One of my favourite Japanese writers is Natsume Sōseki, but while I’ve read just about everything of his that’s been translated into English, I haven’t tried that much by other writers from that period of Japanese history. It’s something I’ve been meaning to rectify for some time now, and today’s choice has only firmed that resolve, introducing some excellent writers and discussing some of their major works. Of course, it helps that there’s a focus here on the more aesthetic side of literature, and a reminder that as important as plot is, what really matters is – well, you’ll see…
*****
The start of the twentieth century was a turbulent and fascinating period in Japan after the Meiji restoration of 1868 saw the opening of the country’s borders to western trade and influence. What ensued was a frenzied attempt to catch up on centuries of industrial and philosophical progress in a matter of decades, with the generations born after this huge societal shift greatly influenced by foreign beliefs and technology.
The world of literature was no exception, and Anri Yasuda’s Beauty Matters: Modern Japanese Literature and the Question of Aesthetics, 1890-1930 (review copy courtesy of Columbia University Press) looks at how writers fared during this period, with a particular focus on aesthetics. In what is an interdisciplinary work, Yasuda introduces us to some of the leading lights of J-Lit during the late Meiji and Taishō eras, in particular, examining the influence of western art on the young writers at the forefront of the literary vanguard.
After an introduction providing an overview of the literary background of the time, Beauty Matters is divided into four sections. First up, we make the acquaintance of a couple of true J-Lit Giants. There’s the aforementioned Sōseki (with a focus on two of my favourite books, Kusamakura and Sanshirō) and Mori Ōgai, both an army medic and a formidable writer, with Yasuda analysing some of his best-known stories. These grand old men of modern Japanese literature, both of whom had lived and studied in Europe, were greatly influenced by the west, and its art, albeit in different ways.
After that comes the next generation. There’s a comprehensive introduction to the Shirakaba coterie and magazine, a group of young writers with Musunokōji Saneatsu chosen as a representative figure, whose love for western art was instrumental in introducing painters and sculptures to the country in the pages of their magazine. Finally, we turn to Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, the man who lent his name to Japan’s most prestigious literary award, and another author whose writing was shaped by his interest in art.
As you can see, Beauty Matters would be fascinating enough just for its overview of the literary scene of the time. In her introduction, Yasuda discusses the prevalence of Naturalism in Japanese literature and the dominance of the ‘I-Novel’, with its focus on the ‘true’ life of the authors. The writers here, despite having conflicting views on occasion, form an opposition of sorts to the prevailing trends, rejecting plain prose and aspiring to the aesthetic, as in the case of Ōgai:
We saw in the previous chapter that although Ogai eventually came to view the artistic realm and quotidian, social concerns as connected rather than separated, he remained consistent in his skepticism about Naturalism, seeing it as a form of blatant realism lacking in aesthetic aspirations.
p.135 (Columbia University Press, 2024)
The Shirakaba group, in particular, rowed fiercely against the current, and as the years passed, there was also a need to contend with censorship and political interference, which was only to become more serious after this period.
However, what Yasuda really wants to talk about is the influence of art on the writers of the era, and a fine job she does of it, too:
Beauty Matters examines Japanese writers of the late Meiji (1868-1912) and Taishō (1912-1926) eras who devised an understanding of literature as a distinctive conceptual register, one that encompasses aesthetic ideals and longings fueled primarily by affect, as well as rational responses to worldly circumstances. In other words, their awareness of literature as art was as central to their creative ethos as their belief in writing’s ability to critically engage with extraliterary realities. (p.1)
These influences include the Ophelia painting of John Everett Millais that acts as a leitmotif in Sōseki’s haiku-novel Kusamakura and the Shirakaba group’s printing of western art in their magazine (as well as their exchanges with the sculptor Auguste Rodin). Another nice anecdote concerns Akutagawa’s back and forth with the painter Oana Ryūichi, with a portrait of the writer inspiring Akutagawa to produce a story acting as a literary ‘self-portrait’. Through these and countless other examples, Yasuda shows how deeply the medium of art influenced the work of the writers of the period.
One nice example is Akutagawa’s story ‘Hell Screen’, with its obvious visual undertones, and his descriptions of the work of art enhance the feel of the piece. However, even this obviously aesthetically-charged story doesn’t ignore the outside world entirely:
Yet the story can be read not just as Akutagawa’s unhesitant endorsement of artistic supremacy but also as his cautious critique of such an attitude, or at least, as an open meditation on whether art and quotidian existence must be so antithetical to each other. (p.191)
As a side note, my daughter had to give a presentation on a work of Gothic literature for school recently, and as it happened she opted to talk about Akutagawa’s story – and was *very* happy when I told her about Yasuda’s take on it!
Akutagawa’s view is typical of most of the writers covered here, who often started out as gung-ho aesthetes before reaching a more nuanced opinion later in their careers. Sōseki’s detached artist in Kusamakura gradually realises he can’t hide away from the world forever, and the Shirakaba coterie and Akutagawa eventually find themselves balancing the tightrope between ignoring society and addressing it through their writing. Alas, before too long, with stricter censorship on the horizon, this was no longer a choice…
In any case, whether you’re here for the art or the insights into Japanese literature, Beauty Matters certainly doesn’t disappoint, and I’m very happy this was sent my way. It’s a lovely book that provides an insightful overview of an intriguing period of Japanese literary history, with a focus on how some of its luminaries were influenced by visual art, both western and local, throughout their writing careers. In fact, there’s only one criticism I could level at Yasuda’s work. I get the feeling it’s going to cost me a lot of money in the near future as I track down some of the books mentioned in it – don’t be surprised if you see some of these writers featured on the blog again soon…
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