Tokunaga Sunao - Tokunaga Sunao

Novelist. Born in Kumamoto Prefecture on January 20, 1899. After dropping out of elementary school in the sixth grade, he worked in various jobs, including as an apprentice at a printing factory and a text selection worker. Later, relying on Yamakawa Hitoshi, he went to Tokyo and found work at Hakubunkan Printing (now Kyodo Printing), where he participated in the formation of the Publishing Employees Union, but was fired after losing the Kyodo Printing strike in 1926 (Taisho 15). Based on this experience, he serialized "A Town Without the Sun" in the magazine "Senki" in 1929 (Showa 4), and established a unique position as one of the few writers with a working background in the NAP movement. He then engaged in a vigorous creative process, writing works such as "Efficiency Committee" (1929) and "Unemployed City Tokyo" (1930), and eventually criticized the political bias of the proletarian literature movement, publishing novels of his own conversion, such as "Winter Withering" (1934), "The Working Family" (1937), and "The Eight-Year System" (1937). After the war, he participated in the founding of the New Japan Literature Association. He published works such as "Tsuma yemure" (1946-48) and "Shizukanaru yamayanai" (1949-54). When the so-called 1950 split, he joined "Jinmin bungaku" (People's Literature). He died on February 15, 1958.

[Hiroshi Otsuka]

"Modern Japanese Literature Series 59: Tokunaga Nao and Other Works" (1973, Chikuma Shobo)" ▽ "Kubota Yoshio, Tokunaga Nao Theory" (1977, Satsuki Shobo)" ▽ "Uranishi Kazuhiko, Biographical Bibliography Series 1: Tokunaga Nao" (1982, Nichigai Associates)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

小説家。明治32年1月20日、熊本県に生まれる。小学校を6年で中退後、印刷工場の見習工、文選工などの職業を転々とした。のち山川均(ひとし)を頼って上京、博文館印刷所（現共同印刷）に就職し、出版従業員組合結成に加わったが、1926年（大正15）共同印刷争議に敗れ解雇された。しかしこの体験をもとに29年（昭和4）『太陽のない街』を『戦旗』誌上に連載、ナップ系の数少ない労働者出身の作家として独自の地位を築いた。その後『能率委員会』（1929）、『失業都市東京』（1930）など盛んな創作活動を展開、やがてプロレタリア文学運動の政治主義的偏向を批判、転向小説『冬枯れ』（1934）や『はたらく一家』（1937）、『八年制』（1937）などを発表した。戦後は新日本文学会の創立に参加。『妻よねむれ』（1946～48）、『静かなる山々』（1949～54）ほかを発表。いわゆる50年分裂では『人民文学』に参加した。昭和33年2月15日没。

［大塚　博］

『『現代日本文学大系59　徳永直他集』（1973・筑摩書房）』▽『久保田義夫著『徳永直論』（1977・五月書房）』▽『浦西和彦編『人物書誌大系1　徳永直』（1982・日外アソシエーツ）』

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