江戸川乱歩の戦略 －初期小説作法の模索をめぐって－

Abstract

With the emergence of Edogawa Ranpo, 1923, is remembered as an unforgettable year in the history of Japanese creative detective stories. Of course, it was not without detective stories in Japan until then. There were many detective stories from the Meiji era and the middle of the Taisho period, but in most cases, even if it was a Western detective novel or a creation, there were many cases where sentence power was poor or the material was not fresh. Until then, it was no exaggeration to say that a detective story was published in a popular literature magazine, but it was a list of literature that almost read and throw away because the composition of the work was crude, the characters were less humane, and the sanctions were so popular. The appearance of Ranpo in such a situation would indeed have had the same dramatic effect as the welcome rain in a drought. However, at that time, it appeared like a comet at a relatively late age and published numerous high-profile works to form a new mountain range in the history of Japanese detective novels, but over time, the original witty and fresh materials were depleted faster than expected and received harsh criticism from critics. It is understandable that Ranpo’s achievements are considered somewhat negative in terms of the influence of popular culture, as it is thought to be related to the popular style of writing that stimulates peripheral nerves, which has been a general trend of works since the beginning. Among the works that were free from such controversy, This study selected four short films from the beginning of their debut to find out the characteristics of each work and the charm of detective novels that Ranpo wanted to pursue.