| Popis: |
The novel "Yume-Jyu-Ya (Ten Nights of Dream)" is a series of short dream stories written by Soseki Natsume in 1908. Many critiques have been made on this novel, aiming at clarifying the meaning and characteristics of each dream and the whole series of dreams. In this essay, the writer first focuses upon the last sentences of each dream and describes the subjective attitude of the dreamer (dream-ego). Two characteristic elements, the repetitive action and the active vs. passive attitude, are pointed out. Second, the writer illustrates the dynamic shifts of figures in the dreams according to two axes: the male-female axis and the upper-lower axis. These two axes are found to be useful in characterizing each dream and especially in understanding the importance of the image of upper and lower female figure. Third, the whole series of the dreams is seen to have three levels of motives: (1) Separation of man and woman by death, (2) Ordinary people in the street, and (3) Confrontation with oneself. The dream series show a progressive wave-like line moving up and down through these three levels. |
