Chapter 2 Biography of Matsumoto Seizhang and Commentary of the Book

◎Author and works Seicho Matsumoto was born in Kokura, Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture in December of Meiji 42 (1908).After graduating from ordinary elementary school, he worked as a plate maker.In 1939, he served as the commissioner of the Asahi Shimbun Western Headquarters, and became a member in 1942. In 1951, he participated in the (Weekly Asahi) prize-winning essay, and Xixiang Banknote was selected. In the second year, he published a diary biography of a certain Ogura, and won the Akutagawa Award in 1953. He also won the first prize of the first newcomer cup with Jiujiuyin. He also wrote historical novels such as the strategy of the Warring States Period, and resigned in five or six years to become a professional writer.

From the ambush in 1955, etc., it showed a strong desire for mystery novels, and it also emphasized that the focus should be on the motive of the crime, and published murderous intent, face, accomplices, etc. in a fresh style.The short collection of these articles won the Japan Detective Writers Club Award in 1957. In the same year, he also serialized the novel Dots, Lines, and Walls of Eyes (Chinese translation of Death's Net). Later, when he published a single book, he breathed fresh breath into the speculative novels that ignored human nature and reality in the past, and immediately aroused epoch-making echoes. .

Five articles were serialized in 1958, and seven more were added in 1959.Although this is an attempt to limit the amount of writing, the quality is not reduced in the slightest, and its great writing power sets an astonishing record.Black painting collection, black tree sea, yellow terroir, tower of waves, twisted copy, flag of fog (Chinese translation of Girl's Revenge), black gospel, etc., have all successfully won the widespread love of readers. Another example is the black fog in Japan in the 1960s. It takes the sensational events of the Japanese under the occupation of the Allied forces as the theme, observes them from a new perspective, and investigates the problems hidden in them.Deep Ocean Current is its continuation. It writes the situation in Japan since the establishment of the old security treaty in the form of a novel. It focuses on the organization itself rather than people or events. Very special work.Listing the real names of bureaucrats in various ministries and commissions and discussing them in detail, as well as the first two works, won the Japan Journalist Conference Award in 1963.

In the 1960s, the sand device used similarities in dialects in remote areas, or the technique of killing people with electronic music, etc., showing the author's style of constantly pursuing new ideas, and the basic motivation of the nouveau riche's inferiority complex to conceal his origin. In 1961, the customs of time that challenged the rock-solid alibi was also a masterpiece that attracted attention; The design of the poet, and the symbolic design of Youpeng in the mountain county who enforced the policy of enriching the country and strengthening the army, etc., show that the author's creative activities are not limited to the narrow range of mystery novels.

In the field of historical novels, there are Tianbao catalogs, etc., and in the field of robbery stories, there are colorful Edo-kiri drawings, etc., all of which have new attempts and breakthroughs in form. Excavating the history of the Showa era, which began to reexamine modern history, was a masterpiece that took seven years and won the Kikuchi Kan Prize.Beginning in 1966, including doubts about ancient history, he developed a strong interest in exploring ancient history, and also put forward new insights. After the black picture theory, there is a clear tendency towards criminal psychological novels, works with international flavors such as the white feet of home, and works that dissect real events such as the breath of the wind, showing that its strong will lasts for a long time.

◎Reaper's Net (Note: The Reaper's Net, formerly known as the Wall of Eyes, means blinding the eyes and trapping people in confusing traps.) Nakajima Kawataro (famous Japanese critic) Among the writers and critics of general literature, there are not a few who love mystery novels.At the end of the Taisho period, Baba Gucho, Hasegawa Tenkei, Hirabayashi Hatsunosuke, etc. have made specific contributions to the growth of detective novels at that time, which are recorded in detail in Edogawa Ranpo's detective novels for forty years and my history of Japanese mystery novels. .Just after World War II, many writers took the initiative or were encouraged to write so-called mystery novels.Although there are a few exceptions such as Ango Sakaguchi, Laiyi Arima, Reitaro Kada (Takehiko Fukunaga), Yasuji Toban, etc., the enthusiasm of most writers cannot last long, and at the same time, they fail to bring the readers who love detective novels hearty and hearty. satisfy.

The author of this book is a rare exception.When he was young, he loved reading New Youth, and was deeply impressed by Edogawa Ranpo's works, which made him always concerned about mystery novels, but none of his subsequent Japanese works could satisfy him.Regarding past mystery novels, readers may be dissatisfied with unrealistic stories, typified characters, and lack of criminal motives, but the most important thing is the pros and cons of design skills.Therefore, it is Seicho Matsumoto's view that writers focus on design skills and ignore novel techniques. The author published his first work Xixiang Banknotes in Showa 26 (1951).In the second year, after reading the memories published in the magazine, I was recommended by Takataro Kigi, who edited Mita Literature, and left a clear impression of its fresh mystery novel techniques.

Not long after, he won the Akutagawa Prize, and has been active in the fields of modern novels and historical novels for about three years.Entering the world of mystery novels began with the publication of Ambush at the end of 1955.In the second year, he wrote killing intent, face, why the star map was opened, reflection, the death of the mayor, etc., and the face that included these works won the Japan Detective Writers Club Award.It can be said that the author formed the ironic consequence of his achievements being affirmed from the representative position of the existing reasoning writer who felt dissatisfied.

The author's re-writing of mystery novels is not a simple idea of ​​trying to resist the trend of the times or expand the scope of materials.Seicho Matsumoto finally had his own views on this special field that he had been concerned about intermittently in the past, and gradually formed his beliefs. Matsumoto believes that mystery novels must be closely integrated with reality, otherwise readers will not be able to empathize with them, and he strongly advocates the realism of the works. Mystery novels originally have abnormal content, and it can be said that interpersonal relationships are in an extreme state, so mystery novels need to have more reality.Whether it is suspenseful or exciting or confusing mystery, if there is no reality, it will not make people feel real and interesting.Especially in this modern society where interpersonal relationships are becoming more and more complicated, and the lines of mutual conditions are intricate or broken. From a certain point of view, people are isolated from each other, so the method of mystery novels can be used more effectively.At this time, I think it is even more important to give reality. (September 1961, Black Notebook)

◇ Another style of Matsumoto is to strengthen novelty, attach importance to criminal motives, and even explore human nature and social nature.The reason why past mystery novels underestimated motivation was because they only focused on design skills, thinking that a little motivation in solving the problem was just a game article. I think that advocating motives is tantamount to describing human nature, because criminal motives arise from the psychology of people in extreme states.Also, the motivations in the past were all based on personal interests, such as financial disputes or love relationships, and they were all of the same type, so I was dissatisfied with the lack of specificity.I am advocating adding sociality to motivation.In this way, the scope of the mystery novel is wider, and it also adds depth, and sometimes it can raise sharp questions. (Women's Public Commentary, May 1958)

◇ Seicho Matsumoto, who raised the new banner, is finally about to start practicing.It is true that short stories can describe events or psychological sections, but only long mystery novels with a corresponding structure from the beginning to the end can realize their claims. From February 1957, Point and Line was serialized in Brigade, and at the same time, from April 14th to December 29th, Death's Net was serialized in the weekly reader.In February of the following year, after the two long novels were published in separate volumes, they were overwhelmingly welcomed and further consolidated his solid position as a reasoning writer. After Matsumoto finished Net of Death, he explained the intention of the work as follows. Most of the mystery novels always have a murderous plot.In terms of proportion, more than 70% of them are homicide incidents. As far as the Metropolitan Police Department is concerned, this is the work of the investigation department.The proportion of novels using intelligent crime is relatively small, and most of them are witty and interesting. Smart crime is the work of the second investigation class, and I wrote about this kind of crime very early on.The first part of this novel corresponds to that situation.The fraudulent checks written here are purely formal, but are actually more ingenious and complex, but for some consideration, they are omitted this time.In short, in the belly case, it was an attempt to use this as an inducement to bring it into the murder incident.This murder incident also wanted to end simply, but it still couldn't end.That's because readers who read mystery novels are very knowledgeable, and if they use ordinary writing methods, they may cause dissatisfaction.Therefore, the result of writing it down turned out to be as long as 600 pages. (After the first edition of Death's Web in February 1958) ◇ The reason why the author adopts this theme is from the suggestion of the prosecutor Kawai Shintaro at that time.The duty of the second investigation section is to try so-called intelligent crimes such as intimidation, embezzlement, and fraud.The example of a fraudster, which is equivalent to the beginning of this work, is taken from the mouth of the prosecutor.When the author went to investigate for this article, he also saw various negotiations in the waiting room of Tokyo Station. The ideas drawn up by the author when writing are kept in detail in the creation notes.Although it is also included in the black notes of the collection of essays, it is interesting that it is different from this work.The protagonist, the deputy accountant chief, has a lover, and A, who is ordered by someone to engage in fraudulent activities, is a graduate of Tokyo University. He is twenty-seven or eight years old and looks like a learned gentleman.A, who felt that he was in danger, killed the police officer who came to inspect, and especially in the second half, he tracked the woman to Sado, forming a fighting structure. In the old detective novels there is no lack of crimes related to financial desires, but most of them are treated as personal and family incidents.This article first introduces the new economic crimes of the so-called fraudsters, starting with the tragedy of the fraudulent client committing suicide.The protagonist, trusted by the victim, felt unreasonable and angry that the perpetrator was not punished by the law because the incident was not clarified, and volunteered to serve as an amateur detective. In the point and line, the torikai criminal police and Mihara police officers are mobilized, but this article boldly uses laymen.The protagonist of this book, who was almost seduced by the female secretary of the loan shark, and introduced to a fraudster by her, tried hard in the process of groping, trying to trace the hard work of the criminal process, and successfully aroused the resonance of the readers. As a result, journalists had to be turned to for help, but the right-wing leaders or congressmen obstructed the investigation of the target, and it also expanded to kill the investigator of the lawyer who pursued it through another way, and even the lawyer himself was kidnapped. The stage chosen by Matsumoto for this disappearance is a station on the Chuo Main Line and the Chuo Alps.In the gloomy atmosphere commensurate with the intricate events, the starved corpses and bones were found again, which cannot but predict a tragic and terrible ending. Although it is a form of a company employee and a reporter partner to challenge the mystery that keeps appearing in front of the road, but who is the murderer aside, it is a major issue to focus on tracking down the person behind the scenes.There are fraudulent behaviors that specifically look for corporate weaknesses, and there are black organizations that eat up the funds obtained through fraudulent means. These are all bacteria that corrupt Japan's financial circles. Knowing that the challenge of confronting a huge underworld organization with bare hands is like an egg hitting a rock, the sense of mission of the two people who still go forward bravely will naturally reach the readers' hearts.Unraveling the truth of the incident, uncovering the veil of the villain, analyzing why he went on the wrong path, and talking about the situation oppressed by the improper feudal system, etc., simply revealing the villain cannot satisfy the author. From the form of speculative novels, life can also be described, making motivation a more important factor, and human nature can also be described.If the motivation is developed to the social side, the center of the novel will be expanded, which is the author's belief.As a result, two popular mystery novels, Point and Line and this book, were written. After finishing writing, Seicho Matsumoto expressed this feeling: I really realized that words are easier to do than deeds, but even if it fails, we must practice this theory.Starting from these two books, due to their vivid writing, it is no doubt that a new century has been opened up in the field of mystery novels in Japan. It is by no means a coincidence that Seicho Matsumoto has occupied an important place in the field of mystery novels in the world.