요코미츠 리이치 문학과 도시 - 동경, 상해, 파리를 중심으로 -

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the city which appeared in the literature of Yokomitsu Riichi, by dividing the city into the great Earthquake in Kwangdong, a trip to Shanghai, and Europe. The great Earthquake in Kwangdong led Japan to a new literature, at this point we can say that Yokomitsu's literature transformed from rural literature to urban literature. In 1928, Yokomitsu travelled to Shanghai, on Akutagawa Ryunosuke's advice. This trip gave him an opportunity to understand the difference between the West and the East. Through his work named “Shanghai”, Yokomitsu described the city as the arena of competition between West and East. In 1936, Yokomitsu travelled to Europe for six months, and while on this trip he wrote the “Europe Journal”. We can say that Riichi's “Europe Journal”, shows the shock of Western culture that was felt by Yokomitsu, while he was travelling in Europe, especially in Paris. As an oriental person, Yokomitsu was trying to overcome the shock of Western culture, and it gave birth to a masterpiece named “Yeosu”. The process of trying to overcome the shock of Western culture appeared as ‘Gosindo’, and that became a focus in Yokomitsu's literature with World War II.