Shishosetsu

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Shishōsetsu ( Japanese 私 小説 , also watakushi shōsetsu , dt. "I-novel") denotes a form of the Japanese novel of modern and contemporary literature, which is specific to Japan. The Japanese first-person novel is characterized by the fact that the author's experiences and their representations as realistic as possible serve as the starting material for the fictional event. The dictum of the relentless and truthful representation of the experience without embellishment is the primary characteristic of Shishōsetsu.

Overview

Shishōsetsu are initially autobiographical prose stories. One of the typical production conditions for Japanese prose pieces is that they first appear as a series in one or more daily newspapers and only then are published as an independent book. This circumstance leads to the fact that the inner unity, i.e. the stringency of the action, takes a back seat. Sometimes this results in breaks in the chronology and content-related contradictions, which are also preserved in the book publication. What is commonly referred to as a novel in Europe is often not congruent with such long Japanese prose stories. The narrative literature of Japan is divided into short ( 短 編 小説 , Tampen Shōsetsu ), medium-long ( 中 編 小説 , Chūhen Shōsetsu ) and long ( according to the quantitative scope, regardless of thematic or structural features, such as the inner development of the main character ). 長 編 小説 , Chōhen Shōsetsu ) novels.

As such a form of narrative prose, the Shishōsetsu emerged in the first decade of the 20th century. During this time, among other things, European naturalism was received in Japan . The authentic description of the milieu and the conflict-laden living conditions, especially of simple people, are important features of this naturalism. The dictum of realistic portrayal in Japanese naturalism ( 自然 主義 , Shizenshugi ) is understood and carried out in Shishōsetsu as a requirement for unadorned self-expression. This makes the real person of the writer the primary object of description of Shishōsetsu. Topics such as love affairs, financial worries, life weariness and marital problems from the life of a writer move into the focus of the work. At first glance, these issues seem banal. In a certain way they have in common with the European “first-person novel” that it is always a question of conflict situations, often to the extent of an existential threat experienced. A clear difference, however, lies in the narrative and perspective. The conflict unfolds in the contemplative contemplation of a seemingly random detail that comes into the focus of the main character. An insect, for example, can typically be the reason to trace the current life crisis. Characteristic and also a difference to the European "first-person novel" is that the portrayal is made from a very selfish perspective of the main character and often in a tearful tone. The narrated time , i.e. the period of time over which the narrated event extends, is usually relatively short. The result is that the events described give the impression of immediacy, reflection through a distant view of the event takes place just as little as an inner development of the main character. The focus of the main character can either be determined by his own downfall or by the hope of a happy solution. One can therefore speak of two types of Shishōsetsu in relation to the main character: the “downfall type” ( 破滅 型 , hametsugata ) and the “harmony type” ( 調和 型 , chōwa-gata ). A prime example of the doom type is Dazai Osamu with his novel Drawn .

Significant consequences result from the claim to truth and the subject areas, on the one hand for the relationship of the author to his own work and on the other hand for the relationship of the reader to the work or the author of the work. Kirschnereit called these two characteristics constituting the Shishōsetsu “facticity” and “focus figure”. In this context, facticity means that the Japanese reader inevitably expects that the real author in an act of relentless self-exposure truthfully presents only what he has experienced himself. The required authenticity is an immovable claim that the reader “presupposes”, whereby the actual relationship between autobiographical facts from the life of the writer and the life data of the main character described in the work remains largely unquestioned in the reception and is assumed to be identical. This assumed identity of the main character and author of the work and the type of text organization resulting from it is what is meant by the term focus figure. It is up to the author to promote the equation of his own life with that of the fictional main character by suggesting parallels and using autobiographical data. The value system of the author is thus also the value system of the main character.

The reason for these forms of Shishōsetsu can be found in the Japanese culture that shapes the reception framework. Public voyeurism is largely sanctioned in Japan. But the pleasure of watching is not an end in itself, rather it has a psycho-hygienic and cathartic effect. The type of text design described, which prevents analytical distance, enables the reader to participate directly in the event and to rediscover his or her own world. This is certainly to a large extent the attraction and the unbroken popularity of Shishōsetsu.

Demarcation

In order to differentiate the Shishōsetsu from the European novel, it can be summarized that the time sequence, i.e. H. the time told is not necessarily chronological. The principle of cause and effect often gives way to an associative sequence of events. Apparent breaks in logic and structure are part of the Japanese narrative form. The moment is more significant than the development of what is happening or the inner attitude of the main character, which makes the Japanese Shishōsetsu prone to repetition. The Japanese Shishōsetsu does not meet the claim of the European form of the novel to represent “life in its totality”, as it always remains fragmentary in its layout.

The Shishōsetsu understood as a first- person novel must not be confused with the narrative perspective of the first-person narrator . This classification for the analysis of prose texts, which goes back to Stanzel , is a means of examining the fictional character of the narrator and his stylization. In addition, the first-person novel must be distinguished from the autobiography , as a description of life that strives for completeness and is also designed to show a development.

Representative examples

Tayama Katai's Futon (1907) and Shimazaki Tōsons Hakai (1906) are generally considered to be the first Shishōsetsu . A special form, the Shinkyō Shōsetsu ( 心境 小説 , "emotional novel"), is Shiga Naoya's novel Wakai .

literature

  • S. Noma (Ed.): I-novel . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993. ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 612.
  • Irmela Hijiya-Kirschnereit : The autobiographical inspiration. Shishōsetsu in contemporary Japanese literature - On the liveliness of a genre that has been declared dead. In: What does: understanding Japanese literature mean? Frankfurt, Suhrkamp, ​​1990, pp. 135-154
  • Irmela Hijiya-Kirschnereit: Self-exposure rituals on the theory and history of the autobiographical genre ”Shishosetsu” in modern Japanese literature. Munich, Iudicium, 2005.
  • Elena Giannoulis: blood as ink. Mechanisms of action and function of contemporary shishōsetsu. Munich, Academium, 2010
  • Shūichi Katō : A history of Japanese literature. Vol. 3, Kōdansha International, Tokyo / New York / London 1990, ISBN 4-7700-1547-X .
  • Thomas Neuhauser: The novel. In: Otto Knörrich (Ed.): Forms of literature in individual representations (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 478). Kröner, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-520-47801-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Kirschnereit: Die autobiographische Inspiration , 1990, pp. 135–154
  2. ↑ Thomas Neuhauser: The novel. In: Otto Knörrich (Ed.): Forms of literature in individual representations (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 478). Kröner, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-520-47801-8 , p. 299.