著者

剣持 武彦 ケンモチ タケヒコ Takehiko Kenmochi

雑誌

清泉女子大学紀要

巻号頁・発行日

vol.46, pp.1-18, 1998-12-25

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A great number of chohen shosetsu (long works of fiction) have been written since the end of the Pacific War. But, if we are to choose the most representative works of the genre written in Japan's early modern (kindai) or pre-war period, the following three come most readily to mind: Shimazaki Toson's Yoakemae and Shiga Naoya's An'ya Koro, both written before World War II, and Tanizaki Jun'ichiro's Sasameyuki, begun during the war but not completed until after the war had ended. This paper will discuss these works asking the following questions. First, how was it possible for these authors to write such great works of fiction during a period-before and during the war-when the government was imposing restrictions on the subject matter and the language of all lirerary works ? Second, after the war, when such restrictions were removed, these three works continued to be influential pieces of Japanese literature. Why ? And, thirdly, although each of the three works was written under different circumstances, they are all long novels. As chohen shosetsu, what other characteristics do they have in common ? In addition, all three works have been translated into English : Yoakemae, tr. by William E. Naff as Before the Dawn (Univ. of Hawaii Press, 1987) ; An'ya koro, tr. by Edwin Mc Clellan as A Dark Night's Passing (Kodansha International, 1978) ; and Sasameyuki, tr. by Edward G. Seidensticker as The Makioka Sisters (Charles E. Tuttle, 1957). For this reason, I will also examine these English translations and consider their impact-what contribution these three representative Japanese works of long fiction can now make to world literature.