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GENERAL INTRODUCTION |
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GENERAL INTRODUCTION
ERAS-GENRE-THEORY OF LITERARINESS
THE ERAS OF JAPANESE LITERARY HISTORY ARE SOMEWHAT SIMPLER THAN DESIGNATIONS USED BY HISTORIANS.THE FOLLOWING LARGER NAMES REFER TO LITERARY ERAS; THE INDENTED TYPE INDICATES THE HISTORICAL ERA NAME.
I INCLUDE IN THE LIST THE APPROXIMATE DATE FOR WORKS DISCUSSED IN THIS COURSE:
日本文学史年表
上代 じょうだい JODAI
THIS LARGE DESIGNATION MEANS SOMETHING LIKE EARLY OR EARLIEST ERA AND IS, FOR THE MOST PART, A PERIOD CHARACTERIZED BY ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES AND RESEARCH THEREIN. THAT IS, ALMOST NOTHING OF INTEREST BY WAY OF LITERATURE, LET ALONETHE WRITTEN WORD, EXISTS FROM THESE PERIODS, SAVE THE LAST WHICH SIGNIFIES MOST OF THE JAPANESE EIGHTH CENTURY, THE SO-CALLED NARA PERIOD OF THE HISTORIANS.
HERE ARE THE SUB-ERAS:
THE JOMON ERA IS CHARACTERIZED BY LARGE FUNERARY URNS WITH INCISED DESIGNS CREATED BY BRAIDED ROPE EMBEDDED IN THE CLAY BEFORE FIRING. SOME FANCIFUL AND ADVANCED ARTISTRY IS EXHIBITED IN THE CERAMICS OF THE LATER JOMON PERIOD.THEY MAY BE FOUND IN MANY MUSEUMS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. NO TEXT EXISTS FOR THIS PERIOD. JOMON CULTURE IS THOUGHT TO BE A NORTHERN ASIAN CULTURE OF NOMADIC HORSERIDERS THAT FOUND ITS WAY TO THE JAPANESE ISLANDS VIA THE NORTHERN ROUTE, THAT IS, FROM SIBERIA AND ENVIRONS. SITES EXTEND FROM HOKKAIDO TO KYUSHU, BUT CONCENTRATE IN THE KINAI AREA. THE YAYOI ERA IS ALSO CHARACTERIZED BY CERAMIC CULTURE, BUT UNLIKE THE FUNERARY AND LARGELY CEREMONIAL ASPECT OF THE EARLIER JOMON CULTURE, THE YAYOI CERAMICS ARE MORE DOMESTIC AND LESS SACRIFICIAL. BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLES ARE FOUND IN MUSEUM COLLECTIONS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, BUT, AGAIN, NO TEXTS ARE EXTANT. THE YAYOI CULTURE IS SAID TO BE A SOUTHERN ASIAN CULTURE OF SEDENTARY RICE-CULTIVATORS THAT FOUND ITS WAY TO THE JAPANESE ISLANDS VIA THE SOUTHERN ROUTE, THAT IS, FROM SOUTH CHINA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA.
SITES EXTEND FROM THE RYUKYU ISLANDS TO HOKKAIDO, BUT CONCENTRATE IN THE KINAI AREA. THE KOFUN ERA IS CHARACTERIZED BY LARGE TUMULUS MOUNDS WHICH ARE THE TOMBS OF EMPERORS, LESSER NOBLES, FOREIGN CLANS, AND OCCASIONALLY OF COMMONERS. THEY ARE FOUND IN ALMOST EVERY AREA OF JAPAN, BUT CONCENTRATE AGAIN IN THE KINAI AREA, THAT IS, THE 'GOLDEN TRIANGLE' FORMED BY THE MODERN CITIES OF OSAKA, KYOTO, AND NARA. NO LITERARY TEXTS EXIST, BUT SOME INCRIPTIONS HAVE BEEN FOUND ON IRON SWORDS AND OTHER IMPLEMENTS. THE ASUKA ERA, WHICH MEANS FLYING HORSE, IS CHARACTERIZED BY THE ADVENT OF WRITTEN CULTURAL EVIDENCE FROM THE CHINESE MAINLAND AND CENTERS ON THE KINAI AREA, MOST PARTICULARLY THE COUNTRYSIDE SURROUNDING THE CITY OF NARA. WRITTEN DOCUMENTS EXIST FROM THIS PERIOD, BUT THEY ARE WRITTEN NOT IN NATIVE JAPANESE, BUT IN CHINESE AND FORMS OF HYBRID SINO-JAPANESE.
THE NARA ERA SIGNIFIES THE BEGINNINGS OF A WRITTEN JAPANESE LITERARY CULTURE, FOCUSING ON THE CAPITAL CITY OF NARA, HEIJO-KYO AS IT WAS THEN CALLED. ALTHOUGH IT WAS A BOOM CENTURY FOR THINGS CHINESE, TWO WORKS OF SIGNIFICANT LITERARY IMPORTANCE APPEARED.
WE WILL BE DISCUSSING:
THE JODAI OR EARLIER ERA ENDS WITH THE REMOVAL OF THE CAPITAL CITY OF THE JAPANESE STATE FROM NARA, IN 794 AD, TO THE NEW CITY OF KYOTO. IT WAS NAMED HEIAN-KYO,THE CITY OF PEACE AND TRANQUILLITY. THE NEXT HISTORICAL AND LITERARY PERIOD CENTERS ON HEIAN-KYO AND IS CONSIDERED THE 'GOLDEN AGE' OF CLASSICAL JAPANESE LITERATURE.
中古 ちゅうこ CHUKO
LITERALLY 'MIDDLE-ANTIQUITY,'THIS ERA ENCOMPASSES MORE THAN TWO HUNDRED YEARS OF RELATIVELY STABLE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC HEGEMONY CENTERING ON THE CITY OF KYOTO. THE IMPERIAL FAMILY STOOD AT THE APEX OF THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE,BUT AT THE SAME TIME, A NEW SUB-STRUCTURE OF PATRIARCHAL AUTHORITY DEVELOPED CENTERING ON THE FAMILY KNOWN BY THE NAME OF FUJIWARA.THE FUJIWARAS WERE THE FATHERS AND MOTHERS OF EMPERORS. THROUGHTHEIR INFLUENCE AND PATRONAGE, LITERATURE IN THE NATIVE JAPANESE LANGUAGE FLOURISHED.
平安 へいあん HEIAN 794 A.D.-1185 AD
WE SHALL BE DISCUSSING THE FOLLOWINGWORKS FROM THIS PERIOD:
中世 ちゅうせい CHUUSEI
LITERALLY, 'MIDDLE AGES,' THE NAME IS USED BY BOTH LITERARY SCHOLARS AND HISTORIANS. THE JAPANESE MIDDLE AGES SHARES CERTAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF EUROPEAN FEUDALISM YET REMAINED AN ISOLATED PHENOMENON. THE LITERARY CULTURE OF THIS ERA BELONGS TO THE VOICES, NOT OF THE COURT NOBILITY AS HAD BEEN THE CASE FOR MOST OF THE HEIAN PERIOD, BUT OF THE NEWLY RISEN MILITARY BUREAUCRACIES AND THOSE WHO SERVED UPON THEM, INCLUDING RECLUSES AND PRIESTS. WHILE THE HEIAN ERA IS NOTED FOR ITS LITERATURE WRITTEN BY WOMEN OF THE COURT, THE JAPANESE MIDDLE AGES TURN ALMOST DEFIANTLY MASCULINE. THE FEMININE VOICE TENDS TO DISAPPEAR AFTER THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
THE KAMAKURA ERA CENTERS ON THE CITY OF KAMAKURA AND ON THE SHOGUNAL FAMILIES OF MINAMOTO AND HOJO. THE CITY OF HEIAN-KYO HAD BEEN VIRTUALLY ANNIHILIATED IN THE CONFLAGRATIONS OF THE LAST TWENTY YEARS OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY,AND POWER MOVED FROM THE KINAI AREA TO THE PACIFIC COAST NEAR THE MODERN CITY OF TOKYO.
THE EMPERORS CONTINUED TO REIGN, HOWEVER,AND MOSTLY IN NAME ONLY, IN THE CAPITAL CITY OF KYOTO.
WE SHALL BE DISCUSSING THE FOLLOWING WORKS FROM THE JAPANESE 'MIDDLE-AGES.':
NO LITERARY WORKS ARE DISCUSSED FROM THE REMAINING ERAS OF JAPANESE LITERARY HISTORY IN THIS COURSE,THOUGH THERE ARE MANY OF NOTE. FOR THE RECORD, HERE ARE THE DESIGNATIONS:
近世 きんせい KINSEI
近代 きんだいKINDAI
現代 げんだい GENDAI
GENRE THEORY
GENRE MEANS 'TYPE'AND REFERS TO THE TYPE OF LITERATURE MOST PROMINENTLY WRITTEN, CONSUMED, AND COMMENTED ON IN ANY HISTORICAL ERA. WHEN A GENRE OR GENRES BECOME INTENSELY POPULAR, A LITERARY ERA, OR AGE OF LITERATURE, ENSUES. GENERALLY SPEAKING, GENRE THEORY EMERGED FROM THE IDEAS ASSOCIATED WITH ARISTOTLE AND HIS THEORY OF MIMESIS IN GREECE. THE MOST PROMINENT AND POPULAR GENRE OF HIS DAY WAS DRAMA. THUS, DRAMA IS CONSIDERED TO BE THE FOREMOST OF THE THREE MAJOR GENRES OF WESTERN LITERARY CULTURE THAT ENSUED AFTER THE GREEKS. IN THEIR ORDER OF PROMINENCE, DRAMA WAS FOLLOWED BY POETRY, AND THEN BY FICTION.
HERE IS THIS DEVELOPMENT FOR WESTERN LITERATURES IN A CAPSULE FORM:
GENRE NAME, PLACE OF ORIGIN, APPROX. DATE, ORIGINATOR
FOR THE MAJOR ASIAN LITERARY TRADITIONS OF CHINA, KOREA, AND JAPAN, THE ORDER OF THE APPEARANCE OF GENRES IS SOMEWHAT THE REVERSE OF THAT FOR THE WEST. RELATIVE TO THEIR DEVELOPMENT IN THE WEST, OR IN CHINA, GENRES DEVELOP IN LATER HISTORICAL PERIODS, BUT THEY DEVELOP AT A MUCH MORE RAPID PACE, ONCE INSTITUTED. KEEPING IN MIND THE LONG PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENTIN WESTERN CULTURES, TAKE A LOOK HERE AT A CAPSULE VERSION OF THE DEVLOPMENT OF GENRE IN JAPAN, THE SUBJECT OF THIS COURSE:
GENRE ORIGINATOR APPROX.DATE
AS YOU WILL SEE, NOT ONLY IS THE ORDER OF GENRE DEVELOPMENT DIFFERENT FROM OUR THE TRADITION OF LITERATURE IN ENGLISH, BUT DEVELOPMENT OCCURS AT A MUCH MORE RAPID PACE. NOTICEABLY, ALL THREE OF THE MAJOR GENRES DEVELOPED IN JAPAN OVER A RELATIVELY SHORTER PERIOD THAN IN THE WEST. THINK OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NOVEL AS THE DOMINANT FORM OF GENRE IN THE 19TH CENTURY ENGLISH NOVEL.
GIVEN THE CONDITIONS ABOVE, ONE WOULD EXPECT THE LITERATURE OF JAPAN TO BE SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT FROM, LETS SAY, LITERATURE IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE WHICH IS, CONVENIENTLY, THE LANGUAGE OF TRANSLATION INTO WHICH MOST OF YOU IN THIS COURSE WILL BE ACCESSING JAPANESE LITERATURE. THE FOCUS OF THIS COURSE SHOULD THEREFORE BE TO POINT OUT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO LITERARY TRADITIONS, BUT NOT TO STOP AT THE DESIGNATION OF JAPANESE LITERATURE AS 1) A NATIONAL LITERATURE, OR 2) A UNIQUE LITERATURE.
IT IS MY BELIEF THAT JAPANESE LITERATURE SHARES MORE WITH WORLD LITERATURE,IS MORE UNIVERSAL, THAN IT IS PARTICULAR.
FOR A MORE DETAILED, AND ELOQUENT, ANALYSIS OF THESE QUESTIONS OF GENRE AND THEORY, SEE
MINER, EARL ET AL. THE PRINCETON COMPANION TO
CLASSICALJAPANESE LITERATURE. (PRINCETON
UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1985), PP.3-65.
THEORY OF LITERARINESS
LITERARINESS IMPLIES A CHOICE IN THE USE OF WORDS. ACCORDING TO THE 19TH CENTURY FRENCH PIONEER OF LINGUISTICS,
FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE, TWO TYPES OF LINGUISTIC EXPRESSION WERE POSSIBLE: 1)LANGAGE OR THE TOTAL SUM OF LINGUISTIC POSSIBILITIES INHERENT IN THE SPOKEN AND WRITTEN FORMS OF LANGUAGE, AND 2)LANGUE, LITERALLY 'TONGUE,'THE SPECIALIZED CHOICE(S) MADE BY INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS FROM AMONG THE TOTAL LINGUISTIC INVENTORY OF THE LANGUAGE. SEE HIS BOOK:
PERHAPS I AM CONFUSING THE TWO WORDS, BUT , IN ANY CASE, ONE WORD IMPLIES THE TOTAL SUM OF LINGUISTIC POSSIBILITY (THE GENERAL), THE OTHER THE PARTICULARIZED CHOICES MADE BY SPEAKERS OR WRITERS (THE SPECIFIC). IN MODERN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TERMINOLOGY, THE GENERAL IS CALLED'LANGUAGE,'AND THE SPECIFIC IS CALLED 'LITERATURE.'SAUSSURE'S IDEAS WERE SUBSUMED UNDER THE TITLE OF 'LITERARINESS'BY THE RUSSIAN FORMALIST TSVETAN TODOROV WHO BECAME A FRENCH STRUCTURALIST.SEE HIS IDEAS IN:
THE IDEA SEEMS APPROPRIATE TO THE JAPANESE SENSE OF LITERATURE:THERE IS A SPECIALIZED CHOICE OF LANGUAGE WHICH WHEN COMBINED IN SPECIFIC WAYS BY AN AUTHOR SUCH AS LADY MURASAKI SHIKIBU, PRODUCES A LITERARY MASTERPIECE. FINALLY, I OWE A DEBT OF GRATITUDE TO PAUL VALERY'S WRITINGS ON AESTHETICS IN:
SELECTED WRITINGS OF PAUL VALERY.
HERE HE POSITS A LOVELY PARADIGM OF THE IDEA OF LITERARY GENRE AND BODY MOVEMENT:
WALKING RUNNING DANCING
SPEECH PROSE POETRY
WALKING IS THE MOST BASIC FUNCTION OF THE LIMBS. WE WALK TO GET FROM POINT A TO POINT B.
WE TALK TO OBTAIN AND EXCHANGE BASIC BITS OF INFORMATION WHICH, THOUGH NOT NECESARILY ENTERTAINING OR ENLIGHTENING, GET THE JOB DONE. FUNCTION AND RESPONSE.
THIS IS NOT LITERATURE, NOT SPECIALIZED. RUNNING IS MORE DIRECTED, FOCUSED ON PERHAPS THE SIMPLE IDEA OF SPEEDING UP THE PROCESS BY WHICH WE GET FROM POINT A TO POINT B. SOMETHING OF A CHOICE IS INVOLVED. VALERY LIKENS RUNNING TO THE LITERARY GENRE OF PROSE.
PROSE IS PEDESTRIAN AND USEFUL, BUT IT IS A CHOICE, AS AN AIDS RUN IS A CHOICE TO PROVIDE MONIES FOR ESSENTIAL RESEARCH. DANCING IS THE MOST UNNECESSARY AND HENCE, AESTHETIC OF BODY MOVEMENTS. IT IS AESTHETIC, THAT IS, IN THE PURSUIT OF BEAUTY OF FORM IN WHICH A MESSAGE, OR A FUNCTIONAL PURPOSE IS NOT INTENDED. THE MOST OBVIOUS EXAMPLE OF THIS THAT I CAN THINK OF IS THE RUSSIAN BALLERINA 'ENPOINTE,' STANDING ON HER TOES AND EXTENDING HER HANDS TO THE HEAVENS WHILE SHE PERFORMS A PIROUETTE.NO ONE NEEDS THIS, BUT IT IS THE MOST SUBLIME PERFECTION OF BODILY BEAUTY. THE SAME MAY BE SAID OF THE MASCULINE BEAUTY EXHIBITED BY A NUREYEV OR A NIJINSKY.
BY THE SAME RULE, I AM REMINDED ALSO OF TAKEHARA HAN, A MAGNIFICENT PERFORMER OF THE KYO-MAI OR KYOTO DANCE, WHOM I ONCE SAW PERFORM A GEISHA'S LAMENT OF LOST LOVE AND DEATH CALLED 'YUKI,'OR 'SNOW.'VALERY'S APT PARADIGM PLACES DANCING ON THE SAME LEVEL WITH POETRY BECAUSE THE WRITING AND READING OF IT INVOLVE THE MOST CONSCIOUS CHOICES OF LANGUAGE.
WHEN THE APPROPRIATE CHOICES HAVE BEEN MADE WHICH THRILL THE READER OR HEARER, OR VIEWER, WITH SOMETHING BEYOND ORDINARY WAKING EXPERIENCE, THEN THE PIECE MAY BE SAID TO HAVE 'LITERARINESS.'
THIS COURSE AIMS TO DESCRIBE THE LITERARINESS OF WORKS FROM THE CLASSICAL JAPANESE, WITH A PARTICULAR EYE TO HOW A JAPANESE SENSE OF BEAUTY RELATES, CO-RELATES, WITH OTHER LITERATURES. IN A COMPARATIVE SENSE, THE LITERATURE OF JAPAN HAS AN IMPORTANT PLACE AMONG THE WORLD'S TRADITIONS OF LANGUAGE.
(K.L. RICHARD FROM NOTES TO AN INTRODUCTION)