일본근대문학에 나타난 ‘죽음’의 형상화 ‒가와바타 야스나리의 작품을 중심으로‒

Abstract

This study intends to focus on the work 『Mountainsori』 by Kawabata Yasunari under the theme of figuring out ‘death’ in Japanese modern literature. Kawabata started writing at the age of 51, and it contains the timeless loneliness and melancholy that transcends time with the setting of the post-war desolation and the old man intertwined with it. In addition, the need for novel research on the elderly is required because the temperature difference between the emotional depression of the Japanese elderly as viewed from the spatial and topographical characteristics of Kamakura and Tokyo in the period of high growth can be considered. The work attempts to analyze ‘death’ in relation to the old man and death, the old man and the woman, and the old man and nature from three aspects. 『Mountainsori』 boldly breaks through the two old taboos of death and desire, giving the old man a passion that cannot be easily tasted in the gloomy daily life of the elderly. Nevertheless, the ‘sound of washing dishes’, which returned to the daily life from the fear of death of ‘sansori’, made Shingo an opportunity to escape from the depression and anxiety about death and to accept a natural death. After the war, Kawabata is worthy of further study if he writes the story of old age and middle-aged and considers the connection with old age-themed works. In addition, the necessity of research is emphasized because 『Sansori』 is expected to lead to a follow-up study that examines the problems of old age in literature by specifically illuminating death and old age, which were not actively discussed in existing literature research.