(A Collection of the Wise Sayings of Writers and Poets Related to the Shonai Region;　English Translation)　（７）

7 　横光利一　（1898～1947)

   小説家。福島県の生まれ。早大中退。菊池寛に師事し，1923年『日輪』で地位を確立。翌年川端康成らと『文芸時代』を創刊し活躍。晩年は東洋的精神主義に傾斜し，「近代の超克」を構想した。代表作に『機械』『紋章』『旅愁』など。プロレタリア文学にも対抗した。「小説の神様」とも言われる。妻の故郷である山形県鶴岡市に疎開し『機械』を執筆した。師匠と慕った森敦も妻の故郷である鶴岡市で『月山』など執筆。

7　 Riichi Yokomitsu (1898～1947)

            A novelist. Born in Fukushima prefecture. He dropped out of Waseda University. He studied under Kan Kikuchi and established his position in 1923 with "The Sun". The following year, he published "Bungei Jidai" first with Yasunari Kawabata and others, and played an active role. His later years leaned towards oriental spiritualism and envisioned a "modern transcendence." His masterpieces include "Machinery," "A Crest," and "Loneliness on a Journey."  He also opposed proletarian literature. He is called ”the god of novels”. He evacuated to Tsuruoka city, Yamagata prefecture, his wife's hometown, and wrote "Machinery" there. 

             Atsushi Mori (a novelist), who admired him as a master, also wrote "Mt.Gassan" in his wife's hometown of Tsuruoka.

<横光利一の名言・名文＞

・「微笑というものは人の心を殺す光線だ。」 （『処世』）
・「世界のどこかに自分の子供があるということは、全く捨て置き難い。この地を愛せずしてなるものか。」（『厨房日記』）
・「文学者の仕事といふものは優秀であればあるほど、体系からの創造ではなく、虚無からの創造である。」（『断片』）
・「いかなるものと雖（いえど）も、必ず急所を持つものだ。　急所を見分け得るものは成功する。」

＜Riichi Yokomitsu’s Wise Sayings＞

・ "A smile is a ray that kills people's hearts." ("How to Get Along in Life")
・ "It's hard to throw away your child somewhere in the world. Is it something you can't do without loving this place?" ("A Kitchen Diary")
・ "The better the work of a literary person, the more it is not the creation from the system, but it is the creation from the void." ("Fragment")
・ "Everything always has a key point. Those who can distinguish the key point will succeed."                                                                                                                                                           (To be continued)