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I Novel
The I-novel (, , ) is a literary genre in Japanese literature used to describe a type of confessional literature where the events in the story correspond to events in the author's life. This genre was founded based on the Japanese reception of naturalism during the Meiji period, and later influenced literature in other Asian countries as well. This genre of literature reflects greater individuality and a less constrained method of writing. From its beginnings, the I-novel has been a genre that also is meant to expose aspects of society or of the author's life. History Origin The first I-novels are believed to be ''The Broken Commandment'', written in 1906 by Tōson Shimazaki, and ''Futon'' (''The Quilt'') written by Katai Tayama in 1907. In ''Futon'', the protagonist confesses his affection for a female pupil. In ''The Broken Commandment'', Shimazaki described a male who was born a member of a discriminated segment of the population ('' burakumin''), and how he decided to vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Literary Genre
A literary genre is a category of literature. Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or length (especially for fiction). They generally move from more abstract, encompassing classes, which are then further sub-divided into more concrete distinctions. The distinctions between genres and categories are flexible and loosely defined, and even the rules designating genres change over time and are fairly unstable. Genres can all be in the form of prose or poetry. Additionally, a genre such as satire, allegory or pastoral might appear in any of the above, not only as a subgenre (see below), but as a mixture of genres. Finally, they are defined by the general cultural movement of the historical period in which they were composed. History of genres Aristotle The concept of genre began in the works of Aristotle, who applied biological concepts to the classification of literary genres, or, as he called them, "species" (eidē). These classifications are mainl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kokutai
is a concept in the Japanese language translatable as " system of government", "sovereignty", "national identity, essence and character", "national polity; body politic; national entity; basis for the Emperor's sovereignty; Japanese constitution" or nation. The word is also a short form of the (unrelated) name for the National Sports Festival of Japan. Etymology ''Kokutai'' originated as a Sino-Japanese loanword from Chinese ''guoti'' (; "state political system; national governmental structure"). The Japanese compound word joins and . According to the ''Hanyu Da Cidian'', the oldest ''guoti'' usages are in two Chinese classic texts. The 2nd century BCE ''Guliang zhuan'' () to the Spring and Autumn Annals glosses ''dafu'' () as ''guoti'' metaphorically meaning "embodiment of the country". The 1st century CE '' Book of Han'' history of Emperor Cheng of Han used ''guoti'' to mean "laws and governance" of Confucianist officials. Pre-1868 The historical origins of ''kokutai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xiao Hong
Xiao Hong or Hsiao Hung (1 June 1911 – 22 January 1942) was a Chinese writer. Her ruming (乳名，infant name) was Zhang Ronghua (張榮華). Her xueming (學名，formal name used at school) was Zhang Xiuhuan (張秀環). Her name Zhang Naiying () was changed by her grandfather; she also used the pen names Qiao Yin and Lingling. Xiao Hong's childhood Xiao Hong was born into a wealthy landlord family on 1 June 1911 the day of the Dragon Boat Festival in Hulan County, in what is now Heilongjiang Province. Xiao Hong's childhood was not a happy one. Her mother died when she was nine years old and she attended a girls school in Harbin in 1927, where she encountered the progressive ideas of the May Fourth movement as well as Chinese and foreign literature. Her childhood was deeply influenced by two people: her father, he was apparently a difficult man who was cold and ruthless, and her grandfather, who was the only one in the family who understood her. In her "Yong yuan de chong j ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Culture Movement
The New Culture Movement () was a movement in China in the 1910s and 1920s that criticized classical Chinese ideas and promoted a new Chinese culture based upon progressive, modern and western ideals like democracy and science. Arising out of disillusionment with traditional Chinese culture following the failure of the Republic of China to address China's problems, it featured scholars such as Chen Duxiu, Cai Yuanpei, Chen Hengzhe, Li Dazhao, Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, He Dong, Qian Xuantong, Liu Bannong, Bing Xin, and Hu Shih, many classically educated, who led a revolt against Confucianism. The movement was launched by the writers of ''New Youth'' magazine, where these intellectuals promoted a new society based on unconstrained individuals rather than the traditional Confucian system. The movement promoted: * Vernacular literature * An end to the patriarchal family in favor of individual freedom and women's liberation * The view that China is a nation among nations, not a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Creation Society
The Creation Society was a left-wing cultural organisation in China to encourage literary and cultural exploration. The founders wished to establish a 'society of art for art's sake'. The Society was established by a group of students who were studying in Japan, such as Guo Moruo, Yu Dafu, Zhang Ziping, Tian Han, Zheng Boqi, and Cheng Fangwu Cheng Fangwu (; August 24, 1897 – 17 May 1984) was a top level Party elder 元老 who cut his teeth at the beginning of the long march, responsible for education of the Chinese Red Army and the party apparatus from the mid-1930s to the end of .... The Society was banned by the Nationalist government in 1929. References 1921 establishments in China 1929 disestablishments {{art-org-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Osamu Dazai
was a Japanese author. A number of his most popular works, such as ''The Setting Sun'' (''Shayō'') and ''No Longer Human'' (''Ningen Shikkaku''), are considered modern-day classics. His influences include Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Murasaki Shikibu and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. While Dazai continues to be widely celebrated in Japan, he remains relatively unknown elsewhere, with only a handful of his works available in English. His last book, ''No Longer Human'', is his most popular work outside of Japan. Early life , who was later known as Osamu Dazai, was born on June 19, 1909, the eighth surviving child of a wealthy landowner in Kanagi, a remote corner of Japan at the northern tip of Tōhoku in Aomori Prefecture. At the time of his birth, the huge, newly-completed Tsushima mansion where he would spend his early years was home to some thirty family members. The Tsushima family was of obscure peasant origins, with Dazai's great-grandfather building up the family's wealth as a money ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fumiko Hayashi (author)
was a Japanese writer of novels, short stories and poetry, who is included in the feminist literature canon. Among her best-known works are ''Diary of a Vagabond'', '' Late Chrysanthemum'' and ''Floating Clouds''. Biography Hayashi was born in Moji-ku, Kitakyūshū, Japan, and raised in abject poverty. In 1910, her mother Kiku Hayashi divorced her merchant husband Mayaro Miyata (who was not Fumiko's biological father) and married Kisaburo Sawai. The family then worked as itinerant merchants in Kyūshū. After graduating from high school in 1922, Hayashi moved to Tokyo and lived with several men, supporting herself with a variety of jobs, before settling into marriage with painting student Rokubin Tezuka in 1926. During this time, she also helped launch the poetry magazine ''Futari''. Her autobiographical novel ''Diary of a Vagabond'' (''Hōrōki''), published in 1930, became a bestseller and gained her high popularity. Many of her subsequent works also showed an autobiographic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kan Kikuchi
, also known as Kan Kikuchi (which uses the same kanji as his real name), was a Japanese author. He established the publishing company Bungeishunjū, the monthly magazine Bungeishunjū (magazine), of the same name, the Japan Writer's Association and both the Akutagawa Prize, Akutagawa and Naoki Prize for popular literature. He came to prominence for the plays "Madame Pearl" and "Father Returns", but his ample support for the Imperial Japanese war effort led to his marginalization in the postwar period. He was also the head of Daiei Motion Picture Company (currently Kadokawa Pictures). He is known to have been an avid player of Mahjong. Early life and career Kikuchi was born on December 26, 1888, in Takamatsu, Kagawa, Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. In 1904-1905 after the Russo-Japanese War, literature in Japan grew more modern. French Literary realism, Realism was one of the first influences that immersed into Japan's literature. Building from the famous and classic works fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zenzō Kasai
was a Japanese novelist active in the Taishō period. Early life Zenzō Kasai was born in what is now part of Hirosaki, Aomori, as the eldest son of a rice merchant. His parents died when he was two years old, and he was shuffled to relatives around Hokkaido and Aomori. He was only able to receive a primary school education. His relatives were resolved that he should become a Buddhist priest, but he moved to Tokyo at the age of 15 in order to find work, and to pursue a literary career. After working as an employee of a railroad, and as a forester, he saved up enough money to take classes at Toyo University and Waseda University, he met aspiring author Kazuo Hirotsu, and ended up as a disciple of author Tokuda Shusei. He studied philosophy, literature and English literature, but dropped out of school when he felt that he had learned enough (and when his money ran out). Literary career In 1912, Kasai joined Shigeo Funaki and Kazuo Hirotsu in founding a new literary magazine, ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naoya Shiga
was a Japanese writer active during the Taishō and Shōwa periods of Japan, whose work was distinguished by its lucid, straightforward style and strong autobiographical overtones. Early life Shiga was born in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, as the son of a banker and descendant of an aristocratic samurai family. In 1885, the family moved to Tokyo and Shiga given into his grandparents' custody. His mother died when he was twelve, an experience that marked the beginning of an obsession with and fear of death both on an individual and a collective level, and which stayed with him until his early thirties. At the same time, his relationship with his father became increasingly strained. One conflict resulted from Shiga's announcement to participate in the protests following the 1907 and his father's forbidding him to do so, as part of the family's wealth was owed to a past investment in the mine. Shiga's imagination was inspired by nature, and he was an avid reader of Thomas Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hōmei Iwano
was a Japanese writer. Born in Hyogo Prefecture, Iwano wanted to become a Christian missionary, but he finally ended up as a literature expert. After some unsuccessful poetry books and kabuki dramas, he published poetical dramas (''Shintaishi no sahō'', 1907; ''Shintaishi shi'', 1907–08) and analyses of literature (''Shimpiteki hanjū shugi'', 1906; ''Shin shizen shugi'', 1908). From 1909 on, he wrote some autobiographical novels like ''Tandeki'' (1909) and ''Hōmei gobusaku'' (1911). He translated Plutarch. References *Louis Frédéric : Japan Encyclopedia. Harvard University Press, 2002 (''Japon, dictionnaire et civilisation''), , p. 40 External links www.aozora.gr.jp Aozora Bunko Aozora Bunko (, literally the "Blue Sky Library", also known as the "Open Air Library") is a Japanese digital library. This online collection encompasses several thousands of works of Japanese-language fiction and non-fiction. These include out-o ... 1873 births 1920 deaths Japane ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
No Longer Human
is a 1948 Japanese novel by Osamu Dazai. It is considered Dazai's masterpiece and ranks as the second-best selling novel ever in Japan, behind Natsume Sōseki's ''Kokoro''. The literal translation of the title, discussed by Donald Keene in his preface to the English translation, is "Disqualified From Being Human". The novel, narrated in first person, contains several elements which portray an autobiographical basis but is in fact categorized under the semi-autobiographical genre since the characters in the book are all fictional. The novel presents recurring themes in the author's life, including suicide, social alienation, and depression. Much like the protagonist Yōzō, Dazai attempted suicide a total of five times in his lifetime, with consorts, until ultimately succeeding in taking his own life with his lover at the time, a woman named Tomie Yamazaki. Many believe the book to have been his will, as Dazai took his own life shortly after the last part of the book (which ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
