文豪「明治、大正、昭和」坪内逍遥から三島由紀夫まで５０人
先々週の日曜日、何時も行く図書館に表題の本があった。小説以外、あまりハウツー的なものは手にしないが、パラパラとめくると結構面白そう。こんなのもたまにはいいかと借り出した。
本の構成は、明治、大正、昭和の文豪５０人のプロフィール、恋愛観、趣味･特技、生没年、代表作の粗筋、生き方、エピソード、交友関係などが極めて簡潔にまとめられていた。こんなハウツーものだから別に読後感と云えるようなものは無いが、驚いたのは、文豪といわれる作家の短命なこと。
約半数の作家が５０歳を迎えずに他界している。
二葉亭四迷４５歳、夏目漱石39歳、正岡子規36歳 、尾崎紅葉35歳、国木田独歩37歳、樋口一葉24歳、有島武郎45歳、石川啄木26歳、萩原朔太郎37歳、芥川龍之介35歳 、岡本かの子49歳、宮沢賢治37歳、横光利一49歳、夢野久作47歳、梶井基次郎31歳、小林多喜二29歳、林文子47歳、堀辰雄48歳、中原中也３０歳、中島敦33歳、坂口安吾48歳、太宰治38歳、 織田作之助33歳、三島由紀夫45歳。
また、当然といえば当然かも知れないが、恋多きこと、放蕩で家庭的を省みない、薬におぼれた作家など、エッそうだったのか？、と認識を新たにするもので、結構楽しく読ませていただいた。
中でも驚いたのが石川啄木。恋愛観に記されているのが以下の内容。
「妻子ある身でありながら、東京では何人かの芸者と交際するなど、非常に奔放である。一方で、妻子に家出されてひどく落ち込むなど、女性に依存する面もある。手紙から妻と友人・宮崎郁雨の浮気を疑い絶縁するなど、嫉妬深い顔も見せる。尚、中学はカンニングがバレて中退したとか、社会に出てからも借金まみれ、しかも、借りたお金を女遊びや遊興費に使い、仕事は無断欠勤するなど、相当奔放な生活を送っていたとある。
エッ、あの生活苦を詠んだ石川啄木が。
「はたらけど、はたらけど、猶わが生活、楽にならざり、じっと手を見る」
「たはむれに、母を背負いて、そのあまり軽きに泣きて、三歩あゆまず」。
この詩を手にした啄木の妹、光子は、「母に迷惑ばかりかけていた兄が母をおんぶするなど有りえない」と記しているとあった。
小生は、おどろきのあまり、じっと文字をみる。
Last Sunday, there was a book with the title in the library I always go to. I don’t pick up much how-to stuff other than novels, but it looks pretty interesting when I flip through it. I thought it would be nice to borrow something like this from time to time.
The structure of the book is extremely concise, including profiles of 50 literary giants of the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa eras, their views on love, hobbies and specialties, years of birth and death, summary of their representative works, their lifestyles, episodes, and friendships. I was surprised at the short life of a writer who is said to be a great writer.
About half of the writers have passed away before reaching the age of 50.
Futabatei Shimei 45 years old, Soseki Natsume 39 years old, Shiki Masaoka 36 years old, Momiji Ozaki 35 years old, Doppo Kunikida 37 years old, Kazuha Higuchi 24 years old, Takero Arijima 45 years old, Takuboku Ishikawa 26 years old, Sakutaro Hagiwara 37 years old, Ryunosuke Akutagawa 35 years old, Kanoko Okamoto 49 years old, Kenji Miyazawa 37 years old, Toshikazu Yokomitsu 49 years old, Hisasaku Yumeno 47 years old, Motojiro Kajii 31 years old, Takiji Kobayashi 29 years old, Fumiko Hayashi 47 years old, Tatsuo Hori 48 years old, Nakaya Nakahara 30 years old, Atsushi Nakajima 33 years old, Ango Sakaguchi 48 years old, Osamu Dazai 38 years old, Sakunosuke Oda 33 years old, Yukio Mishima 45 years old.
In addition, it may be natural to say that there was a lot of love, debauchery and lack of domesticity, and a writer who was addicted to drugs. I enjoyed reading this book quite a bit.
Among them, Ishikawa Takuboku was the most surprising. The following is described in his view of love.
Although he is married and has children, he is very uninhibited, dating several geisha in Tokyo. On the other hand, there are aspects of his dependence on women, such as being severely depressed when his wife and children run away from home. He also shows a jealous look on his face as he insulates his wife and her friend Ikuuma Miyazaki from suspicion of an affair based on a letter. In addition, it is said that he dropped out of junior high school because he was caught cheating, and even after going out into the world, he was covered in debt, and he spent the borrowed money for playing with women and entertaining himself, and he was absent from work.
Ishikawa Takuboku, who wrote the poem about living hardship.
“My life, though I work, is still easier, and I look at my hands.
He said, “I will carry my mother on my back and weep for her lightness, not wavering for three steps.
Mitsuko, the younger sister of Takuboku, who wrote this poem, wrote, “It is impossible for an older brother, who was so much trouble for his mother, to carry her on his back.
I stared at the letters in amazement.
*** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) ***
