《半七捕物帳》中的偵探、都市與怪談

Detective, City, and Kaidan in The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi

19 世紀，日本明治政府受到資本主義與帝國主義的影 響，積極接受西洋化與近代化，在個別領域皆提出改革和政 策。於此風潮中成立的偵探小說，經歷了翻案、翻譯與仿作， 終於在創作上以本土化形式登場。作家岡本綺堂 （1872- 1939）於 1920 年代作成的《半七捕物帳》可說是日本本土偵 探小說的先驅。 本文考察伴隨近代化出現的偵探小說，如何呼應現實社 會。操作上，本文以《半七捕物帳》中的怪談為基底，並以 發生在江戶東京的案件為文本，探析從偵探小說所蘊含的啟 蒙力量，並分析作者如何藉由書寫偵探小說，消解讀者對近 代社會的不安。經由釐清「偵探、都市、怪談」三者的關 係，本文嘗試理解偵探小說《半七捕物帳》中描寫的都市與 怪談，如何反映日本明治時期近代化過程中的現實社會現況 與矛盾。

Under the influence of capitalism and imperialism in the 19th century, the new Meiji government of Japan, in its pursuit of westernization and modernization, put forward reforms and innovation policies in different fields. The detective fiction set up in this trend had undergone imitation, translation and pastiche, and eventually debuted as a local creation in Japan. The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi (半七捕物帳) by Japanese writer Kido Okamoto (1872-1939, 岡本綺堂), is the pioneer of Japanese-born detective fiction. This paper focuses on the kaidan (mysterious folktales) based cases in The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi, to examine the power of enlightenment or dispelling the trepidation in modern society that detective fiction has shouldered since its emergence in modernization. By clarifying the relationship between ''detective, city, and kaidan'', this paper hopes to understand how would Edo Tokyo and kaidans narrated in The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi reflect the social situation and contradictions of the real-world Japanese during the Meiji period.