Sunao Tokunaga
Sunao Tokunaga
Sunao Tokunaga
Native name
徳永 直
Born(1899-01-20)January 20, 1899
Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan
DiedFebruary 15, 1958(1958-02-15) (aged 59)
OccupationWriter, printer
Genrenovels, short stories, essays
Literary movementproletarian literature
Notable worksTaiyō no nai Machi

Sunao Tokunaga (徳永 直; 1899–1958) was a Japanese proletarian writer.

Biography

Sunao Tokunaga was born on January 20, 1899,[1] in Kumamoto Prefecture.[2] He was one of first writers of the Japanese proletarian literature movement of the 1920s to come from a truly lower-class background.[3]

He dropped out of elementary school,[3] and at the age of twelve became a printer's apprentice.[4] In 1922, he began working for the Hakubunkan Press (博文館印刷所 Hakubunkan-insatsusho), later renamed to the Kyōdō Press (共同印刷所 Kyōdō-insatsusho).[5] He took part in union activities while actively writing.[5] The union restricted his literary activities and extracted a promise from him that he would not write any novels.[5]

In 1926, he joined some 3,000 Kyōdō employees in striking.[5] After more than two months, the union was completely defeated, and 1,700 employees, including Tokunaga, were fired.[5] This experience provided inspiration for his most important novel, Taiyō no nai Machi (太陽のない街, "The Street without Sunlight"), which he began in 1928.[5] He eventually found another printing job at a large company, and while working there began his literary career.[5] He joined the Japan Proletarian Writers' League (日本プロレタリア作家同盟 Nihon Puroretaria Sakka Dōmei, also abbreviated "NALP") in February 1929.[5]

In March 1932, Tokunaga wrote an article expressing a desire for a popular literature that the proletariat could enjoy,[6] which inspired a sharp critical response from Takiji Kobayashi,[6] accusing Tokunaga of "right-wing, opportunistic tendencies".[6] In May of the same year several members of NALP, including Tokunaga, were rounded up for questioning by police following a meeting, but Tokunaga was soon released.[6] He left the League in October of the following year over what he saw as their prioritizing politics over literary merit.[6]

In October 1937 he requested his publisher withdraw Taiyō no nai Machi from print in light of the breakout of war with China.[6] He saw it as necessary for Japanese to unify during the war.[6] He continued to publish short stories and essays that were inoffensive to the authorities throughout the Pacific War.[6]

In 1945, immediately following Japan's loss in the war, Tokunaga, Shigeharu Nakano, Yuriko Miyamoto and others formed the Shin Nihon Bungakkai ("New Japanese Literary World") as a successor to the various pre-war socialist literary groups.[6] He joined the Communist Party of Japan in 1946, allowed the republication of Taiyō no nai Machi, and was welcomed back into the proletarian literary movement.[6]

In 1954, he journeyed to Moscow to represent Japan at the Congress of the Soviet Writers' Union.[6]

He died on February 15, 1958.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Keene 1998, p. 611; Ōtsuka 1994.
  2. ↑ Ōtsuka 1994.
  3. 1 2 Keene 1998, p. 611.
  4. ↑ Keene 1998, pp. 611–612.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Keene 1998, p. 612.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Keene 1998, p. 615.
  7. ↑ Keene 1998, pp. 611, 615; Ōtsuka 1994.

Works cited

  • Keene, Donald (1998) [1984]. A History of Japanese Literature, Vol. 3: Dawn to the West – Japanese Literature of the Modern Era (Fiction) (paperback ed.). New York, NY: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-11435-6.
  • Ōtsuka, Hiroshi (1994). "Tokunaga Sunao" 徳永直. Encyclopedia Nipponica (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
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