline in output of the three golden classics of Europe and America in the 1960s, a serious gap emerged in the European and American mystery genre, and the 'orthodox' school of mystery fiction in Europe and America gradually came to an end."
"Just like the 'social mystery' genre that swept through the Japanese mystery writing world, led by Seicho Matsumoto."
"The reasoning market in Europe and America changed even earlier."
"Starting from 1929, the year Ellery Queen wrote 'The Mystery of the Roman Hat'."
"After Dashield Hammett, a pioneer of hard-boiled mystery fiction, published 'The Bloody Harvest' and 'The Maltese Falcon,' hard-boiled mystery fiction became an indispensable part of Western mystery fiction."
"But being indispensable does not mean being the masses."
"This has gradually brought 'hard-boiled mystery' from niche literature to the mainstream in Europe and America."
"The most important figures in this group are Raymond Chandler, the 'Grandmaster of Hard-Film Mystery,' and Ross McDonald!"
"These two, along with Dashiell Hammett, are known as the 'Big Three' of hard-boiled mystery fiction, with *The Bloody Harvest*, *The Long Goodbye*, and *The Prey in the Eyes* respectively considered the three strongest in the genre."
"Even Georges Simenon, who wrote 'Inspector Maigret,' did not receive such praise."
"It was these 'three masters of hard-boiled fiction' who brought hard-boiled mystery to its peak."
"It has influenced countless mystery writers, directors, and screenwriters!"
The genre of "hard-boiled mystery novels" indirectly influenced the creation of the famous dark comedy film!
With the decline of traditional mystery fiction and the strong impact of hard-boiled mystery fiction, traditional mystery fiction has been squeezed to the point of near extinction!
"To this day, only three masters remain in Europe and America who still uphold the 'golden rule' of mystery fiction: Helen McIlroy, author of *The House of the Dead*; Edward Hawke, author of *The Rectangular Room*; and Colin DeCoster, author of *The Prayer of All Souls*."
After Jiang Liumei finished speaking, she let out a heavy sigh of relief: "Now that we've given a brief overview of the history of European and American detective fiction, let's get back to the main topic."
"Because the European and American markets have experienced a very long and saturated golden age of classic detective fiction, it can be said that European and American detective fiction has taken root in the hearts of European and American readers and has become an indispensable part of European and American literature."
"But due to the decline in production of the three great classical gold masters, not only were their successors unable to inherit their glory, but they couldn't even maintain their afterglow."
"Thus, a truly 'dark' scene unfolded in the history of Western detective fiction."
The "hard-boiled mystery" genre expanded rapidly, with Lawrence Block, the leading figure of the contemporary hard-boiled genre alongside Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Ross McDonald, completely shattering the traditional mystery genre with his "Matthew the Detective"!
"At this point, apart from a few masters who still adhere to the classic, orthodox school of mystery, the entire Western mystery genre is reduced to only 'hard-boiled mystery novels,' 'crime novels,' and 'suspense thrillers.'"
"This situation is not a big problem for writers, but it is extremely frustrating for readers, because 'orthodox mystery' has existed for over a hundred years in the history of Europe and America."
"However, its sudden disappearance in modern times has left many readers bewildered. This imbalance between supply and demand has led many writers to change course and revive the classic mystery genre!"
"Unfortunately, the revival of 'classic mystery' in Europe and America has repeatedly failed."
"As a result, publishers in Europe and America set their sights on Japanese mystery novels, which were gradually becoming comparable to those in Europe and America."
"Although our traditional mystery genre has been severely impacted by social realism and hard-boiled mystery."
"But there are still three master-level writers like Seishi Yokomizo, Akimitsu Takagi, and Tetsuya Namikawa. In recent years, Kyotaro Nishimura, Takao Tsuchiya, and Tsumabuchi Awasaka have also been very impressive."
"As a result, a large number of mystery critics emerged, who used their expertise in foreign languages to translate Japanese mystery stories into other languages and publish and sell them."
Upon hearing Jiang Liu's beautiful words, Mai Shiro Kyosuke looked puzzled: "Ms. Jiang Liu, I understand what you said before, but why is being a translator the most profitable and least risky way for mystery critics to make a living?"
Jiang Liumei was probably hungry; her eyes were fixed on the nuts on the tray on the living room table, and she swallowed.
Maijo Kyosuke casually picked up the tray full of nuts and stuffed it into Jiang Liu Meili's arms.
Jiang Liumei took the tray of nuts, and while eating them, she said, "Because of the demise of 'orthodox' mystery fiction in Europe and America, which was almost entirely replaced by 'hard-boiled' mystery fiction, European and American publishers traveled across the ocean to Japan in the 1960s to seek cooperation with Japanese publishers."
"At that time, Japanese publishing houses were experiencing a major power struggle, primarily led by Bungei Shunju, Kobunsha, and Kodansha!"
"Because domestic books, even reprints, can receive royalties of 12% to 10%, while works published overseas can only receive royalties of 8% to 6%, no Japanese domestic publisher is willing to sell overseas rights."
Upon hearing Jiang Liu Meili's words, Mai Shiro Kyosuke's expression became even more puzzled: "Although the royalty rate for overseas publications has decreased by 4%, isn't publishing overseas still an unexpected source of income?"
Jiang Liumei shook her head as she chewed on some nuts: "Because Japanese publishers understand very well why European and American publishers, who were previously out of reach, would suddenly come to Japan to collaborate."
"Therefore, all Japanese publishers are vying for greater profits for themselves and their authors."
"Especially in this era of fierce competition among Japanese publishers, we cannot allow European and American publishers to interfere."
"In short, at that time, all Japanese publishing houses were united against external forces, but internal strife was constant."
"Ultimately, after much back and forth, Japan and the West agreed on unprecedented regulations for the publication of mystery novels overseas."
"For any Japanese mystery novel published overseas, not only do you have to pay a large overseas copyright fee and give the author 10% to 12% royalties, but you also have to pay the translator 2% to 4% of the royalties."
"In other words, if a mystery novel sells for the equivalent of 1000 yen overseas, and 100,000 copies are sold, after deducting taxes, the translator can receive a share of around one to four million yen!"
"While this sum of money may not be much for a writer, it makes for a very convenient and easy job for a mystery critic."
"Translating two works a year is enough to surpass the income of many ordinary people."
"In addition, the volume of Japanese mystery novels imported from Europe and America is huge, so this is the most profitable and easiest way for Japanese mystery critics to make a living."
After saying all that, Jiang Liumei held up four fingers. "Next, we'll discuss the last and most common way for Japanese mystery critics to make a living."
"Sign up with a newspaper or magazine and become a columnist for the newspaper or magazine."
"Profiting by using one's understanding of detective novels to write articles for magazines or newspapers and receiving payment for them."
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"Although writing for magazines and newspapers is not very lucrative, the payment is only about a quarter of the author's fee, which is about 30,000 to 40,000 yen for every 10,000 words."
"However, writing for newspapers and magazines is the best way for mystery critics to increase their visibility and exposure."
"As long as you can make a name for yourself in newspapers and magazines, you will gradually receive offers to work as a translator, anthologist, or even be invited by publishers, and eventually become a mystery critic who publishes works as a mystery critic."
Jiang Liumei paused for a moment, then a mischievous smile appeared on her face: "By the way, what I just said were all legitimate ways to make money."
"In fact, mystery critics also have a gray area for making money."
"That is, what's called 'author endorsement'!"
"Simply put, it means receiving a huge fee from a writer and then wildly promoting that writer's work in the newspaper, causing its sales to multiply."
"However, most mystery critics don't go far, because there's a consensus in the mystery criticism community."
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"The consensus is that if a critic genuinely praises and admires a writer, it is acceptable within the industry."
"Because if no money is received, there is no conflict of interest between the writer and the critic, so no matter how much the critic praises the writer, it is just a subjective feeling and there is no problem."
"However, if a critic receives money before praising an author, then a conflict of interest has been established, which is not accepted by the public and will also reduce the critic's credibility."
Just as Jiang Liumei finished speaking, footsteps sounded outside the door, indicating that quite a few people had arrived.
Because the third floor of the "Longevity Bath" only has eight VIP suites.
So without a doubt, it must be members of the "New Authentic Mystery Club" who have arrived.
Maishiro Kyosuke and Eri Miri opened the door together.
Mikoshiba Yasunori, Mikoshiba Kyoko, Kenzaki Mitsuki, and a chubby face came into Maijo Kyosuke's view.
That chubby face belonged to none other than Noma Genjiro, the president of Kodansha.
"Ms. Maishiro? Why are you so surprised to see me?"
"You're not saying you don't welcome me, are you?"
Since joining Kodansha and becoming a guest writer, Maijo Kyosuke has received a lot of help from Noma Genjiro.
Putting everything else aside, based solely on the manuscript of "Two Bottles of Seasoning" from last time, Maijo Kyosuke had no reason to refuse Noma Genjiro: "How could I not welcome you? I just didn't expect President Noma to come."
Noma Genjiro smiled at Maijo Kyosuke and snapped his fingers behind him.
Suddenly, seven or eight men dressed in black appeared outside the door, carrying huge Iberian hams, king crabs, oysters, and fine wines, and entered the room.
In just a few moments, a huge round table was set up in the living room of Maijo Kyosuke's VIP suite, covered with all sorts of food.
A book club meeting of the "New Orthodox Mystery Club" turned into a gourmet food tasting event with the addition of Genjiro Noma.
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