Became an American Retro Novelist - Chapter 168



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168.

In fact, not all students in Stanford University’s creative writing department have read SEEN’s work.

Even though upperclassmen knew of the existence of ‘SEEN’ before Shin entered school, it can be said that many of them had not even looked up the novel.

It couldn’t be otherwise. The gap between pure literature and genre literature was huge. The target audience was different, and the nature of the works was also different, so they looked at each other like cows and chickens.

According to the agreement and perception of many, pure literature, compared to genre literature, meant writing that ‘purely pursues artistry’. While genre pursues ‘imagination according to genre agreements and standards’, pure literature was closer to the result of the fusion of the writer’s personal emotional experience and the spirit of the times.

And here, each student’s opinion was greatly divided.

Like a duel between cowboys in the wilderness, creative writing students tried to push their ideas about pure literature and genre literature through the act of discussion.

And among them, the hottest discourse was about what value genre literature has.

On the pro side, let’s call them ‘sheriffs’ who want to protect genre literature.

Their opinion was as follows:

[Is art a big deal? It’s people like you who separate novels from the public.]

BANG!

The bullet of logic flew.

The attacker of the genre literature······in other words, the ‘outlaw’ hid behind a barrel and fought back.

[The genre is too light. The author’s philosophy is not reflected in it.]

BANG!

[A writing without philosophy cannot be established. You are making it too difficult.]

BANG!

[Philosophy is an act of deep thinking. Then genre literature must have been written by monkeys.]

BANG!

[You little punk, have you seen the bird? Have you read ‘Call of Cthulhu’ before you speak?]

BANG!

[This kid?! Where are you talking about this kid, that kid?!]

BANG!

······Usually duels between cowboys took place at drinking parties, so most of them fought while quite drunk and there were many instances of them shouting at each other.

Anyway, it was a problem that could not be resolved. This was because both sides of the cowboys who pulled out their guns had their own arguments.

And among them, there were some who had not yet drawn their guns.

Rebecca Wong is a representative example.

The reason was simple: before entering college, she had never read or been interested in genre fiction.

A freshman at Stanford University, she grew up in a modest, if not wealthy, Chinese-American family from Washington, D.C.

That means Rebecca Wong is a pretty strong-willed person.

East Asians, who came to this land later than other races across the Pacific, worked very hard and many hoped that their children would study hard and achieve the ‘American Dream’ that they themselves could not dream of.

This was also the case for Rebecca’s father, who settled in Chinatown.

Starting out as a low-paid food deliveryman, becoming a chef and running his own restaurant, over the course of several decades, his father met his mother and had Rebecca. His only wish was for his daughter to have a better life than the hardships and discrimination he had suffered.

Study at a good university, meet a well-paid husband, get married, have children, and just be happy.

Find a suitable job. Since you’re a woman, don’t focus too much on work.

······Her father, an old man, thought so, but unfortunately, Rebecca defined herself from a young age as someone born with a gun.

As a child, when everyone else was growing up normally, she was immersed in the world of poetry and novels and developed a desire to express it.

Yeah, the writer she thought of was a guy with a gun.

If shooting a gun is an act of liberating the self and revealing it to the world, then the person holding the gun must also be responsible for what happens afterwards.

With that in mind, Rebecca began writing when she was in middle school, and with her mother’s blunt but firm personality, she was able to overcome her father’s stubbornness.

To summarize the long story that happened in the meantime, it was as follows.

‘I’m going to become a poet who doesn’t even make money!’

‘No!’

Despite her father’s insistence that she “can’t do it!” and always speaking in Chinese when excited, she persisted, and finally, she was able to break her father’s stubbornness only when he brought her a letter of acceptance from the prestigious Stanford University.

With that, he crossed the vast American continent and began studying literature at Stanford University.

This is the second semester this year.

Coming here in direct opposition to her parents’ wishes, Rebecca always tried to do her best. She woke up the earliest and went to bed the latest. As a result, her grades were always at the top, but there was one person she couldn’t easily beat.

It was none other than Shin Han.

When I first saw him, my impression was simply, ‘He’s tall.’

His skin is clean and his manners are neat, so he looks like he grew up in a good family.

But later, when I found out that he was a successful writer who had been writing consistently since his high school days and had even published some works, I naturally became curious.

‘Genre novel?’

Rebecca, who had never encountered that type of novel before, couldn’t help but tilt her head.

A student who writes genre fiction gets accepted to the prestigious Stanford University.

At first, I felt like the causal relationship didn’t seem to be well connected, but when I realized that it was my own prejudice, I deliberately looked for God’s novel and read it to reflect on myself.

‘Mother’, ‘Double spy’, ‘Princess quest’, ‘About T’.

And her impressions after reading the entire novel were as follows:

‘What the heck is so funny about this?’

Even though I read all the latest episodes of ‘About T: College’, which started serializing not long ago, her conclusion remained the same.

It was definitely an interesting novel. As I continued reading, I felt scared, funny, excited, and various positive emotions of pleasure.

But that was all there was to it.

‘I’m not the type of person who obsesses over messages, though.’

Compared to the novels Shin submitted in class at school, I would say it feels too light.

Every single short story he wrote in class was funny. It was full of wit and had deep insight. But the genre novels he wrote were not like that.

Rebecca, who had been waiting for an opportunity to find out why he wrote such novels and what kind of enjoyment he got from them,

And then I realized that this winter semester’s final team project was the perfect opportunity.

Rebecca, who was usually quiet, seized the opportunity and approached the god like a leopard pounced on its prey, boldly proposing that he join her.

After hearing that, the god hesitated for a moment and then nodded.

“Okay, then.”

In this way, a team was formed between the two students who boasted the highest grades among the first year students.

***

Rebecca Wong.

Among the current first-year students at Stanford, I am one of only two Asians.

Given our common denominator, it seemed natural that we would become close, but we didn’t really have any contact with each other during our two semesters at Stanford.

The reason was simple: neither of us were the type to talk to someone first.

A relationship that only lasted to the extent of exchanging eye contact when we ran into each other during major classes.

We never really formed a team in previous team projects. In the first place, due to the nature of the creative writing environment, there weren’t many situations where we could do team projects.

But as soon as she received this team project, she asked me to join her.

‘Why is that?’

As someone who is well-versed in the genre, the final assignment, “Analytical Critique of a Modern Reinterpretation of the ‘Heroic Tale,’” was literally my home ground.

The extent of this may vary, but ultimately, the genre is a story about ‘heroes’.

Of course, not all heroes achieve great things. In tragedies, the downfall of a hero is often used as a device to reinforce the narrative of his descent.

The novel that revealed this point was ‘Mother’. The novel, in which Suzy and her daughter Allie move forward with a weak courage amidst the suffering surrounding them, but are destroyed in the face of a great ordeal, had a point of contact with the theme of ‘the fall of the hero’, and this too could be said to be a branch of the hero’s tale.

‘This time, everyone was so amazing that I thought it was Stanford.’

So, as soon as Professor Dupree left, they all ran to me like starving zombies for three days and shouted, “Let’s work together as a team.” I had often been invited to work on team projects before, but this time, it felt a little different. I guess it was because they were sure that I could do better than anyone else on this topic.

But while trying not to get caught up in the momentum and reject everyone, I had no choice but to accept Rebecca’s offer, which pierced me like a dagger.

‘I just felt something different about her.’

It’s not that I’m a genre writer who can’t help but be addicted to heroic tales, but something else.

That piqued my curiosity.

So after I teamed up with Rebecca, I brought John Smith on board.

The reason I chose him as my final team member was very simple.

‘We need someone other than the two of us to start a conversation.’

And my bet was spot on.

“Hey, the weather is really nice today. Isn’t it? Doing homework on a day like this? It’d be fun.”

I looked around, chuckling at John’s words that didn’t seem to care at all.

A street cafe near the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Stanford, located in California, has good weather most of the time due to the nature of the state, so students often go outside to study while enjoying the sunshine. We also took that into consideration when choosing the location for the first meeting for our team project.

Rebecca and I sat facing each other, with John sitting to the side.

Rebecca Wong, who was staring at me intently, had a feline-like expression. I didn’t particularly avoid the glare coming from her sharp eyes with their impressive black eyeliner.

So, here’s the next word.

“Why did you accept my team offer?”

“Why now, all of a sudden?”

“We weren’t usually on good terms with each other. That’s why I was curious.”

“Why did you propose to me?”

“Well, if I answer, will you answer back?”

“Okay. Oh, should I answer first? Since I heard the question first.”

Since the other person wasn’t that cold, I was happy to be considerate.

Judging from the nuances of his expression and words, it didn’t seem like he was suggesting that I join the team just because I was a genre writer, so I agreed.

Rebecca nodded with a serious expression after hearing the explanation.

“I see. But what can I do? I suggested it because you’re a genre writer.”

“Then I guess I was mistaken, huh?”

“Ah, but it’s probably not for the same reason as the others. I didn’t suggest you join the team because I believed in your abilities, I was just curious about what kind of person you are as a writer and how you would handle this task.”

“Oh, really? That’s nice of you to hear.”

“This guy’s novel is really interesting?!”

John Smith intervened again without noticing.

“I’m always surprised when I see it! How can you portray a woman’s perspective so well!”

“Oh, really? I don’t think so.”

“······huh?”

“There’s a sense of disconnect between me and a real woman. Maybe it’s because I’m a male writer. I’m also a woman, so when I write from a man’s perspective, it feels awkward. I guess I just felt like the writer was acting out that kind of character. Oh, in other words, you could say that you’re cute, Shin.”

Rebecca still smiles with leopard-like eyes.

I was speechless for a moment in front of him.

‘People born in the 60s these days are scary.’

I was also born in the 60s, but I thought that was a very provocative statement.

To describe Alice as cute, even I, a writer, say that I am cute. That’s the first time I’ve heard that.

I glanced at John’s dumbfounded face, coughed, and asked cautiously.

“How can I help you with that question?”

“Oh, I’ll figure out the conclusion myself. Just work hard on your assignment. It’s not an important issue.”

Not only the remarks he made just now, but also the way he decisively cut them off was impressive.

And John, who was still frozen, barely recovered and continued speaking.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s focus on our homework. The topic is······.”

“It was a presentation of analysis and critique of a work that reinterprets a heroic tale in a modern way.”

Rebecca, who had said the topic of the final assignment without missing a single word, looked at me.

“God. What do you think?”

“Are you asking my opinion first?”

“Yeah. Oh, not because I’m a genre writer.”

“I’m curious too. God, you’re the best at studying.”

With John nearby, there was nothing more to say on the subject.

I spoke out loud what I had been thinking calmly.

“I have a lot of worries about this and that.”

Since I am a person with a genre background, several works came to mind as soon as I heard the topic.

The same goes for the ‘Ronan the Barbarian’ series and the ‘Lord of the Rings’ series.

There have been numerous works that reinterpret heroic tales from ancient Greece in a modern way.

The ‘Dune series’ and the ‘007 series’, which is synonymous with spy movies, also had similar endings.

“There are more if you go to movies. Starting with ‘Star Wars’ and the ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ series, how about works like ‘Mad Max’ or ‘Fist of Fury’? Most modern entertainment films and works follow the iron rule of heroic novels. You can choose one of them.”

“Sure. Then let me ask you something. Why do you think people like that?”

“······Is this question related to the assignment?”

“Think of it as a part of the brainstorming process.”

Rebecca smiled, crossing her legs, resting her elbows on her knees, and resting her chin on the back of her hands.

‘This kid.’

I thought he was quiet because he doesn’t usually talk much, but that wasn’t the case at all.

The so-called ‘type who only says what they want to say when they want to say it’.

So I kind of liked it. It felt a bit similar to me.

“Well, wouldn’t it be appropriate to think of it this way?”

I answered.

“Because people are always angry.”

Those who are at a loss and just stamp their feet in the face of all kinds of absurdity and frustration yearn for the existence of heroes and seek vicarious satisfaction through those with powers that transcend humanity. In the process, they project themselves onto them and follow the narrative of overcoming, achieving catharsis.

That’s why representative superheroes from Marvel and DC have an influence beyond nerds to the general public.

“Oh, should we do Superman?!”

“I think that’s a good idea too.”

I took John’s words lightly and added my own opinion.

“I think we should focus on ‘reinterpretation.’”

Superman, Batman, Spiderman or Iron Man.

You could fit their narratives into a heroic tale based on all those ‘men’.

“If I’m going to do it, I should go for the real ‘man’.”

He was a hero all over the world.

“Jesus Christ.”

The eyes of the two people who heard me opened wide.

End

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