Nostalgia - Ryoshu

A full-length novel from Yokomitsu Riichi's later period. Unfinished. Published intermittently in the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun, Bungakukai, Bungeishunju, and other publications from April 1937 (Showa 12) to April 1946. Four volumes in total. Published in book form by Kaizosha. The protagonist is Yashiro Koichi, who works in the research department of a construction company, and features his friend Kuji and the leisure-class young lady Usami Chizuko. Set in Paris, Tyrol, and Vienna, it is a great romance that discusses the fate of Japan. Centered on Paris, which is particularly excited by the establishment of the Popular Front cabinet, it is based on the sense of difference between the so-called "East and West," and presents a summary of Yokomitsu Riichi's literary themes of the time, such as the spirit of tradition and science, ancient Shintoism and Catholicism. As a result of drawing too much on the historical trends of Japan in the 1930s, it was inevitable that it would become an unfinished masterpiece due to its contemporaneity.

[Yoshiki Kuritsubo]

"The Complete Works of Riichi Yokomitsu Vol. 8 and 9" (1982, Kawade Shobo Shinsha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

横光利一(りいち)後期の長編小説。未完。1937年（昭和12）4月から46年4月まで断続的に『東京日日新聞』『文学界』『文芸春秋』などに発表。全四編。単行本は改造社から刊行。建設会社調査部勤務の矢代耕一郎を主人公とし、友人の久慈と有閑階級の令嬢宇佐美千鶴子(ちずこ)を配し、パリ、チロル、ウィーンを舞台に、日本の運命を議論する一大ロマンとなっている。とくに人民戦線内閣樹立で沸き立つパリを中心に、いわゆる「東洋と西洋」の異和の感覚を根本に据え、伝統精神と科学精神、古神道(しんとう)とカトリックなど、当時の横光利一の作家的主題が集約された形で提出されている。昭和10年代の日本の歴史的動向をあまりにも引き込みすぎた結果、その同時代性ゆえに、未完の大作たらざるをえなかった。

［栗坪良樹］

『『定本横光利一全集8・9』（1982・河出書房新社）』

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