Morrison

Study Guide: Ishikawa Juns The Structure of Tampen Shsetsu (1940)

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Read the essay and answer the following.

1. Why is Ishikawa reluctant to delve into the question what is the shsetsu? What
does he propose to discuss instead?

2. What faults does Ishikawa see in the existing (length-based) taxonomy of shsetsu?
What alternative taxonomy does he propose?

3. Ishikawa asserts that in order to understand what factors determine/limit the length of
a work, one must first understand how the work comes into being. Yet this process is
rarely, if ever, understood, he argues, due to a certain common belief (zokushin).
Describe this common belief.

4. Ishikawa then contrasts this common belief with what he regards as the actual
process of how the work comes into being. Describe this process.

5. Ishikawa asserts that the tampen is principally comprised of two forms: the conte and
the novella. Describe the elements/qualities/deficiencies of each form, as he sees them.
Why does he regard the tampen as inferior to the shsetsu proper?

6. What does Ishikawa mean when he says the novel and literature (bungaku) are today
pitted against one other in a struggle to the death? Explain Ishikawas particular use of
the term bungaku. What larger system is bungaku a part of? How does this system differ
from the notion of shsetsu he is describing/advocating?

7. According to Ishikawa, the process by which the tampen comes into being is the
exact opposite of that of the shsetsu proper. Describe this process. Explain how it
differs from that of the shsetsu proper.

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Tampen shsetsu no ksei. First published in March 19, 1940 in Issue 3 of the literary
journal Gendai Bunsh Kza, published by Mikasa shob . The essay was
later included in his book-length work Bungaku taigai (September 1942,
Shgakukan ). Translation (by me) forthcoming.

8. How does Ishikawa conceive the role/significance of harmony, the authors
notions/ideas, craftsmanship, and beauty in the two forms of tampen? How are the two
forms different from the shsetsu proper in terms of these four elements/qualities? What
negative effect does Ishikawa see the authors notions/ideas as having on the work?

9. Ishikawa dismisses all theories/discussions of the shsetsu to date as mere theories
of literature or theories of the man/author himself. As he explains: the sentient pen,
the impending darkness, the exertion of seishin (spirit)these are all missing from the
picture. What does he mean by this? What does Ishikawa regard as the fundamental
stumbling block that has prevented critics/writers from recognizing/positing/creating the
shsetsu proper?

10. How does Ishikawa describe the role of the moral in the novella and conte? What
kinds of morals are typical in such works, and in what manner are they deployed?

11. What does Ishikawa think of writers who aim to reproduce a slice of life in their
work? Why does he dismiss theories of writing/criticism that are based on idea of the
eye of the author? How does this relate to his anti-Naturalist stance?

12. Explain Ishikawas particular use of the terms Art and Literature. What are his
motivations for wanting to wrest the shsetsu from the matrix/system of Art-Literature?

13. Ishikawa claims that the shsetsuan invention of modernityinitially went
through its own primitive stage. What does he mean be this? What new technology
came along to push the shsetsu out of this primitive phase? What does he see as the
proper role of the voice/speech in the shsetsu?

14. Despite his initial intention to avoid the question what is the shsetsu? Ishikawa
repeatedly returns to it throughout the essayand at the end of the essay he even
ventures a definition. What is his definition? How is this definition framed in terms of
the shsetsu as self-reflexive medium?

15. Although Ishikawa believes that no so-called tampen shsetsu can ever attain the
status of shsetsu proper, he does acknowledge that many tampen contain certain
shsetsu-like parts. What are these parts? Explain them. How do these parts relate to
his notion of unconscious content, which he introduced in Form and Content in
Writing?

16. Explain Ishikawas genealogy of the novella. Describe its four stages
(ninjbonmodel literaturethe quasi-Naturalist novelI-novel). What Meiji-era
literary group made the ninjbons survival possible? What are the essential features
shared by these four phases? What permutations occurred in the forms development?
Does Ishikawa regard the final phasethe I-novelas a sign of progress or decline?

17. In the final paragraph Ishikawa defines the so-called tampen shsetsu as a middle
ground between the two species-concepts of the shsetsu and literature and also as all
of the phenomena of the text that ebbs and surges, appears and disappears, floats and
sinks within this middle ground. Unpack this definition in terms of what he has already
discussed.