Inoue Yasushi’s Reception of Valéry’s "Poésie Pure" During the 1930s

Inoue Yasushi (1907-91) is one of the most highly acclaimed Japanese writers of the twentieth century who wrote "pure" literature (in contrast to popular literature). Primarily, he enjoyed the fame of a first rate novelist; but behind this image he was also a poet. His literary accomplishments encompassed modern novels, historical novels, and books about western China. His involvement with poetry, the genre which he explored first, lasted more than sixty years, until he died from cancer. For him, poetry was often connected to the rich field of narrative, and the profound meaning of the mythical structure of Japanese monogatari (narrative) deeply affected his own poetic prose. In this paper, I would like to examine his work as written by a poet and explore the importance of Paul Valéry's idea of "poésie pure" as the origin and influence of his diction and poetic method. Valéry's influence has previously been neglected. I want to clarify this subject by paying special attention to early phases of Inoue's career.

First of all, it should be pointed out that although Inoue was a very talkative person, as a writer he never referred to Valéry's "poésie pure," which was in fact the theme of his graduation thesis at Kyoto Imperial University. ¹ Although he confessed that in the earlier stage of his poetic work he was strongly attracted to such poetry collections as Tsuru (Cranes) by Muroo Saisei (1930) ² and Sokuryosen (Surveying Boat, 1930) by Miyoshi Tatsuji, ³ he never made public his reception of Valéry's "poésie pure." During the period just before his death, when I was writing Wakaki hi no Inoue Yasushi kenkyu (A Study of Inoue Yasushi in His Youth; Sanseido, 1993), I visited his home several times and took notes in detail concerning facts of his life. The following section is part of that interview, in print here for the first time.

I have never written about Valéry in terms of Valéry but I was interested in him from a very early period. Thinking about the historical period at that time just after I started composing my own poetry, I was drawn to Valéry's poetry. So after I left my college life in Kyushu and moved to Tokyo I heard people talking about Valéry and also read at random his writings in magazines and books. Of course these were translations by various people. I was moved immensely. Since I myself was writing poetry, his writings made me ponder questions such as what poetry should be, what is the poet's role, etc. So after I entered Kyoto Imperial University I decided with my friend Takayasu Keigi to publish a magazine of pure poetry called Seisan (Ritual Meal). We published only three issues of it . . . Even after this my interest in Valéry continued and I decided to choose Valéry's "poésie pure" as the theme of my graduation thesis. ⁴

In the 1930's, expansionist policies were carried out forcefully and fascism permeated Japan. Under these conditions, three forms of literature coexisted: proletarian (literature of revolution), traditional realism, and modernism. Proletarian literature arose in Japan after the success of the Russian Revolution. The literature of realism became a basic model around 1935 and became a prototype for modern literary history. During the 1920's and 1930's, even in Japan, modernism became an avant garde artistic movement. All three resulted from the importance of Western culture as the "advanced" culture. Of course, these movements were Japanized, but the artists involved in them were still strongly affected by the West.

Inoue was not an exception. Proletarian literature was completely outside his interests, ideas, and beliefs, but he became interested in realism when his efforts later expanded into areas of prose. His interest in modernism, the artistic trend with which he was...