Voices Echoing in the Plaster-Colored City: Yoshiyuki Junnosuke and the Literary World of the 1970s

Voices Echoing in the Plaster-Colored City: Yoshiyuki Junnosuke and the Literary World of the 1970s

Yoshiyuki Junnosuke is one of the leading writers of the postwar generation, who emerged onto the literary stage with a keen urban sensibility and a cool-headed view of human existence. His masterpiece "A Passing shower," which depicts the malaise and sexual shadows that lurk in everyday life, won the Akutagawa Prize and made him well known to the world. In "The Dark Room," he depicted the human conflict between oppression and freedom, opening up a new horizon of psychological inquiry in postwar literature.

His sixth collection of essays, "Gypsum Color and Red," contains writings published between 1973 and 1976, and shows another side of him. It includes essays such as "One Shoe," "Poison and Medicine," "Immortality," and "TV Talk," all of which were published in the magazine "Omoshiban" and were questioned by the public. His technique of describing small matters and contradictions that lie in the corners of the city in a straightforward manner, while bringing them to light with humor and irony, left a vivid impression on the readers of his time.

In the 1970s, Japan had completed its period of rapid economic growth and was entering a period of stability. The streets were overflowing with goods, and people's lives had become more convenient, but spiritual fulfillment had become more distant. With television permeating the home and a consumer culture pervading society, Yoshiyuki looked into the crevices of everyday life and captured the emptiness in his words. Such a viewpoint contrasted sharply with the dramatic self-expression of his contemporary Yukio Mishima and the humanistic nature of Shotaro Yasuoka, and it also differed from the political and ideological literature of Kenzaburo Oe. Yoshiyuki breathed the cold air of the city and depicted its loneliness and humor in his own unique language.

Plaster Color and Red" is a record of the social stagnation and cultural contradictions of the 1970s, despite its lightweight vessel of an essay. Yoshiyuki Junnosuke's works, both novels and essays, continue to shine as a mirror that reexamines the "difficulty of living" of people today.