- 著者
-
大東 和重
- 出版者
- 日本比較文学会
- 雑誌
- 比較文学 (ISSN:04408039)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.45, pp.23-38, 2002-03-31 (Released:2017-06-17)
Tayama Katai's Futon, published in 1907, had created a great sensation in the literary world after the Russo-Japanese War. Futon was said to be the first work of “shi-shosetsu,” which is characterized by the confession of the author’'s own sexual life in a direct and simple manner. Fourteen years later, Yu Dafu’s Chen lun appeared in China, and this work also became a sensation overnight. Similar to Futon, Chen lun also brought about a craze of confession novels among the literary circle of young writers. Although no direct relation could be supposed, there exist various similarities between these two works which should not be disregarded. Yu Dafu had studied in Japan for eight years before he became a writer, and indulged in literature while he was in Japan. Previous researches have already clarified influences of Japanese literature on the creative process of Yu Dafu, but in this essay I describe the similarities between these two works, namely their formal structure and their positions in the context of literary history. Katai and Yu Dafu wrote Shojo-Byo and Yinghui-se de Si respectively, in which the heroes onto whom the authors projected themselves suddenly die from fancy for a girl. But in their next works, Futon and Chen lun, the story begins after the heroes’ love affairs have already ended, and the heroes (literary men, who are also are projected authors) to whom love was forbidden are depicted in an ironical manner. Until now many scholars have identified the protagonists with the authors; but if analyzed in detail, it can be understood that the protagonists are described in an objective manner. In these works the emphasis lies on the power of reason to control the instincts. This power enables these works to describe the complicated state of self-consciousness. Futon and Chen lun were written just the moment when the boundary between literature and non-literature was being drawn, and the great success of Futon and Chen lun had a great impact on the literary world because of the style of portraying self-consciousness.