Katari in Okagami : The Aspects of the Narrator and the Copyist(<Feature Articles>Aspects of the Narrators)

Abstract

An epoch-making factor in the history of monogatari literature is that "the successors" came to exist as the actual narrators. The significance of this existence, as well as the existence of the copyist viewed as having a new relationship to the narrators, is discussed. Specifically explained is the narrator's tecnique of making a parody out of an oral story. Furthermore the narrator's tecnique for the mustration of the image of "marebito" who suddenly appears and disappears is discussed. Hence, the narrator is proven to be the authority. The copyist, who has been always a vague existence in the history of the literature study, is proven to be a court lady who waited on Kenshi. By taking advantage of the linguistic state in the Insei period, the function and significance of the copyist is analyzed jn terms of the fiction created.