@inproceedings{oai:kokubunken.repo.nii.ac.jp:00002040,
 author = {Childs, Margaret H and CHILDS, Margaret H},
 book = {国際日本文学研究集会会議録, PROCEEDINGS OF INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON JAPANESE LITERATURE},
 issue = {5},
 month = {Mar},
 note = {pdf, Now that so much time has been spent on literary historical questions surrounding medieval shukke-tonsei stories, it is time to take a new look at their literary value. Since they are granted status in the literary corpus, we can assume they have some literary value. However, when we use them only to study historical issues, we are treating them as artifacts, not as literature. This view is based upon work by Barbara Herrnstein Smith (On the Margins of Discourse, University of Chicago Press, 1978), who divides all verbal discourse into either natural discourse, what we understand and interpret in a specific historical context, and fictive discourse, which we understand and interpret creatively. Fictive discourse refers to “verbal structures that have been designed or discovered .t.o .invite and reward. cognitive play“ (p. 121). Cognitive play includes “the exploration of the formal and symbolic properties of language“ (p. 121) and “contextually unrestricted interpretation，” i.e., identifying and making explicit the propositions (the work) exemplifies“ (p. 142).
My question is, how rewarding are Aki no yo no nagamonogatari and Sannin hoshi, two stories that have traditionally been highly regarded, when we read them as fictive discourse?
Looking for “formal and symbolic properties，” we find that the sermon with which Aki no yo no nagamonogatari begins, introduces metaphors basic to the story ’s meaning: “the blossoming of trees in spring increases the tendency to aspire to supreme enlightenment, and as the autumn moon sinks to the bottom of the water it symbolizes the salvation of all beings (“Chigo monogatari: Love Stories or Buddhist Sermons？” Monumenta Nipponica 35. 2, p. 132). Consistently identifying Umewaka, Keikai’s beloved, with spring blossoms and the autumn moon, the text hints that Umewaka is not an obstacle to Keikai's longed for religious awakening, but the agent of its attainment. Considering the process by which Keikai comes to a religious awakening, we can identify the proposition that romantic love and faith are fired by the same energy: Keikai falls in love with Umewaka after he has begun an earnest search for religious inspiration, and he achieves a religious awakening only when the object of his passion is lost to him.
The first two tales that comprise Sannin hoshi present characters whose religious awakenings can be interpreted in a variety of ways. The third tale, on the other hand, is the static and repetitive presentation of a man’s heart-rending reunion with his children six years after having abandoned them to become a priest. The reader feels as though he has only one piece of a puzzle to consider. This part of ‘sannin hoshi, at least, is not rewarding as an object of cognitive play.},
 pages = {11--22},
 publisher = {国文学研究資料館},
 title = {研究発表 文学としての出家遁世談},
 year = {1982},
 yomi = {チャイルズ，マーガレット, Ｈ}
}