Chapter 69 Section five

Speaking of which, Akutagawa actually has a very interesting article.It was "Wen Fang Gu" written in "Wo Ren Gong Lun" in May of the 13th year of Taisho. The story is that a letter from a young woman was left behind a bench in Hibiya Park.The content of the letter is the resentment and dissatisfaction of the talented rural women towards the real environment.She lamented the incomprehension of art around her, and she was angry at the prostitution in the name of marriage.The letter ended up like this: "Speaking of that Akutagawa Ryunosuke is even a big bastard. Aren't you angry after reading this short story?"

"In that short story, the author scolded the good-for-nothing young lady, and he said that people without enthusiasm and will are more despicable and damned than criminals. Don't even think about it, like us women who grew up with traditional boudoir education , no matter how eager the will is, there is no means to implement it. I think that must be the case with the noble daughter. Doesn’t the author show his ignorance in vain by complacently criticizing? I have never read that short story like , so contemptuous of Akutagawa Ryunosuke..." Akutagawa specially wrote this kind of story.The reason why he had to write it, in other words, it can be seen that someone actually interpreted it this way.Those people thought the novel was a discussion about women's self-reliance.

It made sense, but it was an unbearable misunderstanding for Akutagawa. He wrote: "The unknown woman who wrote this letter is a sentimentalist with a little knowledge." What Akutagawa wanted to say was: No, no, mine is not that kind of story at all. On the other hand, in January of the same year, Hiroshi Kikuchi, who must have become the most well-known writer in Japan at that time, wrote the script of "World Review".It was a short skit of only two acts. The scene should be in Arabia.The Zukusen caravan is resting.Among them is a beautiful woman with iron chains wrapped around her feet. It is said that she is a bought slave girl. She was originally a Baghdad nobleman and now belongs to the old captain.The bystanders mourned her misfortune.She sang with a clear voice.A man said with a professional face: "She is singing that although she sold her body, her soul would not be sold even if she took Solomon's treasure." The crowd shouted, "Break the chain!" Bian old man!" "You should put yourself in the arms of a young man who truly loves you!"

A year has passed.A young man who loves beautiful women appears.She ran away with the youth.And, holding the child and passing the same place again.People cursed: "This is clearly adultery!" "If you indulge this kind of woman, the world will become a mess!"The narrator said: "She is singing about abandoning false love and throwing herself into the arms of young people who really love each other." "Shameless! Is she worthy of saying that?" "Slut!" Pick up stones. The woman sings sadly while being stoned.One of them hit the center of the eyebrow and she fell to the ground. "Deserve it! Retribution!" The stone continued to fly, and even the child fell to the ground wailing.

After the women stopped, they spoke again: "You have finally learned your lesson." "But after being beaten so badly, it seems that she feels a little pitiful again." "That's right." The curtain falls. At the beginning of this play, Kikuchi quotes a poem like this: "Whether this life is good or bad, you must eventually cross the dangerous waves of the world."