The burning relationship between pure-hearted longing for women, note, and Katai Tayama's 'Futon'

"I really do love women after all"
Essays by male writers that contain lines like this are highly likely to be interesting. The episodes are usually heartwarming and even a little cute.

This tendency seems to exist in note articles as well.
Even if they don't explicitly claim "I love women," I keep discovering articles that chronicle episodes with women.

For example, stories about falling in love with a subordinate, feelings for a past lover, ideals of women, or a longing to hold hands—the articles are overflowing with lingering attachment, longing, and |heartbreak|. I enjoy reading all of them.
The pure heart of a man that is not usually exposed is glimpsed, which is probably what they call 'gap moe'.

It's not just essays.
|I-novels| also feature love stories that are quite interesting.

|I-novels| are stories based on the author's experiences, but they have fictional elements added to form the structure of a novel. Of course, it's not limited to just romantic episodes.
Deep introspection is a characteristic, making them heavier and more oppressive than essays. No, I mean that in a good way.
Works by Kenta Nishimura like 'A Slave to the Trains' and Kenzaburo Oe's 'A Personal Matter' come to mind, but

the original |I-novel| was a hardcore story of romantic agony. This literary style called |I-novel|,

actually has a surprisingly short history.
Anyway, the first novel written was incredible. It was something that made you wonder if they would expose that much.
That original work is

|Katai Tayama's 'Futon'|.

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I'm going to write about my own grotesque heart

|Katai Tayama| thought this boldly.

At the time, |Katai|, who was seeking a new era of literature, was suffering.

In the 40th year of Meiji, |Katai| thought like this. Probably.
What he wrote with that momentum is the candid exposé novel '|Futon|'.
Based on the true story of |Katai| and his female student Michiyo Okada, he tried to depict jealousy and even inner sexual desire just as they were. This is the reason it is called an |I-novel|.

Now, '|Futon|' is a story like this—

To put it simply,
Tokio, a middle-aged writer with a wife and children, falls in love with his young female student Yoshiko,
but even so, he cannot have an affair, struggling with mounting sexual desire,
jealous of Yoshiko's lover, fantasizing about sabotage,
everything he does backfires,
and unexpectedly he expels Yoshiko and sends her back to her hometown,
and out of loneliness, he sobs while smelling Yoshiko's nightclothes and futon.
That is the outcome.

What absurdity. What sorrow.
To cry while smelling a futon and nightclothes.
His robust imagination, lingering attachment, and |distorted| infatuation are overflowing with a helpless pure heart.

A storm of praise and criticism for a new style

As soon as 'Futon' was published,the literary world was stunned by its style of thoroughly exposing the author's inner self.While it is nothing unusual today, at that time,novels of self-exposuredid not exist. 'Futon' received more attention and praise than Shimazaki Toson's 'The Broken Commandment' published the previous year, and it also became
a target of criticismas acandid confession.In short, it wasthe center of attention, for better or worse.In short, it was
the center of attention, for better or worse.

'Futon' is a novel with avery narrow worldview,merely brooding over an uncontrollable longing and sexual desire for Yoshiko. It
hardly touches upon the closed social situation behind the work or the state of his wife.Therefore,

this work was also criticized as shallow,but I do not think so. This is
a story about a man who is so obsessed with Yoshiko that he cannot see anything else.Although it is written in the third person, it does not stray from the man's inner world. There is a certain purity in not pursuing things the man is indifferent to. It is anI-novel that merely exposes a selfish and philistine heart.
That is why I think it is fine for the perspective to be narrow. That is why I think it is comical. Because Katai's 'Futon' existed, it was inherited by the 'I-novels' of later writers, connected to pure literature, and led to works like Dazai Osamu's 'pathetic self-exposure' works and Mishima Yukio's 'Confessions of a Mask'.later writers' 'I-novels,' connected to pure literature, and led to works like Dazai Osamu's 'pathetic self-exposure' works and Mishima Yukio's 'Confessions of a Mask'.


'Futon' is such an

epoch-making work.

A story that can be savored over time

My first reading of 'Futon' was in my second year of high school. Myprimary biblesat the time wereSalinger and Hashimoto Osamu.My heart fluttered at the fresh yet poisonous sensibilities and rebelliousness of the protagonists of my generation. Conversely, the unpleasantness of 'Futon.' The delusional romance of a middle-aged man is unacceptable. It is an age where even if I am devoted to Tanizaki's 'In Praise of Shadows,' I feel disgust for 'The Key'.
The gap between young girls and modern literature is still deep.

And now—although I feel bitter about getting older, I haveaccumulated enough ups and downs to appreciate literature.
Thanks to that, I can enjoy the 'women's talk' of the noters, and I am savoring the happiness of reading 'Futon,' the origin of it all. It is not so bad
to be not young anymore.

*Aside*
According to the commentary included in this work, Katai in his later years, because this work was so talked about, said, 'It is too late for 'Futon',' and apparently pushed his own work 'The Country Teacher'.

＊私小説の出発点は田山花袋と記したが、他の説を唱える論もある。
＊イラストACよりぷくりゃすずめさんのイラストをお借りしました
＊イラストACよりななさんのイラストをお借りしました