Japanese Fiction of the Allied Occupation (Brill's Japanese Studies Library)

535 Pages·2006·2.84 MB·English

by  Orbaugh

JAPANESE FICTION OF THE ALLIED OCCUPATION
BRILL’S
JAPANESE STUDIES
LIBRARY
edited by
H. BOLITHO AND K.W. RADTKE
VOLUME 26
JAPANESE FICTION OF
THE ALLIED OCCUPATION
Vision, Embodiment, Identity
BY
SHARALYN ORBAUGH
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2007
Cover illustration: Children and soldiers watching a performance of Kamishibai.
Used with permission from Nagano Shigeichi.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Orbaugh, Sharalyn.
Japanese fiction of the Allied occupation : vision, embodiment, identity / by Sharalyn
Orbaugh.
p. cm. — (Brill’s Japanese studies library, ISSN 0925-6512 ; vol. 26)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-90-04-15546-6
ISBN-10: 90-04-15546-5 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Japanese fiction—1945-1989—History and criticism. 2. Military occupation in
literature. 3. Japan—History—Allied occupation, 1945-1952. I. Title.
PL747.82.M54O73 2006
895.6’3509358—dc22 2006049274
ISSN 0925-6512
ISBN-13:978-90-04-15546-6
ISBN-10:90-04-15546-5
© Copyright 2007 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill,
Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
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printed in the netherlands
To my parents
Phyllis and Harry Orbaugh, who taught me how to think and how
to write;
and Tomie and Hiroaki Yamasaki, who—though only a few years
older than I—acted like true parents in opening my eyes to a new
world and making me at home in it.

One has a feeling it is all coming to an end;
no, not that. One has a feeling it is like
that war whose last battle was fought long
after the treaty was signed. The imminence
relates to a past doom. We look back
to one time, some time, something that already has
happened. Look, we are still here, but note
that nothing of moment has happened for an age, an age,
for as long as we can piece together, not
since the time it happened. Was there that time?
Once there must have been. When will it end?
William Bronk, “The Feeling”

CONTENTS
List of Plates .............................................................................. xi
Acknowledgements ...................................................................... xiii
Note to the Reader .................................................................... xv
PART I
MEMORY AND HISTORY
Chapter One Introduction: Memory, Trauma, Narrative .... 3
Chapter Two The Allied Occupation .................................... 26
PART II
VISION
Chapter Three The Mirror and the Masquerade:
Theories of Vision .................................................................. 57
Chapter Four Vision in Fiction .............................................. 103
PART III
THE BODY
Chapter Five Theories of Embodiment ................................ 157
Chapter Six National Mobilization: From Nation to
Gunkoku (A Country at War) ................................................ 213
Chapter Seven The Disarticulated Body:
Men Writing Men .................................................................. 272
Chapter Eight Production and Reproduction:
Women Writing Women ...................................................... 335