INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter fece, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely afreet reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Iiifomiation Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 VISIONS AND NARRATIVES: MODERNISM IN THE PROSE WORKS OF YOSHIYUKI EISUKE, MURAYAMA TOMOYOSHI, YUMENO KYOSAKU, AND OKAMOTO KANOKO DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Junko Ikezu Williams, M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 1998 Dissertation Committee: Professor William J. Tyler, Adviser Professor Richard Torrance Approved by Professor Lisa Florman Adviser Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures UMI Number: 9834098 Copyright 1998 by Williêuns, Junko Ikezu All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9834098 Copyright 1998, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Copyright by Junko Ikezu Williams 1998 ABSTRACT This dissertation discusses Japanese modernism in prose literature in the 1920s and 1930s. Introducing the social, artistic, and literary milieu of Japan at the time, it examines different aspects of Japanese prose modernism through the works of the four following writers: Yoshiyuki Eisuke (1906-1940), Murayama Tomoyoshi (1901-1977), Yumeno Kyüsaku (1889-1936) and Okamoto Kanoko (1889-1939). Yoshiyuki portrays the beautiful facade of urban life and its dark and corrupted nature in Dada-influenced narratives that are often bizarre and unconventional. Despite his fierce criticism of capitalism, he remained opposed to proletarian literature and supported the "art for art's sake" movement. Murayama, who was originally an avant-garde visual artist, came to participate in the proletarian literature movement. Yet, his writing style is as experimental and metaphorical as that advocated by the "art for art's sake" movement, and it goes beyond the simple categorization of proletarian literature. ii Yumeno, an ultra-nationalist writer, wrote a series of detective stories from a village in Kyûshü. Through these works, Yumeno denounced urbanism and intellectualism and metaphorically warned that modern Japan, in its rush to Westernization, was losing its national identity. Okamoto developed a highly personalized psycho­ analytical framework and described reality constructed by human subjectivity. She also used abstracted images to portray landscapes; thus, her long and detailed descriptions of scenery establish what would seem to be visually unimaginable worlds that are made real through language. In spite of the considerable political and artistic differences that distinguish these writers, they share a common "modernist" ground in their attempts to develop new and experimental images, visions, and narratives in their works. Inspired by both modern Western culture and Japanese traditional culture, Japanese prose modernism is a product of simultaneity in world culture and of a special generational focus on narrativity. Thus, in its conclusion, this dissertation seeks to define the Japanese literary modernist movement in the context of both Japanese literature and modernism in the universal sense. Ill Dedicated to Jason and My Parents IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENT S I wish to thank my adviser William J. Tyler for his great instruction and encouragement. His comments, questions, and opinions on each chapter helped me to reexamine modern Japanese literature from a variety of different perspectives. Doubtless his patience was tried as he read through the initial drafts of chapters about works that may have sounded baffling or bizarre. I am also grateful to Dr. Richard Torrance for his guidance especially in literary theory and philosophy. Whenever there were questions about Foucault, Marxism, or the Shinkankakuha. he was a willing and knowledgeable source of information and help. I also thank Dr. Lisa Florman for her knowledge and guidance in Western modernism and the avant-garde movement. Many of the ideas on Western modernism in this dissertation came from my study with her. Without her help, my dissertation would be much narrower and less interdisciplinary. To my husband Jason Williams, I thank you for your warm support and encouragement. And to my parents, Ikezu Fukujirô and Akiko, I offer my thanks for their belief in the intellectual life. I dedicate this dissertation to both Jason and my parents. VI VITA May 2 , 1961 .................. Born - Tokyo, Japan 1985 ......................... B .A. Rikkyô University, Tokyo, Japan 1985-1986 .................... Writer, Unite PR, Tokyo, Japan 1986-1991 .................... Editor and Instructor, Juridical Foundation: Jitsumu Kyôiku Kenkyüjo, Tokyo, Japan 1991-1992 .................... Instructor, Berlitz Language School, Austin, Texas 1992-1997 .................... Teaching/Research Assistant, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio PUBLICATIONS 1. J.I. Williams and Sakurai Kunihiro, Kôsei hayawakari mondô-shü (Collection of Questions and Answers on Proofreading) (Tokyo: Foundation of Practical Education, 1988) , 60 pp. 2, J.I. Williams and Sakurai Kunihiro, Dôhyô (Guideoost) vol. 30-34. no. 347 -397. March, 1987 - April, 1991. (average 16 pp./ periodical) VII FIELD OF STUDY Major Field: East Asian Languages and Literatures Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ............................................... ii Dedication ............................................. iv Acknowledgements ...................................... v Vita ................................................... vii Table of Contents ..................................... ix Chapters : Introduction Japanese Modernism: Its Background and Historical Perspective ........ 1 1. Yoshiyuki Eisuke: Dadaist, Hedonist, Social Critic - Whirlwind in Literary Circles ............... 30 2. Murayama Tomoyoshi: From Collage Created by Language to Allegory of Literary Circles ............. 85 3. Yumeno Kyüsaku: Modernist in Mass Culture, Modernist in the Vagabond of Questioning the Modern World ..... 155 4. Okamoto Kanoko: Subjectivity of Reality ...................... 213 Conclusion Toward a Definition of Japanese Prose Modernism ..................... 278 Bibliography ........................................... 313 IX Introduction : Japanese Modernism: Its Background and Historical Perception Social, Cultural/ and Literary, Milieu from 1922 to 1939 This dissertation discusses aspects of Japanese modernism in prose. Because in literature, as in other artistic genres, modernist movements included a vast range of ideas, goals, and styles, it is not possible to cover all of the salient features of Japanese modernism. Although the first sign of a modernistic consciousness in Japanese literature emerged in the 1910s, it was during the 1920s and 1930s that Japanese prose modernism flourished. It is the period from the late Taishô and early Showa years, namely from 1922, when Yoshiyuki made his debut in literary circles, to 1939, or the publication date of Okamoto's posthumous work Shoio ruten (The Wheel of Life), that serves as the time frame for this dissertation. It was when Taishô democracy reached its high point and then faded gradually to militarism. There is no attempt here to exhaust the many names involved in the modernist movement in prose in Japan — Inagaki Taruho (1900-1977), Funabashi Seiichi (1904-1976), Ryütanji Yû (1901-1992), Makino Shin'ichi (1896-1936), Kuno Toyohiko (1896-1971), Hisao Jüran (1902-1957) — but rather to focus on four writers only: Yoshiyuki Eisuke (1906-1938), Murayama Tomoyoshi (1901-1977), Yumeno Kyüsaku (1889-1936) and Okamoto Kanoko (1889-1939).- As we learn of their works and careers, we shall come to understand them as four experimentalists who begin from an avant-garde position.- Japan's evolution from a feudal to a modern society, which began after the Meiji Restoration in 1868, was late In this period, writers such as Tanizaki Jun'ichiro and Akutagawa Ryûnosuke wrote works that consisted of modernist themes and expressions even though they have not been considered modernist writers. This dissertation will refer to their works in the discussion