HIKAKU BUNGAKU Journal of Comparative Literature
Online ISSN : 2189-6844
Print ISSN : 0440-8039
ISSN-L : 0440-8039
Volume 57
Displaying 1-28 of 28 articles from this issue
ARTICLES
  • Soichiro JITTANI
    2014 Volume 57 Pages 7-21
    Published: March 31, 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: May 26, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     De nombreux critiques, à commencer par Hippolyte Taine, ont noté la composition solide de Thérèse Raquin (1867) d’Émile Zola. C’est un des traits qui distinguent ce texte de son premier roman La Confession de Claude (1865). Que signifie ce changement dans l’écriture de l’auteur? La question est d’ autant plus importante que, comme le dit Dezalay, Thérèse Raquin marque « le tournant décisif » dans l’itinéraire esthétique et idéologique de Zola.

     Le présent article tente de relire ce roman à l’aune de sa théorie picturale. Si dans ses écrits sur la littérature Zola avance l’idée d’une mimésis méthodique, ses critiques d’art théorisent plutôt la recomposition de ce que l’artiste observe. Nous commençons par analyser son choix théorique en explorant divers discours des années 1860, période du post-réalisme. Le naturalisme en faveur duquel plaide Zola découle de l’héritage du réalisme, mais tente aussi de résoudre le manque de soin formel dont on l’accuse.

     Cette perspective permet de revisiter l’écriture de Thérèse Raquin, trop souvent considérée comme l’expression d’une « aveugle perspicacité ». La théorie picturale de Zola qui privilège l’unité sémiotique du tableau, explique comment il construit l’espace du roman. La recomposition artiste n’est pas contradictoire avec l’observation réaliste. L’œuvre engendre un effet unifié par le fait qu’elle met « chaque détail en avant » comme Zola le dit lui-même dans la préface de la deuxième édition du roman. Avec Thérèse Raquin, Zola semble vouloir établir une alliance entre deux exigences qui, apparemment, s’excluent.

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  • Hiroko ONO
    2014 Volume 57 Pages 22-36
    Published: March 31, 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: May 26, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     A physician who was also a novelist and art critic, Mokutarō Kinoshita (1885 –1945) made statements calling for the acceptance of Édouard Manet, an artist representing nineteenth-century France, during the “Conventions of Painting” dispute that took place between April 1911 and February 1912. This paper will study statements by Kinoshita and consider how his perspective on art, and in particular painting, related to his acceptance of Manet.

     The dispute began with Kinoshita’s criticism of works by rising artist Shintoku Yamawaki, in which he used the words “conventions of painting.” Kinoshita’s views on painting appear to have been influenced by an assessment of Manet made by German art critic Julius Meier-Graefe in his book Paul Cézanne (1910). In fact, in arguing the importance of accepting Manet, Kinoshita borrowed Meier-Graefe’s terminology, describing Manet as “the mediator of tradition.”

     In 1913, a year after the dispute ended, Kinoshita introduced a founder of the abstract art movement, Wassily Kandinsky, in his “Anti-Naturalism Tendencies in Western Painting” [“Yōga ni okeru shizenshugiteki keikō”], published in the journal Bijutsu shinpō. In Kinoshita’s interpretation of Kandinsky, his perspective on painting has clearly been shaped by the influence of Meier-Graefe, as noted above. The fact that Kinoshita’s acceptance of Manet seems to have arisen more from the perspective he gained through Meier-Graefe than from Manet’s actual works may have set the course for the nature of Manet’s acceptance in Japan from that time on.

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  • Some Principles of Literary Criticism and Leo Tolstoy’s What is Art?
    Toyokazu KIDOURA
    2014 Volume 57 Pages 37-50
    Published: March 31, 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: May 26, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     This paper attempts to clarify the basis of Natsume Sōseki’s affective theory of literature as expressed in his Theory of Literature (1907, Bungaku-ron) and Literary Criticism (1909, Bungaku-hyōron) by comparing it with two texts that influenced it: C. T. Winchester’s Some Principles of Literary Criticism (1899) and Leo Tolstoy’s What is Art? (1898, English translation by Aylmer Maude).

     It is not believed that Winchester and Tolstoy influenced one another, but their theories nevertheless have a common feature: both emphasize the important role of human feelings or emotions in literature and art. According to these theories, the essence of literature and art is that the feelings or emotions expressed by the author or artist affect readers or auditors. This paper calls theories that place a high importance on feelings or emotions expressed in literature and art “affective theories.”

     Sōseki’s literary theory shares the affective element with the theories of Winchester and Tolstoy, in that Sōseki stresses strongly that the “emotional factor” is indispensable to all literature. However, this paper argues, Sōseki was also conscious of the limitations and aporias of affective theory, as shown in particular by his critical reception of Tolstoy’s What is Art? This paper concludes by suggesting that Sōseki’s literary theory should be given its rightful place in both the history of modern Japanese literary discourse, as well as Western-centric views of the history of criticism as an important perspective on feelings or emotions in literature and art.

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  • The Harvard Classics and the Enpon Zenshū
    Shunichiro AKIKUSA
    2014 Volume 57 Pages 51-65
    Published: March 31, 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: May 26, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     In this paper I propose to examine the myth that the Harvard Classics (1909-1910) directly influenced the development of the enpon zenshū (oneyen books, a collection of inexpensive volumes published in the late 1920s). I intend to do so through investigating the similarity between the Harvard Classics and two enpon, Kaizō-sha’s Gendai nihon bungaku zenshū (1926) and Shinchō-sha's Sekai bungaku zenshū (1927). In his memoir, the editor and critic Ki Kimura (1894-1979) revealed “the origin of the enpon zenshū.” Having purchased a set of the second edition of the Harvard Classics, Kimura approached Sanehiko Yamamoto (1885-1952), the president of the Japanese publishing house, Kaizō-sha, and suggested the possibility of publishing a similar collection in Japan. Yamamoto immediately hit upon the idea of the enpon as a multi-volume anthology of Japanese contemporary literature, which went on to attract many readers and to generate incredible sales. Kimura also suggested the idea of the huge anthology to an editor at Shinchō-sha. In addition, Kimura clearly asserted that Gendai nihon bungaku zenshū 's formal structure and content were designed after the model of the Harvard Classics. While the avid editor Kimura wished to dignify and canonize his own collections by drawing on the prestige of the Harvard brand, a close comparison of these monumental anthologies suggests that the Harvard Classics in fact had little influence on the enpon zenshū. Perhaps more interesting, however, are the similar cultural and pedagogical shifts (e.g., the general public’s aspiration for higher education) in the U.S. and Japan that led to both anthology booms.

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  • Kijima Hajime’s Post- War Poetry, Folk, and Jazz
    Kiriko NISHIDA
    2014 Volume 57 Pages 66-79
    Published: March 31, 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: May 26, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     Japanese writers’ interest in black people and black culture heightened in the early 1960s due to: the Civil Rights Movement, the Emergency Meeting of the Permanent Bureau of Afro-Asian Writers held in Tokyo, and the prevalence of modern jazz. Kijima Hajime (1928-2004) was one of the leading translators of “Black literature” (kokujin-bungaku), also known as “Negro literature” at the time, currently called “African American literature”.

     Kijima was a poet and extensively translated African American literature. He translated Du Bois’ (1868-1963) autobiography as early as 1951. Only from the late 1950s did most writers begin to pay close attention to “Black literature”. Its popularity gained momentum in Japan in 1961 when The Collective Works of Black Literature (kokujin-bungaku-zenshū) was published by Hayakawa Publishers. Even from the planning stages, Kijima played a central role in editing the anthology.

     Why was Kijima so heavily involved in promoting “Black literature”? One key reason is that, as a poet, his primary focus was on oppressed working people. “Black literature” shaped his writing style, as well as other literary movements that debated the future of Japanese people after the Allied occupation of Japan at the end of World War Ⅱ. His poetry was affected by ordinary people and folk rhetoric as well as the rhythm of their music, including jazz. His empathy for working people breathed life into his translation of “Black literature.” His literary philosophy deeply impacted and, in turn, was also shaped by his translation work.

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  • Focusing on the Representation of the “Ideology of Sameness” in Jawa Sarasa (1944)
    DWISUSILO Syahrur Marta
    2014 Volume 57 Pages 80-93
    Published: March 31, 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: May 26, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     In 1942, proletarian writer, Takeda Rintarō, was sent from Japan to the Dutch East-Indies (Indonesia) as part of the Sendenbu (propaganda squad), where he led the literature section in the Keimin Bunka Shidōshō (cultural center) in Jakarta. Jawa sarasa documents Takeda Rintaro's activities and cultural experiences in Java, Indonesia, after he returned to Japan in 1944.

     Most Japanese literature and cultural writings about Nanyō or Nanpō (“South Islands” - South Asia and the Pacific, including Indonesia) from this era reference the concept of Imperialism in Asia. In the pre-war period, stereotypes such as dojin (local primitive) and tōmin (islander) defined South Island people as being lesser than or “other” than the Japanese people. Japanese literary depictions of tropical Eden's and exotic “uncivilized people” reflect similar perceptions and writings by Western authors towards Asia in the 19th century.

     This paper explores Takeda Rintarō's perspectives of “otherness” in prewar discourses about Indonesia. Through the influence of “The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” propaganda concept, the ideology of “sameness” was becoming a hegemonic cultural idea in Takeda's writings about Indonesia. Conversely, however, Takeda's depiction of the double-occupation of Java, with the political rule of Holland and economic domination of daily life by Chinese immigrants, implied criticism of Japan's administrative policies regarding economic exploitation in Java. Takeda's criticisms of Japanese policy are bedded in his emotion for the nature, culture and people of Indonesia.

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  • In Relation to Dora Thorne and Konjiki Yasha (The Golden Demon)
    Yumiko MASUDA
    2014 Volume 57 Pages 94-107
    Published: March 31, 2014
    Released on J-STAGE: May 26, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

     Sorekara (And Then) by Natsume So-seki was published in the Asahi Shimbun in 1909. In this novel lilies appear as a symbol of the heroine, Michiyo. With the exception of several waka poems compiled in the 8th century Man’yōshū, however, lilies are not seen in traditional Japanese literature.

     In Meiji Era lilies reappeared in Ozaki Ko-yo-’s Konjiki yasha (The Golden Demon), which was written during 1897-1903. In the dream of her lover, the novel’s heroine, Miya, drowns and is transformed into a lily (yuri). Though the main original source, Weaker Than a Woman by Bertha M. Clay, does not include important descriptions of lilies, Dora Thorne, another novel by the same author, contains many meaningful scenes with lilies.

     In this paper, I discuss how Ko-yo- changed the meaning of lilies by drawing on an analysis of these scenes described above. While three kinds of lilies appear in Dora Thorne―lilies (yuri), lilies of the valley (suzuran), and water lilies (suiren)―Ko-yo-, who did not know the difference between them, was under the misconception that western lilies grew in the water or by the waterside. Because of this misunderstanding he made lilies symbols of rejected women like Ophelia in Hamlet, who drowns in the river.

     So-seki utilized this symbolism in Sorekara when the protagonist Daisuke puts lilies into the water of the vase. That act symbolizes Michiyo’s drowning, that is to say, the fact that he rejected Michiyo in the past.

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