“Readers” and “Writers” in Japanese Detective Fiction, 1920s–30s: Tracing Shifts from Edogawa Rampo’s “Beast in the Shadows” to IThe Demon of the Lonely Isle/I

• Published in: Humanities (Basel) 2023-01, Vol.12 (1)
• Main Authors: Komatsu, Shoko, Siercks, Eric
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Rampo Edogawa
• ISSN: 2076-0787; 2076-0787
• DOI: 10.3390/h12010012

This paper explores the shifting position of "readers" and "writers" within serialized works by Japanese detective fiction author Edogawa Rampo. The essay focuses on two works published at the end of the 1920s and early 1930s: the novella "Beast in the Shadows" and Edogawa's first long-form serialized novel, The Demon of the Lonely Isle. By examining the kinds of magazines in which Edogawa published, as well as the expected readership of those magazines, we discover several important stylistic shifts in Edogawa's writing as he transitions from being a genre fiction short story writer to an author of popular novels. In Edogawa's short detective fiction for niche magazines, the position of the reader and writer overlap, mirroring the way readers of detective fiction magazines often became writers themselves. Edogawa parodies his simultaneous position as dedicated reader and writer of detective novels. Moving to popular magazines and long-form fiction causes those self-parodies to shift into the background. Edogawa severs the correlative or dual position of writer/reader in favor of a detached "author" and consuming "reader". This paper explores the genesis of this change in relation to the development of magazine media in modern Japan.