SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), School of Cultural and Social Studies
抄録
『方丈記』は成立して間もないころから、様々な視点から多くの作品の中に受容され、連綿と関心が注がれ続けてきたのみならず、外国の人々からも多くの注目を集めてきた。夏目漱石が帝国大学在学中、英文学科の教授であったディクソン(James Main Dixon)の依頼により『方丈記』の最初の外国語訳として英訳を行ったことはよく知られている。また、ディクソンは、漱石の英訳を下敷きにして長明とワーズワースを対比した論文を執筆し、独自に『方丈記』の英訳も試みた。この二人の取り組みをきっかけとして、この作品は海外においても認識されるようになった。従って、『方丈記』に対する漱石とディクソンの持ったイメージは、国内外におけるこの作品の受容史を検討する上で重要な意味をもつと考えられる。
Kamo no Chōmei’s Hōjōki (1212) has a long history of readership. Throughout the history of Japanese literature, it continuously invited attention, not only from readers in Japan, but also from abroad. It is well known that Natsume Sōseki translated Hōjōki into English while he was a student at the request of James Main Dixon, his English literature professor at Tokyo Imperial University. Dixon, building upon Sōseki’s translation, further authored an article comparing Kamo no Chōmei with English poet William Wordsworth, and also produced his own English translation. It is owing to the endeavours of these two that Hōjōki became available to readers in the West for the first time. Hence, in order to study the history of Hōjōki’s reception, especially its circulation in the West, the insights offered by Sōseki and Dixon are particularly crucial. With this in mind, the focus in this paper is to deepen our understanding of Hōjoki’s reception through a close analysis of relevant English language resources that mention this work. We have found, from our study of late nineteenth century resources, that Hōjōki had already appeared, albeit in fragments, in English-language literature before Sōseki’s translation. Dixon was perhaps the first Westerner to show a keen interest in Hōjōki, and his primary thematic interest was the issue of reclusion and solitude. Also, the contents of Dixon’s talk on Chōmei show that the Western audience appreciated Hojoki and its author from the perspectives of the Christian cultural ethos. This paper also discusses the intertextual affinity between Sōseki’s essay and Dixon’s article. It demonstrates how the latter built his arguments based on the former’s ideas.