Katai Tayama
Katai Tayama | |
|---|---|
 Katai Tayama. | |
| Born | Rokuya Tayama 22 January 1872 Tatebayashi, Gunma, Japan |
| Died | 13 May 1930 (aged 58) Yoyogi, Tokyo, Japan |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Genre | Novels, short stories, diary |
| Literary movement | Naturalism |
| Notable works | Inaka Kyōshi Futon |
Katai Tayama (田山 花袋 Tayama Katai, 22 January 1872 – 13 May 1930, born Rokuya Tayama) was a
I novels which revolve around the detailed self-examinations of an introspective author.[1] He also wrote about his experiences in the Russo-Japanese War
.
Life
He was born in Tatebayashi, Gunma Prefecture, into a shizoku (i.e. former samurai) family, at the time of the abolition of the privileges of that rank. His father entered the police force to support the household and was killed in April 1877 during the Satsuma Rebellion. Katai was sent with his elder brother and sister to Tokyo, where he entered a bookshop as an apprentice, but he lost his position and returned to Tatebayashi in 1882.
The whole family moved to Tokyo in 1886, and Tayama attended the poetry classes of
Kunikida Doppo, who introduced him to the works of Western writers such as Guy de Maupassant, by which he was profoundly influenced. Tayama married in February 1899; his mother died in August, and in September he joined the staff of the newspaper Hakubunkan. In 1902 he achieved his first success with Jūemon no saigo, which was inspired by Hermann Sudermann's Katzensteg. In 1904 he was sent to Manchuria
as a war correspondent. This experience led him to write stories such as Ippeisotsu ("One Soldier", 1908).
In 1903 a female admirer,
throat cancer
in 1930.
Bibliography
- The quilt and other stories. Translated and with an introduction by Kenneth G. Henshall. University of Tokyo Press, 1981.
- A soldier shot to death. Translated and with an introduction by Kenshiro Homma. Yamaguchi Shoten, 1982.
- Country teacher: a novel. Translated by Kenneth Henshall. University of Hawaii Press, 1984.
- Literary life in Tōkyō, 1885-1915: Tayama Katai's memoirs "Thirty years in Tōkyō." Translated and introduced by Kenneth G. Henshall. Brill, 1987.
References
- ISBN 978-0-231-11860-6.
- ^ Henshall, Kenneth (1981). The Quilt and Other Stories. University of Tokyo Press.
External links
- Works by or about Katai Tayama at Internet Archive
- Works by Katai Tayama at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Katai Tayama at Find a Grave
- Katai Tayama's grave
