女性の文学と書簡 - 『紫式部日記』を中心として -

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the functions and roles of letters as a medium of self‐narrative in Japanese women’s literature during Heian Dynasty. This paper focuses on the functions of kanashosoku, letters written in kana, as a literary device from the fact that Japanese women’s literature, which was established early in a world literature history, was not written in the traditional men’s character “kanji” but in the women’s character “kana”. Based on “The Diary of MurasakiShikibu”, featuring MurasakiShikibu, the author of world‐famous Japanese women’s literature, “The Tale of Genji”, the main focus ison discovering the meaning and roles of letters in the narrative behind the transition from literal record to kanashosoku‐bun. That is, the paper examines features of self‐expressional writing of MurasakiShikibu’s letters. Further, with an emphasis on letters as a literary expression, the study sheds light on how the description of personal relationships and internal‐self led to the profound understanding of the fundamentals of reality and human society, and how it is represented in monogatari world from later periods. By studying contradictory natures of the characters in the letters from the last chapter of “The Tale of Genji”, it is possible to look into the meaning of writing letters as a self‐expression from kanashosoku‐bun in MurasakiShikibu’s “The Diary of MurasakiShikibu”.