小説家の誕生 : 国木田独歩論の試み(一)

It was in the first half of the Meiji twenties (1887-1896) that Doppo Kunikida appeared as a critic, but it was in 1897 when he published Gen Oji (Old Gen) that he became a novelist. What was his inner drama which brought about this transfiguration from a critic to a novelist? In this paper this question will be considered by examining the difference between Kumon no sakebi (A Cry of Agony) of 1895 and Okamoto no techo (A Notebook of Okamoto) of 1896, and furthermore by comparing it with Gyuniku to bareisho (Meat and Potatoes), a novel the material of which Doppo took from Okamoto no techo. Doppo has been apt to be regarded as a static and completed personality, but he will be presented here as a dynamic, changing personality. The structure of his literature will be also made clear from this viewpoint