The Last Carnival

In The Spring Of 19- I Took A Sabbatical From The University Of C- Over-The-Seas Branch Kawagawa Cipan Where I Had Been Working Towards The Postponement Of A Doctoral Degree In The Dual Fields Of Comparative Histrionics And Cryptophilology. The Cause Of My Departure: That I Would Pursue An Ancillary Degree Elsewhere Although Some May Have Observed That I Had Rather Quietly Suffered A Nervous Breakdown. The Simple More Economical Pretext However Was That I Was Maddeningly Overworked And Shamefully Underemployed. Repatriated I Finally Took A Job In S. Hollywood With A Talent Agency Founded By A Wealthy Enlightened Japanese Autodidact Of Western Culture Or \Sei Bun\ As Kennichi-\Ken\ To His Friends-Chibita-\Chibi\ By The Same Friends-Liked To Call It Who Claimed But Could Never Quite Document A Connection With His Own Royal Family. Ken Had Entered The Film Business With The Intention Of \Making Movies That Make The Differences And Represent A Goal Of Universal Culture\ A Letterhead Slogan That Fell Just Short Of The Felicitous. He Idolized The Silver-Screen Impresario Alexandr Korda And Would Have Emulated Him. Accordingly Kenchan Had Acquired A Reputation For His Readiness To Buy At Cut-Rate Prices The Rights To Stories Or Should We Say Fragments Of Stories Incomplete Or In A State Of Hopeless Disarray Ones Such As Other Agencies Would Have Refused As Unrepresentable. In Principle We Operated Much Like Corporate Marauders But In The Reverse: We Bought Up Under-Producing Literary Properties And Then Reassembled Them Into \Marginally\ Profitable Entities.