The subject is linguistically constructed. The future of literary education depends on our attitude toward this proposition. Thus the aim of studies on modern fiction is not to be content with the discovery of its irreducible pluralism but to turn the effect of the “third term” into a certain substantial form of reading to understand the narrative mechanism of novels. This way of reading opens up a literary space where the reader can hear other voices through the narrator’s one. By such a radical relativization of the narrating subject it will be possible to construct an alternative subject.

In his book of literary education Seiji Tsuruta uses “textbook” instead of “text.” This seemingly casual selection of just one word poses a serious problem because it directly goes against the trend of pursuing the possibilities of teaching literature in post-postmodernism. Norihiro Katō also shows such a reactionary attitude in his argument against literary theories. I hope that my critical response to the use of the word will lead to an extensive discussion over the “third term” and narration in literary education.

The aim of this article is to consider how to put the theory of the “third term” into practice in the classroom. The way of teaching method based on Minoru Tanaka’s theory of the third term is quite different from the democratic way of teaching which is conducted on the assumption that each student has already established his or her own style of reading as a reader-subject. On the contrary, it aims to make students aware of something extra-linguistic that radically challenges and deconstructs their identity. After such a moment of identity crisis, students are expected to reconstruct a new “ethical” self who can take responsibility for the act of “reading” the world, always conscious of the presence of the Other in the self.

In the kokugo class of elementary school, first we teachers have to lead our pupils to find fun in reading stories. But this preliminary step is not enough to develop their reading ability. So next we must try to direct the pupils’ attention to the way of narrating in each story so that they can see the power of language to form the world. Finally, if possible, we may give them an opportunity to be aware of the existence of something outside the system of language, a certain excess called the “third term” that subverts any way of reading.

The narrator “I” of Kokoro tries in vain to articulate something by the imperfect means of language, always aware of the existence of something extra-linguistic or the “third term.” The third term is symbolized by a void in the story, that is, the absence of the teacher who committed suicide and possessed the narrator to make his disciple repeat his own fate. Thus through the figure of the other in the self, Sōseki Natsume ethically deals with the theme of sin in the “sad age” of fragmented individualism.

According to Minoru Tanaka, as we homo linguisticus can’t recognize anything extra-linguistic, realities always lie somewhere outside the symbolic order of language. Therefore we cannot but keep on deconstructing our own linguistic system to come nearer to the Real or the “third term.” Tanaka’s theory of reading is strongly reminiscent of the Law of Moses in its attempt to seek after the absolute. Here with the concept of the third term I will read “Otzbel-to-zou,” Kenji Miyazawa’s short story about a tragic contact with the other system of language.

Children acquire linguistic ability from words infused with their nurturers’ love. So in my kokugo class, by the method based on Matsuzō Kaito’s spiritualistic philosophy of language, I teach my pupils how to read through a spiritual power inherent in words. While referring to Western monotheism and Japanese polytheism, here I will show how such spiritual reading can help children to find the way to what Minoru Tanaka calls the “third term.”

Roland Barthes proclaims the “death of the author” with his concept of textuality. Once the text is liberated from the author, he says, its meaning depends on each reader’s unique reading rather than the authorial intention. As a result, the unity of the text is disrupted through semantic explosion and dissemination. But such radical relativism inevitably entails not only the death of the author but also the death of the reader who is supposed to play a central role in this new way of reading. With the help of Minoru Tanaka’s theory of the “third term,” this article will consider what way of reading is possible after the reader’s death.