Soji Shimada, 1948+00 was born in Hiroshima in June and 12, and graduated from the Department of Business Design of Musashino University of Fine Arts. 1979, Soji Shimada created the amazing "Astrological Killing Magic", and submitted the manuscript to the jury of Edogawa Random Step Award to participate in the 1980 "Edogawa Random Step Award" competition. This manuscript poses a problem for all the judges-no one has read this style of mystery novel, and no one can evaluate the merits of this novel. The respected judge Tsuya Takashi bluntly said: "I really don't have the ability to evaluate this work, although I think it will change the pattern of the whole mystery novel."
The most striking feature of Teru Shimada's works is his incredible type of tricks, which are not as common as the murder in the secret room, but the disappearance of the moving train, the running of the dead, the fusion and resurrection of the bodies cut in half and so on. Whether it is a completely original series of "Kiyoshi Mitarai" or a series of "Jifu Bamboo History" with a little social flavor, there are many whimsical themes.
Later, in 1982, Soji Shimada published the second work of "Kiyoshi Mitarai Series", The Crime of the Tilted House. The mystery of this work is more magnificent, which further establishes Soji Shimada's creative concept and characteristics.
After the publication of these two works, it caused an unprecedented debate in Japanese reasoning circles. Many writers and critics wantonly attacked Soji Shimada, thinking that his works were seriously divorced from reality, "naive, ridiculous and whimsical", disrespecting Seicho Matsumoto and many social predecessors, and trying to lead Japanese reasoning literature to the point of no return. Some people even bluntly said: "A writer like this should be purged from the reasoning world at once." Soji Shimada later admitted that he was under unprecedented pressure.
On the other hand, Soji Shimada won the greatest support from readers. People like this "magnificent" mystery, like Kiyoshi Mitarai who subverts everything, and like the mystery novels "Astrology Killing the Devil" and "Cabin Crime" which belong to 2 1 century. More importantly, after seeing Soji Shimada's works, many young people who are interested in reasoning and creation finally made clear their own development direction. After a period of exploration, these people finally achieved great things, and then created a new prototype reasoning.
Soji Shimada spared no effort to recommend potential newcomers, from Ayatsuji Yukito in 1987 to Wusheqiao in 1999, many of whom have become extremely popular new writers. It can be said that Soji Shimada is not only a very eye-catching protagonist, but also a director on the stage of Shinbangji. The reasoning society of Kyoto University is one of the earliest societies in Japan, with a very deep foundation. Soji Shimada is very optimistic about the future of this club and often comes to Kyoto University to communicate with students.
Ayatsuji Yukito was born in Kyoto on February 23rd, 1960. He likes mystery novels since he was a child. After reading Maurice Lebron's "Arsène Lupin Series" and Edgar Va Lapol's works in the fourth grade of primary school, he decided to become a mystery writer. So, he was admitted to Kyoto University without hesitation, and immediately joined the reasoning society.
The Inference Society of Kyoto University has a publication called Cang Gu Cheng, which specializes in the exercises and some theoretical articles of its members. Many of Ayatsuji Yukito's works were published in this magazine, and all of them were officially published later. Encouraged, Ayatsuji Yukito wrote a novel called "Island of Mourning" and took part in the Edogawa Random Step Award, but he didn't win the prize in the end.
Soji Shimada likes this novel very much, and he pays more and more attention to Ayatsuji Yukito. So, they established a teacher-friend relationship. Ayatsuji Yukito accepted Soji Shimada's suggestion, revised the manuscript and renamed it "Ten Corners Pavilion Incident" (Ten Corners Pavilion Murder). The detective in the book is called "Kiyoshi Shimada", that is, the combination of "Soji Shimada" and "Kiyoshi Mitarai" to pay tribute to the tutor.
1987, Shijiaoting incident was officially published, and the new prototype reasoning was established. Therefore, this year is defined as "the first year of new cases".
Compared with Soji Shimada, who advocated the theory of "returning to the original case", dream mystery and scientific solution, Ayatsuji Yukito, the head of new case reasoning, was more "radical". He believes that instead of "modifying" mystery novels in the form of Poe, it is better to create a new genre of original reasoning that transcends Poe in all directions. This is also the difference between Soji Shimada and Ayatsuji Yukito. Therefore, Soji Shimada has always been regarded as a mentor of new archetypal reasoning, but he is not really a new archetypal writer. Many readers in China think that "Soji Shimada" means "new prototype", which is inaccurate. Soji Shimada replied, "Compared with this case, where is the new case' new'?" ：
This is a very difficult question. I'm afraid I'm the only one in Japan who can answer (laughs). We must go back to the history of reasoning. The inclined plane can be called "original lattice". However, Poe's prototype and Van Dine's prototype are obviously different categories. In Edgar Allan Poe's reasoning, there are fingerprints and blood collection, and there must be hair left at the scene, dog hair, fragments of insect debris, stones and dirt brought by shoes, which are collected as analysis materials to find out the criminals. 184 1 Murder in Mogo Street already has these. Edgar Allan Poe introduced the latest scientific theory into his works, and made a reasonable explanation for the strange phenomena at the scene. Conan Doyle also inherited this. His Sherlock Holmes is a scientist who collects fingerprints and blood at the scene for scientific examination. This is the same as a modern field trip.
Later, the talented writer agatha christie appeared, followed by Van Dine, and case-based reasoning took on a completely different form. The stage is a place set by trains, ships, etc. There are fixed people there, and detectives enter from the outside. Reasoning is based on the reader's complete mastery of the material, and then the reader points out the unexpected prisoner first. This is a game with an established framework and a murder mystery novel in the form of a game. Closed space, providing materials fairly, introducing the scene characters to the readers in the early stage, and detectives from outside only use the materials known to the readers-Van Dine's approach is the "new prototype" approach.
But this practice did not spread to Japan, just as Poe's original case did not spread to Japan, and he confused Edo's sexual interest. This is because the Japanese can't write about the existence of American upper class. Is 1920~ 1930, and so on, until 198 1 year "astrological killing magic". After nearly 10 years, Ayatsuji Yukito finally realized this practice in Japanese novels. We don't stick to the detailed description of characters, but like writing the action of dolls in games or computer games, so writing the case reasoning proposed by Van Dine is not so much a "new case" as a "new Van Dine doctrine". Ayatsuji Yukito replied: "What do you think is the biggest feature of the New Benguela School?" ：
I think it's probably like this-abandoning the narrow reality of whether it will actually happen, and pursuing mystery, logic and unexpected puzzles on the premise of the inner truth of fictional works in a completely fictional story. In the Shikoku Pavilion incident, Ayatsuji Yukito made it clear that ... the "social" realism popular in Japan is really vulgar. After the female white-collar worker who lives in a single apartment was killed, the criminal police finally caught her lover's boss after going through all kinds of hardships-I hate this plot. I can't stand the tragedy caused by corruption, dereliction of duty, political insider and distorted modern society. The theme suitable for mystery novels, even if criticized as outdated, needs several detectives, big houses, eccentric residents, bloody tragedies, impossible crimes and groundbreaking tricks ... although absurd, it doesn't matter. The most important thing is to find the fun of games in that world. Of course, it is the fun of intellectual games! "
This sentence can be seen as a declaration of new case-based reasoning. With the establishment and development of new case-based reasoning, in 1994, Ayatsuji Yukito established the so-called "new case seven rules". In the heyday of classical detective novels, Van Dine, an American, formulated "Twenty Rules". Ronald A. Knox of Britain put forward the Ten Commandments of Knox, that is, the Ten Commandments of mystery novels. )。 As the person in charge of new case-based reasoning, Ayatsuji Yukito thinks it is necessary to establish similar rules to further standardize the creation of new case-based reasoning.
What needs to be pointed out here is that many media and readers think that the "Seven Codes" was put forward by Soji Shimada, but it is not. Soji Shimada made it clear that these rules were put forward by neo-fundamentalist writers represented by Ayatsuji Yukito, and had nothing to do with him.
Soji Shimada also pointed out that all along, he always took Poe's reasoning as the creative standard and always "despised" the so-called "rules". Soji Shimada thinks that Van Dine misinterpreted Poe's original intention and foolishly put forward many rules and regulations to restrict the development of mystery novels. This is wrong-as long as you follow the principle of combining mystery with scientific theory, nothing can be used. Similarly, Soji Shimada thought that "seven new cases" hindered the development of mystery novels and should not be advocated. As the directors of new cases, Soji Shimada and Ayatsuji Yukito have always had differences on this issue. However, this does not affect their relationship and their respective creations.
The so-called "seven rules of new cases" are:
1. Set the stage of the story in a closed space like an island. After the incident, people who have appeared are not allowed to leave, and police or other outsiders are not allowed to enter. Of course, advanced scientific search is impossible.
2. Set the location of the incident in an artificial building with a door that can be locked, or around this building.
3. Introduce all the people who live or are guests in the place where the incident happened at the beginning of the novel.
4. Arrange certain events to happen, preferably murder tragedy, and it also happens in the secret room.
5. Arrange the person who plays the role of detective to appear in the place where the tragedy happened from the beginning.
6. Tragedy was arranged one after another, but the murderer was still not found. At this stage, it may also include some detective's wrong reasoning.
7. Finally, arrange the detective to point out the murderer. For the reader, the murderer must be an unexpected figure.
It is not difficult to see that the "Seven Codes" itself has many banter elements, so it is not necessary to implement them rigidly and dogmatically. Someone once commented on the difference between this case and the new case: "The reasoning of this case is to build a secret room first, and then kill people in it; The new Bunge kills people first, and then builds a secret room around the body. "
Because the creative field of the new prototype not only does not exclude or even actively accommodate any unrealistic content, the mystery novels presented in the new prototype mystery novels can be further divided into two types: realistic mystery novels and fantasy mystery novels. The mystery of reality refers to the "unknown matters within the scope of common sense" in the story, such as the unknown identity of the murderer, the unknown motive of killing, and the forged alibi. All these mysteries are based on everyday reality. On the contrary, absurd mystery refers to "absurd, mysterious and bizarre events" in stories, such as murders with footprints, houses that suddenly disappear for no reason, victims who come back from the dead, and so on. All these mysteries are also contrary to common sense, and ordinary people simply can't believe them.
Of course, even though those mysteries seem incredible, with the unparalleled wisdom of a famous detective, the truth behind them can always be revealed, and those incredible things can be reasonably explained by common sense or science. If we say "average", it is "incomplete", because in fact, there are indeed a few new writers who like to bring "topics beyond common sense" into their mystery novels, such as women who are pregnant for 20 months, heavy snow in hot summer, and dead people turning into zombies to testify against murderers. Although conservative readers may not accept this model and think it violates the rationality and fairness of reasoning, it is undeniable that adding a proper amount of fantasy elements can bring new breakthroughs to this case-based reasoning. Whether that completely destroys the basic principles of mystery novels is a matter of opinion.
Elements of mystery and intrigue: The following is a list of the main elements of mystery and intrigue in the original mystery novels with the theme of "murder", most of which are the novel "The Clown Detective Myth" ("Thirty Elements of Mystery Novels") written with reference to "Flowing Water in the Pavilion". Blizzard Mountain Villa (isolated island), long-distance killing, footprint-free killing, chamber killing, imitation killing, headless corpse, corpse decoration, corpse exchange, corpse disappearance, exchange killing and then murder, physical tricks (machinery, mirrors), narrative tricks, physiological tricks (color blindness, handedness), animal tricks, character tricks (gender, multiple identities) and twins. Alias, missing links, misleading, dying messages and so on.