《New Family》 - Arajyotai

…Although he gained some public acclaim for his short story Yabu Kauji (1896) and novel Kumo no Yukue (1900), his somber and gloomy style meant that he was not as popular as his fellow students Kyoka and Oguri Fuyō. However, after Koyo's death in 1903 and the rise of naturalistic literature after the Russo-Japanese War, his cold, objective descriptions gradually became more refined, and he established his position in the literary world with the publication of the novella Arajiyotai (1908), followed by Ashiato (1910), which was based on Hama's past, and Mold (1911), which is a personal novel about his marriage to Hama and the period before and after Koyo's death. Choko Ikuta called him a "born naturalist," and Katai Tayama commented on "Footprints" as "an infinitely broad life unfolding behind the frail woman."

*Some of the terminology explanations that refer to "New Household" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…短編《藪かうじ》(1896)，長編《雲のゆくへ》(1900)などでやや世評を得たものの，その地味で暗い作風ゆえに，同門の鏡花や小栗風葉ほどの人気はなかった。しかし1903年の紅葉の死去から日露戦争後にかけて自然主義文学が台頭するに及んで，その冷徹な客観描写はしだいに彫琢の度を加え，中編《新世帯（あらじよたい）》(1908)を経て，夫人はまの前歴に取材した《足迹（あしあと）》(1910)，彼女との結婚と紅葉の死の前後を私小説風に描いた《黴（かび）》(1911)を発表，文壇的地位を確立した。生田長江は彼を〈生れたる自然派〉と呼び，田山花袋は《足迹》を〈かよわい女のかげに広いライフが無限に展開されている〉と評している。…

※「《新世帯》」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報