更新日：2010年7月5日

Kobayashi Hideo

Literary critic Kobayashi Hideo was born in Tokyo in 1902. After graduating from the French Literature Department of Tokyo University, he won second place in a competition run by the magazine Kaizo for a critical essay, "Samazama naru Isho" (All Manner of Designs), marking the beginning of his literary career.

His critiques covered a wide range from contemporary literature to the classics, philosophy, and the arts. In 1931 he became the chief editor of Bungakukai (The Literary World) and began to serialize his life of Dostoevsky in the magazine. Around this time, he also published "Watakushi Shosetsu Ron," an attack on the I-novels (watakushi shosetsu).

He spent the war years immersed in the study of history and the arts, and in 1946, he published "Mujo to iu Koto" (On Transcience). This was followed by "Mozart," "Van Gogh’s Letters," and "Kangaeru Hinto" (Hints on Thinking). His last work "Motoi Sencho" was a fitting monument to his career as a literary critic. He also translated such works as Baudelaire’s "Edgar Poe," and Rimbaud’s "Une saison en enfer."

Kobayashi first came to Kamakura in 1921, when he accompanied his ailing mother. He made his home here from 1931, first living in Yuigahama, and then later moving to Ogigayatsu and finally, Yukinoshita. He was a central figure of literary activity in Kamakura and one of the organizers of the Kamakura Bunko lending library. He died in 1983 at the age of 80.