On Kirisitanmono Written By Akutagawa Ryunosuke

Although China and Japan have deep relations in culture, the study of Japaneseliterature in China is infertile still. Akutagawa Ryunosuke is a great master ofpre-modern Japanese literature, who is outstanding in Japanese literary history andcalled the last one that has the style of oriental literati. Kirisitanmono means literary works concerning Christianity has long history inJapan. As the production of communication between Japanese literature and occidentalculture and an important part of pre-modern and modern Japanese literary history,Kirisitanmono is significant reference for inter-culture study in the area of comparativeliterature. Influenced by some friends, Akutagawa met Christianity as young and showed hisartistic interest to it. The transformation of the age poured heavy pressure to traditionalintellectual persons whom bred in Edo culture like Akutagawa in status. Clinging to artfor art's sake, Akutagawa switched his attitude to Christianity from exoticism interestto solemn artistic study to respond the challenge in the literary world. Herewith hewrote a series of Kirisitanmono displaying the resistance from his spirit world throughre-discussing Christian dogmas. The study of Akutagawa and his Kirisitanmono has been developed fully and gotrich achievement in Japan and South Korea. However, in China the study ofAkutagawa is still confined in several ten works that translated into Chinese wordsbeing filtered by ideological criterion. To his Kirisitanmono, not only are thetranslation scare, but translators paying consideration seldom. This status quo is not inharmony with the things in China that in a situation of social transforming andindraughting occidental culture speedily in similar. Therefore, studying Akutagawa andhis Kirisitanmono has practical directive significance in researching cultural collisionand intelligentsia psychology. Akutagawa's Kirisitanmono has three features as follows: I. Kirisitanmonodemonstrates a course of understanding of Christianity. II. Kirisitanmono penetrates adialectical dualistic perspective. III. Kirisitanmono reveals the struggle against himselfin the mind. Feature I is the main clue, Feature II is methodology, Feature III is theconclusion, the latter two features are displayed in Feature I, and then the treatise willkick off as an order following Feature I step by step. The understanding of Christianity of Akutagawa consists of five phases: interesting,deriding, realizing, rejecting and re-probing. Phrase interesting includes theKirisitanmono written before he debuted the literary world. From The Old BedlamiteAkutagawa accepted the dualistic perspective, and from Little Stories ConcerningChrist the simple-hearted respect was shown, then the poem named My Aim gave anelementary understanding of Christianity. Phrase deriding includes the Kirisitanmonowritten in the years about Daisyo V. Tobacco and Demon the first formally publishedKirisitanmono of Akutagawa is filled with ridicule with considering the missionary asdemon. And In Lucifer, the self-enmeshment of God and falsity of the Christian wasuncovered. In Juliano Kitisuke the ignorance of Kitisuke the zealotic Christian wasrevealed. And the novel Black St. Mary presented the ridiculous salvation and trickmade by St. Mary' to human beings. In The Christ in Nanjing, a prostitute namedJinhua unfurled her emptiness in faith via her sufferings. Phrase realizing impenetratesthe writing course of all of Akutagawa's Kirisitanmono, i.e. from Tobacco and Demonwritten in the year of Daisyo V to The Maid's Memory written in the year of DaisyoXIII, 17 pieces of works aggregately. These works discussed some Christian dogmasand subjects such as evil and devil, sin and punishment, fall and salvation, love,martyrdom, St. Mary, saint fool and so on dialectically and dualistically. Phraserejecting is dissolved in the Kirisitanmono written after Akutagawa's travel to China(Y. Daisyo XI to Daisyo XIII), which includes The Gods' Smile, Repay an Obligation,Opusculum in Nagasaki, Ogin, Osino, The Maid's Memory. These works present...