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- Title
Sacred or Profane? Representing War Orphans in the Post-war Occupation of Japan: Ishikawa Jun's "The Jesus of the Ruins".
- Authors
Wakako Suzuki
- Abstract
This article examines both the limits and potentials of literary representations of trauma immediately after World War II. With a special focus on Ishikawa Jun's treatment of a war orphan in "The Jesus of the Ruins" (1946), I examine how post-war literature depicted war orphans who suffered unthinkable losses in their personal, social, and physical worlds as a result of the war. While many representations have provided a means of reconstructing the post-war context and romanticizing images of children directly affected by tragic historical events, writers, such as Ishikawa, have cast doubt on the authenticity of romanticized representations. Ishikawa describes a war orphan as an animal-like creature, who would disgust readers rather than evoke sympathy. He also portrays the black market that emerged in Ueno where the male narrator sees a filthy boy amid numerous food stalls, small shops, and greedy sellers. Concerned with the depiction of the war orphan, this article analyzes the ways Ishikawa negates romantic representations of trauma, allowing readers to negotiate with war memories and to reconsider a relationship between redemption and suffering.
- Subjects
ORPHANS; WORLD War II; CHILDREN &; war; EMOTIONAL trauma in literature; POST-traumatic stress disorder; BLACK market
- Publication
Japan Studies Association Journal, 2017, Vol 15, p127
- ISSN
1530-3527
- Publication type
Article