著者

深沢 徹 Fukazawa Toru

出版者

神奈川大学人文学会

雑誌

人文研究 : 神奈川大学人文学会誌

巻号頁・発行日

vol.179, pp.21-45, 2013-03-25

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Gubijinso by Soseki Natsume was his first serial story to be printed in a newspaper. The critics have disagreed on the merits of this novel. The author Soseki himself wanted it to remain out of print. He did notpermit anybody to write its dramatic version for the theater or the cinema. After the Second World War, Jyun Eto, a literary critic, played an important role in reevaluating Soseki. He rated Gubijinso highly, regarding it as the starting point of Soseki's later works. The novelist Minae Mizumura loved Soseki's works so much that she even wrote the sequel of Meian, Soseki's unfinished last work, copying his writing style impeccably. Mizumura, however, got "the impression that there was something seriously wrong" with Gubijinso. What makes the critics'assessments of Gubijinso so extremely divided? In this article, we should find the answer in the influence of Bakin Takizawa, a popular novelist of the Edo period. His influence on the novel caused contortion(or distortion?)in it, which was unsuitable for a "modern novel," even though his influence was limited. In order to provide a better understanding of the development of the argument, I would use the "Shitsukeito(Basting Thread)" theory proposed by a scholar of Japanese literature, the late Kuniaki Mitani. He led the Japanese literary studies after the 1980s, positively introducing semiotic research methods.