Tayama Katai

Author of «The Quilt. Novel and Short Prose»

Years of life 1872–1930.

Japanese writer, poet, literary critic, and theorist of Japanese naturalism who was a prominent figure in the literary process of the first decades of the 20th century. He wrote several autobiographical works, including «Life» (1908), «The Wife» (1909), and «The Village Teacher» (1909), among others.

His first story, «Quilt» (1907), became a milestone in modern Japanese literature. It caused an unprecedented resonance in Japanese society and initiated the tradition of confessional prose, including the genre of egobeletristics «watakushi-shosetsu», which remains a literary mainstream in Japan to this day.

Tayama's primary creative method was naturalism, which theoretical principles he consistently presented in critical articles. Together with like-minded individuals Kunikida Doppo (1871–1908) and Shimazaki Toson (1872–1943), he created a unique concept of Japanese naturalism. He was a reformer of literature and language, a supporter of Europeanization of society, an tireless researcher of the inner world, and a bold, frank writer — that is how he entered the history of Japanese literature.