EPISODE 43: Futabatei Shimei, "Ukigumo" ["Drifting Clouds"] (1889), Part Three

Chapters 7-8: 0:00—Sunday, November 2, 1884. 5:10—Artificial & distorted forms. 7:25—Japanese dressing. 11:50—Scraping & bowing & spewing. 15:18—Only one idol. 17:39—Baffled Bunzō 24:04—“He’s terribly bold.” 27:51—Interlude.  

Chapters 9-12: 28:32— Bunzō’s worst fears. 32:07—Free indirect discourse. 40:14— Bunzō meets Yamaguchi. 42:28—Bozo Bunzō. 47:12—An abyss of pain. 51:19—Interlude.  

Chapters 13-19: 52:10—What’s wrong with Bunzō? 1:00:15—Borderline Bunzō. 1:02:30—Bunzō & Futabatei. 1:04:01—Russian literature & politics. 1:06:35—Oblomov & Underground Man. 1:08:36—Neurosis & psychosis. 1:10:11—Not a nice girl. 1:11:31—A new perspective. 1:18:38—Bunzō observes. 1:23:37—The ending. 1:32:07—The end. 1:33:38—Closing.

Text: Futabatei Shimei. Ukigumo. Translated by Marleigh Grayer Ryan. Japan’s First Modern Novel, “Ukigumo” of Futabatei Shimei. 1965. Center for Japanese Studies, Univ. of Michigan, 1990.

Interlude: Yūgure,” performed by Ensemble Hijiri-Kaï , Urban Music of the Edo Period , 2005, Ocora Records, Paris, Internet Archive.

Illustration: Society of Friends of the Cernuschi Museum, Paris.

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