Kyōgoku Natsuhiko, a rhetoric beyond the second degree
Abstract
“Describing” represents one of the central issues in the relationship between the writer – or, more in general, the artist- and the reader. On the one hand, the author constantly strives to develop new descriptive writing strategies. On the other hand, we find the reception of the literary works, which, as also theorized by Eco, is quite a difficult process in itself. However, it gets even more complex when the described object breaks away from the concept of known and approaches the fascinating and exciting world of the “supernatural”.
This is the challenge taken on by Kyōgoku Natsuhiko (b. 1963), An active author since 1994, he has been widely rewarded and acclaimed by the public and critique at national level. His production constantly sways between fantasy and mystery and is characterized by the peculiar transtextual dimension in which it develops. The works consist in hypertexts derived from selected hypo texts from within the literary and iconographic patrimony of pre-modern Japan.
This study aims at analysing rhetorical methods derived from such rearrangement. In particular, we will focus on the collection entitled hyakki yagyō (“night parade of one hundred demons"), which appeared shortly after the burst of the bubble economy with The summer of ubume (1994).
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