Many studies of mermaids in literature discuss femininity, otherness, and the impossibility of communication between merfolk and human beings. They operate on the assumption that merfolk are mainly mermaids, although there are examples of mermen in many European legends, European literature, and natural history.

　In this paper, I discuss the transition of merfolk in natural history. In the ancient times, witnesses' accounts of the males Triton and Nereus were introduced. In the Medieval Bestiary, female Sirens were pagan others who seduced men. During the Renaissance, naturalists depicted merfolk with anatomical descriptions and detailed views based on reports of merfolk “mummies" and “bones" from all over the world. People regarded manatees as merfolk and classified both as fish.

　Carl von Linné created the concept of Mammalia, reclassified manatees into this new group, and removed Sirens from his Systema Naturae. Naturalists in the 18th century thus denied the existence of merfolk. In The Animal Kingdom, George Cuvier wrote that people mistook manatees for mermaids because they have two breasts and feed their young with their own milk. Behind this idea is the modern view of women and family: breastfeeding is the role of the mother, not a wet nurse. Breastfeeding shows the “ideal" maternal instinct or bestiality in female manatees, mermaids, and women, who have the same upper bodies as mermaids. Through its representation of mermaids, natural history underlined the commonality of manatees as beasts and human females and gave the “scientific" endorsement of mermaids' otherness, inability to communicate verbally, and “femininity."

　It is well known that Yanagi Muneyoshi said in the early 1920s that Korean arts had a beauty of “Line". This thought had an influence on many Korean intellectuals at the time. Kim So-un, a translator who translated Korean folk songs and poetry into Japanese during the colonial period, was one of them.

　The fact that Kim So-un was influenced by Yanagi's theory of “Line" has been overlooked until now. Kim often referred to “Line" and used the term in his work to describe Korean national character.

　The most interesting point is that while Yanagi read “Line" from tangible things such as Korean ceramics and architecture, Kim read it not only from tangible things but also from intangible things such as Korean folk songs and even Korean language. And more importantly he developed that into his own theories on Korean folk songs and Korean language or Korean-Japanese translation.

　This paper examines how Kim So-un received Yanagi's theory of “Line", focusing on his writings on Korean folk songs written from 1927 to 1933, which is the period when he carried out Korean folk song-related work (translation and collection, etc.). This paper starts with describing what the theory of “Line" is and why Kim referred to it. It then explores how Kim used the theory in his writings by dividing the period mentioned above into the first half (1927-29) and the second half (1930-33).

Dans les années 1920 et 1930, eurent lieu deux 《renaissances》des arts vietnamiens. La première est revendiquée par les Français, la seconde par les intellectuels vietnamiens. L'objectif de cet article est d'examiner cette dernière, c'est-a-dire la《Renaissance annamite》qui, jusqu'ici, n'avait fait l'objet d'aucune recherche académique.

Dans quel contexte et suivant quelle logique la première et la second 《renaissance》 ont elles été élaborées ? J'accorderai une importance particulière à un article de ng Qu –《Il y a une Renaissance annamite》 – publié en 1932 dans la revue Nam Phong. Ce texte prend valeur de manifeste. M'appuyant sur l'hypothèse qu'il s'agit d'une réponse à la 《renaissance》 imposée par les autorités françaises, j'en mettrai à jour la portée historique.

Une étude comparative entre les deux 《renaissances》 permettra de dégager les spécificités de la 《Renaissance annamite》. Il se révèle que cette dernière a eu pour fonction de retrouver les 《origines》 culturelles du Vietnam selon le modèle de la Renaissance en France au 16ème siècle.

Cette étude a pour ambition de montrer que la 《Renaissance annamite》 est un outil de libération, une forme culturelle de résistance, née à l'intérieur même de la 《renaissance imposée》.

　Dans l'entretien intitulé《Zola musicien》, l'auteur des Rougon-Macquart se rappelle qu'il avait nourri 《une certaine haine》 pour l'《art des doubles et des triples croches》.《Mais tout change》, précise-t-il, après sa rencontre avec Alfred Bruneau.

　Parmi les opéras, fruits des collaborations avec Bruneau, c'est dans L'Attaque du moulin (1893) que le romancier naturaliste s'est activement engagé pour la première fois dans la création du livret. En adaptant la nouvelle originale (1877) en drame lyrique, il y a inséré un dénouement plus positif qui ressemble à celuide La Débâcle (1892). On peut y voir la résurrection morale de la France par les Français raisonnables, restés plus près de la terre. Les deux oeuvres, écrites à la même période, racontent l'histoire de la guerre franco-prussienne de 1870.

　La veille de l'avant-première de L'Attaque, Zola fait paraître 《Le drame lyrique》, où il propose une voie de renouveau de l'opéra français basée sur la 《clarté vive du génie de notre race》. Inscrivant le récit de l'opéra dans la logique de l'écrit théorique, il propose une méthode pour dépasser l'influence de Wagner : expulser les dieux de la mythologie nordique et assurer la qualité du livret bien naturaliste, tout en gardant la formule wagnérienne de la composition.

　Le présent article analyse cette naturalisation de la formule wagnérienne par Émile Zola comme l'aboutissement esthétique de la conversion de l'écrivain en mélomane.

　This paper examines the representation of sheep in Abe Kōbō's literature and its relationship with his colonial experience and sheep raising in Manchuria.

　In Japan, there were almost no sheep until the Meiji Era. The government began importing and domesticating sheep to produce woollen uniforms for the military. Wool production was also encouraged in Japanese colonies during the war. In addition to the knowledge of sheep acquired from Chinese and European cultures, social and cultural phenomena in Japan influenced the representation of sheep in modern Japanese literature.

　Symbolic images of sheep are abundant in Abe Kōbō's works. In “Shijin no Shōgai" (The Life of a Poet) (1951), an old woman metamorphoses into a jacket made from menyō (sheep). “Mōchō" (Cecum) (1955), “Yōchō Jinrui" (Human beings with ceca of sheep) (1962) and Midori iro no sutokkingu (Green Stockings) (1974) all describe organ transplants from sheep to humans.

　Metamorphoses into animals and vegetables can often be seen in Abe's early novels; however, sheep have not been the focus of interpretations of his literature. By analyzing his background as a repatriate from Manchuria, we see that the depiction of sheep reflects his nostalgia for pastoral landscapes in the colony and his knowledge of sheep as strategic material in the wartime regime.