"The World" by Naoki Yoshiyoshi: Breaking the film covering "self" with laughter

"A cool breeze blew through my empty guts. I didn't want to cry, I felt like I had an epiphany. For example, the fact that the world isn't fair at all; for example, I don't always get what I want. The fact that the character..."

"Human World" is a novel published in 2019 by comedian Naoki Yuyoshi. He made his debut with the novel "Spark" depicting Japanese comedian Man Cai, and won the Akutagawa Award in 2015. His writing is clear and simple, and quite straightforward in many places, but it does not lack beauty, but vividly depicts the feelings of the characters. The theme of "Human World" is the relationship between creation and life. As the text says, at the end of the day we all find it hard to be who we want to be in life.

This may be one of the reasons why people want to create. Because it is in the process of creation that we are able to describe ourselves that we cannot reveal, and to look at everything around us from a different angle. But the reason "Human World" is worth reading is that it is similar to "Spark" in that it describes the complex relationship between the self and others in creation from a comedian and an artist who feels that he has failed, rather than simple self-satisfaction.

The protagonist of the story, Yongshan, is a moderately accomplished columnist and illustrator who has published a well-selling storybook. However, there has been a lingering shadow in his heart that makes him think he is not a true creator. Because the earliest famous works, although derived from their own inspiration, did not rely on themselves to complete. It was a story that a friend created from his notes while he was drunk. Later, I lied to him that he came up with it when he was drunk, so that he continued to create at that time and did not give up on himself.

This truth was later shaken out by friends who were jealous of Yongshan. Yongshan, who was originally complacent, discovered that the encouragement and praise of the friends and the girl he liked were all faked at the time. Everything he got was like a mirror constructed by lies, and it shattered in an instant, making him feel huge frustration and shame. , and the relationship with friends broke down, and also began to close himself. What puzzled him the most was how a story that looked so similar to his own at first glance could turn out to be written by someone else? And the real self can't write anything, can't even recognize it? If you can't even do this, how can you call yourself an artist?

"Does what I want to do really belong to me? Maybe I'm just acting in the framework that others have come up with, and I'm not even needed at all, because maybe even this impulse is induced by others."

Is the self that you want to describe in the work really you? Many times, the "self" seems not to be outlined by oneself, but an incarnation seduced by others who care about oneself. After realizing this, Yongshan no longer has enthusiasm for creation, but falls into a kind of loss of life, devaluing the value of creation, and only finds a little solace in it.

There are many different characters written in "Human World". They are not necessarily artists like the protagonist, but they are all like a part or fragment of the author's self, and they dialogue and interact with him. Although not necessarily all of them are creating, they are all trying to find their true self and a way to live calmly in this complex world. This search is embodied in various experiences of hesitation, confusion and loss in the book, and finally connects to the meaning of why people create.

Among the many characters the protagonist comes into contact with, a friend named Ao is the most impressive. He later became the same comedian as the author, and at the end of the book, the character disappeared, we don't know his whereabouts, or we wonder if he is like his favorite writers - Osamu Dazai and "Disqualification" The protagonist chose to commit suicide. But maybe Ao is the incarnation of the protagonist in a certain transitional stage, because through the book "Disqualification in the World" that was finally placed in Yongshan's luggage, we seem to be hinted that it doesn't matter whether the person named "Ao" is really a person, it matters. It is the shadow left by different others on oneself.

"I wanted to be a comedian since I was a kid because it could break the film that surrounds me. I only know how to break it. If I leave that film alone, it will gradually thicken and make it hard to breathe, right? ? I found that funny can also be broken from the inside out. Kunio Yanagida wrote in the book that the etymology of the word "laugh" (Warau) probably comes from "Break" (Waru)... In order to break that layer of film, it is necessary to Laughing, and relying on your own strength to tear the film apart, nothing can replace it.”

Is "funny" just to make people laugh? In another episode, Okato, who has become an entertainer, argues over the definition of "funny", mentioning that "funny" seems to be laughing, a "relief of tension," but for him, "a great relief of tension, In fact, it is a kind of enlightenment.”

Laughter is a display of insight. This is very interesting, because laughter seems to be a positive emotion, but in daily life it often becomes a way of paralyzing the ego. Dazai Osamu showed us the essence of this "laughing" in "Disqualification in the World", which is an emotion that, although laughing, is actually crying at all. In this, people can't break anything, but they are covered by some kind of huge membrane, and they can't struggle to escape.

This is probably why Yongshan named his new work "Metamorphosis", because how to break the film covering himself is the theme of "Human World". In this, there is a certain resonance between laughter and creation. It is not a role that numbs and fixes oneself, but constantly learns to break the boundaries of self in the shadows of others.

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Further reading:

Dazai's "Disqualification in the World" X Todd. Phillips "Joker": Laughing is never a simple thing

Osamu Dazai's book review of "Disqualification in the World": Other people's eyes are their own hell