小説家 販売値は700円
沖縄でたまたま入ったカフェ。（たまたま入ったと言っても、Googleマップで検索し評価が良さそうで自分の好みっぽいところにわざわざ行ったのだけれど）車がすれ違いできない細い道を奥へ奥へと進み、絶対に道を間違っただろうという袋こうじにあるカフェ。丁寧に一品一品料理を作っていて、素敵な空間、別世界。
空間も素敵だったのだけれど、そこで、とっても興味を惹かれたのはオーナーさんの自作の小説。その小説は完全手作り。自宅のプリンターでプリントしたような原稿が、とっても丁寧に束ねられていて、表紙は１つ１つしっかり色も塗られている。販売値は700円。
自分の中では自費出版で小説というのは思い浮かばなかったので、衝撃を受けた。その小説は、その場にいらしゃる丁寧なお仕事をされる40代から50代ほどの女性オーナーさんの作品だ。小説というと村上春樹さんなど、選ばれた才能のあるプロの方だけのものと勝手に思い込んでいたけれど、小説も自分で自由に描いて楽しんでよいものなのだ。 そういえば、そもそも村上春樹さんももともとジャズ喫茶のオーナーさんなわけだし、何歳からでもプロの小説家というのは、ありなのかもしれない。ちょっと今後自分もトライしてみようか。
なお、村上春樹さんがおっしゃっていた。一発いい小説を書くのは容易い。ただ職業として生涯売れる小説を出し続ける、つまりプロの小説家でありつづけるのは本当に大変だと。
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Novelist, selling price 700 yen.
A cafe I happened to walk into in Okinawa. (I say accidentally, but I went to a place that seemed to suit my taste by searching for it on Google Maps). The café is in a cul-de-sac, on a narrow street where cars cannot pass and where you would definitely make a wrong turn. The food is carefully prepared, one dish at a time, and the space is beautiful and otherworldly.
The place was lovely, but what really caught my eye was the owner’s own novel. The novel was completely handmade. The manuscript, which looked as if it had been printed on a home printer, was very carefully bound and each cover was individually coloured. The price was 700 yen.
I was shocked because I had never thought of self-published novels. The novels were the work of the owner, who was in his 40s or 50s and had painstakingly created them. I had thought that novels were only for selected talented professionals like Haruki Murakami, but they can be freely drawn and enjoyed. Come to think of it, Haruki Murakami was originally a jazz cafe owner. I might try it myself in the future.
Anyway, Haruki Murakami once said. It is easy to write a good novel. But to continue to publish novels that sell for the rest of your life as a profession, in other words, to continue to be a professional novelist, is a real challenge.
