Date of Award
12-20-2023
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Type
Dissertation
Abstract
This dissertation examines the narrative function of music in prewar Japanese literature. I focus primarily on the works of three leading Japanese authors, Izumi Kyōka (1873–1939), Nagai Kafū (1879–1959), and Tanizaki Jun’ichirō (1886–1965), and discuss the narrative performativity of the Edo period (1603-1868) music referenced in a selection of their literary works published from the 1900s to the 1930s. I explore these authors’ use of lullabies, folk songs, and the musical performance of the Edo era theater– songs from the kabuki and jōruri plays, the lyrical chanting of the oral narrator of the puppet theater, and shamisen music in their narratives. Centering my discussion on narrative performativity, I investigate the interaction and intra-action between sound, nostalgia, and memory in the textual world, analyzing the literary techniques the three authors employ in their music references and the cultural and social significance behind their textual presentation of music. Developing my study under Svetlana Boym’s discussion of nostalgia in her The Future of Nostalgia, I argue that references to Edo-era music are a literary device in the three authors’ literary works. I show that Edo-era music provokes the dormant memories of these authors’ male protagonists, suggesting these characters’ profound nostalgia for an imagined, allegorical cultural home, which I call Edo. I argue that this ‘Edo’ is not to be confused with the shogunal capital of Edo during the Tokugawa era (1603–1868). Instead, it is an imagined entity reflecting these characters’ desire for peace of mind in the face of the alienation and displacement caused by the contradictions of prewar Japanese modernity. I show that these authors purposely depict their Edo as lost to Japanese modernity to express their criticism of social and political issues during prewar Japan and highlight the complex contradictions and contestations resulting in Japanese modernity.
Language
English (en)
Chair and Committee
Rebecca Copeland
Recommended Citation
Hu, Lei, "Sounding Edo: Music and its Emotional Resonance in the Works of Nagai Kafū (1879–1959), Izumi Kyōka (1873–1939), and Tanizaki Junichirō (1886–1965)" (2023). Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3210.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds/3210