江戸文学問わず語り

by Fumiko Enchi

父方の祖母が生きた江戸の末期。文学・演劇・音曲等々……。幼い頃から様々な話をとりとめなく聞いて育った著者の心に染み込んだ鮮烈な感覚は、滝沢馬琴、河竹黙阿弥、上田秋成、近松門左衛門等を語るその語り口に彷彿とする。殊に秋成の＜夢幻と現＞の間を描写する文体への言及は、円地文学の根源に呼応。祖母から聞き覚えた沢山の話を鏤め、愛情込めて綴る絶品の江戸文学案内書。

Paperback Bunko

About the author

See author 円地文子.

Fumiko Enchi was the pen name of the late Japanese Shōwa period playwright and novelist Fumiko Ueda.

The daughter of a linguist, Fumiko learned a lot about French, English, Japanese and Chinese literature through private tutorage.

Fumiko suffered from poor health as a child and spent most of her time at home. She was introduced to literature by her grandmother, who showed her to the likes of The Tale of Genji, as well as to Edo period gesaku novels and to the kabuki and bunraku theater. By 13 years old her reading list had grown to include works of the lights of Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allan Poe, Kyōka Izumi, Nagai Kafū, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. She discovered a special interest in the sadomasochistic aestheticism style of Jun'ichirō Tanizaki,

She was inspired to write plays after attended lectures by the founder of modern Japanese drama, Kaoru Osanai.