What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to trace the evolution of authorship in 1910s Japan, focusing on the transition to self-expression as a valid form of legitimacy.

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April 14, 2026Open Access

Resonant Characters: Biographic Writing and Authorship in 1910s Japan

Key Points

The aim is to trace the evolution of authorship in 1910s Japan, focusing on the transition to self-expression as a valid form of legitimacy.
Examined collections of literary authors' biographies from the 1910s.
Analyzed how writes used their biographies for self-promotion.
Investigated cultural and spiritual connections among authors beyond national borders.
Identified a shift from master-disciple lineages to self-expression in authorship.
Showed how biographical narratives helped shape public perceptions of authors.
Revealed that biographic writing functioned as a self-branding tool for Japanese writers.

Abstract

This paper traces the development of a new paradigm of authorship in 1910s Japan. Against existing models that based the legitimacy of authors on master-disciple lineages, the journal Shirakaba introduced the idea of art as an expression of the “self,” in which modern artists could encounter each other spiritually over national and cultural borders. In order to show how authors and publishers deployed this new sense of legitimation through affinities in character and aesthetic sensibility, I examine several collections of literary authors’ biographies produced in the 1910s, highlighting how they were used to both disseminate specific narratives about the authors whose lives they chronicled and also used as self-branding exercises for the Japanese writers who penned them.

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