Chapter: 18
Romanticism is the soul of literature.
Poetic imagination, personal insight, suffering—these elements, still considered symbols of art today, were crystallized into a paradigm through Romanticism.
And the work that infused the spirit of Romanticism into literature was none other than…
“This, this is—far too painful, isn’t it? But it’s incredibly beautiful… and, it feels like it’s stealing my soul…”
It was none other than Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther.
After reading the manuscript, President Dorling looked as if her soul had flown out of her body, dazed and lost, but soon became enraptured, her face flushed with excitement.
“This novel is absolutely going to succeed!”
“Yeah. It probably will.”
“…Author? You seem a bit down…”
“If this work succeeds, it’s likely to lead to some complex issues.”
“Complex issues…?”
The Werther Effect.
The Sorrows of Young Werther ends with the protagonist committing suicide with a pistol.
After the book’s release, there are stories about numerous young readers following Werther’s example and ending their own lives.
It’s uncertain whether The Sorrows of Young Werther genuinely led these young readers to commit suicide.
It’s tough to find solid statistics, and distinguishing between someone who was already suicidal imitating Werther and those who were influenced to commit suicide because they idolized him is a whole different can of worms.
“We could run the risk of being accused of endorsing or glorifying suicide because of this book.”
But the impact of the novel was undeniably strong.
This work could become the Bible for young people struggling with suicidal thoughts. The church is likely to panic and try to control this novel.
“It might even end up getting banned.”
“Ah, it’s a great masterpiece, but… it’s simply literature, isn’t it?”
“It’s literature that shakes the soul.”
“That much is true… well, it does seem plausible… especially since the Vatican is super sensitive about youth suicides.”
Of course, I like to think I’ve prepared a bit for this.
For example, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde also has a protagonist who ends it all with suicide. The protagonist, torn between sin and rationality, ends his life that way.
But you could also say that Jekyll’s sacrifice to kill Hyde was a sort of martyrdom.
In other words, it’s suicide but also not really… a rather ambiguous ending.
Having read this novel should lessen the shock when facing ‘the protagonist’s suicide’ conclusion.
“Still, shouldn’t we be okay because it’s your book? There’s even talk of beatifying Homer thanks to The Little Prince!”
“Authors and their works are separate. There’s still a chance that this particular book could end up being banned.”
“That’s a good point…”
And The Little Prince served as a mirror that made readers reflect within themselves.
It helped them escape the blindness of their obsessive desires and encouraged them to take a look around.
It provided a way out for those at risk of suicide from the blindness and narrow-mindedness leading them to death.
“Ugh… this is tough! But we can’t not publish it, right? Keeping such a masterpiece all to myself would be a sin against countless avid readers! Ugh…”
“So you really want to self-publish it, right?”
“Absolutely! I must be the one to publish it! Hehe.”
Moreover, the pulp fiction saga of Conan served as an escape from reality—a drug called dopamine released into this world.
A cheap high that helps weary people endure their grueling days.
That was the role of lowbrow pulp fiction. Some might even call it a harmless opium.
“That’s why President Dorling’s role is so important.”
“What can I do…?”
I had done all the preparation I could.
It was time to breathe the ‘soul of Romanticism’ into literature.
“First, please gather all the addresses of the readers who sent fan letters.”
“Huh?”
“Let’s throw an event for our fans.”
With this, literature would take another step into the future.
“All of them? It seems like there must be thousands, maybe even tens of thousands…?”
“Will it be tough?”
“Of course, I can do it! Just leave it to me!”
* * *
The readers who had sent fan letters received an ‘invitation.’
[You are invited to an event with Author Homer.]
It was like a grand fan meeting.
A chance to meet Homer, the most influential author in the empire! It was a golden opportunity no citizen of the empire could resist.
“Ahhh! An invitation? This can’t be real! Am I actually going to meet Lord Homer?! Thank you, heavens!”
“Author Homer is a god!”
Naturally, the news of the fan meeting spread quickly like wildfire, causing a stir across the empire.
“Lady Isolette! Could that possibly be─ that?”
“Hehe, yes. It’s an invitation from Author Homer. I’ve met him once at the last contest, but getting invited means I can’t possibly turn it down. Hehe.”
“Uh, if that’s the case, will you sell it to me─.”
“Oh? Sell an invitation? How could I ever do something so vulgar?”
“Right….”
The invitations from Author Homer were traded for prices comparable to their weight in gold.
No, they were traded for even more than that!
“Is it true?! If I sell the invitation… you’ll cover all my father’s medical expenses?”
“Of course. I’m not just thinking about treatment; I’ll support everything you need to live. Just give me that one invitation.”
“It’s a shame I can’t meet Author Homer in person… but it can’t be helped. My father’s treatment is more important. Just promise you’ll keep your word!”
“Here, I’ve prepared a contract.”
Whether people got the invitation or not determined their fate.
Finally, the day of Author Homer’s first official fan meeting had arrived.
* * *
At the venue for the fan meeting.
Unlike the award ceremony, which had only hundreds of attendees, this time thousands came pouring in.
I was sitting in the waiting room.
Next to me, President Dorling was overly animated, cheering me on in an exaggerated manner.
“Author! You can do it! Relax!”
“You seem more nervous than I am…?”
“Hehe. I need to stay on my toes in case something happens, so I can’t let my guard down!”
I looked in the mirror.
I could see features blending from my past and present life, having consumed the Hyde Potion.
After taking a deep breath, I stepped out of the waiting room.
Thousands of people were staring at me.
“I’m delighted to be here with all of you today.”
As I had practiced, I began my opening speech.
This speech was the very reason I held this ‘fan meeting.’
“Before getting into the meat of our time together, I want to say something to all of you.”
There’s a saying: while humans make plans, heaven determines their outcomes.
There’s also another saying: humans are heaven.
“Dear readers─”
So, if you can orchestrate plans and touch people’s hearts, you can accomplish great things.
“I have a dream!”
To touch people’s hearts, one just needs to swipe the writings that move them.
And so, I did just that. Plagiarized a speech.
“This dream is deeply rooted in my literature and yours. I have a dream that the children raised on my books, and the adults who reminisce about the past through them, will help and understand each other through the precious ‘Word’ bestowed upon us by the Lord.”
The speech from Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream.”
I plagiarized it.
“The greatest boast a thousand years ago was ‘I have heard the words of the Savior myself.’ Today, with the Savior returned to the side of the Lord, the greatest boast in the world has become ‘I can read the Bible.'”
From John F. Kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech.
I plagiarized it.
“There are those who say our faith should be discarded as an outdated hindrance. Let us read them the Bible. Those who call devout people foolish, let us read them the Bible. Those who say religion is an obstacle to human will, let us read them the Bible. To the indifferent, let us read them the Bible!”
Even though I replaced all the great speeches with a message about reading the Bible, the essence remained unchanged.
This is a heartfelt appeal.
“Life can be free and beautiful, yet we have forgotten how to achieve it.”
A desperate cry that aims for people’s hearts, striking a chord with their emotions rather than reason.
“I have a dream!”
The Sorrows of Young Werther is undeniably a biblically irreverent book. But it also wields a powerful magic capable of seizing and shaking the human soul.
So all I had to do was make the words of the Bible even stronger.
In an age where tens of thousands of Bibles are printed daily and everyone has one on their shelf but turns away from faith due to their busy lives, reminding people to reflect on the Bible wasn’t hard.
“Our children who love literature—the greatest literature created by the Lord Himself—will read the ancient hymns together, learning about love and peace from His words, and embody them on this earth!”
The Bible is indeed the greatest piece of literature.
All literary works—novels, scripts, poems, and speeches—are merely reinterpretations of that magnificent literary work: the Bible.
And so, I plagiarized.
I altered the history of Christianity in my past life by copying, mixing, editing, and reinterpreting countless famous speeches into one glorious speech.
“I have a dream!”
The speech went on for quite some time. I practiced it over and over, but I wasn’t sure if I got it down perfectly.
Then finally, when the speech concluded…
“Thank you for bearing with my lengthy speech. Now, let’s begin the handshake session─.”
“Kyaaaaah─!!!”
“Waaaaah!!!”
The roaring cheers forced me to cover my ears for a bit.
* * *
“Ah, Mr. President. Thank you for all your hard work preparing for the fan meeting. It went well, thanks to you.”
“Sir… that speech was really just for publishing one book…?”
“Yeah.”
“Sir. I didn’t want to say this, but… you seem a bit mental.”
“I hear that a lot.”
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