Hideo Kobayashi

Critic. Born on April 11, 1902 in Kanda, Tokyo. After attending the former Tokyo Prefectural First Middle School and the former First Higher School, he graduated from the French Literature Department of Tokyo Imperial University in 1928 (Showa 3). While at the First Middle School he became acquainted with Tominaga Taro and Kawakami Tetsutaro, and at university he met Nakahara Chuya and Ooka Shohei. He first published novels in coterie magazines, including "The Suicide of an Octopus" (1922), "A Single Brain" (1924), and "The Laughter of Pumpkin" (1925), but in 1926 he began writing literary criticism based on French Symbolism with "Arthur Rimbaud, the Life-destroyer." He made his debut in the literary world with his prize-winning critique "Various Designs" in Kaizo in 1929, and began serializing his literary critiques in Bungeishunju the following year. With his crisp writing style and paradoxes, he sharply pointed out the idealism of left-wing literature and the emptiness of the emerging artistic movement, while going beyond traditional impressionistic and real-life criticism to establish a modern critique centered on the confrontation between self-consciousness and existence. In 1933, he participated in the founding of Bungakukai, and in 1935 he became its editor-in-chief, playing an active role as a leading literary critic. In his work "I-novel theory" (1935), he criticized the I-novel with the keyword "socialized I." From 1935, he began serializing "The Life of Dostoevsky" (1935-37), which became part of his life's work, and began to write social critiques, but gradually he became immersed in inner thoughts.

The results of this were "Impermanence" (1942-43) and "Mozart" (1946), written towards the end of the war and immediately after the war, the former finding a form of history and tradition untainted by modern ideas, the latter hearing the innocence of genius in the key of G minor, demonstrating the height of Kobayashi Hideo's spirit. After this, he increasingly distanced himself from literary circles and pursued the drama of the minds of artists and thinkers, publishing "Letters of Van Gogh" (1951-52), "Modern Painting" (1954-58), an unfinished essay on Bergson, "Impressions" (1958-63), and "Thinking Hints" (1959-63). Thus, he came to look more like a thinker than a literary critic. While he acknowledged the suffering of Japanese intellectuals who had to establish themselves through the acceptance of Western culture, he also criticized it and sought a way to overcome it in history and nature. He is famous for sayings such as "We use others as an excuse to speak about ourselves" and "Beauty silences people", but in his later years he turned to academic theory. His large-scale work "Motoori Norinaga" (1965-1976) and its supplement "Motoori Norinaga Supplement" (1982) trace the academic system of Norinaga as the most Japanese intellectual and capture Norinaga's exploration of the "direct knowledge" of ancient people. They are monumental works that express the conclusion of Kobayashi Hideo's own thoughts and show the unity of thought and literature. He became a member of the Japan Art Academy in 1984. He was awarded the Order of Culture in 1987. He passed away on March 1, 1983 due to renal failure.

[Hideo Takahashi]

"The New Edition of the Complete Works of Kobayashi Hideo, Vol. 13 and 2 Supplementary Volumes (1978-79, Shinchosha)" ▽ "My Kobayashi Hideo, by Kawakami Tetsutaro (1978, Showa Publishing)" ▽ "Considerations on Kobayashi Hideo, by Nakamura Mitsuo (1977, Chikuma Shobo)" ▽ "Kobayashi Hideo, by Eto Jun (1961, Kodansha)" ▽ "Kobayashi Hideo: Walking and Thinking, by Takahashi Hideo (1980, Ozawa Shoten)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

評論家。明治35年4月11日、東京神田に生まれる。旧制東京府立一中、旧制一高を経て1928年（昭和3）東京帝国大学仏文科を卒業した。一中のころ富永太郎、河上徹太郎と、大学時代に中原中也(ちゅうや)、大岡昇平と知り合う。初め同人誌に小説『蛸(たこ)の自殺』（1922）、『一ツの脳髄』（1924）、『ポンキンの笑ひ』（1925）を発表したが、26年『人生斫断(しゃくだん)家アルチュル・ランボオ』により、フランス象徴派を基盤とした文学批評を開始する。29年『改造』の懸賞評論『様々なる意匠』で文壇に登場、翌年から『文芸春秋』に文芸時評を連載、歯切れのよい文体と逆説で左翼文学の観念性と新興芸術派の空疎さを鋭くつきながら、旧来の印象批評、実感批評を乗り越えて、自意識と存在の対決を軸とする近代批評を確立した。33年『文学界』創刊に参加、35年からはその編集責任者になり、文壇の代表的批評家として活躍、『私(わたくし)小説論』（1935）では「社会化した私」というキーワードで私小説を批判した。一方、35年からライフワークの一部となる『ドストエフスキイの生活』（1935～37）を連載し、社会評論にも筆を染め始めたが、しだいに内面的思索に沈潜してゆく。

　その成果が戦争末期から戦争直後にかけての『無常といふ事』（1942～43）、『モオツアルト』（1946）で、前者は近代の諸観念に毒されない歴史や伝統の姿をみいだし、後者は天才の無垢(むく)を「ト短調」というキーのなかに聴き分けて、小林秀雄の精神の高さを示した。これ以後文壇文学とはいよいよ遠ざかり、芸術家・思想家の精神のドラマを追求、『ゴッホの手紙』（1951～52）、『近代絵画』（1954～58）、未完のベルクソン論『感想』（1958～63）、『考へるヒント』（1959～63）を発表した。こうして文芸評論家というより、思想家としての風貌(ふうぼう)を濃くしていったが、その思想は西欧文化の受容を通じて自己を確立しなければならなかった日本知識人の苦悩を認めつつもそれを批判し、その超克の道を歴史と自然にみいだす方向をとっていった。「他人をダシにして己れを語る」「美は人を沈黙させる」などの名言が有名だが、晩年は学問論に向かい、1965～76年（昭和40～51）にわたった大著『本居宣長(もとおりのりなが)』、その補遺『本居宣長補記』（1982）は、もっとも日本的な知識人としての宣長の学問体系を跡づけ、宣長が古代人の「直知」を探り当ててゆくことをとらえたもので、小林秀雄その人の思索の行き着いたところを表現し、思索の思索として、あるいは思索と文学の一致を示すものとして、記念碑的作品となった。59年芸術院会員。67年文化勲章受章。昭和58年3月1日、腎(じん)不全のため没。

［高橋英夫］

『『新訂　小林秀雄全集』13巻・別巻2（1978～79・新潮社）』▽『河上徹太郎著『わが小林秀雄』（1978・昭和出版）』▽『中村光夫著『《論考》小林秀雄』（1977・筑摩書房）』▽『江藤淳著『小林秀雄』（1961・講談社）』▽『高橋英夫著『小林秀雄　歩行と思索』（1980・小沢書店）』

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