ARTISTIC TONE AS A MODE OF CONSTRUCTING THE EXISTENTIAL SENSE OF BEAUTY – THE CASE OF NAGAI KAFŪ’S SHORT STORIES

Abstract

Tone constitutes one of the important dimensions of narrative art, as it not only governs the ways in which an author constructs character images but also contributes significantly to the expression of each writer’s distinctive creative style. By examining and analyzing two characteristic artistic tones in Nagai Kafū’s short stories, namely the melancholic tone and the confessional tone, this article aims to clarify how the articulation of artistic tone contributes to the construction of an existential sense of beauty in the author’s short fiction. From the perspectives of narrative studies, Japanese existential aesthetics, and the structural–systemic approach, the study elucidates the role of these artistic tones in expressing existential aesthetics, while also opening up a new approach to understanding the interaction between traditional aesthetics and existential thought in modern and early modern Japanese literature.