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on Shōyō that he encouraged Futabatei to publish his theory.[1] Futabatei's explanation of "idea" and "forms" will permit us a glimpse into his theory which inspired Shōyō.
. . . the idea is present in all material objects and abstract concepts, and that it expresses the true nature of those things. The Idea is eternal and immutable and would exist even without any Form. The outward Form assumed by objects or concepts, in fact, tends to disguise the Idea and prevents our being clearly aware of its universality. Man is compelled by his nature to search out the unchanging factor among all the changing Forms of the world; scientists and scholars do this with the aid of their intellect, artists with their emotions or instincts. Both methods are necessary for complete understanding, but it is the great gift of Art that it can make the existence of the universal Idea, buried as it is in an infinite amount of Forms, clearly apparent to the most ordinary human being. . . . Its function is rather to perceive the Idea in all the numberless Forms in the world directly, instantaneously, and to transmit this perception to mankind. Realism, the only technique which can achieve this, should be adopted.[2]
In "Shōsetsu Sōron" Futabatei theorized on the realism advocated by Shōyō through the adoption of the concepts of "idea" and "forms" of the Russian realists, who in their turn were inspired by Hegelian philosophy. Futabatei's Ukigumo was his experimental novel using this new theory. His purpose in writing Ukigumo was, therefore, not merely to describe characters, as was the case in Shōyō's Tōsei Shosei Katagi. On the contrary, Futabatei was trying to find an eternal "idea" which was manifested in his characters. He analyzed
- ↑ Futabatei translated Vissarion G. Belinsky's "The Idea of Art," and an essay by Mikhail N. Kalkov's "A popular Explanation of the Art of Kalkov" before his own theory of the novel "Shōsetsu Sōron" was written in 1886. These Russian critics' literary theories were the backbone of Futabatei's "Shōsetsu Sōron," as well as his Ukigumo.
- ↑ Futabatei Shimei, "Shōsetsu Sōron," translated by Marleigh Grayer Ryan in Ukigumo of Futabatei Shimei, op.cit., pp. 156–67.
