ブックタイトルRILAS 早稲田大学総合人文科学研究センター研究誌

概要

RILAS 早稲田大学総合人文科学研究センター研究誌

What is Minato-no-Hito Doing ?: Expressions of KITAMURA TaroMasaki HORIUCHIAbstractThis article discusses Minato-no-Hito (Man at Harbor), a collection of poems by KITAMURA Taro, publishedin 1988, focusing on the unique characteristics of the textual expressions. In the first section Idiscuss the subject of the book by taking into consideration not only the meanings but also the expressionsabout sense supporting them, such as smell, sound, and color. The poems were written just after KITA-MURA was notified of his fatal disease, a kind of a myeloma. In consequence they became streaked withvarious expressions of anxiety and suspense caused by impending death. The book indicates the realizationof his floating midstream with both trepidations and a sense of humor. The second section examines the verbalfeatures of the poems as moving horizontally, and tries to comprehend the meaning of it. In doing so Icompare it with a poetry book by TAMURA Ryuichi, Dorei-no-Yorokobi (Pleasures of Slaves), published in1984. The gist of the comparison is the forms of lines and words and the movements of the reader's attentioncaused by them. The contrast between TAMURA's verticality and KITAMURA's horizontality is quiteconspicuous; whereas verticality involves his setting a temporal standpoint outside the world, making a playfuljudgment with a kind of male-centered pose, KITAMURA's poems imply that the world has no outside. Inthe third section, I examine his expressions of the world image: space imbued with various degrees withoutinterventions of idea. KITAMURA uses sense-perceptions exquisitely (and often humorously) in order toblur the sharp contour of death as if he can dissolve the idea into subtle and gradual mutation. The finalsection stresses the importance of the harbor of Yokohama: the border zone full of human liveliness andnatural phenomena, where the poet can feel a special relief for a while. Minato-no-Hito shows us the needfor such places even today.WASEDA RILAS JOURNAL483(52)