The perspectives of phenomenological criticism methodology in analysis of the concept of rhythm in Shiga Naoya's prose

The prose of the Japanese writer Shiga Naoya (1881-1972), the author of I-novel (shisho:setsu), is popular in Japan, but for the Western reader the value of his texts remains unclear. In order to solve this problem, we suggest applying the methodology of the phenomenological school to analyzing the Shiga’s texts. The vast layer of the Japanese experience in studying the texts of Shiga, where the researchers unintentionally resorted to the methodology of the phenomenological school, leads to the thought of this. In particular, we consider it promising to apply this methodology to the analysis of the “rhythm” concept, which we suppose is the key concept to understanding Shiga’s texts. “Rhythm” as the main artistic principle of Shiga, apparently, means the maximum proximity of the rhythmic organization of the text to the physiological rhythm of the writer himself. The suitability of phenomenological criticism, in particular, of the Geneva school, to Shiga’s texts is explained by the following features: the critique of consciousness considers only phenomena revealed in the mind, which for literary studies means studying only the world of the work, its structures and meanings; lack of reference to the society surrounding the author, or any ideological premise; the study of the individual consciousness of the writer, his experimental series, the selection of repetitive motifs, images (“patterns”) of consciousness, unique to a particular author, the interpretation by E. Steiger of “rhythm” as one of such patterns. Following are some preliminary conclusions obtained in the analysis of Shiga’s works based on the above methodology. In Shiga’s prose, recurring motifs or “patterns” of consciousness are “mood” (kibun), as well as a pleasant or unpleasant feeling (yukai-fuyukai), since it is obvious that the actions of most of his characters are explained precisely by the factor of sensation and mood. Also, recurring motifs can be called “emptiness”, that is, the absence of one’s own inner world and “harmony”, that is, the correspondence of one’s own “rhythm” and “rhythm” of the surrounding nature. If the “rhythm” itself is also considered to be the “pattern” of Shiga’s consciousness, repeated from work to work, it becomes possible to explain why the beauty of Shiga’s texts is so dependent on the original language. In general, we believe that the application of the methodology of phenomenological critique of consciousness to the works of Shiga Naoya is a promising direction that requires further research.