The “Self” In Akutagawa Ryunosuke’s Novels

The issue of “Self” is the core themes of modern Japanese literature.It involves the subject consciousness of modern Japan and individuals on the one hand,and the form and connotation of various literary novels on the other hand.Moreover,from the emergence,evolution and return of the concept of“Self”,we can also find the modern features of Japanese literature under the invasion of Western literary thoughts.It not only appeared in the recognition of “Enlightenment” and “Aesthetics” by the modern Japanese intellectuals,but also reflected in the reconstruction of the traditional subject by the intellectuals,that is,the ideological framework of “Returning to Japan”.From this point of view,the “Self” writing in Akutagawa Ryunosuke novels is the core proposition in the study of Akutagawa’s literature.Hori Tatuo divides Akutagawa’s writing into two periods,starting with Nose,after Yam Gruel,A Day of Oishi Kuranosuke,Picture Scroll of Hell,Death of a Christian,Christ in Nanjing,In Grove and other works,to Beside The Sixth Palace,these works should be classified from Taisyou five years to Taisyou eleven years.Most of these works are historical novel,containing subtle satire of the intellectual,or full of the “Amusement”nature of Literature in Edo Age,and rarely pessimistic.His later works.From “Horikawa yasukichi mono”to A Piece of Land,Half Life of Shinsuke Daidoji,Point Demon Book,Kappa and Gear,these works should be classified from Taisyou twelve years to Showa two years.These works have a strong autobiographical which can hardly be found in the earlier works,and the skepticism behind smile in the past has been completely transformed into the cynicism in the later works.Moreover,the form of the historical novel no longer exists,and the more later the work,the greater the tendency for its fragmentation and confession.In the first chapter of this article,the author starts from the cosmopolitan trend of the Taisyou period to explore the formal characteristics of Akutagawa’s historical novel.The Taisyou period is a special period in the modern history of Japan.It is a transition period from traditional society to modern country in Japan,it also contains the self-iteration and self-renewal of Japan in the face of the western modern country’s ideological and cultural invasion.According to The theory of sociology of literature of Lucien Goldmann,literature,as a system of expression,has a latent isomorphism with society.Looking at the occurrence of Akutagawa’s literature from this point of view,it is not difficult to find the urgency and crisis of the construction of cultural subject identity behind it.The form of Akutagawa’s historical novel and its selfwriting will be the focus of this chapter.Akutagawa’s historical novel include “Chugokumono”,“Kirisitanmono”,“Ochomono”,“Meijimono” and “Edomono”.This kind of imitative literary form is the channel to reach the universal culture,while the rewriting and reversal bring into his own perspective.On the one hand,this dynamic element of imitation,repetition,and rewriting is itself a sign of self-assurance.On the other hand,from Akutagawa’s changes from the original novel,we can see the secularization of modernity,and ordinary people on the historical stage.In traditional works,the role of the characters is to drive the plot,while the characters themselves are integrated into the historical context in an unimaginative way.Akutagawa’s rewriting not only excavates these ordinary people,but also endows them with images and subject consciousness.Akutagawa rediscovered these ordinary people who had been hidden in history but were also shining brilliantly,the ethical problems they encountered and the “Self” dilemma of their existence are reproduced in the modern narrative mode.The second chapter of the thesis analyzes the background and reasons of Akutagawa Ryunosuke selfwriting and self-construction.Identity of vernacular and written language in the early Meiji period was not so much the development of new culture as the adaptive compromise and self-transformation of traditional culture in the face of Western culture invasion.This transformation is achieved through some kind of“Reversal”,but also a disenchantment process.So with the appearance of this “Reversal”,new media,New Culture,new ideas have the category of existence,and then can be brought into the field of vision.In literature,it is the new discovery of “Scenery”,“Disease”,“Interior”,“Children” and “Women”.To magnify this focus,we can see that these emerging “Viewing devices” are captured under the so-called invasion of modern culture over traditional culture.This is a very complex form of the state,that is,many researchers in Akutagawa’s literature mentioned: “Refutation” “Transition”.At the same time,the “Refutation” and“Transition” also reflect the expectation of revaluation,self-examination and self-construction.Following this thought,the author examines the requirements and dilemmas of Akutagawa Ryunosuke self-construction in the third chapter.Self-construction is not innate,but man-made.It is externally dependent on the national language system,the continuous experience system,the non-breaking memory and the objective and stable value judgment standard.Internally,it relies on what Michel Foucault calls “Selftechnology”.It enables individuals to transform themselves through a series of manipulations of their own bodies,souls,minds,actions,and being.with the help of their own forces,or with the help of others.According to Michel Foucault,the practice of “Self-technology” consists of self-disclosure,self-censorship and self-care.Its ultimate goal is to occupy itself,to obtain a self-subject value.In this way,individuals can educate themselves and establish a critical function for society,a function of fighting evil and a function of self-healing in the face of danger or trauma.In the self-writing of Akutagawa Ryunosuke,these functions are manifested in Akutagawa’s sensitive subject consciousness,critical spirit and pursuit of the supremacy of art.From these three aspects,we can find Akutagawa’s active character of self-construction,and the attitude of personal heroism contained in it.In the fourth chapter,the author focuses on the changes in the form of the later Akutagawa Ryunosuke’s Works.This change from “Imitation” and “Rewriting” to “Self-expression” means that Akutagawa’s selfwriting changes from the universal culture that the former arrives at to the individual consciousness that the latter represents.In his later works,such as Half Life of Daidoji Shinsuke,The Life of A Fool,Gears,Questions in The Dark,these autobiographical writings are an increasingly subjective and visible process.Akutagawa used the first person or the third person to describe the protagonist’s growth experience and psychological course,such a thorough exposure of ideas,the fundamental purpose is to self-reflection,to examine and establish the self-subject.the disjointed fragments of the text throw off the reader who wants to achieve “Depth”.The polysemous theme and open structure leave a space of criticism and reflection for the author’s self-subjectivity.From this point of view,we can understand Akutagawa in his later works repeatedly expressed “Life is not as good as a line of Baudelaire”,“I have no desire to live now,only the desire to create”and so on.From his narration,it is not difficult to see the collapse and dissonance of the self-subject.In keeping with this failure of “Self-rationalization” is the 1930 s hybridity state and subjectivity crisis of modern Japanese society.