The Study Of The Development And Alteration Of Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s Fondness For China

Within a short writing career of no more than 12 years, RyunosukeAkutagawa, one of the greatest writers of the Taishou Period of Japan(1912-1926), was so proliferate that he produced more than 140 short stories, many a piece of haiku, dialogue, Chinese poem, travel note and literary review and so on. His works are considered rich in content, profound in meaning as well as covering a wide range of themes. Many of his works are very famous not only in Japan but also in many countries around the world and have been translated into several languages with more than six hundred pieces of translation. The first Chinese translation of RyunosukeAkutagawa’s works appeared around the early 1920s by Luxun, one of the literary giants of China. "Zhongguowu", literally "the Chinese articles", are not of little significance among many of RyunosukeAkutagawa’s remaining works. These works were written in two periods, that is before and after his travels to China. A great amount of RyunosukeAkutagawa’s works written in the former period, such as Duzichun, were imitated and recomposed from Chinese classics. These works is a perfect demonstration of his "fondness/admiration for China", and he had been longing for a travel to China since he was a child. However, after his travel to China, his opinion of China Changed(greatly)/altered, which reveals in his works written in the latter period. This thesis deals with such questions as why and how this happened. It studies the development and alteration of RyunosukeAkutagawa’s fondness for China based on the study of Duzichun and Journey to China. This thesis is organised as follows:Chapter one/ⅠThe exordium is composed of prior study, the objective, approaches and meaning/significance of the study.Chapter two/ⅡThis part starts with the study of the "fondness for China" of Japanese writers in the Taishou Period. It takes Junichiro Tanizaki as an example and discusses the changing course of Japanese society after Meiji Reform(1868-1912), which consists of the idolisation of western culture, the criticism towards western culture and the comeback of Japanese culture. It then studies RyunosukeAkutagawa’s fondness for China and finds out that the fact that RyunosukeAkutagawa was raised up in Akutagawa’s home who was fond of books and had a rich collection of Chinese books, so that RyunosukeAkutagawa had an easy access to a great amount of books since he was a child contributes greatly to the development of his "fondness for China". Moreover/besides RyunosukeAkutagawa’s love for the portrait of Chinese writers is also a demonstration of his "fondness for China".Chapter three/ⅢThis part studies RyunosukeAkutagawa’s understanding/digesting and recomposing of Chinese classics through a comparison between Duzichun and Duzichunzhuan, and finds out that the former is not merely a plagiarization but a smart transformation of the latter with Japanese elements.Chapter four/ⅣThis part begins with an analysis of the content of Journey to China as well as its historical background. It finds out the change in RyunosukeAkutagawa’s writings of "zhongguowu" in both the subject matters and the content through a comparison between his works produced before and after his travels to China, which are divided into two groups on a chart. Later, by a comparison of the description of the same place appeared both in Duzichun and Journey to China, it makes an analysis of the alteration of RyunosukeAkutagawa’s understanding of China and his fondness for China.Chapter five/ⅤThe last part is summary of this thesis, and sets forth future studies.