The Fantastic in the 1960s and 1970s: the Idea of Subversion and an Exploration of Style DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Ying Yu Graduate Program in East Asian Languages and Literatures The Ohio State University 2010 Dissertation Committee: Richard Torrance, Advisor Shelley Fenno Quinn Naomi Fukumori Copyright by Ying Yu 2010 Abstract This study provides a general picture of the literature of the fantastic as produced by Japanese writers in the 1960s and 1970s. It defines the modern fantastic in the second chapter as the embodiment of the moment of hesitation between natural and supernatural explanation. I show that in the 1960s and 1970s it was a literature of subversion. In the third chapter, the formation of the Japanese fantastic is introduced. Shibusawa Tatsuhiko and Tanemura Suehiro‟s introduction of Mannerism and the contents of magazine Blood and Roses are analyzed. This chapter also includes a discussion of how the fantastic in the 1960s and 1970s was inspired by opposition to the realism that critics maintained dominated postwar literary world. The fourth chapter mainly focuses on Shibusawa Tatsuhiko. His encyclopedic works, translated works of Marquis de Sade, and his experimental creation of fantastic works are discussed. These fictions of Shibusawa are examined to illustrate that he was obsessed with crafting an aesthetic and high stylization and to illustrate the features of his style, language, narrative, and the structure of his works. Chapter five concerns on two Shinseinen writers, Oguri Mushitarō and Yumeno Kyūsaku whose resurgent popularity was inspired during the 1960s.Their mystery fiction echoes the same subversive features of the fantastic: the creating of a real world only to disrupt it with the unreal and making the representation of the real the target of representation. Nakai Hideo‟s mystery fiction in the 1960s is also ii discussed in this chapter to clarify the connection between the fantastic writers and early Shinseinen writers. Chapter six argues there is a strong connection between the fantastic and previous literary forms: gesaku and kaidan. With the analysis of Ueda Akinari and Izumi Kyōka, we find that these works and the fantastic in the 1960s and 1970s all reflect prior literary forms for the purpose of parody, therefore gaining the power of subversion to escape the restrictions of time and create new forms. In chapter seven, mainstream writers such as Ishikawa Jun and Mishima Yukio, who use fantasy elements, themes, and narrative techniques, are discussed. The all pervasive influence of the fantastic in the present day culture is also examined. In short, the main purpose of this study is to use the fantastic as a new perspective on modern Japanese literature and to explore modern writers‟ pursuit of various possibilities in literary expression. The fantastic in the 1960s and 1970s begins with the intention of undermining the domination of Japanese naturalism. However, by bringing to the fore a wealth of existing literary forms, from kaidan to Izumi Kyōka, from the detective stories in Shinseinen to the fiction of intellectuals, the writers of the fantastic undercut the idea that Japanese naturalism was dominate, and this demolished the reason for the existence of the fantastic as a serious literary movement. The fantastic, thus, was dissolved into popular entertainments; it was soon overcome by trite and came to be consumed as a popular entertainment literature that displayed the bizarre, erotic, and grotesque. iii Dedication This document is dedicated to my family. iv Acknowledgments My deepest gratitude and thanks go to my advisor Dr. Richard Torrance. I wish to thank him for his unfailing intellectual support and patience over the years. This dissertation could not have been completed without Dr. William Tyler‟s help and support. I am grateful to him for his clear insights, and for his stimulating ideas and support. Unfortunately, Dr. Tyler passed away on January 2, 2009. I was deeply saddened by his death. I would also like to thank my other committee members, Dr. Shelly Quinn and Dr. Naomi Fukumori, who were consistently helpful and supportive. My thanks also go to Japan Foundation for providing me the opportunity to do my dissertation research in Japan from September 2008 to September 2009. I am also truly grateful to have had the opportunity, though too brief, to study under Professor Suzuki Sadami at The International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto, Japan. I wish to thank Professor Suzuki for offering me the helpful feedback I needed to move my thinking to the next stage. v Vita May 1979 .......................................................Suzhou, P.R. China 1996-2000 ......................................................B.A. Japanese, Nanjing University 2000-2003 ......................................................M.A. Japanese Literature, Fudan University 2003-2005 ......................................................M.A. Japanese Literature, The Ohio State University 2005 to present ..............................................Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of East Asian Literatures and Languages, The Ohio State University Fields of Study Major Field: East Asian Languages and Literatures vi Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... v Vita ..................................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... x Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Between Real and Unreal: a Literature of Subversion ...................................... 9 Definition of the Fantastic ............................................................................................... 9 The History of Japanese Fantastic ................................................................................. 16 Chapter 3: Deconstruction of Conventional Aesthetic and Value: Mannerism and Eroticism in Japanese Fantastic ........................................................................................ 23 Mannerism: the Harmonious Discord ........................................................................... 23 Magazine Blood and Roses: the Encyclopedic Cabinet Dedicated to Mannerism and Eroticism ....................................................................................................................... 36 The Fantastic as Anti-realism or as a New Approach to Japanese Modern Literature: Literary Expression, Style, Language ......................................................... 57 Chapter 4: From de Sade to The Chronicle of Prince Takaoka’s Journey Overseas: Life and Works of Shibusawa Tatsuhiko .......................................................................... 71 vii Biography ...................................................................................................................... 71 Three Cornerstones of Shibusawa‟s Theory: Surrealism, Eroticism, and Mannerism 76 Fictions of Shibusawa Tatsuhiko: Unique Style and the Embodiment of the Aesthetic of the Fantastic .............................................................................................. 86 Close Reading of The Chronicle of Prince Takaoka's Journey Overseas .................. 103 Main Character Prince Takaoka .............................................................................. 110 Sub-plots: Kusuko, Petrifactions, and Minerals ...................................................... 121 Shibusawa‟s Ideal of a Purposeless Existence and Child-like Play ........................ 128 Shibusawa‟s Unique Style ....................................................................................... 132 Chapter 5: The Reevaluation of Shinseinen Writers: Heretical Detective Novels as the Echo of the Fantastic ....................................................................................................... 137 語る(narrate) vs. 騙る(deceive) .................................................................................. 144 Parody: Intertexuality and the Structure of Mystery Fiction ................................... 146 Chapter 6: Edo Literature and the Fantastic .................................................................. 157 The Reevaluation of the Ghost Story in the 1960s and 1970s .................................... 157 Edo Ghost Story vs. the Fantastic in the 1960s and 1970s: The Notion of the Boundary between Real and Unreal ............................................................................ 163 Edo Ghost Story: Dream/Language/Parody/Decadence ............................................. 170 Ueda Akinari: A Writer of the Fantastic in Edo .......................................................... 172 Izumi Kyōka: Between Pre-modern and Modern ....................................................... 181 Chapter 7: The Lasting Influence of the Fantastic