Preface: Chen Shunchen's Mystery Novels / Hirohisa Shinbo I mentioned in the commentary of Chen Shunchen’s classic anthology of mystery novels "Burning Paintings on Fire" that unlike the current situation of many literary awards, there were only three honors for mystery writers in the past: Edogawa Ranpo Award, Naoki Award and the Japan Mystery Writers Association Award.For a long time, only Chen Shunchen has been included by one writer, so the triple crown has become his good name.Katsuhiko Takahashi, Natsuo Kirino, and Keigo Higashino have recently joined the ranks, but Chen Sunshin's triple crown has characteristics that these young writers do not have.The Ranpo Award is a mystery novel newcomer award open to the public. Generally speaking, the award-winning works are basically the debut novels of writers who first appeared in the literary world. After that, most people will successively win the Mystery Writers Association Award and the Naoki Award (if not limited to In the scope of mystery novels, the current general award-winning route is: Yoshikawa Eiji Literary Newcomer Award ↓ Yamamoto Wuro Award ↓ Naoki Award ↓ Shibata Renzaburo Award ↓ Yoshikawa Eiji Literary Award. Of course, each stage in this route is not necessarily must be followed one by one).Writers generally use the Ranpo Award and Association Award to first establish their status in the field of mystery novels, and then gain wider recognition in the literary world through the more influential Naoki Award (initially mystery novels were generally at a disadvantage).And let's look at Chen. In 1961, he won the Edogawa Ranpo Award when he debuted in the literary world with "The Root of Withered Grass". Huyuan" won the Naoki Award, and in the second year won the Japanese Reasoning Award for "Re-encountering Yuling" (with the author's consent, it was published in mainland China this time and renamed "The Sigh of Yuling") and "The Way of the Peacock" Writers Guild Award.This route is different from the later writers, whose order is reversed.In other words, before he became a reasoning writer, he had already become a writer who crossed the genre of novels, leading the way.

I don't want to say that this is enough to prove that Chen's early reasoning works are also very good in literature, but it just happens to be the case.However, this is precisely because Chen is not too confined to mystery novels, but treats all works equally, and pours all his enthusiasm into them.Therefore, his unique award-winning route can be said to be a coincidence. In fact, since the collection of short stories "Fanghuyuan" (1962) was nominated for the Mystery Writers Association Award in 1963 (the winning work was "The Shadow's Report" by Takao Tsuchiya), successively in 1962 In seven years with "Burning Paintings on Fire" and "Shadow of Collapse" (the award-winning work is Miyoshi Toru's "The Wind and Dust Zone"), in 1969 with "Murky Tracks" and short story collection "The Crazy Girl at the Red Lotus Pavilion" and so on. Nominated for an Association Award (Naoki Award in 1969); in 1968, because he had devoted himself to the writing of the masterpiece "The Opium War" in the previous year, he did not write a shortlisted mystery novel (even so, Still published more than a dozen short and medium-length reasoning works).When the award-winning works of the Association were selected in 1969, "Encountering Yuling" had already been released. Although all the jury members (Aramasato, Shiro Masayuki, Takikawa Yasushi, Kakuda Kikuo, and Matsumoto Seicho were absent) unanimously supported the work, but due to The relationship between the release year can only be postponed to the second year, so Chen Shunchen failed to win the association award that year.In 1970, he was nominated for the fourth time for "Revisiting Yuling" and "The Way of the Peacock", and finally both works won the 23rd Association Award.If you win the first two nominations, you can follow the standard route of Ranpo Award ↓ Association Award ↓ Naoki Award.

"Revisiting Yuling" and "Road to the Peacock" won the same award because the two works have shown a high level of quality.Even so, it is unavoidable to leave an impression that the two works share the first prize.Looking at it now, maybe it would be better for "Revisiting Yuling" to win the award alone. "The Way of the Peacock" tells the story of a Japanese-English mixed hero who returns to Japan to investigate the secrets of his parents, encounters a murder case, and inadvertently finds out the truth of past events.This work is undoubtedly a masterpiece, but more than half of Chen's suspense novels can reach this level.Judge Masayuki Shiro believed that "The Way of the Peacock" and "Rediscovering Jade Ridge" were indistinguishable, while Kazuo Shimada and Kazuo Nakajima, who replaced Mr. Takikawa and Mr. Kakuda as selection committee members, said that "Rediscovering Jade Ridge" is the best choice in terms of reading materials. "The Ridge" has a higher style, and from the standard of mystery novels, the setting of "The Way of the Peacock" is even better. "Revisiting Yuling" is sweet and sentimental, and the writing is concise, which feels good.Finally, it was decided to award the grand prize to these two works.

The reason why Mr. Nakajima commented on the conciseness of the writing is that he feels good because "Revisiting Yuling" was adapted from the novella "The Third Peak of Yuling" ("Popular Reading" July 1967 issue) long story. "The Third Peak of Yuling" is a novel published by Chen Shi while writing "The Opium War", so it is always limited in terms of time.The author himself once revealed in the postscript of the first edition: When I was writing a manuscript for a magazine, I was still worried about it until the end, thinking that I should go deeper and write a long novel.This time, with the encouragement of Tokuma Bookstore, I finally realized my long-cherished wish for many years and solved an outstanding case. For the author, the joy is self-evident. The October 9, 1977 issue of "Sunday Daily" published three mystery novels recommended by mystery novelists in the special investigation column. Each mystery writer was asked to choose one from overseas works, Japanese works, and his own works. Chen chose to push George.Simenon's McGregor series (no designated works), Seicho Matsumoto's "Zero Focus", and my own work is "Revisiting Yuling".It is said that this is the material that Chen is very attached to, so much so that he rewrote the work published as a short novel into a novel.This is unique in Chen's creation.

This is not just the author's own obsession, but whoever has read the two works side by side without prejudice, I think most people will vote for the long version.Since "The Third Peak of Yuling" was only published in magazines, it is generally not easy to see, but the content added to the novel is mainly war scenes.After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, Irie was captured by the guerrillas on the way to Yuling, overheard the scene of the conversation between Wolong and Yingxiang, and the scene where Irie was attacked by the guerrillas again on the way back from Danyue, etc. is invisible.The description of the battle scene is not so much to improve the entertainment of the work, but to describe the background of the war in detail, and to enhance the persuasive effect of Irie's gradual recognition of the mental journey of the guerrillas.Because of these foreshadowings, it is easier for readers to understand the original motivation of entering the river. Attracted by the naivety of the Yuling Cliff Buddha, in fact, he wanted to go beyond the formal framework and pursue personal free expression.Perhaps it is precisely because we are in an era closed by war that we want to pursue that kind of freedom even more.In the part where Irie secretly fell in love with Yingxiang, the medium-length version almost only focuses on the love at first sight caused by beauty. In the long-length version, the extra space makes it easier for readers to project their emotions into the story.At the same time, readers can understand their feelings when they enter the river and take risks.Since this is the case, why doesn't the ending end with lovers getting married?Twenty-five years later, when Irie visited China again, the truth came to light, which created a brilliant ending for the work.In fact, using love as the subject of reasoning was once a taboo in the history of reasoning novels, but in this work, love, crime, and background (era and scenery) are integrated, and love is sublimated into a mysterious romance. Not exaggerating.

In addition to this work, we also collected four romantic short stories also set in China.The works are arranged in chronological order, so if you read the title novel last, you can travel back in time, from ancient China to the end of World War II. After the initial test with "The Root of Withered Grass", the author published "Fanghuyuan" ("Novel Central Public Forum" July 1962 issue) and "Jiu Leixi" (October issue of the same year) in the second year.When the collection of short stories "Fanghuyuan" was nominated for the Mystery Writers Association Award, Kiyocho Matsumoto was full of praise, saying: The article is so ingeniously written, just like reading a Chinese work written by Akutagawa (Ryunosuke).Although the work is about a secret room story, and the techniques in the story are nothing special, the motive for the murder is very interesting, and the decorations and atmosphere that play a role in it are indescribably interesting.The Chinese poems created by the author himself are pretended to be written by the characters in the play and interspersed in the novel. This kind of interest also has a corresponding power.The author's efforts in this area have continued into "Revisiting Yuling".

"Butterfly Array" (January 1971 issue of "New Fiction Modern") and "The Fourth Fragrant Concubine" (October 1983 issue of "New Trend of Fiction") can be classified as the author's mid-term works, while the latter is classified according to The era division of Chen's mystery novels belongs to the later stage.According to what Chen said, my time division method is that before the Opium War is ancient times, and after that is modern times (postscript of "Chen Shunchen's Short Stories on Chinese History I" published by Central Gonglun Xinshe, January 2000), then Only "Nine Thunder Stream" is his modern work, and the other three must be listed as ancient works.Whenever he writes about modern times, especially the Sino-Japanese War, the author can’t make himself an outsider anyway, but he always wants to get rid of this restraint, and he can’t wait to jump out at any time to give an explanation ("Chen Shunchen’s Short History of China Collection II "Postscript, February 2000).In the ancient chapters "Array of Butterflies" and "The Fourth Fragrant Concubine", the author first appeared on the stage and told a textual research.Not only did this part not affect the readers' reading, but it was more like the introduction by the director himself at the beginning of the Hitchcock theater on TV, inviting readers to enter the unfamiliar world. It is mentioned in "Butterfly Array" whether the treasure hidden by the Japanese invaders really exists. The famous detective Tao Zhanwen wants to find out. It is this story that is written as Wang Zhi in Butterfly Array.If the two stories are read together, I believe it will deepen the interest.

Shi Tiefeng in "Jiu Leixi" is said to be based on the real revolutionary Qu Qiubai (1899︱1935).He had been a prominent figure in the Chinese Communist Party, captured by the Kuomintang government, and later shot. The story of "Jiu Leixi" is of course fictitious, and it does not belong to a pure secret room story.However, even if the murder trap inside is a bit far-fetched, and the criminal cannot succeed in such a situation, the reader will still be moved by the feeling that he must kill.Chen once revealed to Inabata Koichiro the writing methods of some novels: I believe that historical novels must have many ways of writing, and I think it is best to let yourself integrate into that era and history.So a fictional character needs to be set.Maybe this person is who I am, or who I aspire to be, or who I don't think I should be. (Shueisha's publication "Chen Shun-shen's Chinese Library 2. The Opium War (Later)" surrounding his own work, July 2000) The same is true for works that are close to the actual record, so through the method of complete fiction, it can also be close to the historical truth.Geographically, China is not a distant country, but reading this book allows us to experience a distant era that has been separated by more than a thousand years. There is no doubt that this is the joy of reading.

(The author of this article is a critic of Japanese mystery novels, and has written books such as "The Department Store of Reasoning" and "The Famous Detective Appears".)