Surviving Hiroshima: An Hermeneutical Phenomenology of Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa
In this paper, I present a philosophical analysis of the famous manga series, Barefoot Gen (Hadashi no Gen) by Keiji Nakazawa, which is the author’s quasi‑fictional memoir of his childhood as an atom bomb survivor in Hiroshima, Japan. Against the backdrop of larger issues of war and...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
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Institute of Philosophy of the Jagiellonian University
2016-12-01
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| Series: | The Polish Journal of Aesthetics |
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| Online Access: | https://pjaesthetics.uj.edu.pl/documents/138618288/138825543/eik_43_1.pdf/3aa72d15-cb42-45ef-a2d9-05d888f3036e |
| Summary: | In this paper, I present a philosophical analysis of the famous manga series, Barefoot Gen (Hadashi no Gen) by Keiji Nakazawa, which is the author’s quasi‑fictional memoir of his childhood as an atom bomb survivor in Hiroshima, Japan. Against the backdrop of larger issues of war and peace, Gen’s family struggles with his father’s ideological rebellion against the nation’s militaristic rule, leading to the family’s persecution. The story then chronicles the cataclysmic effects of the bomb, and the fates of Gen and other survivors as they live through the aftermath of the detona‑tion and the hardships of the American occupation. My framework for critique fol‑lows Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutical phenomenology, which applies the descriptive method of phenomenology to cultural texts. |
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| ISSN: | 2544-8242 2544-8242 |