著者

宮田 沙織

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.60, pp.24-38, 2018-03-31 (Released:2021-04-01)

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The aim of this paper is to clarify that Sato Haruo's short story “The House of a Spanish Dog" (1917) is inspired by Li Bai's poem “Seeking in Vain the Taoist Priest on Daitian Mountain". This piece of fantasy with a dreamlike tone is an early masterpiece of Sato, in which a man wanders into the mountains with his dog and finds a mysterious house. It is widely regarded as inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's “Landor's Cottage", itself a parody of Washington Irving's “Rip Van Winkle". However, when considering that the protagonist visits a house while its owner is absent, and imagines that the owner of the house is a hermit or a wizard, it is necessary to examine the influence of the traditional motif of “absent hermits" in Chinese poetry. This motif was especially popular in the Tang period, for it was believed to describe effectively their unworldly lifestyle. “The House of a Spanish Dog" actually shares many common motifs with traditional poetry; the imagery of spring water, for example, is one of the particular motifs that show Sato's close relationship to the ancient poets. Therefore, focusing on the adaption of the topos of “Peach Blossom Spring" from the quatrain of Li Bai, this paper tries to demonstrate how the “fantastic" atmosphere of “The House of a Spanish Dog" is generated not only from Poe's short story but also from Li Bai's poetry.