ABSTRACT
The strong response of such major writers of modern Japanese literature as Tanizaki Junichiro, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Hagiwara Sakutaro and Mishima Yukio to Western writers of dark romanticism (such writers as Poe, Baudelaire and Oscar Wilde) can be readily understood in the light of their shared artistic concerns. The Japanese writers of aestheticism who were influenced by the writers of Western dark romanticism did not necessarily start as romantic writers. From the turn of the century to the 1920s, the consciousness in Japan of European literary and artisitic activities grew markedly, and such anti-naturalistic movements as art nouveau and symbolism were accorded an especially favorable reception. The Japanese writers of aestheticism, who form the mainstream of modern Japanese literature, reveal the links between traditional Japanese literature and the ideas and aesthetics of dark romanticism by their conscious effort to associate their literary endeavors with traditional Japanese literature.
