Yūzō Yamamoto’s The Crown of Life and August Strindberg’s Idea of Fate

Abstract

　Yūzō Yamamoto began his career as a dramatist immediately upon graduation from Tōkyō University in 1915. From 1916 to 1918, however, he wrote no plays. During these years he made an intensive study of the works of Strindberg, the outstanding Swedish dramatist and writer.

　In 1916 Yūzō translated Strindberg’s The Dance of Death under the title of Shi-no-buto. Later he translated a part of The Blue Book (Aoi- hon-yori). He seems to have been much impressed with Strindberg’s idea of “resignation (諦め)” and “self-surrender (忍従)” to fate. In The Dance of Death one of the characters, Kurt, is presented as a mellowed man who bears bravely the affliction fate has pressed upon him. Prominent in The Blue Book is the notion that it is just barely possible for a man to live with “resignation” and “surrendered” to his fate.

　When in 1920 Yūzō wrote The Crown of Life (Inochi-no-kammuri), the Strindberg notion of fate became the theme of his drama. The characters, even in their defeat, cling to this idea of fate and find in it some hope for a new life. Thus Strindberg’s concept of fate became an important element in Yūzō Yamamoto’s later dramas and novels.