2016 Volume 94 Pages 1-16
When Natsume Soseki published Bungakuron (Theory of Literature), he expanded his theory of depiction that was introduced in his manuscript Bungakuron Noto (Notes on Theory of Literature) and his lecture General Conception of Literature that was delivered at Tokyo Imperial University. This essay shows how his theory of depiction emphasizes the role of the illusion in immersing the reader in the experience of the world of the story and how it problematizes visualization. Having established the theory of depiction in Bungakuron, Soseki dealt, in a fictional form this time, with the same issues in his novel Kusamakura. Although his theory of depiction explores the act of visualization, it cannot fully account for the individual reader's experience of visualizing and linking images in reading a work like Kusamakura. His theory in Bungakuron relies on the cognitive processes of a theoretically hypostatized reader and can posit only a single reading process by a “self-hypnotized” subject as provisional supporting evidence. It cannot but be a theoretical construction with limited possibilities. In this essay, I have examined Bungakuron and Kusamakura as Soseki's attempts at formulating the theory of visualization and creating a visual world through the illusions produced by literary depictions.
