TANIZAKI JUN’ICHIRŌ (1886-1965)Nagai Kafū:Nagai Kafū:“Una misteriosa vertigineprovocata dalla pauracarnale; un intenso piacerederivato dalla reazione aduna crudeltà fisica;tematiche legate al contestourbano; la perfezione dellostile”

FORMAZIONE E INFLUENZE

� Edokko: nato a Nihonbashi (Shitamachi) dafamiglia di mercanti

� Assiste alla modernizzazione di Nihonbashi e aldeclino delle ultime vestigia del passato: ricordi diluoghi perduti dell’infanzialuoghi perduti dell’infanzia

� Forte impressione lasciata su di lui dalla madre,archetipo di bellezza femminile

� Studia letteratura (senza laurearsi) all’Universitàdi Tokyo negli anni del naturalismo

� Opposto allo stile naturalista, rivendicaimportanza della soggettività dell’artista

LE DUE FASI DELLA PRODUZIONE DI

TANIZAKI

� Due periodi, con diverse influenze e temi:� Prima: influenza della letteratura occidentale

(in particolare i decadentisti: Poe, Baudelaire…)� Dopo il trasferimento nel Kansai (dopo il� Dopo il trasferimento nel Kansai (dopo il

terremoto del 1923), e soprattutto dalla finedegli anni ’20: mito della classicità giapponese eritorno al Giappone fisico (Kansai) ed estetico(produzione letteraria Heian, soprattutto Genji)

• In questa fase, polemica con Akutagawa

LA PRIMA FASE

� Produzione lontana da shizenshugi e shishōsetsu,descritta come “diabolisme”, ispirata

• Al principio della “art for art’s sake”• Al decadentismo europeo (n.b.: Subaru)� Opere rappresentative:• Shisei (Il tatuaggio), 1910• Chijin no ai (L’amore di uno sciocco), 1924:

transizione alla fase successiva� In alcune opere di questa fase, sperimentazione

delle tecniche del racconto poliziesco, ripresaanche in seguito (es.: Tomoda to Matsunaga no

hanashi, Storia di Tomoda e Matsunaga, 1926)

TEMATICHE PRINCIPALI

� Esplorazione istinti umani, soprattutto sessuali� In particolare, istinto masochistico di un uomo che

si sottomette a una donna (spesso per impulso diautodistruzione)

• Femme fatale, bellezza (desiderio nostalgico della• Femme fatale, bellezza (desiderio nostalgico dellamadre) e crudeltà

� Feticismo (in particolare per i piedi della donna)� N.B.: analisi della psiche finalizzata, diversamente

che nel naturalismo, a una ricerca estetica

� L’uomo che annulla il proprio io nella donna ottienesoddisfacimento di un desiderio sessuale e completase stesso realizzando il proprio ideale di bellezza

CHIJIN NO AI

� Elementi tipici del Decadentismo:� Analisi psicologica dell’amore masochistico

(Kawai Jōji) e femme fatale (Naomi)• Jōji: modello della classe media dell’epoca,

personalmente attaccato alla tradizione, mapersonalmente attaccato alla tradizione, maforma Naomi secondo un ideale di donnaoccidentale

• Naomi: forte della sua nuova “emancipazione”,ridicolizza e sottomette Jōji

� Spazio esotico: luogo di realizzazione dei desiderinascosti (attrazione verso l’occidente)

� “Why I, a man of twenty-eight, had my eye on achild like that, I don’t understand, but at first Iwas probably attracted by her name. Everyonecalled her “Nao-chan”. When I asked about it oneday, I learned that her real name was Naomi,written with three Chinese characters. The nameexcited my curiosity. A splendid name, I thought.excited my curiosity. A splendid name, I thought.Written in Roman letters, it could be a Westernname. I began to pay special attention to her.Strangely enough, once I knew she had such asophisticated name, she began to take on anintelligent, Western look.”

� “Good evening,” said the Western woman. Whenshe took off her hat, the first glimmer ofrecognition flashed across my mind. As I studiedthe face, I finally realized that it was Naomi.”

� “The Naomi of tonight was a precious object ofyearning and adoration, utterly incompatibleyearning and adoration, utterly incompatiblewith Naomi the filthy harlot, the whorish Naomi, given crude nicknames by so many men. Beforethis new Naomi, a man like me could only kneeland offer worship.”

� “I’m going to try to relate the facts of ourrelationship as man and wife just as theyhappened, as honestly and frankly as I can. […]At the same time, I’m sure my readers will alsofind it instructive. As Japan grows increasinglycosmopolitan, Japanese and foreigners willeagerly mingle with each other; all sorts of neweagerly mingle with each other; all sorts of newdoctrines and philosophies will be introduced;and both men and women will adopt up-to-dateWestern fashions. No doubt, the times beingwhat they are, the sort of marital relationshipthat we’ve had, unheard of until now, will beginto appear everywhere.”

� Parodia del Giappone post modernizzazione:� L’Occidente, all’inizio elemento di attrazione

(libertà, emancipazione), viene esasperato al puntoda diventare negativo

� Naomi: modern girl, si adegua ai costumioccidentali superficialmente, come moda (societàdei consumi)dei consumi)

• È volgare, ma è anche vittima• Incarnazione del dramma storico del Giappone, che

deve attualizzarsi ma imita il modello occidentalesenza assimilarne le radici ideologiche (successointernazionale, ma dissociazione e squilibrionell’individuo)

� Parodia dello shishōsetsu

� Confessione del narratore in prima persona� Intento, però, esplicitato: “Questo è un racconto

lungo, un watashi shōsetsu” “Con semplicità esincerità parlerò dei miei rapporti coniugali”

� Lettore portato a pensare che si tratti di unaconfessione sincera (makoto), ma ironia sul genereconfessione sincera (makoto), ma ironia sul genere

• I fatti smentiscono il narratore• Titolo: l’immagine positiva che il narratore cerca di

dare di sé (ad es., attraverso una serie diriferimenti colti) è viziata

LA SECONDA FASE

� Non radicale cesura (continuità tematica)

� Conflitto modernità/tradizione risolto nel tentativo diricreare l’estetica giapponese classica

• Interesse per epoca Heian (tre traduzioni del Genji)

� Fine anni ’20/inizio anni ’30: saggistica fondativa

In’ei raisan (Elogio della penombra), 1933: estetica� In’ei raisan (Elogio della penombra), 1933: esteticaoccidentale vs estetica giapponese

� Shunkinshō kōgo (Postscriptum alla Storia diShunkin), 1933: monogatari modello per il romanzo

� Gendai kōgobun no ketten ni tsuite (Sui difettidella moderna lingua scritta colloquiale), 1929, eBunshō tokuhon (Manuale di composizione), 1934:lingua da usare nel romanzo

QUALI PUNTI FONDAMENTALI EMERGONO

DA TALE PRODUZIONE SAGGISTICA?

� In’ei raisan:� Sensibilità giapponese: antitetica a quella del

moderno Occidente• “Bello” secondo il gusto classico giapponese:• “Bello” secondo il gusto classico giapponese:

penombra, toni pallidi e sfumati. Bellezza =intangibilità, toccandola si dissolve

• “Bello” per il gusto occidentale: chiaro, luminoso,brillante

� N.B.: no superiorità di una concezione sull’altra, macriticata la via scelta dal Giappone, che in tutti gliambiti ha abbandonato il passato

� Almeno la letteratura giapponese deve abbracciarel’estetica classica, preservare il “mondo dell’ombra”, con

1. Intertestualità: citazioni

� Non mera riproduzione, ma creare qualcosa di nuovopartendo dal modello passato

2. Allusività e ambiguità, attraverso l’uso di alcunistrumenti stilistici e tecniche narrative

� Strutture narrative del mistery� Strutture narrative del mistery

� Confessione con narratore inattendibile

• Distanziamento dell’autore rispetto al proprioprotagonista, anche quando coincide con il narratore

� Uso della figura retorica dell’ironia: contraddizione fraquel che si dice e quello che si vuole sia inteso

• Processo comunicativo, che implica complicità fraautore e lettore, che deve comprenderla e interpretarla

� Shunkinshō kōgo

• Modello di stile: monogatari e non shōsetsu

� Non visto come superiore, ma come più adeguataversione giapponese del romanzo realista

• Il narratore onnisciente è una tecnica estraneaal modo di narrare giapponese

• La narrativa, però, deve essere fiction• La narrativa, però, deve essere fiction• Monogatari concilia l’elemento fiction e il modo

di narrare giapponese: il punto di vista delnarratore si confonde con quello dei personaggi,non una voce ma tante voci

� N.B.: però richiamo a una trama ben strutturata

� Gendai kōgobun no ketten ni tsuite e Bunshōtokuhon

� Miglioramento del genbun’itchi: linguacolloquiale, ma non quella standard di fine periodoMeiji, “contaminata” dalle lingue occidentali(hon’yakutai)

• Lingua che mantenga intatte le peculiarità delgiapponese (indeterminatezza del soggetto,giapponese (indeterminatezza del soggetto,vaghezza dei tempi verbali…) e rifletta la veralingua parlata (Tokyo e Osaka)

� No all’eccessivo allargamento del lessico eall’eccessivo uso di parole nella prosa moderna

• Richiamo a un ritorno al vocabolario delgiapponese classico: poche parole il cui significatospazia a vari campi semantici (ambiguità)

YUME NO UKIHASHI (IL PONTE DEI SOGNI), 1959

� Fulcro dell’opera: reclusa vita famigliare di OtokumiTadasu e rapporto fra Tadasu e Chinu

• Figura della madre morta che si identifica con lamatrignamatrigna

• Tema dell’incesto

� Dopo che Tadasu compie 18 anni, la matrigna dàalla luce Takeshi (suo figlio?)

� “On reading the last chapter of The Tale of Genji: Today

when the summer thrush/Came to sing at Heron's Nest/I

crossed the Bridge of Dreams. This poem was written bymy mother. But I have had two mothers — the second wasa stepmother — and although I am inclined to think myreal mother wrote it, I cannot be sure. The reasons for thisuncertainty will become clear later: one of them is that bothwomen went by the name of Chinu. I remember hearing asa child that Mother was named after the Bay of Chinu,a child that Mother was named after the Bay of Chinu,since she was born nearby at Hamadera, where her family,who were Kyoto people, had a seaside villa. She is listed asChinu in the official city records. My second mother wasalso called Chinu from the time she came to our house. Shenever used her real name, Tsuneko, again. Even myfather's letters to her were invariably addressed to “Chinu”;you can't tell by the name which of the two he meant. Andthe “Bridge of Dreams” poem is simply signed “Chinu.””

� “All of my father's love was concentrated on my mother. Withthis house, this garden, and this wife, he seemed perfectlyhappy. Sometimes he would have her play the koto for him,and he would listen intently, but that was almost his onlyamusement at home. A garden of less than an acre seems alittle cramped to be called a true landscape garden, but it hadbeen laid out with the greatest care and gave the impression ofbeing far deeper and more secluded than it actually was. […]Just at the point where the stream entered the pond a bamboodevice called a “water mortar” was set up: as soon as the waterdevice called a “water mortar” was set up: as soon as the waterfilled its bamboo tube, which was pivoted off-center, the tubewould drop with a hollow clack against a block of wood setbelow it and the water would run out. Since the tube wassupposed to be of fresh green bamboo, with a cleanly cut openend, the gardener had to replace it often. This sort of device ismentioned in a fourteenth-century poem: Has the water

upstream Become a lazy current? The sound of the

mortar is rarely heard.”

� Although I have thus far written “mother” withoutspecifying which of the two I meant, my intention has beento relate only memories of my true mother. Yet it occurs tome that these recollections seem a little too detailed for achild of three or four. Seeing her dangle her feet in thepond, or hearing her talk about nenunawa, for instance —would such things, if they had really happened when I wasa child of that age, have left any impression whatever?Possibly impressions of the first mother were overlaid byPossibly impressions of the first mother were overlaid bythose of the second, confusing my memory. […] I cannotrecall my first mother's features distinctly. According toOkane, she was very beautiful, but all that I can summonto my mind's eye is the vague image of a full, round face.[…] Here too I am perhaps being misled by thesuperimposed image of my second mother.”

� “I mean the impression she makes, the way she talks, theway she carries herself, her quiet, easygoing personality,sweet and gentle, and yet deep — that's why I say she's likeyour mother. If I hadn't met her I'd never have wanted tomarry again. It's only because there is such a person thatI've come to feel this way. Maybe your mother saw to it thatI happened to find this lady, for your sake as well as mine.[…] What do you think, Tadasu? You understand what I'vebeen telling you, don't you?” Curiously enough, I hadalready given my consent long before he finished what heintended to say. Seeing my face light up, he added: “There'sintended to say. Seeing my face light up, he added: “There'sone thing more I'd like you to remember. When she comesyou mustn't think of her as your second mother. Think thatyour mother has been away somewhere for a while and hasjust come home. Even if I didn't tell you so, you'd soonbegin to look at it that way. Your two mothers will becomeone, with no distinction between them. Your first mother'sname was Chinu, and your new mother's name is Chinutoo. And in everything she says and does, your new motherwill behave the way the first one did.”

� Sometimes I fretted and lay awake a long time, pleading:“Let me sleep with Mama!” Then Mother would come tolook in at me. “My, what a little baby I have tonight,” shewould say, taking me up in her arms and carrying me toher bedroom. […] She lay down beside me just as she was,not taking off her sash, and held me so that my headnestled under her chin. The light was on, but I buried myface inside the neck opening of her kimono and had ablurred impression of being swathed in darkness. […] Ibelieve I used to suckle at her breasts until I was a fairlylarge child, perhaps because in those days people were notlarge child, perhaps because in those days people were notat all strict about weaning their children.

� “Tadasu,” she asked, “do you remember how your mamaused to nurse you till you were about four yearsold?” “Yes,” I said. And do you remember how shealways sang lullabies to you?” “Iremember.” “Wouldn't you still like to have your mamado those things?” “I suppose so. . .” I answered, flushing,aware that my heart had begun to pound. “Then comeand sleep with me tonig

� In January of the following year I learned that Mother waspregnant. It was in the eleventh year of her marriage to myfather. Since she had never had a child before, even by herformer husband, both Father and she seemed to besurprised that such a thing could happen, after all theseyears. “I feel ashamed to be getting big like this, at myage,” she used to say. Or again: “When you're past thirtyit's hard to give birth for the first time, I hear.” BothMother and Father had concentrated all their parental loveon me, and perhaps they worried about my reaction to thison me, and perhaps they worried about my reaction to thisevent. If they did, they needn't have: I cannot describe howpleased I was to think that, after all these years as an onlychild, I was about to have a little brother or sister. Isuppose, too, that Father's heart was darkened now andthen by the ominous memory of my first mother's death inpregnancy. But what struck me as odd was that neitherFather nor Mother seemed to want to bring up the matter;I began to notice that they looked strangely gloomywhenever the subject was mentioned.

� “The baby was a healthy one, and in due timeFather gave it the name Takeshi. But when Icame home from school one day — I believe itwas about two weeks later — I was startled tofind that Takeshi wasn't there. “Father, whereis Takeshi?” I asked. “We've sent him out toShizuichino for adoption,” he told me. “Someday Ithink you'll understand, but for the present,please don't ask too many questions. I didn't planplease don't ask too many questions. I didn't planthis by myself — from the time we knew the childwas coming your mother and I discussed ittogether every night. She wanted to do it evenmore than I did. Maybe we shouldn't have goneahead without a word to you, but I was afraidthat talking to you about it might do more harmthan good.”

� “But what was the meaning of her behavior that afternoon?[…] she had seemed far too cool to be playing such amischievous trick: she had acted as if this were nothing outof the ordinary. Maybe she would have been just as calmeven if someone had come upon us. Maybe, in spite of myhaving grown up, she still thought of me as a child.Mother's state of mind was a mystery to me, but my ownactions had been equally abnormal. The moment I saw herbreasts there before me, so unexpectedly revealed, I wasback in the dream world that I had longed for, back in theback in the dream world that I had longed for, back in thepower of the old memories that had haunted me for somany years. Then, because she lured me into it by havingme drink her milk, I ended by doing the crazy thing I did.In an agony of shame, wondering how I could haveharbored such insane feelings, I paced back and fortharound the pond alone. But at the same time that Iregretted my behavior, and tortured myself for it, I felt thatI wanted to do it again — not once, but over and over.”

� “I haven't much longer,” he said. “But this was meant to be, so Iam resigned to it. When I go to the other world your mother willbe waiting for me, and I'm happy at the thought of meeting heragain after all these years. What worries me most is your poorstepmother. She still has a long life ahead of her, but once I'mgone she'll have only you to rely on. So please take good care ofher — give her all your love. Everyone says you resemble me. Ithink so myself. As you get older you'll look even more like me. Ifshe has you, she'll feel as if I am still alive. I want you to think oftaking my place with her as your chief aim in life, as the only kindtaking my place with her as your chief aim in life, as the only kindof happiness you need.”Never had he looked at me that waybefore, deep into my eyes. Though I felt I could not fullyunderstand the meaning of his gaze, I nodded my consent; and hegave a sigh of relief. Then, after pausing a few minutes until hewas breathing easily once more, he went on: “In order to makeher happy you'll have to marry, but instead of marrying for yourown sake you must marry for your mother's, to have someone whowill help you take care of her. I've been thinking of Kajikawa'sdaughter Sawako. . .”

� “In July the three of us would sit by the pond together toenjoy the cool of evening. Like my father, I would take a fewbottles of beer to put under the spout of the bamboo mortar.Mother drank too, several glasses if I urged her; but Sawakoalways refused. Mother would dangle her bare feet in thewater, saying: “Sawako, you ought to try this. It makes youdelightfully cool!” But Sawako would sit there primly in herrather formal summer dress, with a heavy silk sash boundtightly around her waist. “Your feet are so pretty!” she wouldsay. “I couldn't possibly show ugly ones like mine besidesay. “I couldn't possibly show ugly ones like mine besidethem!” It seemed to me that she was too reserved. Shemight have been a little freer and more intimate with someonewho would eventually become her mother-in-law. But sheseemed too solicitous, too eager to please; often her words hada tinge of insincerity. Even her attitude toward me wascuriously old-fashioned, for a girl who had been graduatedfrom high school.”

� “Mother and I were the objects of their criticism, more thanthe match with Kajikawa's daughter. To put it bluntly, theybelieved that we were committing incest. According to them,Okane said, Mother and I began carrying on that way whileFather was still alive, and Father himself, once he knew hewouldn't recover, had tolerated it — even encouraged it.Some went so far as to ask whose baby had been smuggledout to Tamba, suggesting that Takeshi was my own child,not my father's. […] Okane explained that everyone in ourneighborhood had been gossiping this way about us for along time. […] My relatives thought that my dying fatherlong time. […] My relatives thought that my dying fatherarranged for me to marry Sawako because only a girl withher disadvantages would accept such a match. Mostscandalous of all, his reason for wanting me to keep upappearances by taking a wife was presumably to have mecontinue my immoral relationship with Mother. Kajikawawas well aware of these circumstances in giving hisdaughter, and Sawako was going to marry out of respect forher father's wishes — needless to say, they had their eyes onour property.”

� “Sawako was weeping aloud. “I'm to blame, I'm toblame,” she kept repeating. I have no intention oftrying to describe the feelings of horror, grief, despair,dejection, which swept over me then; nor do I think itreflects credit on myself to be suspicious of anyonewithout a shred of evidence. Yet I cannot escapecertain nagging doubts. […] I wonder if Mother'sdeath was entirely accidental. Might not someonehave had a scheme in mind for using a centipede, ifhave had a scheme in mind for using a centipede, ifone of them appeared? Perhaps it was only a rathernasty joke, with no thought that a mere insect bitecould be fatal. But supposing that her weak heart hadbeen taken into account, that the possibility hadseemed attractive. . . Even if the scheme failed, no onecould prove that the centipede had been deliberatelycaught and placed there.”

� Intertestualità

� Richiamo al Genji monogatari

• Titolo

• Chiave di lettura per il testo (matrigna: Fujitsubo;Takeshi: Reizei)

� Ambiguità (“ombra”)

� Elemento “mistery”: ordine non cronologico,confusione, vuoti e silenzi: Takeshi è figlio di Tadasu?confusione, vuoti e silenzi: Takeshi è figlio di Tadasu?Sawako (o Tadasu) ha ucciso la matrigna?

� Uso del modello della confessione, ma attodichiaratamente non sincero, letterario

• Confessione mirata a nascondere, usata pertrasmettere una determinata immagine al lettore da unnarratore-protagonista inattendibile

� “I have tentatively given this narrative the title of The Bridge of

Dreams, and have written it, however amateurishly, in the formof a novel. But everything that I have set forth actually happened— there is not one falsehood in it. Still, if I were asked why I tookit into my head to write at all, I should be unable to reply. I amnot writing out of any desire to have others read this. At least, Idon't intend to let anyone see it as long as I am alive. If someonehappens across it after my death, there will be no harm in that;but even if it is lost in oblivion, if no one ever reads it, I shall haveno regret. I write for the sake of writing, simply because I enjoylooking back at the events of the past and trying to rememberlooking back at the events of the past and trying to rememberthem one by one. Of course, all that I record here is true: I do notallow myself the slightest falsehood or distortion. But there arelimits even to telling the truth; there is a line one ought not tocross. And so, although I certainly never write anything untrue,neither do I write the whole of the truth. Perhaps I leave part of itunwritten out of consideration for my father, for my mother, formyself. . . If anyone says that not to tell the whole truth is in factto lie, that is his own interpretation. I shall not venture to denyit.”

LO SHINKANKAKUHA

IL GRUPPO

� Shinkakakuha (“scuola della nuovasensibilità/scuola delle nuove percezioni”):

� Gruppo che si raccoglie attorno alla rivistaBungei Jidai, fondata nel 1924 da YokomitsuRiichi e Yasunari KawabataRiichi e Yasunari Kawabata

� Avanguardia del modernismo• Anche sulla base dell’influenza dell’avanguardia

europea, si oppone ancor più apertamente aicanoni dell’establishment letterario (shishōsetsu

e la sua idea di realismo)

CARATTERISTICHE DISTINTIVE DELLA

PRODUZIONE DELLO SHINKANKAKUHA

� Scopo della scrittura:• “Art for art’s sake”, ricerca della “bellezza”� Sperimentalismo tematico-narrativo e stilistico� Attenzione per il mondo urbano, in particolare� Attenzione per il mondo urbano, in particolare

dopo il terremoto del ’23, come tipico delmodernismo, ma estetica della velocità e dellameccanizzazione

� Centro: io “dissolto”, metafora dell’ansia dellamodernizzazione

• Priorità alle sensazioni: soggetto = semplicetramite per stimoli esterni

� Stile:� Rifiuto della coerenza della struttura narrativa e

del dialogo prodotta artificialmente nei testiletterari

• Esiste una realtà oggettiva rappresentabile, manon è statica, in continuo fluire, e non può esserecolta razionalmentecolta razionalmente

• Adozione di uno stile frammentario, che prediligele libere associazioni della parola, del pensieroe dell’esperienza

KAWABATA

YASUNARI

(1899-1972)

OPERE LEGATE AL GRUPPO DELLO

SHINKAKAKUHA

� Asakusa Kurenaidan (La banda scarlatta diAsakusa, 1929-1930)

� Romanzo emblema del movimento� Centralità del quartiere di Asakusa� Centralità del quartiere di Asakusa• Narrazione frammentaria, con unico elemento

conduttore il colore rosso, e susseguirsi continuodi immagini

� Stile: frasi brevi e spezzate e forte resa visiva� Esperienze cinematografiche: Kurutta ippeji

(1926)

� N.B.: Anche dopo l’allontanamento dellaproduzione di Kawabata dalle forme stilistiche piùvicine allo Shinkankakuha, letteratura vista noncome reinterpretazione “organizzata” del mondoma come “flusso libero”, riflesso dell’esistenza

� Preferenza per i racconti brevi: Tanagokoro

(tenohira) no shōsetsu掌の小説 (1921 – 1972)(tenohira) no shōsetsu掌の小説 (1921 – 1972)• 146 racconti, spesso brevissimi, prodotti lungo

tutto l’arco della carriera di Kawabata,cristallizzazione delle sue tematiche e del suo stile

� Anche i romanzi lunghi hanno una struttura similea raccolte di racconti

PRODUZIONE DAGLI ANNI ‘20: “NEW

PSYCHOLOGISM” E CLASSICITÀ

� Influenza di Valéry, Gide, James, Proust, esoprattutto Joyce (traduzione dell’Ulisse di ItōSei):

� Sperimentazione dello stream of consciousness eassociazioni libere applicate all’analisiassociazioni libere applicate all’analisidell’inconscio, su ispirazione di Freud

� Al contempo, interesse per poetica tradizionale� Desiderio di preservare l’identità culturale del

Giappone e di farla conoscere all’estero� Tendenza accentuata soprattutto dopo la fine della

guerra, in risposta alla distruzione morale emateriale del paese

IZU NO ODORIKO (LA BALLERINA DI IZU, 1926)

� Fulcro: idea di amore adolescenziale puro

� Espressione della tipica sensualità descritta daKawabata: figure di donne-bambine, di aspettopallido e immacolato, belle da osservare macaratterizzate solo in funzione dell’apprezzamentocaratterizzate solo in funzione dell’apprezzamentodello sguardo del protagonista

� Natura vagamente autobiografica

� Richiamo alla tradizione della narrativa diviaggio dai kikō al nō: associazioni estetiche legateai luoghi.

“To think of the characteristics of Japanese literature in its ancient tradition, one of its salient features is the sentiment felt on a journey. Rather, it is sorrow felt on a journey. It is in the native songs of Japan.

A pilgrimage was a form of spiritual discipline. Perhaps it was so in foreign countries, but

Japanese pilgrimages were peculiarly characterized by the climate of Japan. To a certain extent this

climatization has weakened the literature of Japan. climatization has weakened the literature of Japan. But even lullabies and military songs of modern Japan are not free from this peculiarity. Yet this

may contain something to which we have to give a fresh appreciation. I have desired that I might be

able to leave this ancient strain through returning to it.”

Dalla postfazione della seconda edizione del Kawabata Yasunari

senshū, trad. Reiko Tsukimura

YUKIGUNI (IL PAESE DELLE NEVI, 1937-1948)

� Romanzo lungo (poi riscritto come tenohira, 1972)� Linguaggio visivo, legato alle percezioni di

Shimamura (retaggio del Shinkankakuha)� Debolezza dei personaggi (Shimamura / Komako)Debolezza dei personaggi (Shimamura / Komako)

rispetto alla forza delle immagini� Però maggiore spessore alla figura femminile

� Nakamura Mitsuo: l’“io” narrante di Yukiguni

corrisponde alla figura dello waki nel teatro nō, lacui funzione e introdurre lo shite, vero protagonista,Komako

VITTORIA DEL NOBEL (1968)

� Kawabata Yasunari was the first Japanese to win theNobel Prize for Literature. The award was made in 1968,exactly one hundred years after the new era of Japaneseliterature opened with the Meiji restoration. Kawabata wasunquestionably a modern man, and his works dealtexclusively with the lives of contemporaries, but the Nobelexclusively with the lives of contemporaries, but the NobelPrize Committee honored him because of the specialaffinities his works revealed with Japanese traditions. TheJapanese public was naturally delighted to learn of theaward, though surprise was expressed that a writer whowas difficult to understand even for Japanese should havebeen so appreciated abroad.

(Donald KEENE, Dawn to the West, P. 786)

“For his narrativemastery, whichwith greatsensibilityexpresses theexpresses theessence of theJapanese mind”

DISCORSO PER IL NOBEL: UTSUKUSHII

NIHON NO WATAKUSHI

� Utsukushii Nihon: Kawabata celebra labellezza del Giappone, come bellezza naturale

� Sublimata nella poesia tradizionale, comestrumento attraverso cui il poeta esprime le suestrumento attraverso cui il poeta esprime le sueemozioni

� Riplasmata nelle altre arti tipicamentegiapponesi (la cerimonia del té, i giardini.)

� Contemplata nello zen

“Il professor Yashiro Yukio, esperto di arte orientale e occidentale, antica e moderna, (...) ha detto che una delle

“caratteristiche dell’arte giapponese” può essere sintetizzata in una sola frase poetica: “Pensare agli amici quando è il tempo

della neve, della luna e dei fiori di ciliegio. Quando vediamo la bellezza della neve, quando vediamo la bellezza della luna, in

breve, quando apriamo gli occhi sulla bellezza dei singoli momenti nel corso delle stagioni e ne siamo sfiorati, quando

abbiamo la fortuna di venire a contatto con la bellezza, allora pensiamo agli amici più cari (...); insomma l’emozione della pensiamo agli amici più cari (...); insomma l’emozione della

bellezza risveglia in noi la simpatia, l’affetto per le persone. In questo caso, penso che “amico” possa essere letto in senso più ampio, come “essere umano”. Ancora, le parole che esprimono la bellezza dei singoli momenti nel corso delle stagioni, “neve,

luna, fiori di ciliegio” per tradizione in Giappone sono diventate parole che indicano la bellezza di monti e fiumi, erbe

e piante, di tutta la natura, dell’universo intero, e che includono anche le emozioni umane.”

Da “La bellezza del Giappone ed io”, trad. Maria Teresa Orsi

�Watakushi: la letteratura è, per Kawabata, ilpersonale strumento per raccontare la bellezza delGiappone all’Occidente

� Nel discorso, riallaccia esplicitamente la suaproduzione letteraria alla letteratura Heian, inparticolare l’Ise monogatari e il Genji monogatari:

“Da ragazzino anche se ancora non conoscevo bene la lingua antica, le mie letture erano per lo più lingua antica, le mie letture erano per lo più

costituite dai classici della letteratura Heian e fra questi la Storia di Genji, credo, e l’opera che più si e impressa nel mio cuore. Per centinaia d’anni, dopo

che la Storia di Genji e stata scritta, il romanzo giapponese ha cercato di eguagliarlo, ha continuato

a proporne varianti e imitazioni.” Da “La bellezza del Giappone ed io”, trad. Maria Teresa Orsi

“[dall’Ise monogatari] “...essendo un uomo raffinato, [Ariwara no Yukihira] aveva sistemato alcuni fiori, e

fra essi uno straordinario trancio di glicine. Era lungo più di un metro”.

Un tralcio di glicine che raggiunga quella lunghezza è davvero sorprendente e si può dubitare che l’autore

dicesse la verità, eppure io vedo in questo fiore di glicine il simbolo di tutta la cultura di epoca Heian. Il glicine è un fiore molto giapponese e racchiude in Il glicine è un fiore molto giapponese e racchiude in sé una grazia tutta femminile, i suoi grappoli che

seguono il soffio leggero del vento appaiono delicati, flessibili, di una bellezza sommessa, e mentre

mostrano e si nascondono tra il verde di prima estate sembrano ispirare quell’intenso sentimento verso le

cose che ci circondano, conosciuto come mono no

aware.”

Da “La bellezza del Giappone ed io”, trad. Maria Teresa Orsi