著者

大野 ロベルト

出版者

日本社会事業大学

雑誌

日本社会事業大学研究紀要 = Study report of Japan College of Social Work : issues in social work (ISSN:0916765X)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.66, pp.31-45, 2020-03

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This paper re-evaluates the emergence of the so-called "leprosy literature" as a precursor to the thriving of outsider art in Japan. In the past studies on Hōjō Tamio, the central figure of leprosy literature, the irrepressible impact of the author's life situation on the evaluation of his works has been suggested repeatedly; but no particular attention has been paid to the discourse behind such an attitude, and its possible effects on the evaluation of the text. Along with the stories, diary entries, and essays written by Hōjō, this paper will take into consideration the texts by Kawabata Yasunari, his mentor, and other contemporary writers who submitted their opinions on magazines and newspapers, in order to clarify that many of them have viewed Hōjō as "peculiar," a sentiment fueled by what we could call the "hereticizing gaze." It is important to point out that such an attitude is almost identical to that welcomed Yamashita Kiyoshi and other outsider artists, who appeared on the scene after Hōjō's death.