A Study Of Natsume Soseki's Chinese Poetry And Prose

Natsume Soseki was a “national writer”of Japan,and a pioneer of modern Japanese literature,who was regarded as “unrivalled” in the Meiji Literature world by Lu Xun.Having developed a keen interest in Chinese literature at a very young age,he finally became well-versed in it as well as in Japanese and western literature.He once specialised in Chinese literature at Nishogakusha,which stressed “the Japanese Spirit”.Among all his works of different genres,he bequeathed to the world the Early Record of Sawdust and 208 poems in Chinese.Natsume Soseki is famous for his novel I am a cat,whose extensive influence is mainly based on more than ten full-length serials.These novels are widely circulated for their profound thoughts and unique interests.Research has long been prominent in Japan."He spent his life thinking about 'moderns.'"(Yoichi Komori,Rereading Natsume Soseki,1995)however,the Japanese academic community has a high evaluation of Natsume Soseki's Chinese poetry and prose.Sinologist Kojiro Yoshi Kawa praised his Chinese poetry as "the poetry of the exceptional thinker" and"the one without exception since the Meiji period".In the opinion of Atsushi Kanto,a critic,the Chinese poetry of garuda "decorates the ending of Japanese Chinese poetry from the beginning of Kihuusou".Professor Ikkai Tomoyoshi refers to Natsume Soseki and Hajime Kawagami(The Original Japanese Translation of "Das Kapital")as "two great Japanese poets"."Natsume Soseki left behind a great number of works,ranging from novels to Haiku to Chinese poetry" wrote Karatani Kojin in his 2016 book on Natsume Soseki's integration.Such writers are the exception not only in Japan,but also abroad." "Chinese literature,for Natsume Soseki,means the possible world."In China,since the 1920 s,Lu Xun and Zhou Zuren's translation,the relevant research is mainly focused on Natsume Soseki's novels.The new century began to notice the relationship between Natsume Soseki's Chinese poetry and Chinese classics(Wang Xiaoping,The Plum Blossom is Red and The Cherry Blossom is Pink:Japanese Writers and Chinese Culture,2002),and later published a collection of Natsume Soseki's Chinese poetry(Yin Xumin,2009).Chen Fukang(Literature History of Japanese and Chinese Literature,2011)believed that " Natsume Soseki loved Chinese literature all his life and wrote Chinese poetry until his old age.Now there are more than 200 of his poems in Chinese,and he can be called a Chinese writer." However,so far there is no monograph on Natsume Soseki's Chinese poetry.This paper adopts the methods of "understanding people and discussing the world","exploring its origin and identifying its context",and expects to systematically discuss the overall appearance and connotation characteristics of Natsume Soseki's Chinese poetry and prose creation through the close reading of Natsume Soseki's works,the comparison of relevant literatures in Chinese and Japanese literature,and the intertextual research of Natsume Soseki's novels and Chinese poetry and prose.In the introduction,the author makes a detailed study of Natsume Soseki's Chinese poetry and prose.At the same time,the research objectives and methods are clarified.The first chapter discusses the relationship between Natsume Soseki and Chinese literature in Meiji Era.The Chinese literature of Meiji era did not decline with the end of Edo Era,but ushered in its final peak period in the history of Japanese Chinese literature.Natsume Soseki grew up in such an environment,he "likes reading Chinese books" and even "To live by the written word".Once studied in private schools of Sinology.Forced by the current situation,he finally chose English study?Later,he joined Asahi News Agency and became a professional novelist,but the creation of Chinese Literature(mainly Chinese Poetry)still accompanies his whole life.The Chinese literature accepted by Natsume Soseki is obviously different from the general trend of Meiji Confucianism.This chapter also takes the analects of Confucius in his masterpiece I am a cat as an example to explore the value tendency contained in his Chinese literature accomplishment.The second chapter discusses the characteristics of Natsume Soseki's Chinese content and its relationship with Chinese classics.Although there are only six surviving works in the Chinese language written by Natsume Soseki,all of them written before the age of 23(in primary school,high school and college),there are still some bright colors,such as "Sawdust record".If the earliest Han tune work "The theory of Masasige" in primary school is closely related to Meiji Confucianism,then the last three Han texts from middle school to college gradually show the brilliance of Natsume Soseki's own Han thought.In this chapter,three Han texts are selected to discuss,namely,the relationship between the theory of moving Qi and Mencius and Yangming,the relationship between "The Observation of Kiku Nin Gyo" and "Sawdust record" and the prose of Liu Zongyuan.From this we can see the general appearance of Natsume Soseki's Chinese writing.The third chapter discusses the relationship between Natsume Soseki's Chinese poetry and Chinese classics.The complete works of Natsume Soseki contains 216 Chinese poems,the earliest of which was written in the childhood of Soseki,and the last of which was his last work before his death.Chinese poetry is an important part of Natsume Soseki's literature.Natsume Soseki's quotations in Chinese poetry include the classic of poetry and the classical poems of the dynasties from The Book of Songs to the Ming and Qing dynasties.This chapter focuses on The Book of Songs,Du Fu's poems and Gao Qi's poems.What I have seen include: Natsume Soseki's Chinese poetry consciously absorbs the nourishment of Chinese classical poetry in many aspects;Although confined to the magnetic field of the overall background of Japanese literature,the basic attributes such as "poetry expresses one's will" are also obvious in Natsume Soseki's Chinese poems.Although the political nature,"the country and the world" and other feelings are relatively diluted,the individual feelings and the critical spirit are distinct.The fourth chapter focuses on the relationship between Natsume Soseki's literature and Tao Yuanming.Natsume soseki was one of the earliest Japanese writers who experienced the conflict between east and west culture during the Meiji period,Tao Yuanming was regarded by him as the literary representative of the "Oriental ocean" comparable to the western "great man" Shakespeare.Tao Yuanming's works are cited the most in Natsume Soseki's complete works,Natsume Soseki's Chinese poems are most closely related to Tao Yuanming's poems.Its vivid representation is the frequent appearance of the image of "The Return".This chapter also finds that Natsume Soseki's special affection for Tao Yuanming's poems and prose is closely related to his two "The Return" experiences in his own career,which contains his unique and profound experience during the Meiji cultural transformation period.The fifth chapter discusses the characteristics of Natsume Soseki's Chinese poems.From the perspective of "useless use" and "full of romantic utensils" in the creation of Chinese Poetry.Natsume Soseki was different from Meiji poets who made a living by composing Chinese poetry.It is precisely the "useless" world of Chinese poetry that is the ideal spiritual home of Natsume Soseki,and it has become the medicine for Natsume Soseki to soothe his mind and cure his "spiritual trauma".Natsume Soseki himself put forward the unique view that Chinese poetry "should be a vessel full of romantic atmosphere",which was based on his "Southern painting interest" and meditation experience.The Chinese Tang dynasty poet Wang Wei is not only the master of southern painting,but also the representative of "Poetry Buddha".This chapter compares Natsume Soseki's Chinese poems with Wang Wei's.Another feature of Natsume Soseki's Chinese poems is the large number of "Untidless" poems(106),accounting for more than half of all his Chinese poems(208).This chapter also discusses the relationship between Natsume Soseki's uninscribed poems and the Chinese classical "Untitled" poems represented by Li Shangyin.Chapter six discusses the relationship between Natsume Soseki's Chinese poetry and his novel creation.There are two kinds of images in Natsume Soseki's Chinese poems,namely " The sword of gold fault" and "The White Clouds' Hometown",similar to Tao Yuanming,he has both the fierce ambition of "Congrousing" and the leisure of "leisurely seeing the south mountain".Natsume Soseki's ambition is mainly put into practice in his novel creation of "devoting his life to study" the problems of modern people,which is also the crystallization of his own life experience full of tension.This tension includes the cultural differences between east and west,the conflict between literary ideals and the trend of the times,and the dilemma experience of family life and personal illness.In the career of Natsume Soseki's novel creation,the world of Chinese poetry,which takes leisure as its purtive purpose,not only provides spiritual support for his "vulgar" novel narration,but also becomes his "healing" way to comfort his body and mind.Natsume soseki's Chinese poems and his novels present two worlds of ideal and reality respectively.In a word,Chinese poetry and prose are the foundation and core of Natsume Soseki's literary spirit.