漱石と庄内の文人たち（Ⅱ）８

８　漱石と奥泉光　（１）

　（１）　奥泉光の生い立ちと業績
　奥泉(おくいずみ) 光(ひかる)（一九五六年二月六日～）は、日本の小説家。近畿大学文芸学部教授。山形県東田川郡三川町出身。埼玉県立川越高等学校、国際基督教大学 (ICU) 教養学部人文科学科卒。同大学院修士課程修了（博士課程中退）。当初は研究者を目指しており、研究者時代の共訳書に『古代ユダヤ社会史』（G・キッペンベルク著、教文館）がある。師は並木浩一、大塚久雄。一九八六年にすばる文学賞に応募した「地の鳥天の魚群」が最終候補になり、後に「すばる」に掲載され小説家としてデビュー。一九九〇年、『滝』が第三回三島由紀夫賞候補および第一〇三回芥川賞候補。一九九三年『ノヴァーリスの引用』で野間文芸新人賞・瞠目反文学賞受賞。野間文芸新人賞は保坂和志『草の上の朝食』との同時受賞であり、対照的な作風が話題となった。一九九四年、『石の来歴』により芥川賞受賞。同作は英語、仏語などに翻訳刊行。一九九九年、近畿大学助教授に就任、現在教授。二〇〇九年『神器』で野間文芸賞受賞。二〇一二年より芥川賞選考委員。同年、『桑潟幸一准教授のスタイリッシュな生活』がテレビドラマ化された。二〇一四年、『東京自叙伝』で谷崎潤一郎賞受賞。
　作品はミステリーの構造を持つものが多く、物語の中で次第に謎の位相をずらしていき、虚実のあわいに読者を落とし込む、といった手法を得意としている。デビュー時から反時代的な文語体の書き手として評価され、1996年に書き下ろしで刊行された『「吾輩は猫である」殺人事件』では、夏目漱石『吾輩は猫である』の主人公の猫が実は生きていたという設定のもとで、漱石の文体模倣を行い高い評価を得た。『夏目漱石読んじやえば？』（河出書房新社)、『「坊っちゃん」忍者幕末見聞録』などの作品も書いている。
　趣味はフルートで、バンドを組み音楽活動も行う。また都内などで路上パフォーマンスもする。また、将棋の熱心なファンであり、二〇一二年、第七〇期名人戦第五局の観戦記を執筆した。

Soseki and Writers of Shonai (II)　８

8 Soseki and Okuizumi Hikaru (1)

(1) Hikaru Okuizumi's background and achievements
　　　Hikaru Okuizumi (born February 6, 1956) is a Japanese novelist. He is a professor at Kinki University's Faculty of Literature. He is from Mikawa-machi, Higashitagawa-gun, Yamagata Prefecture. He graduated from Saitama Prefectural Kawagoe High School and International Christian University (ICU) College of Liberal Arts, Department of Humanities. He completed the master's program at the same graduate school (dropped out of the doctoral program). Initially, he aimed to become a researcher, and one of the books he co-translated during his time as a researcher was ``Ancient Jewish Social History'' (written by G. Kippenberg, and published by Kyobunkan). His teachers are Koichi Namiki and Hisao Otsuka. In 1986, he applied for the Subaru Literary Award for his work ``The Birds of the Earth, the School of Fish'', which became a finalist, and was later published in ``Subaru'', making his debut as a novelist. In 1990, ``Taki'' was nominated for the 3rd Mishima Yukio Prize and the 103rd Akutagawa Prize. In 1993, he won the Noma Literary Newcomer's Award and the Makome Anti-Literary Award for ``Novalis Quotations''. The Noma Literary Newcomer Award was awarded at the same time as Kazushi Hosaka's ``Breakfast on the Grass,'' and their contrasting styles became a hot topic. In 1994, he won the Akutagawa Prize for ``The History of Stone.'' The work has been translated into English, French, and other languages. In 1999, he became an assistant professor at Kinki University, where he is currently a professor. In 2009, he won the Noma Literary Award for ``Sacred Treasures.'' Since 2012, he has been a member of the Akutagawa Prize selection committee. In the same year, ``Associate Professor Koichi Kuwagata's Stylish Life'' was made into a TV drama. In 2014, he won the Junichiro Tanizaki Award for “Tokyo Autobiography.”
　　　Many of his works have a mystery structure, and he specializes in techniques such as gradually shifting the phase of the mystery throughout the story and immersing the reader in truth and fiction. Since his debut, he has been praised as a writer with an anti-era literary style, and in 1996, he published a new book, ``Watashi wa Neko dearu'' Murder Case, in which the cat of Natsume Soseki's ``I Am a Cat'' is the main character. Based on the setting in which he was alive, he imitated Soseki's writing style and received high acclaim. “Why don’t you read Natsume Soseki? '' (Kawade Shobo Shinsha) and ``Botchan's Ninja Record of the End of the Edo Period''.
　　　His hobby is playing the flute, and he also forms a band and is active in music. He also performs on the streets in Tokyo and other places. He is also an avid fan of shogi, and in 2012 he wrote an account of watching the fifth game of the 70th Meijin Tournament.　（To be continued）