The Futon Tayama Katai Presentation:AileenYuiIvyKatharinaJacob

 1. Is there an ‘I’ (watakushi) in the story? Why is the story retroactively labeled an “I-novel”?  5. Note the narrative perspective – who is telling the story, and whose perspective is the reader exposed to. Give some examples.  6. Give one or two examples in which Tokio’s mind was fully exposed to the reader in a “confessional mode”. Does the rhetoric of confessional translate into the rhetoric of honesty or sincerity?  7. Note the recurring images of colors, futon, clothing, etc. How do they function in contributing to the subtlety of the story? Discussion Questions

私わたし Watashi – “I”

Narrative and Narrative Perspective Neither: Omniscient Character Perspective Perspective

“He had already been completely disillusioned on the pleasures of married life. … As for this every day monotonous existence he thoroughly and absolutely bored with it.” (p. 38) Narrative: - Introverted Perspective - Biased

“…While he could, being a literary man, consider his own state of mind objectively, the mind of a young woman was not something that could easily be fathomed.” (p. 35) “His mind was excited, his wild feelings and the pleasure of his sadness mustered all their force, and while on the one hand he was carried away by burning jealousy, on the other he was coolly and objectively considering his own situation.” (p. 55)

“It was painful to Yoshiko to be separated from her lover. If only it had been possible she would have liked him to be there in Tokyo with her, and just once in a while be able to see him, speak to him. But she knew this was difficult at the present time.” (p. 63) “Tanaka’s expression suddenly changed. Shame, exasperation, and a terrible feeling of despair filled his heart. He didn’t know what to say.” (p. 90)

Tayama Katai “ In ‘the Quilt’, the author has no idea, no penitence, and he did not choose that disgusting fact deliberately. I only showed one fact that myself found from the life and developed it in front of the readers.” —Katai’s later comments on “The Quilt” from “On Writing”  1898 : lived with Kunikida Doppo for two months  (being taught to write “the fact”, not “fiction”)  1899: got married  1903: “Female Teacher” is published  (The heroine is the beautiful teacher, that he encounter on the way to work every morning. She briefly appears in Chapter 2 of “The Quilt”)  1904:Michiyo came  (The process of having Michiyo as pupil is the same as Yoshiko. Michiyo sent many letters and asked him to let her become his pupil…)  third baby was born  start editing “Japan Chorography”  1907 :“The Quilt” is published  1908 : “Wife” is published  (depicts his wife who doesn’t have any understanding in literature)

Confessional Mode  Confessions to the reader: “When his wife was still unmarried (…), he had often climbed to this very spot hoping just to catch the faint sound of her harp. So great had been his passion that if he couldn’t win her heart he had wished only to cast himself away (…). What a fickle heart! Who would have thought that things would change so much after just eight years? Why (…) had their pleasant life become so bleak?” (p. 55) “It was the loneliness of his own home that upset him so, rather than Yoshiko’s affair. His unhappiness with a life that a man in his mid-thirties should expect rather to enjoy, his unhealthy thoughts about his job, his sexual frustration…” (p.76)

Confessional mode  Character to character Yoshiko’s confessional letter: “…we (…) decided that at all costs we would not reveal this one thing. What’s done was done, but we pledged to maintain a pure love in the future.” (p. 88 f)

Confessional mode  To himself “He was sad, truly deeply sad. His sadness was not the sadness of florid youth, nor simply the sadness of lovers. It was a more profound and greater sadness, a sadness inherent in the innermost reaches of human life. The flowering of moving waters, the withering of blossoming flowers – when encountering that irresistible force which is deep within nature, there is nothing as wretched nor as transient as man.” (p. 55) “He was furious to think how he had done his serious best to help their love, yet all the while having Yoshiko taken from him body and soul (…). It would be in order for him, too, to make a bold move and satisfy his sexual desire.” (p. 87)

Confessional mode  Contrast from biased perspective