lowbrow 復習

作家の江戸川乱歩が過去に記した未発表の手記が立教大学から見つかりました。そこには乱歩が執筆に追われながら創作に行き詰る様子などがつづられており、様々な苦悩を伝える貴重な現存の資料となっています。

1936 Edogawa Rampo essay found

An unpublished manuscript of an essay by Edogawa Rampo, dating back to 1936 and recently found in Rikkyo University’s archives, shows that the mystery novelist suffered anxiety despite the high popularity of his works.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Rampo’s death. His real name was Taro Hirai. His pseudonym, which sounds like the Japanese pronunciation of “Edgar Allan Poe,” is a tribute to the American mystery writer.

中略

His lowbrow novels for adults were also popular, but his motivation to write novels had been waning.

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002500582

今回取り上げるのは、“lowbrow”という表現です。LDOCEで調べてみると、“lowbrow entertainment, newspapers, books etc are easy to understand and are not concerned with serious ideas about art, culture etc - used to show disapproval”という定義が見つかりました。さらに『ジーニアス英和辞典G4 大修館書店』で確認してみると、「無教養な〔低俗趣味の〕（人）」という意味が載っていました。ちなみに語源としては、この表現の対義語である“highbrow”の「額が広い人は知的に優れている」という考えから来ているようです。(ninetails)