Sunao Tokunaga

Sunao Tokunaga was born on January 20, 1899,{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=611|2a1=Ōtsuka|2y=1994}} in Kumamoto Prefecture.{{sfnm|1a1=Ōtsuka|1y=1994}} He was one of first writers of the Japanese proletarian literature movement of the 1920s to come from a truly lower-class background.{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=611}}

He dropped out of elementary school,{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=611}} and at the age of twelve became a printer's apprentice.{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1pp=611–612}} In 1922, he began working for the Hakubunkan Press (博文館印刷所 Hakubunkan-insatsusho), later renamed to the Kyōdō Press (共同印刷所 Kyōdō-insatsusho).{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=612}} He took part in union activities while actively writing.{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=612}} The union restricted his literary activities and extracted a promise from him that he would not write any novels.{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=612}}

In 1926, he joined some 3,000 Kyōdō employees in striking.{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=612}} After more than two months, the union was completely defeated, and 1,700 employees, including Tokunaga, were fired.{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=612}} This experience provided inspiration for his most important novel, Taiyō no nai Machi (太陽のない街, "The Street without Sunlight"), which he began in 1928.{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=612}} He eventually found another printing job at a large company, and while working there began his literary career.{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=612}} He joined the Japan Proletarian Writers' League (日本プロレタリア作家同盟 Nihon Puroretaria Sakka Dōmei, also abbreviated "NALP") in February 1929.{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=612}}

In March 1932, Tokunaga wrote an article expressing a desire for a popular literature that the proletariat could enjoy,{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=615}} which inspired a sharp critical response from Takiji Kobayashi,{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=615}} accusing Tokunaga of "right-wing, opportunistic tendencies".{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=615}} In May of the same year several members of NALP, including Tokunaga, were rounded up for questioning by police following a meeting, but Tokunaga was soon released.{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=615}} He left the League in October of the following year over what he saw as their prioritizing politics over literary merit.{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=615}}

In October 1937 he requested his publisher withdraw Taiyō no nai Machi from print in light of the breakout of war with China.{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=615}} He saw it as necessary for Japanese to unify during the war.{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=615}} He continued to publish short stories and essays that were inoffensive to the authorities throughout the Pacific War.{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=615}}

In 1945, immediately following Japan's loss in the war, Tokunaga, Shigeharu Nakano, Yuriko Miyamoto and others formed the Shin Nihon Bungakkai ("New Japanese Literary World") as a successor to the various pre-war socialist literary groups.{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=615}} He joined the Communist Party of Japan in 1946, allowed the republication of Taiyō no nai Machi, and was welcomed back into the proletarian literary movement.{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=615}}

In 1954, he journeyed to Moscow to represent Japan at the Congress of the Soviet Writers' Union.{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1p=615}}

He died on February 15, 1958.{{sfnm|1a1=Keene|1y=1998|1pp=611, 615|2a1=Ōtsuka|2y=1994}}

{{Reflist|colwidth=20em}}

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• {{cite book

|last = Keene

|first = Donald

|authorlink = Donald Keene

|year = 1998

|title = A History of Japanese Literature, Vol. 3: Dawn to the West – Japanese Literature of the Modern Era (Fiction)

|publisher = Columbia University Press

|location = New York, NY

|edition = paperback

|orig-year = 1984

|isbn = 978-0-231-11435-6

}}

• {{cite encyclopedia

|encyclopedia = Encyclopedia Nipponica

|last = Ōtsuka

|first = Hiroshi

|authorlink = Hiroshi Ōtsuka

|title = Tokunaga Sunao

|script-title = ja:徳永直

|language = japanese

|year = 1994

|publisher = Shogakukan

|url = https://kotobank.jp/word/徳永直-104861#E6.97.A5.E6.9C.AC.E5.A4.A7.E7.99.BE.E7.A7.91.E5.85.A8.E6.9B.B8.28.E3.83.8B.E3.83.83.E3.83.9D.E3.83.8B.E3.82.AB.29

|access-date = 2017-11-23

}}

{{Refend}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tokunaga, Sunao}}

Category:Proletarian literature

Category:20th-century Japanese novelists

Category:1899 births

Category:1958 deaths

Category:Writers from Kumamoto Prefecture