『스미다강 동쪽의 기담』(濹東綺譚)의 인물

Abstract

This is a study on the characters in A Strange and Interesting Story in the East of the Sumida River written by Nagai Kafu. In the beginning Ooe Dadasu, the first󰠏person protagonist, appears as a figure who reminds the reader of the author himself. From chapter 3 on the protagonist figures as both Ooe Dadasu and Nagai Kafu at the same time. The work raises criticism of civilization couched by the protagonist: irresponsibility of the police, corruption of government offices, and abuse of state power. It also features the taste for retrospection pining for the past, and the taste for the red󰠏light district in Damanoi which gives off a flavor of the good old days. The plot of the protagonist’s parting with Oyuki might have come from the author’s intention to represent the piteousness of Oyuki and the sense of sorrow felt by the hero. Oyuki is of a cheerful, honest and naive character. She does not even mourn for her plight much. She lives a life of an unlicensed prostitute in Damanoi. Perhaps Oyuki is the ideal woman Nagai Kafu seeks after. She is, as it were, an illusionary girl, who brings him back to the dear phantom of the past. A major work of Nagai Kafu who excels in characterization, the story is also a masterpiece of the 1930s.