Seiichi Naruse
| Seiichi Naruse 成瀬 正一 |
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|---|---|
Seiichi Naruse
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| Born |
26 April 1892 Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan |
| Died | 13 April 1936 (aged 43) Japan |
| Occupation | Researcher of French literature, Writer |
| Genre | French Romanticism, short stories, travel journals |
Seiichi Naruse (成瀬 正一? Naruse Seiichi, 26 April 1892 - 13 April 1936) was a Japanese writer and researcher of French Romanticism. He was a professor of French literature at Kyushu University. He is known as the first Japanese having a friendship with Romain Rolland and also known as a collaborator with Kōjirō Matsukata in collecting paintings and sculptures for the Matsukata Collection of the National Museum of Western Art in Ueno, Tokyo.
Seiichi Naruse was born as the first son of Seikyo Naruse (成瀬正恭) on April 26, 1892. Seikyo Naruse was the president of the 15th Bank(Jūgo Ginkou) and also a manager of other banks and companies. Seiichi grew up in a wealthy environment with his brothers, including Seiji Naruse and Shunsuke Naruse (diplomat), and sisters. After he graduated from Azabu Junior High School and First Higher School, Japan (第一高等学校), he studied in the Faculty of Letters at Tokyo Imperial University (now University of Tokyo). In his college days, he started a literary magazine "Shin-shichou"( 新思潮, a new trend of thought) with his classmates: Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Masao Kume, Kan Kikuchi and Yuzuru Matsuoka (松岡譲). In this magazine, they made their debut as writers. In later years, Akutagawa and Kikuchi became most important novelists in Japan. Naruse was a good linguist. He learned English and German at high school and college. He learned French under a private teacher Hana Yamata (younger sister of ). After he read the 10-volume Jean-Christophe, he became an admirer of Romain Rolland and his pacifist thoughts. His French was good enough to exchange letters with Rolland. Just before graduation, in cooperation with Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Masao Kume and Yuzuru Matsuoka, he published a Japanese version of Rolland's Life of Tolstoy (translated from its English version) by permission of Rolland himself.
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