Kuriyagawa Hakuson

Kuriyagawa Hakuson
Kuriyagawa Hakuson
Kuriyagawa Hakuson
Born(1880-11-19)19 November 1880
Kyoto Japan
Died2 September 1923(1923-09-02) (aged 42)
Kamakura, Kanagawa Japan
OccupationWriter
Genreliterary criticism

Kuriyagawa Hakuson (廚川 白村, 19 November 1880 – 2 September 1923) was the pen-name of a Japanese literary critic, active in Taishō period Japan. His real name was Kuriyagawa Tatsuo.

Early life

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Kuriyagawa Hakuson was born in Kyoto. He graduated from Tokyo Imperial University, where he had studied under Koizumi Yakumo and Natsume Sōseki, and later became a professor at Kumamoto University and Kyoto Imperial University. He lectured on 19th century Western literature, and criticized traditional Japanese writing on naturalism and romanticism. His writings include: Kindai bungaku jikko ("Ten Aspects of Modern Literature", 1912), Zoge no to o dete ("Leave the Ivory Tower!", 1920) and Kindai no ren-aikan ("Modern Views on Love", 1922).

In Kindai no ren-aikan Hakuson regarded "love marriage" (renai kekkon) to be a practice indicating an advanced nation and society, as opposed to the practice of arranged marriage, which was more commonly practiced in Japan at the time.

He was killed by a tsunami, which swept away his cottage near the beach in Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture, during the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923.

See also

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References

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  • McDougall, Bonnie S. The Introduction of Western Literary Theories into Modern China, 1919–1925 Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 35, No. 3 (1972), pp. 656–657
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