Japanese Literature of the A-Bomb

Seiko Yoshinaga

Japanese Literature of the A-Bomb
Spring 2004
Grinnell College

Seiko Yoshinaga
Department of Japanese
Grinnell College
Grinnell, IA 50112

Required Books

Hersey, John. Hiroshima.
Minear, Richard, ed. Hiroshima: Three Witnesses.
Nakazawa, Keiji. Barefoot Gen. A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima. [1972-73; ET:
1987]
Oe, Kenzaburo, ed. The Crazy Iris and Other Stories of the Atomic Aftermath
Selden, Kyoko and Mark, eds. The Atomic Bomb: Voices From Hiroshima and
Nagasaki.
Vance-Watkins, Lequita and Aratani, Mariko, eds. White Flash, Black Rain:
Women of Japan Relive the Bomb.

Recommended Books

Lifton, Robert Jay. Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima.
Lifton, Robert Jay & Greg Mitchell. Hiroshima in America: A Half Century of
Denial.
Treat, John Whittier. Writing Ground Zero: Japanese Literature and the
A-Bomb.

Course Outline

I. Introduction

M. Jan 19: Introduction. Video: Why The Bomb Was Dropped
W. Jan 21: Hersey, Hiroshima [1946], chapters One through Four

II. The Decision to Drop the Bomb

M. Jan 26: The Official Narrative
Introduction (xi-xiii), in Rain of Ruin: A Photographic History of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Stimson, Henry, The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb (197-211); see also,
Contents (xi-xiv), in Bird, Kai and Lawrence Lifschultz, eds., Hiroshima‚s
shadow.
Lifton, Robert Jay & Greg Mitchell, Explaining Hiroshima The Official
Narrative (3-22), in Lifton & Mitchell, Hiroshima in America: A Half Century
of Denial

W. Jan 28: Revisionist Accounts
Selden, Mark, Introduction: The United States, Japan, and the Atomic Bomb
(xi-xxxv), in Selden, Kyoko and Mark, eds., Voices from Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Takaki, Ronald, A Past Not Past (ch. 1, 3-11, n. 153-156); Hiroshima: The
Face of War and Humanity (ch. 7, 121-151, n. 179-183), in Takaki, Ronald,
Hiroshima: Why America Dropped The Atomic Bomb

III. The Atomic Bomb Experience: Witnesses to the Bombing of Hiroshima &
Nagasaki

M. Feb 2: Nakazawa, Keiji. Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima [in class: DVD]
W. Feb 4: Citizens‚ Memoirs (173-214), in Selden, Kyoko and Mark, eds.,
Voices from Hiroshima and Nagasaki [extra: Poetry (117-155)]
M. Feb 9: The Hiroshima Murals of Maraki Iri and Maraki Toshi: A Note
(371-378), in Minear, Richard, ed., Hiroshima: Three Witnesses
Dower, John. War, Peace, and Beauty: The Art of Iri Maruki and Toshi
Maruki (9-26), in Dower, John and John Junkerman, eds., The Hiroshima Murals
Junkerman, John. Oil and Water: An Interview with the Artists (121-128),
in Dower and Junkerman, eds., The Hiroshima Murals
[extra] Dower, John, Japanese Artists and the Atomic Bomb (242-256), in
Dower, John, Japan in War and Peace
[also, I urge you to go look at The Hiroshima Panels in the Iowa Room of the
library]
W. Feb 11: The Boy Who Was a Fetus: The Death of Kajiyama Kenji (159-169);
Pictures By Atom Bomb Survivors (between 214 and 219); Children‚s Voices
(219-242), in Selden, Kyoko and Mark, eds., Voices from Hiroshima and Nagasaki

IV. Invisible Contamination and A-Bomb Disease: The Scientific & Medical
Aftermath

M. Feb 16: Shohno, Naomi, Introduction (16-29) and photographs (57-72), in
Hibakusha: Survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Gusterson, Hugh, Remembering Hiroshima at a Nuclear Weapons Laboratory
(210-226), and photos, pp. 130 & 251, in Hein, Laura and Mark Selden, eds.,
Living With The Bomb
Introduction: The Atomic Bomb: Challenge of Our Time: (3-7, 11, 14-17); see
also, Contents (xxv-xxxi), in Hiroshima and Nagasaki: the Physical, Medical
and Social Effects of the Atomic Bombings
W. Feb 18: Lindee, M. Susan, ch. 7, The No-Treatment Policy (117-142), in
Suffering Made Real: American Science and the Survivors at Hiroshima
Roeder, George, Making Things Visible: Learning from the Censors (73-99, a
photographic essay), in Hein, Laura and Mark Selden, eds., Living With The
Bomb

V. Japanese Literary Responses

As background for this five-week unit of the course, please read these two
items on your own and make use of them in your position statements:
Treat, John Whittier, Preface (ix-xvii); Introduction (1-22); Atrocity
into Words (25-43); pictures of writers‚ locations in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
at time of bombings (122-123); in Treat, J. W., Writing Ground Zero: Japanese
Literature and the Atomic Bomb
Lifton, Robert Jay, Formulation: Self and World (ch. 9, 367-395), in
Lifton, Robert Jay, Death In Life: Survivors of Hiroshima
Novellas
M. Feb. 23: Hara Tamiki, Summer Flowers [1949] (45-113), in Minear,
Richard, ed., Hiroshima: Three Witnesses [extra: trans. intro., 21-40; general
intro., 3-11]
W. Feb 25: Ota Yoko, City of Corpses [1950] (147-197), in Minear, Richard,
ed., Hiroshima: Three Witnesses [extra: trans. intro., 117-142]
M. Mar 1: Ota Yoko, City of Corpses (198-273)
Short Stories
W. Mar 3: Oda, Katsuzo, Human Ashes (63-84); Takenishi, Hiroko, The Rite
(169-200); Tamiki, Hara The Land of Heart‚s Desire (55-62); in Oe,
Kenzaburo, ed., The Crazy Iris and Other Stories of the Atomic Aftermath
M. Mar 8: Ota, Yoko, Fireflies (85-112); Sata, Ineko, The Colorless
Paintings (113-126); Hayashi, Kyoko, The Empty Can (127-144); in Oe, The
Crazy Iris and Other Stories
Poetry
W. Mar 10: Toge, Sankichi, selections from: Poems of the Atomic Bomb [1951]
(304-369), in Minear, Richard, ed., Hiroshima: Three Witnesses [extra: trans.
intro., 277-300]. (See also Poetry (117-155) in Selden & Selden, eds.,
Voices from Hiroshima and Nagasaki)
SPRING BREAK (March 13-28)
Women's Poetry and Prose
M. Mar 29: Vance-Watkins, Lequita and Aratani, Mariko, eds., selections from: White Flash, Black Rain: Women of Japan Relive the Bomb
Plays
W. Mar 31: Hotta, Kiyomi, The Island [1955/1957] (11-104), in Goodman,
David G., After Apocalypse: Four Japanese Plays of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
M. Apr 5: Betsuyaku, Minoru, The Elephant [1962] (185-248), in Goodman,
David G., After Apocalypse: Four Japanese Plays of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Essays
W. Apr 7: Oe, Kenzaburo, On Human Dignity (107-113); The Unsurrendered
People (114-118, 125-132); Other Journeys to Hiroshima (149-167); From
Hiroshima (179-183), in Oe, Kenzaburo, Hiroshima Notes

VI. Hiroshima and Nagasaki in History and Memory

M. Apr 12: American History and Memory
Lifton, Robert Jay and Greg Mitchell, Introduction: The Raw Nerve (xi-xviii), in Lifton and Mitchell, Hiroshima in America: A Half Century of Denial
Linenthal, Edward & Tom Engelhardt, Introduction: History Under Siege
(1-7), in Linenthal & Engelhardt, eds., History Wars: The Enola Gay & Other
Battles for the American Pas
Hogan, Michael J. The Enola Gay Controversy: History, Memory, and the
Politics of Persuasion (200-232), in Hogan, Michael J., ed., Hiroshima in
History and Memory
W. Apr 14: Japanese History and Memory
Orr, James J., Beyond the Postwar (173-179), in Orr, James J., The Victim
as Hero: Ideologies of Peace and National Identity in Postwar Japan
Walker, J. Samuel, History, Collective Memory, and the Decision to Use the
Bomb (187-199), in Hogan, Michael J., ed., Hiroshima in History and Memory
Also, if you can, read one (or both) of the following on Reserve:
[r] Lifton, Robert Jay, Residual Struggles: Trust, Peace, and Mastery
(253-316), and/or Perceiving America (317-365), in Lifton, Death In Life
M. Apr 19: Comparative Japanese and American History and Memory
Asada, Sadao, The Mushroom Cloud and National Psyches: Japanese and
American Perceptions of the Atomic-Bomb Decision, 1945-1995" (173-201), in
Hein, Laura and Mark Selden, eds., Living With the Bomb
Hein, Laura and Mark Selden, Commemoration and Silence: Fifty Years of Remembering the Bomb in America and Japan (3-34), and photograph, p. 148
(Enola Gay cartoon), in Hein and Selden, Living With the Bomb

VII. Conclusion: Legacy of Hiroshima: Moral, Psychological, Political

W. Apr 21: Hiroshima‚s Legacy: Moral, Psychological, Political (301-360),
in Lifton, Robert Jay, and Greg Mitchell, Hiroshima in America
VIII. Student Presentations (individual assignments to be announced)
M. Apr 26
W. Apr 2
M. May 3
W. May 5

Requirements

1. Regular attendance
2. Position statements on the readings
3. In-class presentation, response, and leading of discussion
4. Final presentation and paper, ca. 8-10 pp.

Position Statements

These position statements are meant to provide jumping-off points for our
class discussions. They may, but usually do not have to, address one or
another study question on the reading as a whole. A brief paragraph, ca. 200-400 words, is enough. The goal should be to get to the point of the issue at hand, and to make an appropriate critical response. They should be typed and printed from a computer.

In-Class Presentation and Response

Presentation. Each of you will be asked once in the semester to make a brief
oral presentation (about 10 minutes) in class on that day‚s readings. These
presentations should not be summaries. Rather, you should focus on what you
think are the main points at issue in the readings, and provide your own
critical assessment of the reading. You may prepare a written version if you
wish. However, the presentation itself should be made from an outline or
short notes, not by reading from a written text or extended prose notes.
Response. Each of you will also be asked once in the semester to make a brief
oral response (about 5 minutes) to a classmate‚s presentation. You should
prepare yourself to be ready to listen carefully to, think about, and respond
to the presentation. Your job will be to give a thoughtful, critial
appraisal of the content of the presentation.

Final Presentation and Paper

A topic of your choice related to an issue or unit in the course and agreed
upon with the instructor. You should turn in an abstract and tentative
bibliography by Monday, April 12th. The first part is an in-class presentation
and discussion with the class of the results of your research. The
presentation should be about ten or fifteen minutes, leaving ten or fifteen
minutes for discussion. The presentation should be made from an outline or
short notes, not by reading from the text of a paper or extended prose notes.
The second part is the written version, a paper of 8-10 pages taking into
account the discussion.

Class Listserv

A class listserv will be set up for the course through which study questions
and announcements, etc., will from time to time be distributed.

[r] = Recommended Readings, on Library Reserve

II. The Decision to Drop the Bomb

M. Jan 26:
[r] Igarashi, Yoshikuni, The Bomb, Hirohito, and History: The Foundational
Narrative of Postwar Relations between Japan and the United States (ch. 1,
19-46, n. 212-220), in Igarashi, Bodies of Memory: Narratives of War in
Postwar Japanese Culture, 1954-1970
[r] Ford, Nancy Gentile, The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb in World War
II (203-230), in Ford, Nancy Gentile, Issues Of War and Peace (includes memos
and other documents)
W. Jan 28:
[r] Walker, J. Samuel, The Decision to Use the Bomb: A Historiographical
Update (11-37), in Hogan, Michael, ed., Hiroshima in History and Memory
[r] Bernstein, Barton, Understanding the Atomic Bomb and the Japanese
Surrender: Missed Opportunities, Little-Known Near Disasters, and Modern
Memory (38-79), in Hogan, Michael, ed., Hiroshima in History and Memory
[r] Bix, Herbert, Japan‚s Delayed Surrender: A Reinterpretation (80-115),
in Hogan, Michael, ed., Hiroshima in History and Memory

III. The Atomic Bomb Experience: Witnesses to the Bombing of Hiroshima &
Nagasaki

W. Feb 4:
[r] Storytellers (85-147), in Yoneyama, Lisa, Hiroshima Traces: Time,
Space, and the Dialectics of Memory
M. Feb 9:
[r] Dower, John and John Junkerman, eds., The Hiroshima Murals
[r] The Hiroshima Panels (smaller version: on Reserve)
[r] The Hiroshima Panels (larger version: in the Iowa Room of Burling
Library)
W. Feb 11:
[r] Lifton, Robert Jay, Hiroshima (ch. 1, 13-14); The Atomic Bomb
Experience (ch. 2, 15-56), in Lifton, Death In Life: Survivors of Hiroshima

IV. Invisible Contamination and A-Bomb Disease: The Scientific & Medical
Aftermath

M. Feb 16:
[r] Physical Effects, Medical Effects, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki: the
Physical, Medical and Social Effects of the Atomic Bombings
W. Feb 18:
[r] Social Effects, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki: the Physical, Medical and
Social Effects...
[r] Lifton, Robert Jay, Invisible Contamination (ch. 3, 57-102); A-Bomb
Disease (ch. 4, 103-163), in Lifton, Robert Jay, Death In Life: Survivors of
Hiroshima
[r] Igarashi, Yoshikuni, The Age of the Body (ch. 2, 47-73, n. 220-227);
Re-presenting Trauma in Late-1960s Japan (ch. 6, 164-198, n. 245-250), in
Igarashi, Bodies of Memory

V. Japanese Literary Responses

[r] Treat, John Whittier, Genre and Post-Hiroshima Representation (45-81);
The Three Debates (83-120); in Treat, Writing Ground Zero
[r] Lifton, Robert Jay, Creative Response: 1) A-Bomb Literature (ch. 10,
397-450), in Lifton, Robert Jay, Death In Life: Survivors of Hiroshima
[r] Lifton, Robert Jay, Creative Response: 2) Artistic Dilemmas (ch. 11,
451-479), in Lifton, Robert Jay, Death In Life [on films]
[r] Lifton, Robert Jay, The Survivor (ch. 12, 479-541), in Lifton, Death
in Life
[r] Igarashi, Yoshikuni, A Nation That Never Is: Cultural Discourse on
Japanese Uniqueness (ch. 3, 73-103, n. 227-230), in Igarashi, Bodies of
Memory
[r] Dower, John, The Bombed (ch. 5, 116-142), in Hogan, Michael J., ed.,
Hiroshima in History and Memory
[r] Orr, James J. Victims, Victimizers, and Mythology (1-13, n.185-187), in
Orr, James J., The Victim as Hero: Ideologies of Peace and National Identity
in Postwar Japan
[r] Orr, James J., Hiroshima and Yuiitsu no hibakukoku [The only country
that suffered from the atomic bomb]: Atomic Victimhood in the Antinuclear
Peace Movement (36-70, n.194-208), in Orr, The Victim as Hero
[r] Irmela Hijiya-Kirschnereit, Post-World War II Literature: the
Intellectual Climate in Japan, 1945-1985," in Schlant, E. and J. Thomas Rimer,
eds., Legacies and Ambiguities: Postwar Fiction and Culture in West Germany
and Japan
M. Feb. 23:
[r] Treat, John Whittier, Hara Tamiki and the Documentary Fallacy
(125-153), in Treat, Writing Ground Zero: Japanese Literature and the Atomic
Bomb
W. Feb 25:
[r] Treat, John Whittier, Ota Yoko and the Place of the Narrator (199-226),
in Treat, Writing Ground Zero: Japanese Literature and the Atomic Bomb
[r] Postwar Peace and the Feminization of Memory (187-210), in Yoneyama,
Lisa, Hiroshima Traces: Time, Space, and the Dialectics of Memory
W. Mar 3:
[r] Treat, John Whittier, Nagasaki and the Human Future (ch. 9, 301-349, n.
435-439), in Treat, Writing Ground Zero: Japanese Literature and the Atomic
Bomb
W. Mar 10:
[r] Treat, John Whittier, Poetry Against Itself (155-197), in Treat, Writing
Ground Zero
W. Apr 7:
[r] Treat, John Whittier, Oe Kenzaburo: Humanism and Hiroshima (229-258),
in Treat, Writing Ground Zero: Japanese Literature and the Atomic Bomb
M. Apr 12:
[r] Lifton, Robert Jay and Greg Mitchell, Memory and Witness: Struggles
With History (207-300), in Lifton and Mitchell, Hiroshima in America: A Half
Century of Denial
[r] Boyer, Paul, Exotic Resonances: Hiroshima in American Memory (ch. 6,
143-167), in Hogan, Michael J., ed., Hiroshima in History and Memory
[r] Lifton, Robert Jay and Greg Mitchell, Appendix: Cultural Responses to
Hiroshima (361-383), in Lifton and Mitchell, Hiroshima in America: A Half
Century of Denial
[r] Linenthal, Edward, Anatomy of a Controversy (9-62), in Linenthal and
Engelhardt, eds., History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battles for the
American Pas
[r] Yoneyama, Lisa, For Transformative Knowledge and Postnationalist Public
Spheres: the Smithsonian Enola Gay Controversy (323-346), in Fujitani, T.,
Geoffrey M. White and Lisa Yoneyama, eds., Perilous Memories: the
Asia-Pacific War(s)
W. Apr 14:
[r] Postwar Peace and the Feminization of Memory (187-210), in
Yoneyama, Lisa, Hiroshima Traces: Time, Space, and the Dialectics of Memory
[r] Hiroshima (92-111), in Buruma, Ian, The Wages of Guilt
[r] Aftermath (91-152), in Hersey, John, Hiroshima
[r] Cartographies of Memory (43-82), in Yoneyama, Lisa, Hiroshima Traces...
M. Apr 19:
[r] Dower, John, Three Narratives of Our Humanity (63-96), in Linenthal
and Engelhardt, eds., History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battles for the
American Pas
[r] Engelhardt, Tom, The Victors and the Vanquished (210-250), in Linenthal
and Engelhardt, eds., History Wars: The Enola Gay & Other Battles for the
American Past

VII. Conclusion: Legacy of HiroshimaàMoral, Psychological, Political

W. Apr 21:
[r] Ethnic and Colonial Memories: The Korean Atom Bomb Memorial (151-186),
in Yoneyama, Lisa, Hiroshima Traces: Time, Space, and the Dialectics of Memory
[r] Oda, Makoto, A Writer in the Present World: A Japanese Case History, in
Schlant, E. and J. Thomas Rimer, eds., Legacies and Ambiguities
[r] Toyonaga, Keisaburo, Colonialism and Atom Bombs: About Survivors of
Hiroshima Living in Korea (378-394), in Fujitani, T., Geoffrey M. White and
Lisa Yoneyama, eds., Perilous Memories: the Asia-PacificWar(s)

TWO ATOMIC BOMB NOVELS

[r] Ibuse Masuji, Black Rain [1966]
[r] Lifton, Robert Jay, Appendix: Black Rain (543-555), in Lifton, Death In
Life
[r] Orr, James J., Sentimental Humanism: The Victim in Novels and Films
( ch 5, 129-135, on Black Rain), in Orr, James J., The Victim as Hero
[r] Treat, John Whittier, Ibuse Masuji: Nature, Nostalgia, Memory (ch, 8,
261-299, n. 432-435), in Treat, John Whittier, Writing Ground Zero
[r] Sakaki, Atsuko, Obsessed With Inscription: Ibuse Masuji‚s Kuroi ame, or
(Re)Writing Memories, in Sakaki, Atsuko, Recontextualizing Texts: Narrative
Performance in Modern Japanese Fiction
[r] Oda Makoto, The Bomb (alternate title: H: A Hiroshima Novel) [1984]
[r] Treat, John Whittier, The Atomic, the Nuclear, and the Total: Oda
Makoto (ch. 10, 351-394, n. 439-444); Concluding Remarks: And Then
(397-401, n. 444-445), in Treat, John Whittier, Writing Ground Zero
[r] Oda, Makoto, A Writer in the Present World: A Japanese Case History,
in Schlant, E. and J. Thomas Rimer, eds., Legacies and Ambiguities

FOUR ATOMIC BOMB FILMS (on reserve at Library Listening Room or AV Center)

Record of a Living Being (105 minutes, dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1955) Library
Hiroshima, Mon Amour (91 minutes; dir. Alain Resnais, 1959) AV Center
Black Rain (123 minutes, dir. Shohei Imamura, 1988) Library
Rhapsody in August (98 minutes, dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1991) Library
Our Hiroshima (43 minutes, 1995; Canadian documentary) Library
Books on Library Reserve
Bird, Kai and Lawrence Lifschultz, eds., Hiroshima‚s shadow
Buruma, Ian, The Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Germany and Japan
Dower, John, Japan in War and Peace
Dower, John and John Junkerman, eds., The Hiroshima Murals
Ford, Nancy Gentile, Issues Of War and Peace
Goodman, David G., After Apocalypse: Four Japanese Plays of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki
Hein, Laura and Mark Selden, eds., Living With the Bomb...
Henshall, Kenneth. Dimensions of Japanese Society: Gender, Margins, and
Mainstream.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki: the Physical, Medical and Social Effects of the Atomic
Bombings
The Hiroshima Panels (small version)
The Hiroshima Panels (large version: downstairs in the Iowa Room of Burling
Library)
Hogan, Michael J., Hiroshima in History and Memory
Ibuse, Masuji, Black Rain
Igarashi, Yoshikuni, Bodies of Memory: Narratives of War in Postwar Japanese
Culture...
Lifton, Robert Jay, Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima
Lifton, Robert Jay and Greg Mitchell, Hiroshima in America: A Half Century of
Denial
Lindee, M. Susan, Suffering Made Real: American Science and the Survivors of
Hiroshima
Maruki, Toshi, Hiroshima no Pika
Oda, Makoto, The Bomb [alternate title: H: A Hiroshima Novel]
Oe, Kenzaburo, Hiroshima Notes
Orr, James J., The Victim as Hero : Ideologies of Peace and National Identity
in Postwar Japan
Sakaki, Atsuko, Recontextualizing Texts: Narrative Performance in Modern
Japanese Fiction
Treat, John Whittier, Writing Ground Zero: Japanese Literature and the Atomic
Bomb
Yoneyama, Lisa, Hiroshima Traces: Time, Space, and the Dialectics of Memory
On Order for Library Reserve
Fujitani, T., G. M. White and Lisa Yoneyama, eds., Perilous Memories: the
Asia-Pacific War(s)
Linenthal, Edward T. and Tom Engelhardt, eds., History Wars: Enola Gay and
Other Battles for the American Past
Schlant, E. and J. Thomas Rimer, eds., Legacies and Ambiguities: Postwar
Fiction and Culture in West Germany and Japan
Unforgettable Fire: Pictures Drawn by Atomic Bomb Survivors