Afterlife
Idonotexpectafriendahundredyearslater.Publictasteoftenfailsinallfairness,letaloneintoday'saesthetic.HistoryhastoldusthateventheAthenianinthePericleanAgeortheFlorentineinRenaissancewerequitefarfrombeingtheidealaudience.Aspeopleinthepastandthepresenthaveindicated,thefuturegenerationswillstillbethesame;unfortunately,Ihavenodoubtthatthepublicafterahundredyearswouldbeunabletotellagrainofgoldfrommoundsofsand.Evenifthepublicwastobeideal,absolutebeautyisimpossibleintheworldofart.Nowmyeyeisjusttoday'seye,nottomorrow'seye;myeyeisaJapaneseone,noraWesternone.Thus,whyshouldIbelieveinthebeautifulnessbeyondtimeandplace?AlthoughDante'sinfernocanmakeEasternchildrenfrightened,adeepmistofsixhundredyearshaslainbetweenthemedievalItalianfireandourpresentJapan.Indeed,Iamjustanordinarywriter.Grantedthatfuturereadershavefairjudgmentandthatbeautyisuniversal,myworkswillneverbeselectedasclassics.ItisbeyondallquestionthatIdonotexpectafriendahundredyearslater.SometimesIimaginethatpeoplewillnotknowmeatallaftertwenty,fifty,oronehundredyears;whenapieceofmyworkswillbewaitingforreadersinvain,fullycoveredindustatthecornerofashelfinaused-bookstore;nay,perhapswhentheonlyexistingcopymaybetoowornanddamagedtobereadableataclosedstackofalibrary.But...Ithink"but."ButIwonderifsomeonehasachancetofindoneofmybooksandreadashortstoryoratleastsomelines.Moreover,Ihavethesmallesthopethatthestoryorseverallinesmayshowmyunknownfuturereaderatouchofabeautifulvision.Idonotexpectafriendahundredyearslater;Iknowthatmydreamisinconflictwithmyunderstanding.Yet,Istillimaginethatareadershalltakeoneofmyworksintheirhandafteronehundredyearsofsolitude;hopefully,myimageryshallappearvaguelyintheirmind.Iunderstandthatthewisewilllaughmeoffasafool;infact,Iamsecondtononeinlookingdownuponmyself.Sneeringatmyfoolishness,Icannothelppityingmyfancifulidea.OrIcannotbutsympathizewiththecommonweaknessesofallhumanbeings.(FirstpublishedonJuly27th,1919)