Chiru Wo Wakareto (P+D)

[Machine Translation] The collection includes three ambitious works that attempt to fuse biography and fiction. The biographies are written in the style of a novel and a biography, which allows for the insertion of imagination and fantasy. The Raven in the Night" traces the footsteps of Inoue Yakitsu, who had a decisive influence on Nagai Kafu's literary career, and "The Rest of the Snow" explores the truth of Koizumi Setsuko, the wife of Lafcadio Hearn, who was said to have had an evil wife, and who became famous for her parody-oriented criticism and novels. The other is "Soraru wo Farewell" about Ryokuame Saito, a man who was famous for his parodic criticism and novels, but was unable to escape poverty and ended his life with a newspaper advertisement that read, "Today I die a happy death. In each of these works, the author carefully follows up on the facts and boldly spreads the wings of imagination in a novel-like structure that fascinates the reader.

伝記と小説の融合を試みた意欲作3編収録。「自分はむろんのこと、読者にもすこしは楽しんでもらえるような伝記文学の方法はないものかと考えた末にたどり着いたのが、想像や空想も挿入できる小説と伝記のドッキングというスタイルであった。」「日本近代文学史上に巨大な足跡を印した永井荷風の文学的開眼に決定的な影響をあたえた」井上〓々の足跡をたどり墨田川界隈を訪ねる「夜の烏」、悪妻といわれたラフカディオ・ハーン夫人・小泉節子の真実に迫る「残りの雪」、パロディ精神にあふれる批評や小説で名を成したものの貧しさから抜けられず、「本日を以て目出度死去仕候」という新聞広告を出して生涯を閉じた斎藤緑雨を描いた「散るを別れと」―。いずれも事実を丹念に追いつつ、小説仕立てにして想像の羽を大胆に広げる構成で、読む者を魅了する。