Novel
Japan's First Modern Novel: Ukigumo
浮雲
Futabatei Shimei · 1887
Synopsis
Utsumi Bunzō, a brilliant but socially awkward young civil servant, according to the publisher Shinchōsha's presentation, loses his job. He lodges with his uncle, with his aunt Omasa and his cousin Osei, whom he loves without daring to tell her. His colleague Noboru, ambitious and adept, who has kept his post, gradually wins the family's favour, and the aunt, who had seen Bunzō as a son-in-law, turns away from him. The narrative raises the question of why mediocre people rise while the idealist sinks.
Context
The book appeared in three parts from 1887 to 1889, the last in a magazine. As the publisher refused to print the name of an unknown, the first part appeared under that of Tsubouchi Shōyō, and the author was credited only from the second part. It is written in a language close to everyday speech, which is why it is regarded as the first modern Japanese novel. Kotobank calls it unfinished; critics long read it as complete, until a hypothesis of 1937.
Who it is for
A novel in three parts, whose style, modelled on the spoken usage of its time, matters as much as the story.
Prizes and reception
A pioneer of the Japanese novel in the spoken language, it was translated into English in 1967; the BnF knows of no French version.