A Study of Ryunosuke Akutagawa's Manuscripts and Self-representation of Suicide

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K13050
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 02010:Japanese literature-related
• Research Institution: Meiji University
• Principal Investigator: KOTANI Eisuke 明治大学, 国際日本学部, 専任准教授 (10753618)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 日本文学 / 芥川龍之介 / 自殺 / 自己表象 / 自筆原稿

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We have clarified the following about a group of Ryunosuke Akutagawa's manuscripts called "Did I Kill a Man?".
(1) The manuscript in question has two or three or more variants. (2) Some of them have been scattered, and those that remain are scattered among several institutions. (3) The intention of what Akutagawa himself often manifested in a unique way to the people around him before his death. (4) Traces of editing by Yoshitoshi Kuzumaki, the administrator of the manuscript, for purposes clearly different from those of simply restoring the original form in his "restoration" work. (5) It should be possible to estimate to some extent the trends and policies regarding its "editing".

Free Research Field

日本文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

芥川龍之介の自殺は、「大正文学の終焉」、あるいは「昭和文学の始まり」を告げる出来事として文学史上で記述されることが多く、日本文学の最も重要なトピックの一つだが、そのイメージが、作家本人によってどのように表現が試みられ、死後どのような力学が働くことによってその後のイメージ形成に繋がったのか、あるいはイメージ形成の可能性が抑制されたのかという点について、従来持たれてきたイメージとは大きく異なる実態があったことを明らかにした。このことは、日本文学のイメージ形成のあり方に関して根本的に考え直す必要があることを示す事例となるだろう。