The Influence of Robert A. Bloch’s Micro Fiction on Short-Short Fantasy and Psychological Horror by Contemporary Japanese Writers: An Attempt of Comparative Analysis

Among the short-short stories by American authors translated by Japanese writer Tsuzuki Michio in the late 1950s — early 1960s, there were also extrashort stories by Robert Albert Bloch (1917–1994): detective stories, fantasy, psychological horror. Japanese writers known by their experiments in the genres of extra-short mystic and detective stories, as well as in the genre of psychological horror, note that their creative activity was partly influenced by Robert A. Bloch: these are Atōda Takashi (b. 1935), Akagawa Jirō (b.1948), and Tamaru Masatomo (b. 1987). Some allusions can also be seen in contemporary short-shorts by less famous Japanese writers, for example, Aoyama Shōji (b. 1975). This paper examines the topics, ideas, artistic devices, and psychologism of the Japanese micro fantasy and horror fiction, as well as its metaphorical meanings and the system of images. Allusions to Robert A. Bloch’s micro fiction in the shōto shōto stories by contemporary Japanese authors are analyzed from a comparative perspective. Literary parallels to Robert A. Bloch’s micro fiction can be found in the Tamaru Masatomo’s collection of short-short stories One Thousand Nights (Sen’ya ichiya) published in 2016; in Akagawa Jirō’s collections of short-short stories The Walk (Sampomichi, 2002), The Dancing Man (Odoru otoko, 1986), and The Talkative Woman (Katte-ni shaberu onna, 1986); in Atōda Takashi’s collections of short-short stories The Strange Day (Kimyōna hirusagari, 1996), The Eaten Man (Taberareta otoko, 2008) and The Cat Case (Neko-no jiken, 2010). The influence of Robert A. Bloch’s micro fiction can also be traced in one of Aoyama Shōji’s short-shorts from the collection of stories The Square of Shōto Shōto-1 (Shōto shōto-no hiroba-1, 2007). Following Robert A. Bloch’s methods and techniques, the Japanese writers in their short-short stories demonstrate symbolism, allegory, and black humor, as well as probing into certain social problems and human nature. For the first time, Japanese shōto shōto stories and Robert A. Bloch’s micro fiction are investigated from a comparative perspective.

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