A study of “The Ghost Stories in the Moonlight of Drizzling Nights” (雨月物語): from the Viewpoint of Love and Desire
Date Issued
2007
Date
2007
Author(s)
Li, Hsin-Lun
Abstract
In the middle Edo period(江戶時代), under the influence of Chinese vernacular novels, Akinari Ueda(上田秋成) wrote “The Ghost Stories in the Moonlight of Drizzling Nights”. It was the first writing of ghost stories in Japanese literature history, and beloved by the famous modern writers, such as Kyouka Izumi(泉鏡花), Junichiro Tanizaki(谷崎潤一郎), Haru Satou(佐藤春夫), Fumiko Hayashi(林芙美子), Yukio Mishima(三島由紀夫), Haruki Murakami(村上春樹).
“The Ghost Stories in the Moonlight of Drizzling Nights” comprises nine short stories within five volumes, and has been considered as the male oriented literature by general readers. Among these stories, female leading characters are present only in three stories ”Shabby Dwelling”(浅茅が宿), ”The Caldron of Kibitsu”(吉備津の釜), and ”Wantoness of the snake”(蛇性の婬). Love, desire and friendship between males are the main topic of the stories of ”Chrysanthemum Dating”(菊花の約)
and ” The Blue Headscarf ”(青頭巾). The five stories have a common theme of ghosts and the connection of love and death, but they have different methods of presentation. In the novel, the female’s way of life and love are often subjected to the males, and the principal and subordinate is therefore obvious. The love entanglement between male and female, as well as, between males often leads to the tragedy of death.
Undoubtedly, “The Ghost Stories in the Moonlight of Drizzling Nights” is a novel mainly dealing with persistent love and desire, and well-portraying human nature.
In this thesis, the events of Akinari Ueda’s lifetime are examined for the influence of the main female family members on him, the female images in the novel, and also the battles between sexes from the female point of view. Then, in the feudal system and the deeply-rooted social atmosphere of male superiority, how people behaved in love affairs between persons of different sexes and of the same sex is discussed. Since the novel was influenced by Chinese literature, the likeness and difference in description of love and death between Japanese and Chinese are then discussed. In other words, whether the portrayal of love and death and their relationship really reveal human nature in the real world is the subject in this thesis.
Subjects
愛欲
悲劇
兩性的角力
男尊女卑
執念
love and desire
tragedy
battles between the sexes
male superiority
persistence of love
Type
other
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