The novels of Ozaki Kōyō

Thesis

This is a study of some of the works of the Japanese novelist, Ozaki Kōyō (1867-1903). The aim has been to identify the legacy that the fiction of the Tokugawa period (1600-1868) left in his work, so comparatively little attention has been paid to his life or to works that throw no light on this question, such as his adaptations and translations of western literature. Kōyō's fiction was influenced by two distinct literary traditions from the Tokugawa period. His interest in ninjōbon, a genre of romantic novel, spanned his creative life and imparted to his works a tendency towards complex romantic plots and a concern for realistic dialogue. For a few years, however, this source of influence yielded to another: Koyo was involved in the revival of the works of Ihara Saikaku which took place in the years around 1890, and this profoundly affected his language and style for several years. Attempts to imitate Saikaku's fiction also enabled him to experiment with uses of the narrator that were foreign to ninjōbon writers, and he became progressively more interested in probing the minds of his characters. He took these developments further in his last two novels, stimulated both by the western fiction he had read and by current literary fashions. In Tajō takon he used the narrator to express his rejection of views of marriage imported from the West; in Konjiki yasha he combined the qualities of ninjobon with a study of usury. Apart from revealing some of the areas in which Meiji fiction was indebted to tradition, Kōyō's works show that the influence of Tokugawst fiction was not always as harmful as it is often supposed to be.

Authors: Kornicki, P; Kornicki, Peter

• Alternative title: a study of selected works with special reference to the relationship between the fiction of the Tokugawa and early Meiji periods
• Publication date: 1979
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-xkrn0bjqz
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Subjects: History and criticism; Edo period, 1600-1868; Meiji period, 1868-1912; Japanese fiction