\u3cem\u3eFerns\u3c/em\u3e by Kaneko Mitsuharu

Translated from Japanese by Doug Slaymake

Japanese literature after Sartre: Noma Hiroshi, Ōe Kenzaburō, and Mishima Yukio

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1997This dissertation is an exploration of postwar Japanese literature written in the wake of Sartre's fiction as it was introduced in Japan. I focus on the work of Noma Hiroshi, Oe Kenzaburo, and Mishima Yukio. The postwar years were a time when these writers in particular, and much Japanese fiction in general, actively engaged existentialist issues. I want to detail the encounter of these writers with existentialism because the understanding of existentialism in Japan reflects certain significant "native" responses and concerns to the work of Jean-Paul Sartre, the existentialist writer most consistently invoked in the years after the war. This study is, then, a literary study pursuing the themes from Sartre's fiction that were emphasized in those years in Japan.Sartre was first encountered in Japan as a writer of fiction, and a writer of erotic literature at that. He was grouped with those interested in nikutai bungaku, the literature of the body. Japanese writers were drawn to him because he seemed to highlight and provide solutions to issues of concern to them. In particular, his concerns correlated to the issues of the body and the role of that body vis-a-vis other bodies, responsibility, and action. The war had thrown all of these issues into sharp relief.I have chosen to focus on Noma, Oe, and Mishima because these writers represent the interaction of three different generations of writers with the existentialist issues of the body and of the Self and Other. Tracing this interaction yields, in this dissertation, an intellectual history, of sorts, of the postwar years, while an application of this reading strategy enriches our understandings of the fiction

The Body in Postwar Japanese Fiction

This book explores one of the crucial themes in postwar Japanese fiction. Through an examination of the work of a number of prominent twentieth century Japanese writers, the book analyses the meaning of the body in postwar Japanese discourse, the gender constructions of the imagery of the body and the implications for our understanding of individual and national identity. This book will be of interest to all students of modern Japanese literature.Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1 The discourse on the body -- The "body" of this literature -- Constructing the national body -- Intimations of the body before the war -- The Sartrean body -- 2 The (gendered) discourse and a (woman's) body -- The woman's body of this literature -- The imagery of the pan-pan -- 3 Tamura Taijirō -- Tamura Taijirō and "the literature of the body -- Tamura's philosophic goals -- Nikutai no akuma" ("The Devil of the Flesh") -- Nikutai no mon" ("The Gate of Flesh") -- Shunpuden" ("Biography of a Prostitute") -- Inago" ("The Locusts") -- 4 Noma Hiroshi -- Noma and the postwar body -- Kurai e" ("Dark Pictures") -- Hōkai kankaku" ("A Sense of Disintegration") -- Kao no naka no akai tsuki" ("A Red Moon in her Face") -- Noma Hiroshi's prose style -- 5 Sakaguchi Ango -- Introduction -- Philosophical considerations -- Daraku: the decadence of the furusato -- At home in the furusato of decadence -- Liberation in the body of a woman -- The individual identity in culture -- Writing (in) the postwar period -- The Ango style -- Ango and Sartre -- Ango and Tamura -- 6 When women write postwar Japan -- Introduction -- Women in service to the state -- Sono Ayako: "Good Luck for Everybody!! -- Hiroike Akiko: "Onrii tachi" ("The Only Ones") -- Nakamoto Takako: "Kichi no onna" ("Military Base Women") -- Shibaki Yoshiko: "The Susaki Paradise" and "Yakō no onna -- Saegusa Kazuko -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- IndexThis book explores one of the crucial themes in postwar Japanese fiction. Through an examination of the work of a number of prominent twentieth century Japanese writers, the book analyses the meaning of the body in postwar Japanese discourse, the gender constructions of the imagery of the body and the implications for our understanding of individual and national identity. This book will be of interest to all students of modern Japanese literature.Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries

Wakao Ayako and post-war Japanese studio system: celebrity and performer

Wakao Ayako (1933–) is one of the most popular film stars of post-war Japanese cinema, yet there is little academic work, in Japan and elsewhere, devoted to her. Following upon Christine Geraghty’s classification of stardom, this article looks back to Wakao’s early career and focuses on the evolution of her star persona, from a celebrity as Daiei Studio’s new face, to a star-as-performer from the late 1950s onwards. I will argue that it is not a lineal evolution, but that Wakao has preserved until today a dual star image intended for different audiences and fulfilling different functions. Her vocal performance will be analysed as a significant feature in her star persona and its duality. Through the analysis of Wakao’s star image in different texts and media, I will explore the meaning as well as the form of stardom in post-war Japan and critically reflect on the application of the term ‘diva’ in this context