scholarly journals Ancient Greek Legend in Modern Japanese Literature: “Run, Melos!” by Dazai Osamu

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-68
Author(s):  
Lija GANTAR
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Japanese Literature ◽  
Life Time ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Western Literature ◽  
Modern Japanese Literature ◽  
Autobiographical Work ◽  
Japanese Writer ◽  
Fictional Story

Dazai Osamu (1909-1948), a modern Japanese writer, wrote “Run, Melos!” in 1940. The short story is a rework of an Ancient Greek legend of Damon and Pythias from the 4th century B.C., which was introduced to Dazai through Schiller’s version of the legend, “The Hostage”. The legend, based on a true event, represents the perfect friendship and was reworked a number of times by different antique writers. After having been forgotten for a while, it reappeared in the Middle Ages as a fictional story and has gotten many new adaptations from then on. One of them was Schiller’s ballad in 1798, which – alongside an anecdote from Dazai’s own life – represented the basis for Dazai’s story. Even though “Run, Melos!” is not an autobiographical work, Dazai managed to pass his own feelings onto the characters, add some biblical elements, and included a never-before-employed dark twist in the story, thus making his version more realistic than the preceding ones. Despite the distance in time and place between him and the legend, with “Run, Melos!”, Dazai managed to retell a Western literature story, making it a part of the Japanese literature as well, adding motifs and themes influenced by his own life, time, and place.

scholarly journals Mori Ōgai, “The Grouch” – A Kanshi (Sino-Japanese Poem) about Paintings for Sale in a Modern Department Store

2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Timothy Wixted
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Japanese Literature ◽  
Department Store ◽  
Modern Japanese Literature ◽  
Mori Ogai

AbstractMori Ōgai 森鷗外 (1862–1922) stands at the fountainhead of modern Japanese literature. He is most famous for his prose writings: the groundbreaking short story,

scholarly journals A estrutura temática de um conto na tradução do japonês para o português: um enfoque sistêmico-funcional

2016 ◽  
pp. 123-142
Author(s):  
Sonia Regina Longhi Ninomiya ◽  
Sumiko Nishitani Ikeda
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Japanese Literature ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
Thematic Structure ◽  
Linguistic Typology ◽  
Text Interpretation ◽  
Modern Japanese Literature ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Difference

Thematic structure of a clause is composed of Theme, the starting point of the message that lends prominence to some elements that compose it, thus establishing the base to interpret the remainder of the clause, the Rheme. Researchers show that the choice of the Theme generate communicational implications in literary translation, interfering in the interpretation of the message. This thesis compares one short story taken from modern Japanese literature and its translation into Portuguese with the aim of analyzing the difference in the realization of the thematic structure in these languages, and the difference in the interpretation of the short story. The article is supported by the premises of Systemic-Functional Linguistics. The analyses show that differences in structure are driven by differences due to linguistic typology, and lead to differences in the text Interpretation.

An Undercurrent in Modern Japanese Literature

1964 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Etō
Keyword(s):  
Zen Buddhism ◽  
Japanese Literature ◽  
Reading Public ◽  
Western Literature ◽  
Modern Japanese Literature ◽  
Heavy Burden ◽  
To Come

One often has the impression that young Japanese writers today are more eager to follow Western fads than to explore the Japanese tradition. Far from being devotees of Zen Buddhism, they are more likely to come to it through translations of Kerouac and other beatniks. In this paper, I propose to examine the cultural and psychological bases for this curious situation, which I suggest stem largely from the Japanese obsession with being up-to-date or Westernized. Young Japanese writers are never free from the pressure of the reading public that they should be au courant with the latest trend in Western literature, and this imposes such a heavy burden that it is no wonder that they have no time to go to a monastery and practice Zen.

Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Ancient Philosophy ◽  
Perceptual Content ◽  
Current Work ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Original Essays ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Middle Ages

Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy provides, twice each year, a collection of the best current work in the field of ancient philosophy. Each volume features original essays that contribute to an understanding of a wide range of themes and problems in all periods of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, from the beginnings to the threshold of the Middle Ages. From its first volume in 1983, OSAP has been a highly influential venue for work in the field, and has often featured essays of substantial length as well as critical essays on books of distinctive importance. Volume LIII contains: an article on several of Zeno of Elea’s paradoxes and the nihilist interpretation of Eudemus of Rhodes; an article on the coherence of Thrasymachus’ challenge in Plato’s Republic book 1; another on Plato’s treatment of perceptual content in the Theaetetus and the Phaedo; an article on why Aristotle thinks that hypotheses are material causes of conclusions, and another on why he denies shame is a virtue; and a book review of a new edition of a work possibly by Apuleius and Middle Platonist political philosophy.

Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, Volume 55

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Ancient Philosophy ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Loss Of Control ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Original Essays ◽  
Constant Change ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Metaphysical Principle

Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy provides, twice each year, a collection of the best current work in the field of ancient philosophy. Each volume features original essays that contribute to an understanding of a wide range of themes and problems in all periods of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, from the beginnings to the threshold of the Middle Ages. From its first volume in 1983, OSAP has been a highly influential venue for work in the field, and has often featured essays of substantial length as well as critical essays on books of distinctive importance. Volume LV contains: a methodological examination on how the evidence for Presocratic thought is shaped through its reception by later thinkers, using discussions of a world soul as a case study; an article on Plato’s conception of flux and the way in which sensible particulars maintain a kind of continuity while undergoing constant change; a discussion of J. L. Austin’s unpublished lecture notes on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and his treatment of loss of control (akrasia); an article on the Stoics’ theory of time and in particular Chrysippus’ conception of the present and of events; and two articles on Plotinus, one that identifies a distinct argument to show that there is a single, ultimate metaphysical principle; and a review essay discussing E. K. Emilsson’s recent book, Plotinus.

The Enticement To Re-Read: Repetition as Parody in 2 Samuel

1993 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-165
Author(s):  
Hugh S. Pyper
Keyword(s):  
Reading Strategies ◽  
Internal Model ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Third Person ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Fictional Story ◽  
2 Samuel

AbstractThe story of Nathan's parable in 2 Samuel 12 and the story of David's encounter with the woman of Teqoa in 2 Samuel 14 bear striking structural similarities. In both, the king is enticed into committing himself by an oath in response to a fictional story retailed to him on behalf of a third person. The argument of this paper is that the relationship between the two is parodic; 2 Samuel 14 contains a bathetic reprise of motifs and devices from the earlier story. Once the reader has registered this, the effect is to raise questions as to what is going on in the earlier story. Rereading 2 Samuel 12 in the light of 2 Samuel 14 raises questions about David's capacity to read events clearly. Both stories provide an internal model of text reception, which is complicated by the parodic reflection of the model. Drawing on studies of similar devices in ancient Greek novels, I argue that the result for the reader is to throw into question the categories of reading strategies we apply to the text.

scholarly journals Editors' welcome, PORTAL, Vol 7, No 2, July 2010

1970 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Allatson
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Japanese Literature ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Editorial Committee ◽  
Racial Boundaries ◽  
Memory Work ◽  
American Immigrant

This issue of PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies comprises five articles in its general essays section, and two works in its creative works section. We are delighted with the inclusion of the first three essays: “‘A Bit of a Grope’: Gender, Sex and Racial Boundaries in Transitional East Timor,” by Roslyn Appleby; “Undermining the Occupation: Women Coalminers in 1940s Japan,” by Matthew Allen; and “Pan-pan Girls: Humiliating Liberation in Postwar Japanese Literature,” by Rumi Sakamoto. These essays were presented in earlier formats at the two-day workshop, “Gender and occupations and interventions in the Asia Pacific, 1945-2009,” held in December 2009 at the
Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies (CAPSTRANS), University of Wollongong. The workshop was convened by Christine de Matos, a research fellow at CAPSTRANS, and Rowena Ward, a Lecturer in Japanese at the Language Centre, in the Faculty of Arts, University of Wollongong. The editorial committee at Portal is particularly grateful to Christine and Rowena for facilitating the inclusion of these essays in this issue of the journal. Augmenting those studies is “Outcaste by Choice: Re-Genderings in a Short Story by Oka Rusmini,” an essay by Harry Aveling, the renowned Australian translator and scholar of Indonesian literature, which provides fascinating insights into the intertextual references, historical contexts and caste-conflicts explored by one of Indonesia’s most important Balinese authors. Liliana Edith Correa’s “El lugar de la memoria: Where Memory Lies,” is an evocative exploration of the newly emergent Latin(o) American identifications in Australia as constructed through self-conscious memory work among, and by, a range of Latin American immigrant artists and writers. We are equally pleased to conclude the issue with two text/image works by the Vancouver-based Canadian poet Derek Symons. Paul Allatson, Editor, PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies.

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