My Complex Feelings About Shōsetsu Shinzui (The Essence of the Novel)
Ever since it was published in the late Edo period, Kyokutei Bakin’s (Takizawa Bakin’s) Nansō Satomi Hakkenden (hereafter Hakkenden) has been widely read by people of all ages and genders. A major turning point came in 1886 (Meiji 18), when Tsubouchi Shōyō, who at the time was president of Tokyo Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo), published Shōsetsu Shinzui (The Essence of the Novel). In this work, Shōyō advocated realism in fiction, arguing that “novels should focus on depicting human psychology.” At the same time, he went so far as to argue that didactic tales of rewarding good and punishing evil, such as Hakkenden, were outdated. From that point onward, the foundations of the modern Japanese novel in the Meiji era—including Romanticism and Naturalism—are said to have taken root, while Hakkenden came to be regarded as old-fashioned and gradually ceased to be widely read. As a fan of Hakkenden, I have complicated feelings about Shōsetsu Shinzui. On the one hand, I feel ...