After reading: "Lemon" by Kijiro Kajii

Born in 1901, Kajii Kijiro was a novelist during the Taisho-Showa period in Japan. Unlike writers such as Natsume Soseki, Dazai Osamu, and Kawabata Yasunari, Kajii Kijiro is a relatively unfamiliar writer to many Taiwanese. The main reason may be because he has not many works, only 20 short stories. And although some writers (such as Mishima Yukio) said that they were influenced by him, these works did not have a huge impact on the times at that time. His own life was very rough. He was infected with tuberculosis since childhood, and because of this, he failed to complete his studies in the English Department of Imperial University, and died at the age of 31 (1932).

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Kajii Kijiro's works are not long. And the protagonists in it usually have their own images. On the one hand they (or their significant relatives) are suffering from tuberculosis. On the other hand, they all face the oppression of poverty. The overall atmosphere is filled with melancholy, despair, and emptiness of melancholy and depression. However, Kijiro Kajii rarely directly describes these emotions, and the pain they cause. On the contrary, he mostly concentrates all his energy on describing the scene the character sees, giving it a vivid appearance, and at the end he leaves a sentence or two describing the character's behavior, as if the camera's brief focus on the protagonist at the end. For example, in the novel "Winter Day" he wrote:

"On the north side of the view is a row of oaks. One day the oaks danced with their steely suppleness, shaking the wind to the ground. On the low-lying, disfigured, withered leaves danced the dance of bones. Then the shadow of the plane tree seemed to be about to fall. Disappeared. The sun has basically receded, and there is only a trace of shadow left. And that little shadow is also chased by the cold wind, fleeing towards the shadow world like a desert... Yao witnessed the whole process, He closed the window almost in desperation. He pricked up his ears to the sound of the cold wind calling the night, and the occasional sound of shattering glass from some distant place without electric lights."

Except for the word "desperate", there is no other sentence to describe the mood of the protagonist, however, the scenery described in the article has already expressed the desolation of the protagonist's heart. At first glance, the final cracking sound is the sound of the glass window, but it is actually the desperate voice of the protagonist.

Judging from the plot of the story, Kajii Kijiro's novel lacks a plot. In his works, the content of the story is very simple, there are no complicated events. Some works are actually just a protagonist wandering on the street as a whole, such as "Lemon" which we will talk about later. However, the words in his pen reveal a strong sense of picture, and the writing of this scene can tightly hold the inner thoughts of the protagonist. It conveys strong, deep feelings. Let's cite another text from "Winter Day":

"The winter sun even shot into the mailbox at the door, and every small stone on the road was followed by a shadow, as if every stone showed a huge sadness like the pyramids of Egypt. Crossing the low-lying land, the wall of the bungalow on the opposite side was at this time. A row of ghostly shadows like plane trees was projected. Yao stretched out his masculine, bean sprouts-like pale hands to the gray wooden bungalow. He wanted to touch the strange shadow branded above. He wears a pair of them every day. Open the windows in emptiness until the shadows fade away."

We can't understand what the "shadow" is to the protagonist. However, even if there is no direct in-depth thoughts, through the description of the scenery and the strange behavior and thoughts of the protagonist, we can still feel the "shadow", as a kind of emotion and mentality. The symbol is full of magical but empty charm in the heart of the protagonist.

Since there are no major events, the stories written by Kajii Kijiro are like the desolate daily life of a certain character. But in this daily psychological scene, surprising and special lights and shadows emerge from time to time, as if his words are photography that captures the life of Jane. Just like a vivid description in "A Town with Towers": "If you look closely, it seems that it is not smoke, but a toy train formed by smoke running on the sea." The words of those scenery are not scenery, but Inside the characters in the scenery.

"Lemon" is Kajii Kijiro's first short story published in 1925, and it is also his most famous work. The idea of this novel is very peculiar. It tells the story of a melancholy young man meeting a lemon. In it, Kajii writes down the various feelings that this lovely lemon exudes in the young man's heart, as well as the lemon's effect on the young man's behavior. influences. His writing method is also slightly different from what we talked about before. At the beginning, he directly wrote out the emotions in his heart:

" An inexplicable sense of foreboding has been pressing against my chest. Is it anxiety? Or is it disgust? ... Now, here he is ... I'm not talking about diagnosed tuberculosis or nervous breakdown, or a debt stabbed in the back, but that An ominous feeling. The music and poetry that once soothed me, no matter how good, became unbearable . . .

He couldn't sit at home, so he walked to the street to hang out. But the breath still followed him like a shadow. Walking slowly, he began to tell the troubles, interests and past memories that flowed through his heart in a light and calm tone. This description takes a new turn until he arrives at a dimly lit fruit shop. In this dark fruit shop, he saw lemons that did not appear often. From then on, the article began to be full of novel and interesting descriptions.

He, who had no money at first, bought a lemon for the first time in the world, and he said, "This is the only one!". Then, the young man walked down the street with the lemon, and his hand was reluctant to let go of the small lemon along the way. In the process of playing, the author slowly wrote about how the youth felt about the characteristics of lemons and the transformation that lemons had on him. The lovely spindle-shaped appearance, the change of lemon yellow color in different light, the cool and comfortable touch in the palm, the fruity aroma if there is nothing... and finally, the indescribable, light weight of lemon.

Originally ordinary lemon, here began to give us a kind of intimate power, completely eliminate the youth's original oppression, and slowly warm his heart. It was as if the weight had pulled his lost soul back to the life it had been drifting away from.

The ending of the novel is interesting and unexpected. As the young man walked, he gradually felt tired. Then I came to a Maruzen bookstore and wanted to rest and look at the picture album. However, for some unknown reason, he found that these albums that he usually liked turned out to be boring at this time. Just when he was bored, he suddenly had some novel ideas. He stacked the picture books, imagining he was building a fantastic castle. After stacking, he placed the bright yellow lemon on top of the "castle". Then he had a sudden fantasy that he was a villain! And that lemon will be a bright bomb! Just like that, he left Maruzen immediately. On the street, he fell into a burst of unbearable happiness: "If this is the case, that breathless Maruzen will definitely be reduced to ruins!" He laughed dumbly and continued his life.

After reading this short story, the whole person seems to have a new feeling. On the one hand, it is because his brushstrokes are very fresh, there are no gorgeous words or very delicate descriptions, but the scenes and the protagonist's mood are shallow and light. The outline is not detailed but has a complete image. Therefore, the article is easy to read and has a bit of beauty. This writing method is also very suitable for the protagonist's casual and unrestrained style at the end of the book, and strengthens the vivid image of lemon in the book. On the other hand, the theme of "Lemon" is very novel. He tries to awaken people's most pure and happy emotions through a simple lemon.

The emotion evoked by lemons seemed at first a feeling of little luck. It's a small but fulfilling sense of happiness. In human life, sometimes for some unknown reason, we are fascinated by little things, and that fascination is difficult to explain in words. "Lemon" makes a simple presentation of such emotions, and in this presentation, mixed with the epitome of people's melancholy in reality, and the story of people regaining their soul weight in the emptiness of life. But at the end, when Lemon transforms from a cute image to a bomb with a destructive power, the emotions aroused here are quite different from the previous ones. What he represents is a rebellious pleasure to the everyday, the reality. The stacks of picture albums seem to be the boring and repetitive reality of the protagonist, although it may be an interest, it gradually becomes empty. Therefore, it is necessary to turn a lemon into a bomb called accident, to save my imagination of the poor life.

Therefore, we cannot directly say that Kajii Kijiro's "Lemon" is simply a kind of literature of small happiness. Because in my opinion, what he wants to talk about is not the mentality of pursuing small luck. Rather, I want to reflect the shrewdness displayed by people in the face of the deep inner emptiness and loneliness through a kind of small happiness that seems to exist. And this kind of dashing will enable writers to continue to pursue their own ideas of life resolutely.

(The article is simultaneously published on the following blog)

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