BEHIND THE BRIGHT Ranpo Edogawa Profile

Author, critic, a writer of popular and leisure literature for young adults or a well-known and respected father of Japanese mystery and thriller fiction, Ranpo Edogawa is a fascinating man of many faces and an important figure in Japanese modern literature.

A grandson of a samurai and a son of a merchant, he was born as Tarō Hirai in Nabari, Mie Prefecture at the turn of the 20th century in 1894. In 1916 he graduated Waseda University with a degree in economics. He worked various professions, not able to settle anywhere. The only constant thing in his life was the love for, at the time still quite new, criminal novels. It was thanks to his mother - Kiku - who introduced him to Ruiko Kuroiwa. His works were published in episodes in newspapers with terrific, full of horror and blood illustrations which left a lasting impression on young Tarō. He made his debut in May 1923, with the story “The Two-Sen Copper Coin” which won a competition for a criminal short story in wellknown Shin Seinen magazine. It was the first bigger work of a Japanese writer published there.It stunnedthechief editor so muchthat he suspected the author of plagiarising western work. And the author was none other than Tarō Hirai with his new pen name - Edogawa Ranpo. It’s a humorous reference to Edgar Allan Poe, whom he admired. Said quickly sounds surprisingly similar.

This first artwork was a detective story. Classically, it made a central point out of using logical thinking to solve puzzles. What’s interesting, the story incorporated various elements of Japanese culture - a code based on a Buddhist chant “nenbutsu” and a Japaneselanguage Braille.

Edogawa became popular, almost overnight, publishing many stories focused on solving crimes. At first his works often presented an intelligent protagonist unmasking mystery and overcoming stumpers. That would change a lot later.

Duringthattimewecanalsoclearlyseewestern inspirations in his works, “Psychological Test” (1925) being one of many examples. To Western readers or just any Dostoyevsky’s fans it might seem like a rewriting of “Crime and Punishment”. The protagonist, a very poor, yet witty student, decides to steal money from an old housekeeper and commits a murder. His best friendbecomes the main suspect, but as the judge doesn’t believe he was actually able to commit the crime, a detective is called to solve the mystery, conducting a psychological test. Sounds amusingly similar. One would say it lacks originality, but we have to remember that at the time, in Japan, it was treated very differently to how we perceive it right now. Especially during the Meiji era, which coincides with the author's childhood, honyaku bungaku - translated literature was a very popular genre. It put translators in the spotlight, sometimes even omitting the author's name, giving the interpreter credits for competences and skillfulness in adapting foreign literature to Japanese audiences and culture. Having that in mind it shouldn’t be surprising that highly influenced by authors such as Edgar Allan Poe or Artur Conan Doyle, Edogawa enjoyed popularity as one of the best authors writing crime novels adapted for the Japanese readers. He lived and wrote in unpeaceful times. Experiencing severe earthquakes in the 1920s and 1930s, World War II and American occupation must have had an influence over Edogawa's mind. His style was constantly evolving. Other circumstances also impacted his voice. In 1925 he decided to become a professional writer and it’s visible that his works became less and less realistic as he had to provide new stories regularly to be able to make a living out of his job. More fantasy and a turn toward the deepest recesses of the human mind and soul is apparent. He began to explore macabre and absurd.

Surprisingly that wasn’t the reason for a big controversy over one of his books. “The Caterpillar'' (1929) got censored in all publications, not for beinggruesomeormorbid, but the fact that the main character was a soldier.EventhoughEdogawaalwaysremained apolitical, at the time a military portrayal that was not a propagandistic puff hadno chances of surviving. It took the author by surprise since the intent was not to belittle military efforts but to show horror and sadness of human animalization and bestiality. It also became a ghastly prophecy of the near future.

Over time, he turned towards erotism, grotesque, nonsense (ero guro nansensu) and overall bizarreness. Even though he wasn’t the first to write mystery fiction, he indeed was a pioneer in combining it with perversity.

“The Demon of the Lonely Isle” was a novel in episodespublishedinamagazinebetween1929 and 1930. With the main character being homosexual, this crime story combines two very different perspectives - animalistic and erotic descriptions of sexual desires and much more intimate and sensitive explanations of human feelings. Even though the relationship with the main character’s lover is just one of manysubplots,itisstillworthnoticingasavery interestingly written artwork.Also, it correlates with the author's biography in the light of his later activities.

In the 1930s he, along with his friend, anthropologist Junichi Iwata, devoted himself to searching Western and Japanese books with homoerotic motives. They contributed greatly to creating queer historiography.

In 1946 he helped in the creation of a new journal - Jewels. A year later he founded the Detective Author’s Club, later to be called Mystery Writers of Japan, and created a community for detective fiction writers. Since 1955 it has also awarded amateur writers that are starting their journey with commercially published books with the Edogawa Ranpo Prize.

In the 1950s he worked on translations of his book into English. With a translator only speaking Japanese and Edogawa only reading English, the translations were done aurally. Writer had to read aloud each sentence so it could be converted and written down, in order for him to read and check it. Being sick, he died at home in 1965.

Although quicklyafter his debut he became one ofthemost widelyreadauthorsinJapan,hestill was considered a popular literature (tsūzoku bungaku) or mass literature (taishū bungaku) creator. In opposition to junbungaku - pure literature created by an exclusive circle of highly educated elites - these types of literature weren’t valued as much and weren’t considered representatives of Japanese literature. He also personally, never considered himself truly worthy, as in his opinion he never managed to write a “true” detective novel as great as those written by his idols - Doyle or Poe. Nonetheless, he and his “unsuccessful” works remained popular and became inspirations for many. After the war his works started to get made into films or theatre plays.Till this day he is a very influential figure in pop culture and a great inspiration for games, anime and manga. Asurprising and fascinating, multifaceted man, one could argue that is one of the most important figures in modern thriller literature in Japan and worldwide.

Aleksandra Sołtys