[Special Feature: A New Theory of Reading] <My Classics> Dialogue with the Classics / Naoyuki Agawa

2020/05/11

The first time I encountered the classics was in the spring of my third year of junior high school. Having been unable to attend school for several years due to a serious illness, I was finally able to return to Azabu Junior High School, where I was made to read the "Analects of Confucius" and "The Tale of the Heike." Having finished the basics of Classical Chinese and Classical Japanese by the second year, the school suddenly assigned these two. No other books were allowed.

Because of my leave of absence, I had not sufficiently studied the basics, so I was somewhat taken aback. However, the first words I touched in the "Analects," "The Master in his leisure hours was at ease, and looked cheerful," and the passage from "The Tale of the Heike" where Shunkan, left alone on Kikaigashima island, "stamped his feet and cried out, 'Take me with you! Let me go too!'" resonated deeply in my heart. I have continued to pick up and reread these two books from time to time ever since.

Admittedly, I didn't have much to do with the classics during my student days. Later, because I studied law and made it my profession, I moved even further away from them. However, after I began teaching at a university, I realized that I had not read enough basic books. So, together with the students at Keio, I first began reading classics related to my specialty, the U.S. Constitution. I am continuing this at Doshisha as well.

What the classics have in common is the fact that content written hundreds or sometimes more than a thousand years ago is still being read today. Out of countless books from the same era, a tiny fraction of works survived by being repeatedly transcribed and printed. As a bit of a writer myself, I understand well how difficult a feat this is.

The reason they are still read after so many years is likely because the books called classics are packed with deep thoughts and fresh ideas that stimulate people's brains. Of course, some are difficult and hard to grasp. There are various reasons for this, but the translations also seem to be an issue.

Even so, after reading the classics together, I often received feedback from students saying that they understood what the author wanted to say surprisingly directly. I agree.

Concepts such as the social contract and the right of resistance, which Locke developed in "Two Treatises of Government" and are often difficult to understand in history of thought textbooks, can be understood (I feel) because they are explained carefully with concrete examples in the original text. From the descriptions explaining when it is acceptable to resist a monarch, one can sense the hesitation of a subject of the 17th-century British King shaken by revolution. On the other hand, when Burke criticizes the overthrow of the monarchy in a neighboring country in "Reflections on the Revolution in France," his words tend to go too far and run wild. Yukichi Fukuzawa also has a tendency to let his pen run away with him. Each author of a classic has their own quirks. That, too, is interesting.

When reading a great classic, one can even experience the sensation that the author is speaking directly to the reader. From Confucius's words, "Extreme is my decay. For a long time, I have not dreamed, as I was wont to do, that I saw the duke of Zhou," one can almost hear a sigh from repeated frustrations.

The same is true of the works of Tocqueville, a thinker from the first half of the 19th century. I first learned his name in an international politics textbook, and since then, I have reread his books many times whenever I think about America. Born into an aristocratic family and deeply concerned about the chaos in his homeland after the revolution, Tocqueville visited various parts of the United States for ten months in 1831. Based on that experience, he wrote "Democracy in America" after returning home. He left behind deep insights into the advantages and weaknesses of democracy, liberty and equality, and the balance between public and private.

This man, who suffered from chest disease in his youth and whose fragile physique is evident from his portraits, seems to have possessed a warm personality. Throughout his book, the people he encountered in America and the surrounding landscapes are vividly described. For example, the description of a pioneer's log cabin that suddenly appears deep in the thick forests of Michigan.

"When the traveler at evening draws near... he sees from afar the glimmer of the hearth fire through the walls. At night, when the wind rises, he hears the roof of boughs creak in the midst of the forest trees."

Reading this part, I even feel as if I am walking through the forest with Tocqueville nearly 200 years ago. He described these pioneer log cabins as "an ark of civilization lost in a sea of leaves." Here lies the origin of America.

During his stay in America, Tocqueville encountered the idea of the "tyranny of the majority"—a flaw in democracy explained by Madison, the Father of the Constitution, in his book "The Federalist Papers"—and incorporated it into his own work. Mill, who was greatly influenced by Tocqueville, discussed individual liberty based on this idea in "On Liberty."

It was Fukuzawa who introduced Mill's thought to Japan. "The Federalist Papers," "Democracy in America," "On Liberty," and Fukuzawa's "An Encouragement of Learning" and "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization," which developed the idea of independence and self-respect, are thus all connected. Four people from different countries and eras engaged in a dialogue through books and deepened their respective reflections.

Classics are not something to be understood by reading once or twice. Since their content is sometimes contradictory, no single interpretation is necessarily correct. If that is the case, it is best for readers to pick up the classics that resonate with them many times, repeat the dialogue with the author, and use them as nourishment for their own thoughts.

What did the author of a classic, who took up a pen long ago, want to say? Sharing those thoughts. Even if you cannot meet in reality, making the author a "Kindred Spirit" through the works they left behind. I believe that reading the classics is exactly that sort of thing.