The Invisible Bond／Translation Preface After the war, Japanese literary circles rose together, popular novelists, and the personal income of mystery novels became an unbelievable myth. In terms of pure literature, Tanizaki Junichiro, Kawabata Yasunari, and Mishima Yukio once took the lead. Mishima committed seppuku, and Kawabata won the Nobel Prize for Literature. A few years later, he quietly committed suicide.In the film industry, Akira Kurosawa is known as the emperor of directors, and Toshiro Mifune is known as the king of actors among actors, but Seicho Matsumoto is the king of mystery novels.

Born in 1909 in Kokura, Fukuoka, Japan, Seicho Matsumoto dominated the literary world with a pen for nearly 34 years.He was born in poverty and only attended high school. At the age of fourteen, he went out to make a living by himself, worked as a handyman in a company, and served as an apprentice in an electrical factory and a lithographic printing factory.He even went to Hiroshima, Osaka, Kyoto, Otsu and other places to sell small brooms.The proceeds from the sale of the goods were used by him as a pocketbook, and he traveled around places of interest and historical sites. This kind of on-the-spot collection, observation, experience and experience had a profound impact on his future writing. Available in living or classroom conservatories.

Although Matsumoto failed to continue to enter school to receive formal education, he was diligent and eager to learn.On weekdays, he tirelessly reads the works of Natsume Soseki, Mori Ogai, Izumi Kyoka, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Shiga Naoya and other Japanese literary masters in the Meiji and Taisho periods. He has a special liking for the works of Takiji Kobayashi.He was summoned and detained by the police station for subscribing to the revolutionary literary magazine Literary Front Zhanqi.As for foreign writers, he was fond of Dostoevsky, Gorky and Poe.Among the three writers, Poe's poems and literary creations occupy an important position in the history of American literature.Works such as the golden beetle, the black cat and the great axe made him the originator of detective novels.The suspenseful and compact technique of Dostoevsky's masterpiece Crime and Punishment has a strong detective and reasoning tendency, and the portrayal of his criminal psychology is especially delicate and vivid.The care and compassion of Gorky's works for the dark aspects of society, as well as the unreported complaints of the masses and all living beings, instilled the blood and source of life in Matsumoto Seicho's future creative style.

In 1938 (at the age of 27), Matsumoto worked successively at Asahi Shimbun, Western Headquarters and Tokyo Headquarters.At the same time, he began to practice writing. In 1950, his first work, Xixiang Banknotes, was published.The book uses the chaotic situation caused by the excessive issuance of military bills by the Saigo Army led by Saigo Takamori in the early Meiji period to allude to the inflation and devaluation of banknotes in Japan in the early post-war period, and won the Asahi Weekly Article Call Award.In 1952, he won the most authoritative Akutagawa Award for his biography of a certain Ogura diary.In this short story, the author shows deep sympathy for the ordinary citizens struggling in the lower class of society and clearly marks the direction and characteristics of his writing.The content of his works is based on the real life background, with careful conception, beautiful and vivid writing, and exciting plots, which make people feel like they are in the scene.In terms of age, Matsumoto was already in his forties when he leaped into the literary world, so he is not considered a writer who became famous very early.However, his writing career in the following thirty-four years was full of brilliance and legend. He swept the Japanese literary world with a large number of good output, resulting in many unprecedented brilliant records.Among them, Wall of Eyes (Chinese translation of Death's Net), Zero's Focal Banner of Fog (Chinese translation of Girl's Revenge), Dot and Line Sand Device, Japan's black mist sinks into the sight of Tanikaze, etc. are all well-known and enduring masterpieces.

In 1956 (at the age of forty-seven), he resigned from the newspaper office and devoted himself to writing work. Since the age of fifty-two, he has served as a selection committee member for the Naoki Literary Award, dedicated to promoting popular literature activities.In Japan, literary paintings are divided into pure literature and popular literature, which are distinct and must not be confused.According to the Japanese interpretation, pure literature includes poetry, drama, and novels, which are purely artistic pursuits.This kind of work aims to arouse readers' good sentiments and cultivate their spirituality as an indicator.As for popular literature, it mainly focuses on popular works such as family novels, martial arts novels, humorous novels, historical novels, science fiction novels, and mystery novels.During the Meiji and Taisho periods, some people believed that popular literature was not real literature and could not be regarded as elegant.It wasn't until 1927 that Pingping Publishing House published a 60-volume collection of modern popular literature. In 1935, under the initiative of Kikuchi Hiroshi, the Naoki Prize for popular literature and the Akutagawa Prize for pure literature were established. It has cultivated many outstanding Japanese literary workers.

This Death's Web is one of Matsumoto's masterpieces.The whole book begins with a promissory note fraud case with a face value of 30 million yuan, leading readers step by step into the ups and downs and climaxes, and one by one into the valley of death. I can hardly breathe while reading.The culprit behind the scenes is flickering and ready to come out, but we will not be able to see the whole truth until the end.Matsumoto Seizumi's technique of stripping cocoons is sublime and compact, so that you can't find any flaws. The description is full of details, and the peaks and roads turn around. One wave is not smooth, and another wave rises again. This is the greatest satisfaction in reading Matsumoto's works.

The main reason why Matsumoto Seicho has a lofty status in the field of mystery novels and attracts countless readers all over the world lies in his wide range of themes and novel style.Almost all of his works go deep into the corners of reality, boldly intervene in life, and explore the crux of modern Japanese society, with a strong sense of realism.He paid attention to absorbing literary creation techniques, focused on the portrayal of characters' psychological characters, and combined the fun and artistry of his works, thus improving the status of popular literature.He often has elaborate foreshadowing in his works. This invisible link, with the development of the plot, ties the reader's heartstrings. Once you turn over the book, you will have an irresistible magic power. Every second, you want to explore quickly. to the full truth of the story.

Seventy-seven-year-old Seicho Matsumoto, in the Japanese literary world where famous writers emerge in large numbers and newcomers rise, due to the natural decline of physical strength due to age, his ranking has gradually declined in recent years.However, judging his status by the quality of his completed works so far, we still have to express our admiration and praise from the bottom of our hearts for his vigorous creativity, extraordinary imagination, outstanding conception, impeccable layout, and unique style.He will have an indelible position in the field of mystery novels, the record he set may be broken, and his dominance may be replaced by someone, but the work completed by a writer is the most eloquent language.Tablets are not defined by the writer himself. Numerous readers, time and history will clearly determine who is the real writer. Although this invisible but specific ruling is cruel, it is still very fair.

Translator October 10, 1986