Naoki Prize-winning author Hase Seishū "I was able to write because I was middle-aged" September 29, 16:14

"It's not bad to get old,"

says writer Hase Seishū.

Since his debut in 1996, "Nightless Castle," he has published many "Noir Novels" that depict people who commit wrongdoing, crime, and violence in the city.

Mr. Feng's new work, which was even called "Noir's standard-bearer", was selected for the Naoki Prize in July.

A new noir?

I thought, that was a surprising content.

Mr. Feng says that it is a work that can only be written when he is old.

What moved Mr. Feng and influenced his style?

I was impressed with the work of the best-selling author, which changes as I get older.

(Sapporo Broadcasting Station reporter Yohei Fukuda)

"Noir flag bearer", a work that is good at dark novels

"I'm happy. I'm happy, but if I round it up, I'm 60 years old. I think it also means that you've been a novelist for 20 years."

This year, July 15th.

This is Mr. Feng's remark when he was selected for the Naoki Prize.

Writer Hase Seishū (55).

His representative work is his debut work "Nightless Castle" released at the age of 31 in 1996.

Set in Kabukicho, Shinjuku, this work depicts the battle of the mafia washing blood with blood, and has become a bestseller that will also be made into a movie.

Novels that depict people who commit wrongdoing and crime in the city are called "noir novels = dark novels", but Mr. Feng announced bestsellers one after another in this genre, and is said to be "the flag bearer of noir". became.

"I abandoned my commitment"

However, the new work "Boys and Dogs", which won the Naoki Prize, had a different content from the image of Mr. Feng.

The main character is a dog who lost its owner in the Great East Japan Earthquake, and people who are in a difficult situation with no escape, such as a lonely old man, a cold couple, and a boy who has been injured in the heart, interact with the dog. It was an emotional movement that saved my heart through.

What happened to Mr. Feng?

When I asked Mr. Feng, who responded to the interview in my hometown of Urakawa, Hokkaido, such a question, he said, "I have abandoned my commitment."

"I don't have to say noir, noir anymore. At that time, I started to think that I should write what I want to write."

"Death" that changed with age

Why abandon the obsession with "Noir"?

As I listened to the story more and more, there was Mr. Feng who became more aware of "dying" as his own thing as he got older.

"As I get older, things will probably change. For example, when I'm in my thirties, I don't think I'll die. But if I'm over 50, I can only live for another 10 or 20 years. I wonder. That kind of thing will become a reality, so various things will change. Whether or not you can accept it positively. "

When he was young, Mr. Feng had a strong admiration for the city.

I moved to Tokyo when I entered university and started working in the downtown area of ​​Shinjuku at night.

The experience of seeing people who are drowning in alcohol and people who are in a fight on a daily basis is reflected in the work, and I have drawn that "dying is unhelpful."

"Acknowledging that death has no salvation is, on the contrary, salvation. When I was young, I wanted to do so," he recalls.

The perception of "death" has begun to change over the years.

It made me realize that taking care of the end of my dog, who had been with me for 11 years, was not just "death without salvation."

"I had cancer at the end, so on the last day, I had a lot of pain and it was hard to see, so I called the doctor and euthanized me a little, and it seems to be too painful. But before the doctor came, I died in my arms. I thought he passed away so that I wouldn't feel guilty about being euthanized. Really. It's hard to say goodbye to a dog. It's really tearing, but before that, there were 10 years, and 10 years when I was very happy. Dogs have a short lifespan. That may be the case, but human beings always die and break up. With anyone, I want to have that happy decade rather than mourn the coming breakup. "

There is "death without salvation", but there is also "death with salvation".

The important thing is how to live your life until the day you "die".

In "Boys and Dogs," Mr. Feng tells one of the main characters about the magnitude of the changes his dog has brought to him.

"(Dog) is a creature sent by God or Buddha for the stupid species of human beings."

Thoughts on changing hometown

I want to spend a rich life with my dog, a life that always ends.

The change in "way of life" also changed Mr. Feng's feelings for his hometown.

From last year to summer, I started spending time in Urakawa, Hokkaido, where I had hardly returned for more than 30 years.

"It's going to change, people don't know how life will fall. Until three years ago, I didn't even think about spending summer in Urakawa like this. I don't think it's a bad thing. I like me now more than when I made my debut in Hase Seishū in my thirties and made me say buoy. "

What I can say because I get older

In the interview, Mr. Feng talked about another change.

The trigger was my life in my hometown and the new coronavirus.

A city that I have longed for since I was young and have continued to draw.

It is said that he has come to feel the "limit" in the modern society centered on it.

"Now, everything is really overkill, everything is too much to eat and consume, and I eat when I don't eat so much and I don't die. I see that I wouldn't die without looking at my smartphone so much. I think it's an excessive world, but if everyone thinks that it will eventually go bankrupt, including environmental destruction, I think I know it in my heart. Now, I think that you are being asked when various things stop with the new corona. Is it really okay to stay as it is? So I can not draw the world without the new corona in the future. It is limited to me I think that all novelists have to work in such a frame. "

"Because we get older, there is a world we can see."

Finally, I asked for advice for young people who will grow older.

"I can't separate myself as a writer from myself as an individual. Therefore, I think that how I live at that time is clearly reflected in the work." When I wrote it, I was like that. It's just a story. I don't know what the future will be, so I can easily cover what I thought would happen. So, I shouldn't narrow my possibilities. I want to say "

Mr. Feng is looking forward to taking a walk with his dog every morning.

The appearance of smiling and interacting with each other overlapped with the characters in "Boys and Dogs" whose hearts were saved by dogs.

From "frightened" sunglasses with blond hair to a gentle dog lover.

Sometimes I give up my commitment and try to let it flow naturally.

"Older is not bad."

It was an interview that seemed like that.

Reporter of Sapporo Broadcasting Station Yohei Fukuda

Born in

1989

.

Joined in 2013.

After passing through Okayama station, Sapporo station.

The "heat source" of Soichi Kawagoe, whose main character is the Ainu, was also interviewed when he received the Naoki Prize.