Group of people - Gunzo

A monthly literary magazine, first published in October 1946 (Showa 21) by Kodansha. It started out with a policy of placing emphasis on novels at a time when literary criticism was popular just after World War II. Soon after criticism began to be shunned, the magazine went against the trend and focused on serializing long critiques and literary history studies, publishing works such as Honda Shugo's "Literature of the 'White Birch' School," Ito Sei's "History of the Japanese Literary World," Nakamura Mitsuo's "The Life of Futabatei Shimei," Hirotsu Kazuo's "Footsteps of the Years," and Ozaki Kazuo's "A Day, This Day." In terms of novels, the magazine was enthusiastic about publishing masterpieces by authors who emerged after World War II, such as Ooka Shohei's "Ladies of Musashino," Mishima Yukio's "Forbidden Colors," Takeda Taijun's "Wind-Polled Flowers," Shiina Rinzo's "Encounter," Noma Hiroshi's "My Tower Stands There," Abe Kobo's "Someone Else's Face," and Oe Kenzaburo's "Football in the First Year of Man'en."

In the late 1950s, as novels began to be expected to be entertaining, the magazine made clear its stance in favor of pure literature. Accordingly, it recognized artistic merit in the literature of the "Third Generation of New Writers," which was unpopular with critics for lacking ideology or topicality, and actively provided a platform for the publication of full-length novels by authors such as Yasuoka Shotaro's "Seaside Scenery," Shono Junzo's "Still Life," Yoshiyuki Junnosuke's "A Festival in the Dark," Kojima Nobuo's "The Embracing Family," and Agawa Hiroyuki's "Gate Lantern." As for prewar authors, the magazine was eager to publish full-length novels by Niwa Fumio's "Crying Wall," Ibuse Masuji's "Hyōmin Usaburo," and Nakano Shigeharu's "Muragimo."

Breaking with the traditional publishing format of serializing full-length novels and publishing a few poems, the magazine published all of its full-length novels, Takami Jun's poetry collection From the Brink of Death in its entirety, and actively addressed controversies such as the "Stranger" controversy and the pure literature controversy. The magazine placed emphasis on concrete criticism in its reviews of works, and a roundtable discussion-style joint review of creative writing was held by three reviewers starting with a brief introduction of the plot, and the series continues to this day. The Newcomer's Award, established in 1958 (Showa 33), accepted submissions in both novel and critique categories, and has launched many writers and critics into the world, including Oba Minako, Lee Hui-seong, Hayashi Kyoko, Murakami Ryu, Murakami Haruki, Akiyama Shun, and Karatani Kojin.

[Fusao Okubo]

"Writers and the Literary World" by Fusao Okubo (1970, Kodansha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

月刊文芸雑誌。1946年（昭和21）10月創刊、講談社発行。第二次世界大戦直後の文学評論が盛んなときに、あえて小説重視の方針で出発した。まもなく評論が敬遠され始めると、時流に逆らい長編評論や文芸史研究の連載に力を注ぎ、本多秋五(しゅうご)『「白樺(しらかば)」派の文学』、伊藤整(せい)『日本文壇史』、中村光夫『二葉亭四迷伝(ふたばていしめいでん)』、広津和郎(かずお)『年月のあしおと』、尾崎一雄『あの日この日』などの作品を掲載した。小説では大岡昇平『武蔵野夫人(むさしのふじん)』、三島由紀夫『禁色(きんじき)』、武田泰淳(たいじゅん)『風媒花(ふうばいか)』、椎名麟三(しいなりんぞう)『邂逅(かいこう)』、野間宏(ひろし)『わが塔はそこに立つ』、安部公房(こうぼう)『他人の顔』、大江健三郎『万延(まんえん)元年のフットボール』など、第二次世界大戦後に登場した作家の力作掲載に熱心であった。

　1950年代後半になって小説に娯楽性が求められるようになると、純文学擁護の姿勢を鮮明にした。それに伴い、思想性や話題性に乏しく批評家に不評であった「第三の新人」の文学に芸術性を認め、安岡章太郎『海辺(かいへん)の光景』、庄野潤三『静物』、吉行淳之介(じゅんのすけ)『闇のなかの祝祭』、小島信夫『抱擁家族』、阿川弘之『舷燈(げんとう)』など、その長編小説の発表舞台を積極的に提供した。戦前の作家に対しては、丹羽文雄(にわふみお)『哭壁(こくへき)』、井伏鱒二(いぶせますじ)『漂民宇三郎』、中野重治(しげはる)『むらぎも』などの長編掲載に意欲的であった。

　長編小説は連載、詩は数編を掲載という従来の発表形式を破り、長編小説の一挙掲載、高見順の詩集『死の淵(ふち)より』を全編掲載し、『異邦人』論争、純文学論争などの論争を積極的に取り上げた。作品評は具体的批評を重んじ、3人の評者により粗筋の紹介から入る座談会形式の創作合評を行い、連載は今日も続けられている。1958年（昭和33）に設けた新人賞は、小説と評論の両部門を募集し、大庭みな子、李恢成(りかいせい)、林京子、村上龍、村上春樹、秋山駿(しゅん)、柄谷行人(からたにこうじん)など多くの作家・評論家を世に送りだした。

［大久保房男］

『大久保房男著『文士と文壇』（1970・講談社）』

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