Taijiro Tamura

Novelist. Born in Mie Prefecture. Studied French literature at Waseda University, and was active in coterie magazines with Inoue Tomoichiro. During his student days, he was mainly a critic, but after graduation, he serialized the long novel Daigaku (Great University) in Jinmin Bunko (People's Library) (1936-37). He also participated in the magazine Kodo (Do), and started out as an activist writer. He was called up during World War II and fought in various parts of China. After being demobilized after the defeat, he published Flesh Devil (1946) and then Flesh Gate (1947). His assertion that the liberation of the body is the liberation of humanity was received in a groundbreaking way during the chaotic postwar period, and he was a remarkable writer of flesh literature, but he gradually began to show an inclination towards being a genre novelist. His later collection of short stories, Locust (1965), is a departure from his earlier physical literary works, and contains many poignant, humane stories that attempt to capture human existence in the conflict between ideas and life. Other works include The Lost Man (1967) and The Soldier's Story (1971).

[Takashi Nakaishi]

"Chikuma Modern Literature Series 62: Taijiro Tamura and Other Works" (1978, Chikuma Shobo)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

小説家。三重県生まれ。早稲田(わせだ)大学仏文科に学び、井上友一郎(ともいちろう)らと同人雑誌で活躍。学生時代は評論活動が主であったが、卒業後『人民文庫』に長編『大学』を連載（1936～37）。一方『行動』にも参加し、行動主義の作家として出発した。第二次世界大戦に応召し、中国各地を転戦、敗戦後復員するや『肉体の悪魔』（1946）、ついで『肉体の門』（1947）を発表。肉体の解放こそ人間の解放であるというその主張は、戦後の混乱期に画期的な形で迎えられ、肉体文学の作家として目覚ましい活躍をするが、しだいに風俗小説家的傾きを示すに至った。後年の短編集『蝗(いなご)』（1965）には、かつての肉体文学的作品と違い、人間の存在を観念と生命との相克においてとらえようとした、じみながら沈潜したヒューマンな作品が多い。ほかに『失はれた男』（1967）、『兵士の物語』（1971）などがある。

［中石　孝］

『『筑摩現代文学大系62　田村泰次郎他集』（1978・筑摩書房）』

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