다니자키 준이치로(谷崎潤一郎)의 공자관(孔子觀)과『기린(麒麟)』

Abstract

“Giraffe,” soon published after his maiden work “Sisei” (1910), is Tanizaki Junichiro’s (1886-1965) ambitious work. “Giraffe” attracts readers as it is based on the Chinese classic, “The Analects of Confucius,” and Tanizaki forewarns his typical character map in his literature by intensely contrasting Saint Confucius, beautiful Duchess Nanzi, and Wei Ling Gong What more is interesting is that in “Giraffe,” the quotes in “The Analects of Confucius” are reinterpreted in Tanizaki style and the descriptions of Confucius can be interpreted in diverse ways; the giraffe and the phoenix were ambiguously referred, and the status of Saint Confucius was contrasted with fatigued and distressed old man’s face. Moreover, “Giraffe” also portrays Confucius as a failed politician in the scene where Duchess Nanzi confronts evil. This multifaceted image of a saint can be seen as Tanizaki in his early days both anticipating his success as a writer and worrying about failure. In other words, Tanizaki’s imagery of his success and its anticipation, certainty, anxiety, and insecurity is reflected through Confucius, not to mention his taste in classic literature as a young boy which affected his view of a saint. This paper apprehends Tanizaki’s multidimensional and practical idea of Confucius as shown in “Giraffe” and reevaluate the typical and ideal opposition between ‘good and evil’ on the characters in Tanizaki’s literature.