Page:Modern Japanese Stories.pdf/22

 many modern Japanese writers tended to forget the demands of fiction and of literary style. Furthermore, the confessional type of literature implies a rather dangerous form of conceit, based on the idea that there is something intrinsically interesting in an honest account of one’s inner life. In the case of certain gifted authors this assumption has sometimes been justified. However, less talented and original writers have often been led to produce works of extraordinary dullness in which the fictional element is so attenuated that the terms ‘novel’ or ‘short story’ hardly seem appropriate.

The great decade of modern Japanese writing was that which followed the end of the Russo-Japanese War. It was during these years that many of the most important writers did their best work, while others started their careers. Victory against a major foreign power led to an upsurge of national self-confidence and prosperity. At the same time the multifarious European cultural influences were coming to fruition. Although the literary scene was dominated by the Naturalists, many of the important authors who were active during this period were vocally opposed to the Naturalist approach and reflected this opposition in their writing.

Several of the schools of writing that Japanese critics spend so much time in classifying and sub-classifying (Neo-Romanticist, Neo-Idealist, Neo-Realist, etc.) arose in protest against the prevailing Naturalism. The early careers of a surprisingly large number of important modern writers were marked by a conscious revolt against the gloom, aridity and lack of style that marked the Naturalists. It is worth observing that it is frequently the works of these writers that are read and valued today, whereas much of the Naturalist literature against which they were rebelling has passed into oblivion.