An approach to "Sokutenkyoshi":Focusing on the Second Trilogy Written by Sōseki Natsume

• Main Authors: TAN, SHENG-YU, 譚聖彧
• Other Authors: JUAN, WEN-YA
• Format: Others
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/9jwfnd

碩士 === 東吳大學 === 日本語文學系 === 105 === “Sokutenkyoshi”, a word coined by Sōseki Natsume (1867-1916), is considered to express the state of mind he had during the ‘Shuzenji no taikan’ (1910). Although the meaning of “Sokutenkyoshi” is not very clear, according to past studies, it should be understood as “live the nature, abandon the ego”, in which pointing out ‘nature’ is the opposite concept of ‘ego’. After ‘Shuzenji no taikan’, Sōseki completed his second trilogy —“To the Spring Equinox and Beyond” (1912), “The Wayfarer” (1912-1913), and “Kokoro” (1914), while his ulcer problems deteriorated. The common parts of the three works are that: these male protagonists are all in restless distress, and suffering from loneliness. This thesis aims to clarify and track the approach of “Sokutenkyoshi”,which is the attitude in creation at the very end of Sōseki’s life, through analyzing the three male protagonists’ distress, which reflecting the conflict of ‘nature’ and ‘ego’. In “To the Spring Equinox and Beyond”, Sunaga wouldn’t lay down his superiority of being an intellectual while in touch with others, so that his natural emotions and selfless nature have been obliterated from him. A complete estrangement between Ichiro and his family in “The Wayfarer”, reflects the incompatible otherness; the relationship among them means the conflict of ‘nature’ and ‘ego’. In “Kokoro”, Sensei’s ‘ego’ is in contrast to K’s ‘nature’, and it can be said that Sensei failed in practicing “Sokutenkyoshi”. In analyzing the three protagonists’ inner struggle, it is found that the conflict between ‘nature’ and ‘ego’ related to their distress.Sōseki’s literatures not only have distinctive psychological description, but also bear time-transgressive significance.