소세키와 니체의 ‘광기’론과 막스 노르다우- 『나는 고양이로소이다』 ‘광인 편지’의 풍자적 전복 -
Soseki and Nietzsche’s Theory of ‘Madness’ and Max Nordau:Satirical Subversion of the ‘Letter of a Madman’ in I Am a Cat
This paper examines how Natsume S?seki critically distanced himself from and satirically subverted Max Nordau’s critique of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nordau famously characterized Nietzsche’s philosophy and style as pathological “madness,” a view that profoundly shaped late 19th-century European intellectual discourse. This discourse also spread to Japan, where the motifs of madness and genius were consumed in contradictory ways?as both signs of decadence and sources of creative inspiration. Unlike many contemporaries who passively adopted this framework, S?seki reinterpreted it with irony and critical detachment. In I Am a Cat, the “madman’s letter” mimics Nordau’s description of Nietzsche’s incoherent style but ultimately parodies and subverts the discourse itself. Through this device, S?seki transformed madness from a mark of degeneration into a source of artistic creativity and self-reflection, thereby highlighting the critical self-consciousness of modern Japanese literature and its reflexive engagement with Western thought. Through this device, S?seki transformed madness from a mark of degeneration into a source of artistic creativity and self-reflection, thereby highlighting the critical self-consciousness of modern Japanese literature and its reflexive engagement with Western thought. Through this device, S?seki transformed madness from a mark of degeneration into a source of artistic creativity and self-reflection, thereby highlighting the critical self-consciousness of modern Japanese literature and its reflexive engagement with Western thought. This revaluation of madness underscores S?seki’s refusal to accept Western discourses uncritically and his effort to reframe them within a Japanese literary horizon. In doing so, his parody not only destabilized Eurocentric notions of degeneration but also affirmed the autonomy of modern Japanese aesthetics.
동북아시아문화학회 [The Association of North-east Asian Cultures]
설립연도
2000
분야
복합학>학제간연구
소개
동북아시아 문화의 다양성과 정체성을 연구 토론하고, 지역내 문화 교류의 다양한 모습을 연구하고 문화변동의 큰 틀을 집적함으로써 우리 민족 문화 및 상대 민족의 문화적 터전을 이해하여 문화공동체적 특성을 계발하고 상호 관련성의 강화를 유도하는 학술활동을 통해 동북아시아의 문화발전에 이바지함.