일본문화학 연구실

논문 초록 (Abstract)

There is a boundary between a space of reality and a space of unreality in Japanese ghost stories. Those who live in the space of reality tried to think and recognize about the other space, imagining in many ways and feeling a yearning and fear for the space of unreality. It is Japanese ghost stories that reflect the yearning and the fear. In spite of contents of Japanese ghost stories, which is portrayed as grotesque and fantastic, people attempted to overcome limitations that they could not experience in the real space through stories about the space of unreality. Humans have so far established their own world by assuming the space of unreality. From the structure of Japanese ghost stories about the boundary between reality and unreality, one can see the setup of the spaces of reality and unreality of Japanese ghost stories. As you know, the specialty of Akinari’s work is in that there exists human world inside the world of imagination and apparitions. This kind of double-layered world of unreality is the unique world, which has never appeared in the previous Japanese ghost stories. Despite the complexity of the stories, Akinari’s ghost stories give a special meaning in establishing another world. This study examines the plots of Akinari’s work and his intention which incessantly relativizes the human world through the structure of ghost stories.