The Journal of Japanese Studies

Abstract:

This essay explores the formation and extension of friendship through a shared appreciation of literature and art. The center of attention is the writer, translator, and educator Horie Toshiyuki, who writes in exchange with or in honor of like-minded figures such as Usami Eiji and Suga Atsuko, both of whom also wrote, translated, and taught, thus mediating others' works. Within their network of friendship, others—Alberto Giacometti, Tsuji Makoto, and Umberto Saba—emerge as important nodes. Through close reading of texts on them, I configure patterns of their like-mindedness: epistolary, triangular, asymmetrical, and rhizomatic.