Kokushikan satsujin jiken

by Mushitarō Oguri, Kazuo Matsuno (illustrator), Yūya Yamaguchi (editor)

本書は『黒死館殺人事件』の初出誌「新青年」を底本とし、世田谷区立世田谷文学館所蔵の小栗虫太郎自身の手稿と照合した上で校訂、註釈を加えたものである。
『黒死館殺人事件』は本書発行以前より、多くの出版社から若干の異同を含みつつ刊行されてきたが、基本的には新潮社版を、唯一の著者本人の校訂を経た底本としてきたと言ってよい。そしてこれまでも、有為の先人によって、本文の検討作業が行われてきたが、著者の早逝や戦後の混乱もあって、手稿の存在が明らかにされない状態での、不十分な作業となってきたことはやむを得なかった。
筆者は一九七〇年以降「黒死館語彙」の蒐集調査を続けてきたが、故・松山俊太郎氏の慫慂を請け、一九七六年、教養文庫版『黒死館殺人事件』の校訂に協力させて頂いた。その編集方針は、初めて「新青年」版との本文校訂を行った上で、正確を期すということであった。しかしながら、その際も多くの問題点を著者の誤謬、捏造として処理せざるを得なかった。筆者は教養文庫版刊行以降も、黒死館の諸相について調査を続けてきたが、そうした疑問点を残したまま現在に至った。幸いにもその後、手稿旧蔵者が判明し、世田谷文学館が入手したため公開閲覧が可能となり、今回の企画が成立した。

488 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1935

Reviews

[Mizuki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Murder At the Mansion of Black Death by Mushitarō Oguri, is widely considered one of 'The Four Books of Wonder' in the realm of Japanese detective/murder mystery novels. So I dutifully read this book for not once, but twice; but in the end I'm disappointed.

Let's talk about the strong points of this novel first: Baroque setting of a serial murder which took place inside an isolated European-style mansion, twisted family secrets, schemes and cursed bloodline, chilling death threats, preposterous murder cases. The story is very complicated in an all-out mind-fucking way, so if mind-fuck is your thing, then you might enjoy this book. Plus the author really did demonstrate his wide knowledge on history, religions, occultism, architecture etc. (the author was known for being REALLY into occultism and he had spent fortunes on collecting rare books on occultism and other rare knowledge, despite not being very well off)

However, the characters are mere pawns to move the plots onward, I never feel sorry for any of the murdered victims because they are so paper-thinned as characters; the same goes for the Great Detective and his companies, it feels like they are mere thinking machines to solve the murder cases than real people.

Furthermore, the author had spent too much screen time on stuffing his story with knowledge of occultism etc, just for the sake of he could do it and for the sake of showing off. In the end, I got bored. I mean, Mr. Oguri I know you liked occultism, a lot; I get it, can we move on to another subject already?

The other novels among the 'Four Books of Wonder' in the History of Japanese Detective Novels:

Dogra Magra, by Kyūsaku Yumeno, (Translation: Encephalon Hell or Pericardium Hell, or Braincell Hell): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
Review for 'Kokushikan Satsujin Jiken' (Translation: Murder At the Mansion of Black Death): https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
匣の中の失楽, by 竹本健治, (Translation: The Lost Music in the Box): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
虚無への供物 by 中井英夫, (Translation: The Offerings to the Void): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

My review for Bungo Stray Dogs vol. 14, in which 'Mushitaro Oguri' shows up in the manga as a fictional character, and his special power is 'Perfect Crime' *smirks*: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[F Gato · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the #*€%¥?

It is as if I accidentally opened a door and piles and piles of old European junk (which the writer held as treasure) fell on me. What kind of god is this guy who keeps talking nonsense but sounds mysterious and smart, knows everything and is never wrong. Also he is as arrogant as a fart.

The case and reasons and the resolutions aren’t related at all.

I hope Mushitarō Oguri would meet the author of Name of The Rose in heaven (or actually hell?) and exchange some tips on writting. Or perhaps they’d contempt each other?

[emil · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was horrendous. the murders hardly got solved, and the focus was more on pedantics and occultism than the actual mystery. the so-called master detective was completely useless and pretentious. and guess what?

I FREAKING LOVED IT. Oguri’s writing style is simply gorgeous, despite being so unnatural and jagged. maybe that’s what makes it so awesome. it’s lyrical and ornate. and the murders had so much depth to them, and despite not being the absolute main focus of the book, they were interesting and i was always so ready to hear about them.

bless Mushitarō Oguri. bless.

[DongJae Ryoo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried my best to understand the murder story in the black house.
I'm usually okay with criminal fictions and any other genre that requires thinking while reading it. However, this time, I couldn't figure out what the author was trying to say. Perhaps, I need to read this novel again in a few years ... I guess I need to brainstorm this fiction on a A2 paper to get a sense of what was going on in the black house.

[Life · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah, who knows what the fuck was going on here.

[Twig · Rating 3 out of 5]

很難讀且讓我一直晃神的一本推理。內容的設計頗刻意且複雜，引經據典了很多玄學與古書來營造文字的華麗感，但其實讀起來滿不自然，編造的詭計都是一些離奇罕見的醫學和科學理論，完全不會有推理的驚喜感受，只會很無奈地覺得「這樣也可以⋯？」。本書的優點就是可以從中學到奇怪的知識，還有認識一堆玄學、魔幻文學、古歐文學的書單。

[Nightkid · Rating 2 out of 5]

號稱是炫學始祖的推理小說，作者在書中一直拋書包，拉拉雜雜寫了很多玄學、神學的奇怪知識，犯罪原因略嫌牽強，個人認為是偏離了推理小說的宗旨。

[冷面 · Rating 1 out of 5]

许多杂乱的信息堆砌在一起，本来推理就难读，作者华丽的词藻更是增加难度，读起来一头雾水，止步于11%。

[James Woo · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5