記憶の痛み、物語の力 : 井上ひさし「父と暮せば」論

Abstract

In this paper, I study about the power of the story in Hisashi Inoue's drama Chichi to Kuraseba. It is difficult to comprehensively perceive the event of atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Countless materials and testimonies have been accumulated to have clear understanding of the event. Inoue wrote Chichi to Kuraseba with the will to collect and read as many testimonies and memories as possible, and to make them into a bigger one. I have been interested in his making a single story by collecting pieces of memories. A created story has more strength, power, and influence on people than pieces of materials and testimonies. Stories often try to compete for the strength and to overpower other stories. Through this paper, I examine the power of the story which arouse pain as well as delight by reading Chichi to Kuraseba. A young female called Mitsue is a main character who feels a debt to the dead of the atomic bombing. She especially feels regret for leaving her father behind. But her father tells that it was his request that she ran away by herself. Since two people articulate the same event from two different viewpoints, there are clash between the stories. Mitsue's father reverses her story from his perspective. Although Mitsue's marriage is suggested at the end of the story, this is not a happy ending. Mitsue's father entrusted her with the sense of obligation toward the dead. That is the severe request that the power of the story brings. Through text analysis of Chichi to Kuraseba, I would like to clarify how the living is constrained by the power of the story as a request of the dead.