Naoya Shiga

Roy Anthony Starrs (University of Otago)
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Shiga Naoya (surname first in Japanese) is generally regarded as the leading practitioner of the

shishōsetsu

(literally, “I-novel”,

Ich-Roman

), the form of autobiographical or semi-autobiographical novel or short story that is the major genre of modern Japanese literary (as opposed to popular) fiction. As such, he was certainly one of the most influential Japanese writers of the 20th century within his own country. This latter qualification is significant because Shiga never attained anything like the renown abroad that he enjoyed at home. No doubt this was because the

shishōsetsu

genre itself depends for its appeal largely on certain culture-specific factors such as the traditional Confucian privileging of “sincere confession” over “literary fabrication” and the intense…

1825 words

Citation: Starrs, Roy Anthony. "Naoya Shiga". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 December 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12901, accessed 19 March 2024.]

12901 Naoya Shiga 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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