Kuprin (English spelling) Александр Ианович Куприн / Aleksandr Ivanovich Kuprin

Russian author. Born into a poor civil servant's family in Penza Province. He became passionate about literature while attending the military academy. After graduating, he served in the military for several years, but retired in 1894. After that, he moved between various jobs, accumulating a wealth of creative material, which he skillfully turned into stories in a concise, colloquial style. He first gained recognition in the literary world with his two novellas, Morov (1896) and Olesya (1898), and became friends with Chekhov and Gorky. His short story At the Circus (1902) was praised by Tolstoy, which gave him greater confidence. Then, during the Russo-Japanese War, he published the long novel Duel (1905), which vividly depicted the inhumanity of the Tsar's army and the corruption and cruelty of its officers, with an anti-war theme, causing a sensation in the reading world. His next full-length novel, "Yama" (1909-15), used reportage techniques to depict the horrifically miserable lives of prostitutes in a red-light district of a large city, and also sharply criticized the false morals of the "philanthropists" who tried to save them, earning him worldwide fame. He also wrote many other excellent short stories, such as "Captain Rybnikov" (1906), a story about a Japanese spy who infiltrates the country disguised as a Russian officer but is exposed when he shouts "Hurrah!" in his sleep, and "The River of Life" (1906), about a university student who is arrested for student protest and commits suicide out of shame for confessing. He went into exile in Paris in 1919, was pardoned and returned to Japan in 1937, but died of illness the following year.

[Tatsuji Minoura]

"The Duel" translated by Shobomu Noboru (1931, Shinchosha)" ▽ "The Yama (Lair of Evil) translated by Shobomu Noboru (Sougen Bunko)" ▽ "The River of Life" translated by Shobomu Noboru (Sougen Bunko)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ロシアの作家。ペンザ県の貧しい官吏の家に生まれる。陸軍士官学校在学中から文学に熱中。卒業後数年間軍務につくが、1894年に退役。その後はさまざまな職業を転々として豊富な創作素材を蓄え、それを簡潔な口語的文体で巧みに物語化した。まず二つの中編『モローフ』（1896）と『オレーシャ』（1898）で文壇に認められ、チェーホフ、ゴーリキーと親交を結び、短編『サーカスにて』（1902）がトルストイからも賞賛されて自信を深める。そして日露戦争の最中、反戦思想をテーマに、皇帝(ツァーリ)軍隊の非人間性、将校たちの腐敗堕落と残忍さを迫真的に描いた長編『決闘』（1905）を発表して読書界にセンセーションを巻き起こした。さらに次の長編『ヤーマ』（1909～15）では、ある大都市の売春地帯における娼婦(しょうふ)たちの恐るべき悲惨な生態をルポルタージュ的手法で描出するとともに、彼女らを救済しようとする「慈善家」たちの偽りのモラルを痛烈に批判して世界的にも有名になった。このほか、ロシアの将校に化けて潜入した日本軍スパイが寝言で「万歳！」と叫んだために正体がばれてしまう物語『ルィブニコフ大尉』（1906）、学生運動で逮捕され自白したことを恥じて自殺する大学生を扱った『生活の河』（1906）など、多くの好短編がある。1919年にパリへ亡命、37年に許されて帰国するが翌年病死。

［箕浦達二］

『昇曙夢訳『決闘』（1931・新潮社）』▽『昇曙夢訳『ヤーマ（魔窟）』（創元文庫）』▽『昇曙夢訳『生活の河』（創元文庫）』

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