Japanese literature, at least before the Meiji era, was undoubtedly often influenced by Chinese literature. But some overstatements should be avoided. Recently a Japanese scholar demonstrated that the poem entitled “ A Dialogue on Poverty ” by the 8th century Japanese poet Yamanoe Okura, preserved in the Manyōshū, was influenced by the poem “On Poor Gentlemen” by T’ao Yüan-ming, a Chinese poet of the 4th century. This view, however, seems to me to be somewhat erroneous. In the first place, the feeling of the two poems is quite different. Yamanoe complains of poverty as a thoroughly hateful thing, while T’ao’s view is not quite so severe. If one is to look for Chinese influences in the poem, I believe better examples can be found. For instance Yamanoe’s lines :

　“Wide as they call the heaven and earth, For me they have shrunk quite small;”

　(The Manyōshū, Sasaki and Others, pp. 205-207)

　would seem to derive from the Book of Odes

　““ The heaven’s lid high，” not dare to stand up straight ; “ The earth’s crust thick,” not dare to not tread light ; ”

　(Ezra Pound, The Classic Anthology Defined by Confucius, p.192)

　while Yamanoe’s lines :

　“ But I cannot fly away, Wanting the wings of a bird.”

　seem to derive from the Book of Odes

“… I Clutch here at words, Having no force to fly.”

　(Ibid, p.12)

　Furthermore we may find in Yamanoe’s poem a manner of expression which is typically Japanese. It would be hard to find an equivalent in Chinese literature, for example, for the following statement of Yamanoe’s :

　“ And stroking my scanty beard, I say in my pride, ‘ There’s none worthy, save I ! ’”

　The present thesis aims at the comparison of the Japanese literature of the Nara and early Heian Periods (8 th c. mid 9 th c.) with the literature of the Pohai State founded in Korean Peninsula at the end of the 7th century. Through the concrete examples taken from the few remaining data, the writer proves that the literature of both countries were modeled after the Chinese one.

　“Himegakyoku” <in “Shunchōshū (1905) ” by Yumei Kambara (1876 -1952) > and “The Fountain Maiden” <in Stray Leaves from Strange Literature (1884) by Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) > ―these two works have the same origin in “The Fairy of the Fountain” <in Myths and Songs from the South Pacific (1876) by William Wyatt Gill (1829-1896) >. The above fact proves to be clear in that the authors themselves state so in the motto of “Himegakyoku” and in “Explanatory” of Stray Leaves from Strange Literature. The purpose of my thesis is to study how these two authors elevate the same source to their own artistic works.

　“Himegakyoku” is a ballad in which the destined and tragic love story of ‘Ōtaruhi’, a king of the South, and ‘Tamahime’, a nymph, is related. Yumei, some years later, appended his own notes to the ballad, saying that he intended to give a psychological interpretation of the story. The main theme is the suffering of ‘Tamahime’ who fell into an earthly love despite her being a nymph by birth, and the author boldly cuts off the first half of the original story. It seems to me that Yumei, a symbolic poet, delineates in the ballad now the two things, such as joy and suffering, or will and destiny, conflict with each other intending to be united into one. Yumei gets some hint from the simple original story and endows his work with a unique beauty.

　Hearn states in “Explanatory” that he wrote “The Fountain Maiden” with much amplification, adding “Thieves’ Song” taken from Myths and Songs from the South Pacific. It is, however, hard to find out any such amplification in the plot. “Thieves’ Song” is put at the beginning almost without any change, though producing some effect with its strange atmosphere.

　Hearn describes with a fluent touch the mystic and visionary air of the South at night, the strange beauty of the nymph, and the sorrow of the chief after the loss of the nymph. But compared to “Himegakyoku”, Hearn’s is only interesting as a strange story of a romantic land, and can hardly make so much aesthetic impression as “Himegakyoku” on the readers.

　Ch’ien-Teng-Hsin-Hua gave birth to Keum-O-Sin-Hwa in Korea and Otogiboko in Japan. Keum-O-Sin-Hwa, the first novel in Korea written by Kim-Si-Sub (1435-1493), had survived in Japan till 1884, when it saw the second publication. Its first reprint came out in 1653, thirteen years before Ryoi Asai wrote Otogiboko.

　Among the eighteen stories in Otogiboko as adapted from Ch’ien-Teng, there is one that is exceedingly characteristic for its own novelties. That is Ryugu-no-muneage (A House-building Ceremony in the Dragon’s palace), but what are novel in it exactly correspond, it can be found, to those in the story of the same kind in Keum-O (Yongun-buyeon-Rok, or Attending the Ceremony in the Dragon’s Palace).

　Though there is no record that tells Ryoi’s learning from it, evidence is enough to show that he owes much to Kim Si-Sub so far as this story is concerned. Here are pointed out the similarities between these two stories quite apart from Ch’ien Teng, so that the proposition here I laydown can be all fulfilled.

　Le poème épique vietnamien Kim-Vân-Kiêu est la traduction libre d’un soi-disant roman chinois et une quasi-création. Le Nippon a aussi une traduction assez fidèle, publiée bien avant l’apparition du livre vietnamien et une adaptation purement japonaise de l’original. Comment une même matière d’origine chinoise fut-elle traitée dans les deux pays?

　　　　1. Esquisse du Kim-Vân-Kiêu indochinois.

　　　　2. Son auteur.

　　　　3. Historique du Kiêu. Relations sino-vietnamiennes. Nationalité de l’oeuvre en chinois, vue à travers ses éditions existant au Nippon et au Vietnam: affirmation de l’opinion de Maspero qui attribue Kouanhoua t’ang non à Kin Cheng-t’an mais à Pham-quy-Thich; les éditions existantes se seraient de même lignée mais une plus ancienne édition en langue chinoise aurait disparu.

　　　　4. Différences des deux Kiêu. L’auteur vietnamien Nguyên-Du évita, autant que possible et avec raisons, la répétition de l’original.　　　　

　　　　5. Tsûzoku-Kin-Gyô-den， traduction nippone par NISHIDA-Korenori. L’édition du texte employée pour cette traduction n’aurait-elle pas été différente de celles qui existent aujourd’hui?

　　　　6. Fûzoku-Kingyo-den， adaptation par TAKIZAWA-Bakin. Elle n’est pas parmi les meilleurs ouvrages du grand écrivain nippon.

　　　　7. Influences partielles du Kiêu en chinois dans Akebono-zôshi et Asaka-no-numa， deux romans par SANTÔ-Kyôden; Nenashigusa par HIRAGA-Gennai; Omokage-zôshi par RYUTEI-Tanehiko

　　　　8. L’original chinois ne manque pas de qualités mais le livre vietnamien excelle de beaucoup sur lui. Au Nippon, on n’a ni traduit ni adapté le roman en chinois avec la même originalité que Nguyên-Du.

　L’article se propose d’examiner de plus près l’influence des Œuvres Complètes de Ruskin (Library Edition) exercée sur l'œuvre de Proust， A La Recherche du Temps perdu， influence déjà indiquée par Jean Autret dans son livre， l’Influence de Ruskin sur la vie，les idées et l’œuvre de Marcel Proust (1955).

　Les œuvres complètes de Ruskin en 39 volumes ont été publiées successivement depuis 1903 jusqu’en 1912. Quant au roman de Proust， nous croyons qu’il a été commencé entre 1908 et 1910. Notons d’abord que la publication successive des œuvres de Ruskin correspondait， partiellement cependant， à la période du travail du romancier français. Ses lettres disent du reste qu’il gardait pieusement un exemplaire de cette édition magnifique de Ruskin.

　 Le plan du «Port de Carquethuit» d’Elstir，décrit par Proust dans son deuxième livre， A l'Ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs， correspond aux plans des tableaux de Turner: Scarborough， Plymouth， Falmouth， Deal， Dover， Whitby， Ramsgate， etc. reproduits， ceux-ci，dans the Harbours of England de Ruskin， tome 13 de ses œuvres complètes.

　En outre，c’est aux femmes botticelliennes que se réfère Proust pour fixer les traits d’Odette de Crécy. Ils rappellent «Fortitude»， «Judith»， surtout «Zîpporah»， peintures de Botticelli qui se trouvent reproduites avec les autres dans le 23^e volume de Ruskin.

　En plus de la concordance iconographique nous pouvons indiquer quelques reflets des descriptions de Ruskin sur certaines lignes de Proust. D’ailleurs， c’est dans les deux volumes des œuvres complètes que celui-ci aurait lu pour la première fois the Harbours of England et les deux ouvrages consacrés à Botticelli， Mornings in Florence， the Æsthetic and Mathematic Schools o f Art in Florence.

　Nul doute donc que Proust n’ait consulté the Works of John Ruskin， quand il composait A la Recherche du Temps perdu.

　Mais il faut ajouter que l’influence de cette édition sur le roman de Proust reste généralement superficielle. C’est plutôt par d’autres éditions que Ruskin a déjà «habité l’esthétique de Proust» : celui-ci avait mis son zèle à la lecture de presque toutes les œuvres principales de Ruskin bien avant la publication de la «Library Edition».

　We can say with some certainty that Kafu Nagai from his early days felt the yearning for Spain, as indicated in several of his works. Bokuto Kidan, the Tale of the East of Sumida (1936), one of his masterpieces, was in some points copied after Ennemies de la Femme and La Catedral by Blasco Ibáñez. He mentions in his diary that he read Blasco Ibáñez’s la Tragedie sur le Lac (1914) and Ennemies de la Femme (1936) before writing the novel.

　　He was under a strong influence of French literature, so he may have found fascination in Blasco Ibáñez, who was called Zola in Spain. And in his novel Udekurabe, the Story of a Geisha Girl (1916), he refers to la Catedral. Bokuto Kidan falls into two parts : the first part takes a form of a novel, and the second is written as criticism on civilization.

　 His characteristic view of women in this novel seems similar to Blasco Ibáñez’s view in the first part of Ennemies de la Femme.

　During his stay in London (1900-1902) Soseki was much tormented by his doubts about life and literature. At last he found that these doubts could be dissolved only by taking the self-centered attitude in everything, and determined to make it his guiding principle of life. To build up a convincing theory concerning this attitude he studied very hard.

　　At that time in Europe and America psychology was the center of interest and attention not only of students but also of general people.

　 Under the circumstances it is natural that he should have become interested in the rising science. He was much attracted by the psychological philosophy of William James, and adopted the essential part of it in forming his theory.

　　In 1907 he made public this theory in his lecture “Bungei no Tetsugaku-teki Kiso ”（Philosophical Basis of Literature). It was not the theory alone that this American philosopher gave him. He sympathized also with the philosopher’s view of morality and religion, and there is much in common between the two about them.

　　The influence of William James upon Soseki was radical.