Natsume Soseki s Kokoro, which was published serially in the Tokyo Asahi Shimbun from April 20, 1914 to August 11 of the same year, had a narrative structure that reminded readers of the illness, death, and funeral of Emperor Meiji that had occurred two years before. At that time the newspapers gave enormous coverage to these events, which became a major national story. In addition, the death of General Nogi, who committed suicide on the day of the Emperor s funeral, was a shocking event that had national repercussions. In Kokoro, the deaths of the Emperor and his subject Nogi are echoed by the deaths of the two patriarchs, Sensei and the narrator’s father. This encouraged readers to recall the recent deaths of the Emperor and Nogi, enabling them to reconsider those events. This paper examines the strategy the novel adopts to achieve this and its politics of memory, and reveals how it evoked in contemporary readers the past deaths of the Emperor and Nogi.
Ⅰ. はじめに
Ⅱ. 新聞連載小説としての [心こゝろ]
Ⅲ. 天皇の身体と<想像の共同体>>
Ⅳ. 「尿毒症」と天皇の自然的身体
Ⅴ. 拮抗する「殉死」と「厭世」
Ⅵ. 天皇と帝国大学
Ⅶ. 終わりに