国木田独步《爱弟通信》与历史的隐秘脉络

甲午战争是一场侵略战争,昔日的日本朝野上下却称作是文明对野蛮之战。即便是甲午战争后转为反战主义者的内村鉴三也受此鼓惑而于1894年9月3日《国民之友》发表《日清战争之义》一文,宣称日本是东洋进步主义的战士,中国是进步的大敌等。如此时代背景下,《爱弟通信》这一出自日本作家国木田独步之手的甲午战争见闻录便应运而生了。尽管随军记者独步笔下的内容并不能代表其本人的真实想法,当军国主义思想与文学的人文关怀相交织时,时年23岁的独步究竟是如何书写这场战争的,有必要透过历史的尘埃去重新审视这一时代的缩影。

The Hidden Thread of Thought between Kunikida Doppo’s Aitei Tsushin and History

The First Sino-Japanese War is a war of aggression, which the former Japanese Government forcibly tried to call it a battle for civilization on barbarism. Even after the War, Uchimura Kanz6to, an anti-war activist, puzzled by the view, published Justification of the Japanese-Sino War in Kokumin no Tomo（Friend of Nation） on September 3 of the same year, proclaiming that Japan was a soldier of progressivism and China was an enemy of their progress, etc. Under such background, Aitei Tsushin （Communiques to a Dear Brother） which gave a record of the war by Kunikida Doppo, a war correspondent, came out. Even though Kunikida Doppo＇s recording could not be the representative of the real thoughts of his own, when militarism was interwoven with the literary humanism, it is absolutely necessary to reponder how the 23-year-old described the war and go through the dust of history to review the epitome of that era.