The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-05-20
JAPANESE LITERATURE.
Development of the Novel in Cherry
Blossom Land.

Critic: Up to 1895, novel writing
was, not looked upon as a respectable
profession. The public would not per-
init it to be called gentleman's work.
1t was regarded as AN objectionable
diversion OF unworthy prodigies. The
authors We're accused of being a de-
moralizing influence. However, the
fault may be with them, since they in
dulged, often ~provokingly, in the de-
piction of the lower class of women.
The geisha WAS their favorite heroine.
l am told that Ogai Mort was often
warned by his surgeon general (Ogai
was a higher army doctor) that he
would shorten his dignity by his novel
publication. There is no place like the
Japanese army Where ever an ill fitting
dignity is necessary. Once for some
years Ogai stopped writing, seeing
What a prejudice. But happily such
"a thing couldn't happen today, when
the invasion of western thought has
cleared it off. Authors have come to
command respect. They couldn't make
II living by writing only twenty years
aeo, but today they are on the fair
road to prosperity, the public demand
.or literature of any sort having ire
i~.lehdously increased. They will put a
Drice on their writing, counting the
pages, II not the words, like Ameri-
ans. Nearly all the young students
Q I'm ~ y ~ oiANt- ~ btiS
GferfloW of novels in 1899 and 1900!
Not one in a hundred had literary
merit-too often, alas! they verged on
the coarse II scandalous. The books
We're hardly pictures of human life.
What could those young writer's tender
brains know? The gentleman above
50 would not bestow ever Il glance
upon their work. Where is the hu
man interest?' he would sternly de-
mand. Our Japanese woman rarely
~-al MI - t,,a. 81 - 4 al ., -
the students, who are glad to be i'm
beetle. They lost the public respect
at once, which they a gained after
the hardest battle. You will see no
more of literary events today. Com
mercialism has destroyed everything.
And the well established authors. like
Tsubouchi. koyo or Roban, did not
come to the rescue in the crisis. Fol
the last three years the public is de-
nouncing the modern novel. SO it is in
America. isn't it? Japan is also float
ing up and down on the worlds cur
rent.
The literary newspapers have beer
growing in power for the last ten years
Soho Tokutolni is the most prominen'
figure in the field, whose artistic writ
ing. sensible conception and frequently
witty reporting are nothing but the
best literature. Minoru kuga of The
Nippon Ca n~ewspaper) is not withou'
honor; his rigid style has been a tonic
for the Younger minds. Now the In
tellectual japanese are Welcoming thu
newspapers with a greater respect than
they ever showed before, permanent.
f%orsaking the feeble specuiations o
novels. And the students of seriou.
, bent are turning TO scientific study. t.
: real experiment. to practical works
Their eyes are set upon the spheres o
!. social philosophy, psychical analysis
and exact evidence. There has beel
nc time in the past thirty-siN year
2 when there was exhibited such q seri
Gus thirst for western intellectual
4 books.
5 And the public discovered only a yea
or so ago that the reading of western
novels was the very way to feed thei
r minds spiritually. They are ready t
d admit their unreasonable superiorit
: to the native writing. Their transla
$ ton has astonishingly increased Wit.
: the downfall of the native authors
Some fifty books We're translated Il
J; last year. the Younger Dumas Ca
d Alphone Daudets "Nabob,' Georg
Eliofs "Romola.' H~awthorne's "Scarle
d Letter. and Maeterlinck's plays bein
among them.
And the philosophical mind has talk
> en- up Emerson. A few TRANSACTIONS 9
. his works nave already appeared. An
e the Student. n semi-monthly publ
cation for the study of the t.nglis
language and literature, issued ii
Carlyle number last September, and in
y directly denounced the present condi
u ton of Japan.