1952年4月29日付「The Mainichi」 28日にサンフランシスコ講和条約と日米安全保障条約が発効し、日本は名実ともに国際社会に復帰した。
20歳代の後半を英国のケンブリッジ大学で過ごしたドナルド・キーンさん。自らの研究の一方で、教師としての第一歩を歩き出したが、悩みも多かった。1948年から5年近くに及んだケンブリッジ時代には、「The Battle of Coxinga(邦題・国性爺合戦(こくせんやかっせん))」(51年)、「The Japanese Discovery of Europe (同・日本人の西洋発見)」(52年)の2冊の英書を出版した。しかし、なかなか本人の思い通りにはいかない現実もあった。当時の自伝を見てみよう。 My life in Cambridge was in most ways ideal for a scholar. My teaching load was light, and the vacations totaled more than six months each year. The collection of Japanese books in the University Library, at first restricted to the rare editions of the Tokugawa period given to the library by Aston and other pioneers in the domain of Japanese studies, had now been much augmented by purchases of modern books, and it was certainly adequate for my needs.
(中略) My first book, The Battles of Coxinga, was published in 1951. I was in Istanbul, attending the Congress of Orientalists, at the time of publication, and looked forward to my return to England, imagining I would see copies of my book in the windows of the bookshops in Cambridge. Alas, the book never made a window anywhere, and I can hardly recall ever having seen a copy on sale. It was reviewed in a few specialist periodicals and then left to disappear into the great void of unread books. Many young scholars have had the same experience, but nothing can prepare one or console one for the shock of having (with immense effort and expenditure of time) produced a book that no one wants to read. I marvel now that this experience did not make me decide never to publish another book, but perhaps (I have forgotten now) a spirit of never-say-die impelled me to write a book that would really be read and respected. My second book, The Japanese Discovery of Europe, was a study of the interest that Japanese of the eighteenth century manifested in Europe.
(中略) The Japanese Discovery of Europe had been somewhat more favorably received, but I never met anyone in the university who had actually read it. (I did not realize at the time that this was normal in academic communities.) [On Familiar Terms] 第一作を出したものの、欧州で日本の文学や歴史への関心など、ほとんどなかった時代のことで、キーンさんは若い研究者なら誰もが出くわす苦い経験を味わうことになる。本の売れ行きもだが、それ以上に深刻だったのは講義への関心の薄さだった。 In the spring of 1952 I offered a series of lectures on Japanese literature at Cambridge University. The frustration I had begun to feel over the fewness of my students and the general lack of interest in my work had made me try to think of some way of arousing interest in my subject and satisfying my vaguely sensed desire to be a real teacher. It occurred to me that a series of lectures, open not only to everyone in the university but to the town as well, might be the best solution to my problem. I prepared five lectures, trying to make them as interesting and intelligible as possible. Apart from the introductory lecture, in which I presented my impressions of the characteristics of Japanese literature as a whole, I gave one lecture each on poetry, theater, fiction, and, finally, what I called “Japanese literature under Western influence
" When I think back on these lectures now, I marvel at my daring in having ventured to present my views on a literature that I had first begun to read less than ten years earlier. But, reading the book that resulted now, I see that what I lacked in knowledge, I made up for in enthusiasm. [On Familiar Terms] 5回の講義の聴講者は、毎回十人にも満たない。一体、誰のための、何のための研究なのか……。別の随筆には「この時、日本文学を捨てようと心に決めた」とも記している。ちなみに52年に行ったこの5回の講義は、「Japanese Literature : An Introduction for Western Readers」という小本として翌53年に英国で出版された。後にさまざまな言語に翻訳され、世界的なロングセラーとなる。日本では63年に「日本の文学」として作家、吉田健一(吉田茂元首相の長男)が翻訳した。現在でも文庫本(中公文庫)で容易に入手できる。序文の後、「日本の詩」「日本の劇」「日本の小説」「欧米の影響を受けた日本の文学」の項目で欧米の作品や文化と比べながら、日本文学の特徴を簡潔に論じている。
「Japanese Literature : An Introduction for Western Readers」の緒言では、こう書いている。 My intent in writing this little book has been to provide the Western reader -- the man who enjoys the great works of the Western literary heritage -- with an introduction to some of the things which I have found most beautiful and remarkable in Japanese literature. Since the size of the book was necessarily limited, I had to decide whether to give a bare outline of the long and complex history of Japanese literature, or to select a relatively small number of representative works for fuller discussion. I preferred the latter alternative, even though it meant passing over in complete silence some of the masterpieces most acclaimed by Japanese and Western critics alike; thus, I was forced to sacrifice any mention of the Manyoshu, the most famous collection of Japanese poetry, for it was clear that if I discussed it adequately there would be too little space left for the linked-verse and haikai, which greatly appeal to me. The book is thus neither a systematic outline nor a work of reference, but a highly personal appreciation of certain aspects of Japanese literature which I believe to be of especial interest to Western readers.
「日本文学をまだ知られていない西洋に伝えたい」という、熱意に満ちあふれているのが分かるだろう。驚くのはこれを書いた段階で、キーンさんはまだ研究目的で日本に滞在しておらず、当時、英国などで入手できた文献だけで、論評をまとめたということだ。 後にキーンさんの多くの著作を翻訳することとなる翻訳家の角地幸男(かくち・ゆきお)さんは「彼の最大の功績は、この本で、世界の他の言語と異なる日本語の機能と働きに注目したことだ」と語る。未知で難解とされてきた「日本語」を、初めて一流の英語で世界へと紹介してくれたのである。 行き詰まりを打破すべく、キーンさんは日本への留学を模索した。52年春には日本が国際社会に復帰したこともあり、資金さえあれば自由に渡航できるようになったことも大きく影響していた。 It occurred to me at this time (the spring of 1952) that if somehow I could get to Japan, where I would be surrounded by Japanese culture, I would be able to break out of my loneliness as a scholar of Japanese literature. Travel to Japan, however, was expensive; the airplane fare was far beyond my resources. I made inquiries in England, but there seemed to be no funds available. (中略) In the spring of 1953 I received the unexpected and most welcome news that the Ford Foundation had granted me a fellowship to study in Japan. The subject of my research was to be the survival of classical literary traditions in contemporary Japan. I can admit now that I proposed this subject, rather than the study of Basho I really wanted to do, because I thought that the foundation would be more likely to support a project with contemporary significance than one of a purely literary nature. [On Familiar Terms] 1953年春。ついに日本への切符を手にした。キーンさんが類推するように「現代日本における」という視点が奏功したのだろう。敗戦から8年。50年に始まった朝鮮戦争による特需などもあって、日本は急速に経済力を回復し、アジアでの存在感を増しつつあった。世界の日本への関心も高まっていた。 日本への出発が決まり、心は躍ったが、直行はせず、ここぞとばかりに1カ月かけて転々としながら東へと向かった。イタリア、インド、セイロン(スリランカ)、シンガポール、インドネシア、カンボジア、タイ、そして香港。生涯にわたって「旅好き」だった若きキーンさんらしい道程。まるでバックパッカーのようだ。 I had very little money and stayed at cheap hotels wherever I went, but being young, I was not fazed by the inconveniences, the heat, or even the tiresome officials I encountered every time I crossed a border. On the contrary, when I recall these travels now, after many more visits to the countries of Asia, it seems to me that I never again felt the excitement of discovery that I did when I traveled third-class everywhere. There are pleasures appropriate to each stage of one's life. [On Familiar Terms] と懐旧している。そして1953年8月23日。 I finally reached Tokyo in August 1953. My first impression, after my travels in Asia, was that I had returned to Europe. Unlike the airports I had visited during the past month, filled with aimless wanderers, here everybody seemed busy, intent on his job. Haneda --the old Haneda-- was certainly not picturesque. But I was in Japan at last, no longer a tourist but someone with a job to do in the country where it could best be done. [On Familiar Terms] 8年ぶりの東京は、輝いていた。 =次回11月22日にアップ予定 ◇ 日本文学者のドナルド・キーンさん(1922年生まれ)は、18歳の時に「The Tale of Genji(源氏物語)」と出会い、96歳で亡くなるまで、日本の文学や文化の魅力を伝えることに没頭し、膨大な研究成果を発表し続けた。日本の「大恩人」はどんな時代を生き、私たちに何を伝え、未来に何を残そうとしたのか。本人の英文や、4月に創刊100年を迎えた英字「The Mainichi」の紙面とともに、この1世紀の時空を旅する。 (文・森忠彦=毎日新聞記者、ドナルド・キーン記念財団理事。キーンさんの原文は同財団から掲載の許可を得ています。財団HP=https://www.donaldkeene.org/)