Conversion literature

Literature with the theme of conversion, in which a writer who was rooted in communism or socialism abandons his or her beliefs or moves to a position free from oppression due to the intervention of authorities. Works written by writers who have had such experiences are also sometimes called conversion literature.

In June 1933 (Showa 8), the leaders of the Communist Party at the time, Sano Manabu and Nabeyama Sadachika (1901-79), published from prison a "Letter to Co-Defendants," a so-called "Statement of Conversion," which essentially declared their renunciation of Communism. Following this, the majority of those accused under the Peace Preservation Law, both pretrial and convicted, followed suit and declared their intention to renounce communism, and from around the spring of 1934, they were released on bail one after another. Literature written by writers who had experienced these conversions, as well as works that took their own experiences of conversion as their subject matter, were welcomed enthusiastically by the journalism of the time, and, as the flip side of the so-called Literary Renaissance, they dominated the literary scene around 1935. Among these, Murayama Tomoyoshi's "White Night," Tateno Nobuyuki's "Friendship," Kubokawa Tsurujiro's "Storm and Clouds," and Tokunaga Sunao's "Winter Withering," published in 1934, are works in the style of autobiographical novels that confess the anguish of conscience caused by the oppression of the authorities. Shimaki Kensaku's works, published from that year to the following year, from "Leprosy" to "Reconstruction" (Shimaki would later complete his conversion with "Searching for Life"), and Nakano Shigeharu's series beginning with "Chapter One" and including "The Village House," are works in which, even after taking a step back, there is still a hidden search for a comeback, and both clearly demonstrate the phase of early conversion literature. In addition, decadent literature from the 1930s, such as Takami Jun's Kokyu Wasurete Beki (We Mustn't Forget About It), published in 1935-36, can also be seen as one phase of conversion literature. In addition, when we consider the cases of Takeda Rintaro's immersion in the everyday life of the common people, Honjo Mutsuo's retrospective into the historical dimension, Kamei Katsuichiro's self-renewal into the world of religion and classics, and the cases of converted writers who leaned toward fascism during the war, we can say that the various phases of conversion literature, which reflect the various stages from forced conversion to a voluntary conversion with a change in quality, were deeply involved in the overall literary situation in the 1930s. After World War II, the issue of conversion was raised again in the process of the pursuit of war responsibility by members of the "Modern Literature" group.

[Haruo Takahashi]

"Conversion Literature" by Honda Shugo (included in "Iwanami Lecture Series on Literature, Vol. 5" edited by Ino Kenji et al., 1954, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "Theory of Conversion Literature" by Ara Masato (included in "For a Reexamination of the Historical Outlook of Japanese Proletarian Literature" edited by Kubokawa Tsurujiro et al., 1956, Aoki Shoten) " ▽ "Joint Research: Conversion" 3 volumes edited by the Society for the Study of the Science of Thought (1959-62, Heibonsha)" ▽ "Artistic Resistance and Failure" by Yoshimoto Takaaki (1963, Miraisha) " ▽ "Literature Around Showa 10" by Hirano Ken (1972, Bungeishunju)" ▽ "Theory of Conversion Literature, 3rd edition (1972, Miraisha) by Honda Shugo" ▽ "Contemporary Literary Criticism" edited by Takahashi Haruo et al. (1973, Sobunsha Publishing)" ▽ "Conversion and Conversion Literature" by Mitsuda Ikuo (included in Lectures on Contemporary Literature, Vol. 5, edited by Akano Toshiro et al., 1974, Shibundo) ▽ "An Introduction to Comparative Conversion Theory: The Spiritual Form of Romanticism, revised edition, by Isoda Koichi (1974, Keiso Shobo)" ▽ "Conversion Literature and Modernism" by Odagiri Hideo (included in Iwanami Lectures on Literature, Vol. 7, 1976, Iwanami Shoten)" ▽ "One Phase of Conversion Literature: Concerning the Background to Reconstruction" by Takahashi Haruo (included in Issues in Showa Literature, edited by the Showa Literature Research Association, 1979, Kasama Shoin)" ▽ "History of Japanese Literature, Modern and Contemporary Volume 4, by Donald Keene, translated by Tokuoka Takao and Kakuchi Yukio (1987, Chuokoron-Shinsha)" ▽ "Yamashita Etsuko, A Study of Mother-Complex Literature: The Spell of the Mother" (1991, Shinyosha)" ▽ "Ando Hiroshi, Self-Conscious Showa Literature: The Self as a Phenomenon" (1994, Shibundo)" ▽ "Sato Kenichi (ed.), Collected Essays on Nakano Shigeharu's "The Village House" (3 volumes, 1998, Ozorasha)" ▽ "Hasegawa Kei (ed.), The Light and Dark of "Conversion": Literature from Around 1935 (1999, Impact Publishing)" ▽ "Ara Masato et al. (eds.), Showa Literary History, Volumes 1 and 2 (Kadokawa Bunko)" ▽ "Yoshimoto Takaaki, An Essay on the Book of Matthew: A Study of Conversion (Kodansha Bunko)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

共産主義・社会主義に拠(よ)っていた作家が、権力の介入によってその信条を放棄したり、あるいは圧迫のない立場に移行したりする、いわゆる転向を主題に据えた文学。また広くそういう体験をもった作家によって書かれた作品も転向文学といわれることがある。

　1933年（昭和8）6月、当時の共産党指導者佐野学(まなぶ)、鍋山貞親(なべやまさだちか)（1901―79）が獄中から「共同被告同志に告ぐる書」いわゆる転向声明を公表、実質的に共産主義放棄を宣したのを契機に、未決囚・既決囚を含む治安維持法被告の大多数はこれに追随して転向の意思を表明し、34年春ごろから相次いで保釈出獄の身となった。この転向体験をもった作家によって書かれた文学、また直接転向体験そのものを題材とした作品は当時のジャーナリズムにも積極的に迎えられて、いわゆる文芸復興なるものと表裏の関係で昭和10年前後の文運をにぎわしたのである。それらのうち34年に発表された村山知義(ともよし)『白夜(びゃくや)』、立野信之(たてののぶゆき)『友情』、窪川鶴次郎(くぼかわつるじろう)『風雲』、徳永直(すなお)『冬枯れ』などは、官憲の抑圧によって余儀なくされた転向を良心の苦悩として私(わたくし)小説風に告白した作品であり、その年から翌年以降にわたって発表された島木健作の『癩(らい)』から『再建』に至る作品（島木は後に『生活の探求』で転向を完成させる）、中野重治(しげはる)の『第一章』に始まって『村の家』ほかを含む連作などは、一歩後退したところからもなお再起への模索を潜ませた作品であって、ともに初期の転向文学の位相を端的に示すものであった。また、35～36年（昭和10～11）に発表された高見順の『故旧忘れ得べき』などに代表される昭和10年代のデカダンス文学も転向文学の一位相とみることができ、そのほか、武田麟太郎(りんたろう)における庶民的日常性への埋没、本庄陸男(ほんじょうむつお)における歴史的次元への遡及(そきゅう)、亀井勝一郎における宗教や古典の世界への自己再生等々の場合、さらに戦争下ファシズムに傾斜した転向作家の場合などをも考え合わせると、強制された転向から、質を転じた自主的転向に至るまでの諸段階を反映した転向文学の諸相は、昭和10年代文学状況の全般にわたって深くかかわっていたということができる。第二次世界大戦後は、「近代文学」同人たちによる戦争責任の追及の過程で転向問題が再提起された。

［高橋春雄］

『本多秋五著「転向文学」（猪野謙二ほか編『岩波講座文学　第5巻』所収・1954・岩波書店）』▽『荒正人著「転向文学論」（窪川鶴次郎ほか編『日本のプロレタリア文学史的展望の再検討のために』所収・1956・青木書店）』▽『思想の科学研究会編『共同研究　転向』全3巻（1959～62・平凡社）』▽『吉本隆明著『芸術的抵抗と挫折』（1963・未来社）』▽『平野謙著『文学・昭和十年前後』（1972・文芸春秋）』▽『本多秋五著『転向文学論』第3版（1972・未来社）』▽『高橋春雄ほか編『現代文芸評論』（1973・双文社出版）』▽『満田郁夫著「転向と転向文学」（紅野敏郎ほか編『現代文学講座　第5巻』所収・1974・至文堂）』▽『磯田光一著『比較転向論序説――ロマン主義の精神形態』増補版（1974・勁草書房）』▽『小田切秀雄著「転向文学とモダニズム」（『岩波講座文学　第7巻』所収・1976・岩波書店）』▽『高橋春雄著「転向文学の一位相――『再建』の背景をめぐって」（昭和文学研究会編『昭和文学の諸問題』所収・1979・笠間書院）』▽『ドナルド・キーン著、徳岡孝夫・角地幸男訳『日本文学史　近代・現代篇4』（1987・中央公論社）』▽『山下悦子著『マザコン文学論――呪縛としての「母」』（1991・新曜社）』▽『安藤宏著『自意識の昭和文学――現象としての「私」』（1994・至文堂）』▽『佐藤健一編『中野重治「村の家」作品論集成』全3巻（1998・大空社）』▽『長谷川啓編『「転向」の明暗――「昭和十年前後」の文学』（1999・インパクト出版会）』▽『荒正人ほか編著『昭和文学史』上下（角川文庫）』▽『吉本隆明著『マチウ書試論・転向論』（講談社文芸文庫）』

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例