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[Futon] was not a confession, nor did I deliberately select such ugly facts. . . . I only disclosed certain facts, which I had discovered in life, in view of the reader's eyes. . . . The writer only gave consideration to how well he had described his discovered facts and how near he had approached truth.[1]
Up to now we have observed what Katai might have learned from Einsame Menschen and how he adopted this knowledge in Futon. Let us now turn our attention to what Katai did not use from Einsame Menschen in Futon. In this connection, we have already noted that Hauptmann employed a drama form to bring out his theme of conflict between nature and traditions; on the other hand, Katai used a novel form to express a very similar theme to that of Hauptmann's. Why then did Katai use a novel as a means of expressing his theme, instead of using a drama form? Are we not in order when we assume that the novelist has the advantage of being permitted to speak directly to his readers about what his characters think and do? This requirement can be readily noticed in the case of Tokio whose inward thoughts are different from his outward actions; therefore, in this respect the novel form has a very decided advantage when Katai elucidates the psychological aspects of his characters, particularly with the presentation of the elusive portions of Tokio's thoughts which cannot often be expressed in concrete form in drama. Since the novelist is allowed to portray freely both the outer and the inner life of his characters, was not Katai's selection of the novel as his form justifiable? Actually, apart from the above speculations, what primarily concerns us now is to find an answer to our question--why did Katai select a novel as the form for Futon? According to our findings, it would seem that Katai wanted to
- ↑ Tayama Katai, Shōsetsu Sakuhō ("How to Write Novels"), cited in. Wada, op. cit., p. 160.
