志賀直哉 「クローディアスの日記」

　「ハムレット」で、兄を殺して王になり、兄の妻を娶った男の日記。始めは、ハムレットと話をして自分を理解してもらおうと考えているが、毒殺劇を見てから、自分は兄を毒殺していないのに、劇を見て驚き、その顔が毒殺したとハムレットが思うような顔つきになってしまい、ハムレットのこざかしい細工に腹を立て、ハムレットを憎むようになる。 　シェクスピア戯曲の主要登場人物の日記という発想は素晴らしい。ところどころ、「ハムレット」のセリフが出てきて真実味を持たせている。しかし、志賀直哉はクローディアスの兄の死亡についてその原因を描かずに逃げている。フィクションであるから、身の潔白を証明するようなエピソードを書くべきで、ただある夜「兄は吠えるようなうめきを続けている」で終わっては読者を生殺しにする。 　天下周知のフィクションを土台にして、フィクションに即したさらなるフィクションと言うのは面白い。ただ、イギリス人（この場合はデンマーク人）の文化・思考・傾向に適合していないと本物らしいフィクションにならない。この点は太宰治の「新ハムレット」にも言える。 　「桃太郎の日記」「浦島太郎の日記」芭蕉が詠んだ古池の「蛙の日記」などヒューモラスなタッチで書けたら面白い。 考察： 「ハムレット」の中で、クローディアスは「この罪の悪臭、天へも臭うぞ。人類最初の罪、兄殺しの大罪！　どうしていまさら祈れようか」（福田訳）と独白しているように、クローディアスが王を殺したことは明白に読者に伝わるようにシエクスピアは描いている。これをクローディアスは王を殺していないんだとする志賀直哉の「クローディアスの日記」は前提に無理がある。

Conan Doyle “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle”

　　Sharlock Holmes deduction is amazing. (which means how clever Conan Doyle is.) Just inspecting a mere hat, he deduces that the hat owner is: “intellectual; was well-to-do within the last three months; declined his fortune; his wife ceased to love him; has self-respect; leads a sedentary life; middle aged, has gas laid on his house.” 　　Except for the inferences, the plot which leads to the arrest of the thief of the Blue Cabuncle, a diamond, is not so attractive since the writer just follows the path that he has already laid. The reader may think it mysterious (and enjoys the mystery) to track back to the goal, but like Poe’s “The Gold Bug” it is not mysterious at all. 　　The point is how to set the goal. Once the goal is set, all you have to do is to put a clue here and another there. In putting the clues highly sophisticated skills are necessary but in general it may not be so difficult to write such a story. 　　Concretely speaking, A is the cause of B; B is the cause of C; C is the cause of D; and D is the cause of E. The reader is naturally shocked to find the relation between A and E when he/she first encounters the relation as in “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” where Peterson finds a diamond in the goose. 　　A Japanese saying goes, “If the wind blows, okeya a cooper will earn.”

Javier Marias “While the Women Are Sleeping” New Yorker

PLOT: 　　The narrator and his wife Luisa see Viana, a 53-year-old fat man constantly taking a video of Iona, a 23-year-old “girl friend” of his on the beach. Iona behaves as if he was not taking a video. One night the narrator talks with Viana, who says, “I have known Iona since she was 7. When she was 18, we married. The ripe time is over; the decay will begin. I am afraid of the end of my adoration of her and her independence from me. That’s why I persistently take a video of her for memory. I may kill her to keep her as she is.” COMMENT: 　　This is a creepy, weird story. Viana is obsessed that one day he will lose Iona. The writer shows how obsessed Viana is by letting Viana talk his history. The reader will be tired of listening (reading) his mentally strange story. This is not so much a short story as a mystery story. It’s similar to Poe’s work. 　　The writer is a Spanish and the story is translated into English. HINT FOR A SHORT STORY: 　　It may be interesting to write a story in which a “normal” person turns out to be abnormal, and what he thinks “abnormal” turns out to be normal.

シャルル・ルイ・フィリップ 「アリス」

　それまで母親に可愛がってもらっていた７歳のアリスは、弟が生まれてから母親の愛情が赤ん坊に注がれ、嫉妬する。実は、アリスの後から３人も赤ん坊が生まれたのだが、１週間もたたないうちに３人とも死んでしまっていて、アリスは赤ん坊は死ぬものだと思い込んでいた。だから、今度の弟の誕生もそんなに気にしていなかったが、１週間たっても死なない。アリスは嫉妬で食事を摂らなくなり、「赤ちゃんが死なないのなら、あたしが死ぬ」と言ってアリスは、ある日椅子に腰かけたまま死んでしまう。 　話の展開が、ごく普通の事から導入されていき、次第に読者のテンションをあげて行き、を結末はどうなるのか（死ぬのは弟か、アリスか）最後を知りたくて急いで読もうとさせるサスペンス力がある。やはり、コンフリクトの展開の仕方で、作者は読者はをどうにでも操れる 　また、チェーホフの「眠い」で、最後に少女が赤ん坊を殺してしまうが、「アリス」同様、読者は意外な結末に驚くのだ。 問題点１ 変な翻訳「妻は４年の間に３人の子供を産んだが、」の「妻」はおかしい。これでは話し手が夫になってしまう。しかしこの小説の視点は神の視点になっているから。 問題点２ 変な翻訳「かわいそうにこの子はある事件のために死んでしまったのだ」は、おかしい。これではアリスが最後には死んでしまうことをばらしてしまっている。サスペンスの途中に、著者が結論を暴露してしまうはずがない。ここは多分「かわいそうに、この子はある事件のために心を病んでしまったのだ」ぐらいの訳ではないか。 シャルル・ルイ・フィリップ Charles-Louis Philippe 1874年生まれ。フランスの作家。セリイという小さな町に木靴職人の子として生まれる。リセ卒業後パリに出て、市役所勤めのかたわら創作活動。娼婦との同棲体験から生まれた小説『ビュビュ・ド・モンパルナス』を発表。ラルボー、ジッド、エリ・フォールらと交友をもつ。夭折の晩年、ジロドゥーの依頼によって「ル・マタン」紙に書いたコントが、本書と『朝のコント』として死後出版された。日本での人気は格別である。1909年没。

Graham Greene “The Destructors”

　　This is a story of a gang of boys who destroy a 200-year-old house of Thomas’. 　　The leader of the gang is Blackie but one day “T” (Trevor) suggests a plan to destroy a house, which sounds much more exciting and mischievous than free ride idea of Blackie’s. “T” takes the initiative. 　　During the absence of Thomas, the boys began to demolish all the parts of the house: drawers, floors, windows, electric lines, dishes, beds, and staircases with saws, chisels, hammers, and screwdrivers. It takes them a lot of hard work and two days. Finally Thomas is coming back home. They put him in a loo to make some more time to demolish the house now standing only supported by the walls. In the end, a lorry tied to the walls by a rope pulls the house and crashes it down to the ground. 　　As the lorry driver says to Thomas, “There’s nothing personal, but you got to admit it’s funny,” this is a funny story. I couldn’t help laughing at the last scene. I felt sorry for Thomas, but the funny factor was much bigger than sympathy. 　　To destroy something completely gives you satisfaction. Greene knows the reader’s psychology when Thomas is coming. His development of the story resembles that of a movie director Yoji Yamada. Greene skillfully inserted the scene of Thomas’ return, arousing the reader to want “T” to successfully carry out his destruction plan. Every reader is on the side of “T” with little sympathy for Thomas. Why? Because Greene draws the reader’s mind so well to “T” that near the end of the story the reader identifies himself with Trevor himself. 　　Greene may have put some meaning in the story, probably the destruction of tradition to build a new system, but a superficial reading alone is amusing. 　　Graham Greene’s English is not so complicated. He uses rather easy words and grammatical structures so that I read the story with less difficulty compared to reading other stories. 　　I would like to read “Twenty-One Stories” by Graham Greene. Henry Graham Greene OM, CH (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world. Greene was notable for his ability to combine serious literary acclaim with widespread popularity. (Wikipedia)

Sam Shepard "Land of the Living" NEW YORKER

　　There is little plot worthy of mentioning. My first impression was: why? Is this a short story? 　　The narrator (protagonist) goes to a Mexican resort, Cancun, with his family: wife, daughter Emma, and son. During the trip his wife accuses him for his “girl friend” by telling him that she heard her voice on his cell phone. The quarrel does not develop but dies down to a “decent” relationship between the two. He sees an old couple, first at the airport customs, next in the hotel, and thirdly happens to take the seat in front of them in the return plane, where the old man suffers a stroke and dies. This is the end of the story. There is no surprise ending nor moving scene. I was disappointed at the nonevent-style ending. 　　On second thought, however, as Mr. Christopher Morone pointed out, this is superficially a story of a husband and his wife, but under the disguise lies a true story of the husband and his mistress. He gets fed up with his mistress and goes on a vacation to avoid her, but when he returns from the vacation, his cell phone starts ringing in the middle of the bed “right where I’d left it.” He goes on a vacation but returns to just where he leaves, only arousing suspicion on the part of his wife. 　　Another finding is that the story consists of a long, but natural conversation between the husband and his wife, and him and Emma. This is because Sam Shepard is a playwright. 　　It would be interesting to write a story which hides another story behind it and reveals itself in the end. Sam Shepard (born November 5, 1943) is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play, Buried Child. (Wikipedia)