The Drifting Cloud
Encyclopedia
The Drifting Cloud, known as Ukigumo (浮雲) in Japanese
, was a novel
written in 1887 by Futabatei Shimei
, often called the first modern Japanese novel
. The novel was published in two sections in 1887 and 1888. The novel only contains four characters, prioritising the development of characters over plot. The novel contains criticism of growing materialism in the Japanese society.
The story centers around a young man named Utsumi Bunzo, the son of a direct vassal of the Tokugawa
shogun
. The novel has no ending because apparently, Shimei did not want it to end with a happy ending. Additionally, he also did not finish the book because somehow he didn't really know if a career as a writer was worthwhile. He gave up writing altogether despite his obvious talent and the novel was never completed. He made a comeback as a writer later, however, twenty years later, but the novel was never completed. This book, while it was never finished, strongly influenced fellow authors in his day with its realist style, and its depiction of anomie
is memorable.
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, was a novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
written in 1887 by Futabatei Shimei
Futabatei Shimei
was a Japanese author, translator, and literary critic. Born Hasegawa Tatsunosuke in Edo , Futabatei's works are in the realist style popular in the mid- to late-19th century...
, often called the first modern Japanese novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
. The novel was published in two sections in 1887 and 1888. The novel only contains four characters, prioritising the development of characters over plot. The novel contains criticism of growing materialism in the Japanese society.
The story centers around a young man named Utsumi Bunzo, the son of a direct vassal of the Tokugawa
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
shogun
Shogun
A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...
. The novel has no ending because apparently, Shimei did not want it to end with a happy ending. Additionally, he also did not finish the book because somehow he didn't really know if a career as a writer was worthwhile. He gave up writing altogether despite his obvious talent and the novel was never completed. He made a comeback as a writer later, however, twenty years later, but the novel was never completed. This book, while it was never finished, strongly influenced fellow authors in his day with its realist style, and its depiction of anomie
Anomie
Anomie is a term meaning "without Law" to describe a lack of social norms; "normlessness". It describes the breakdown of social bonds between an individual and their community ties, with fragmentation of social identity and rejection of self-regulatory values. It was popularized by French...
is memorable.
Translation
- Ryan, Marleigh Grayer, trans. (1965) Japan's First Modern Novel: Ukigumo of Futabatei Shimei. New York: Columbia University Press.