Mr. Sakai and Nakajima Atsushi
Our guest speaker, Mr. Sakai, introduced two stories by this man, Nakajima Atushi (中島敦), today! The stories were Sangetsuki and Meijinden. Hopefully you are inspired to learn more about Nakajima after Mr. Sakai's presentation. Here are some links that might be helpful:
Waseda J-Lit Entry
Sangetsuki in Japanese
Meijinden in Japanese
Toragari in Japanese
At a recent meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, my friend Kota delivered a paper on Nakajima's "Toragari" ("Tiger Hunt"). Here's the abstract:
Korean Subject in the Imperial Capital: Reading Otherness in Nakajima Atsushi’s "Toragari"
Kota Inoue, New York University
At his death in 1942, Nakajima Atsushi had only published two books and was virtually an unknown writer. As Komori Yôichi has recently argued, the wide recognition of his name today is largely due to the continuous inclusion of his short story, "Sangetsuki" in school textbooks since the end of WWII. The humanistic reading mode that prevails in schools has inevitably promoted the short story, based on a Chinese classic about an elite bureaucrat who turns into a tiger, as a simplistic moral story. Komori suggests that such depoliticized reading is only possible by suppressing the historical specificity of the story’s setting -- a period of factional power struggle and armed conflict. Despite the depoliticized image shaped by the common perception of "Sangetsuki," Nakajima’s personal life intersected with Japan’s colonial administration, and he often set his story in colonial peripheries. The focus of my paper, "Toragari (Tiger Hunt)," is a story in which the narrator, an ethnic Japanese, recalls several episodes about his Korean schoolmate in Seoul. While describing his childhood friend, the narrator at times makes observations about the friend’s complex and suppressed feelings about his own ethnicity. But the story points to the colonial conditions in more oblique ways as in the title, which serves as a reference to, through the legendary tiger hunt by the warrior Katô Kiyomasa, Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s invasion of Korea. This paper teases out the colonial conditions embedded in the story by focusing on the story’s depiction of urban life in Seoul and Tokyo.
If you have any questions for Mr. Sakai (or if you just want to thank him), please post your comments and questions below.
posted by adrienne @ 9:05 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
坂井さん。
先日は私達の授業においでくださって、本当にどうもありがとうございました！坂井さんのお話はとてもおもしろくて、引き込まれました。また、普段は私自身の他に日本文学の好きな日本人の方と触れ合える機会がほとんどありませんので、坂井さんが私達の授業に来てくださったことは私にとって、とても刺激になりました。坂井さんのお話される様子を拝見して、また色々な本を読んでみたいと思うようになりました。
中島敦に関しては高校卒業以来、全く耳にしなかったので、また新鮮な気持ちでお話を拝聴しました。「三月記」は初めて読んだ当時はあまり内容について、自分で疑問に思ったり、深く考えるという事をしなかったので、またもう一度読み返したくなりました。
坂井さんのおっしゃる通り、「三月記」を読んだ当時の私自身も受験のために「国語」を「勉強」していた一人でした。当時から国語の授業が苦手で、どうしてストーリーに正解や誤答があるのかが、本当に理解できませんでしたし、いまだに理解することができないでいます。私の中で、読書をする、何かを読み取る、といった作業（つまり理解というのでしょうか。）は常に読者にゆだねられていると思うからです。作者の手を離れれば、どんな書き物も、読者の一人一人が個人の歴史や経験によって「解釈」し、それを「理解」と呼ぶと思うのです。坂井さんは本を読む、理解する、という事についてどのようにお考えですか？（もっとも、本にも色々種類はあると思いますが。。）
For those who don’t read Japanese…(the translation of what I wrote above in Japanese)
Dear Mr. Sakai,
Thank you very much for visiting our class the other day. The story you gave us was really interesting, fun, and drew me in. Personally, I don’t really have chance to see Japanese people who really love Japanese literature like you, so it was very exciting that you came to our class. Listening to how you introduced the stories made me feel want to read various kinds of books.
As for Nakajima Atsushi, since I haven’t heard about him since the graduation of high school, I listened to them with very fresh feeling. When I read “Sangetsuki,” I didn’t really question about the content or think about it very deeply, your story-telling made me feel wanting to read it again.
As you said, I was the one who “studied” “Japanese” for the entrance exam at that time when I read “Sangetsuki.” I didn’t like Japanese, and couldn’t understand why there is a correct or wrong answer for reading a story, and even now I don’t understand it. To me, the work to read something and read between the lines (I guess it is called “understanding?”) really depend on the readers. After the book is published, readers can interpret however they want or they can, and I think that is called an “understanding.” What do you think, Mr. Sakai about reading a book, or understanding? (I guess it might depend on what kind of books they are, though…)
Dear Shiori-san and all other students in Adrienne-san's class.
I safely arrived at Tokyo yesterday(May 1). I really enjoyed attending your class.
As Shiorisan says, there is no only one right answer and/or understanding when you read the book, I think.
For example, in Meijin-den(the story of the master of the archery), what is the theme of this book or what did you learn from it? It totally depends on the individual.
In my case, it is the power of
"respect". What did the King of China think when Meijin finally forgot the tool? Did Meijin really lose his skill/power because of his "blank look" after his long training? Will the King or people try to provoke him because of his
"blank look"? Maybe not. People know the rumor that if Meijin once points the target, then he never lose it. Rdgardless of his present expression, the respect to him prevents others from trying the risk against him. What a power "respect" has! Then, how can I get the true "respect"? This and that, I was thinking at that time. What about you?
Please enjoy reading and study hard.
Thanks again for everyone.
Tsuneo Sakai
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