The early fiction of Matsumoto Seicho: Detective fiction as social critique

In a prolific four-decade career that spanned from 1951 to 1992, Matsumoto Seicho (1909--1992), a writer known for his detective fiction, produced over 600 novels, short stories and essays that chronicle the struggles of the Japanese working- and middle class. This study focuses on the first decade of his career as the critical period during which he develops his political agenda, his narrative technique and important motifs that figure prominently in not only the period fiction of his earliest works, but also the realistic mysteries that were highly influential in the development of Japanese detective fiction.; Seicho's detective fiction breaks from its prewar predecessors by emphasizing realistic character motivation and plot devices, or torikku. It becomes a platform for him to express his anti-establishment political ideas that are critical of the bureaucracy, the military, large corporations and research universities. In short, Seicho attacks the exploitation of the "little guy," especially by institutional bureaucracies. One of his most common narrative techniques to accomplish this objective is the creation of a "model 'salary-man' detective" who embodies middle-class values such as humility, intelligence and persistence. Among the motifs that regularly appear in Seicho's work are domestic and international travel, interest in local culture, and a fascination with Japanese literature and history.; This dissertation consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the study and a brief biography on Seicho. Chapter 2 analyzes three of his most important early works, "Saigo satsu" ("Saigo currency," 1951), "Aru Kokura nikki den" ("A legend of The Kokura diaries," 1952) and "Harikomi" ("Stakeout," 1955). Chapter 3 treats Seicho's landmark detective novel Ten to sen (Points and lines , 1957). Chapter 4 discusses another famous detective novel, Suna no utuswa (Vessel of sand, 1960), although it is less successful as a mystery than Ten to sen. Chapter 5 contextualizes the first decade of his career by comparing three representative non-fiction essays and a mystery from 1960--1992 with Seicho's fiction from 1951--1960. In the three essays---"Ishida kenji no kaishi" ("The strange death of prosecutor Ishida," 1964), "Manshu bo judai jiken" ("A major incident in Manchuria," 1965) and "Kobayashi Takiji no shi" ("The death of Kobayashi Takiji," 1966)---exemplify Seicho's combination of historical fact and techniques of detective fiction narration to create reportage. The mystery novella---"Giwaku" ("Suspicion," 1982) demonstrates the consistency of Seicho's approach to detective fiction.