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内容記述 |
In an interdisciplinary subject "the protection of nature", we, Nishimura, Fukazawa and Unoki, in charge of the lecture on "climate and culture" from the standpoint of the humanities, had a joint discjussion on the theme, "Nature in the Literature of Yasunari Kawabata", as summary reports of the lecture in the 50th year of Showa. (This report is continued from the theme, "Nature in the Literature of Naoya Shiga" in the 49th year of Showa and we expect to have a joint discussion on the theme, "Nature in the Literature of Kafu Nagai" in the 51st year of Showa.) We respectively make a specialty of Japanese literature, foreign literature and comparative thought, and from our different standpoints we are making a study of "Nature and the view of Nature in Japanese literature", and as a part of our study we took up Yasunari Kawabata. The reasons why we took him up are the following; he is one of the representative writers of modern Japanese literature, as is Naoya Shiga, and we think that his literature is closely connected with Nature and that he plays an important part in our understanding of the theme, "Nature and the view of Nature in Japanese literature". In this discussion we picked out especially "Yuki-Guni" and "Yama-no-Oto" from his works, and through these we considered "Nature and the view of Nature in the Literature of Yasunari Kawabata". This report is the summary of our opinions at the joint discussion, but in the process of making notes we read and passed on and supplemented them with various problems. We believe that this report approachs an exact reproduction of the joint discussion. Yasunari Kawabata's novel "Yuki-Guni" is closely connected with Nature. The scene of the story is set in a snow district. The hero Shimamura has a keen eye for the beauties of nature and feminine charm, and his lover Komako is a clean and wildly attractive woman. So we can call her a woman of nature. In this story the change of season has a wide meaning, and the main seasons in the book are autumn and winter. The author describes the natural beauties of autumn and winter most beautifully. His aesthetic sense is reflected in the serious consideration of the beauties of autumn and winter. He highly appraises the idea of Japanese medieval beauty, namely, the beauty of ruin and nihility. We can say that the natural beauty described in "Yuki-Guni" is a medieval beauty. (S. Nishimura) There are many descriptions of nature in Kawabata's "Yuki-Guni". Especially the opening sentence of the novel is of particular importance. "Out of the long tunnel" and "white" are key words for understanding his view of Nature. These words can be seen in his early work "Izu-no-Odoriko". The sentence, "Coming out of the tunnel, suddenly I saw a white ...", has become a prototype. The tunnel is not only concrete, but also comes to be a time machine, which is closely related to the reflections and dreams of the hero. Based on white, the contrast between red and white is frequently used. And white as the image of Nature is the color of nihility. (T. Fukazawa) A man who has experienced the life of the snow country recollects the bygone happy days spent with an untamed nervous girl. And another old man whose native place was in Shinshu endeavours to collect his memories of a dead sister-in-law, but in vain. Their efforts are very symbolic, so long as their heroines are embellished with transient natural images. (K. Unoki) |
Liberal_arts_H11-17.pdf (1.9 MB)
