본문 바로가기
  • Home

A Study of the Sociocultural State of Japan after the Lost War -Focusing on the later works of Osamu Dazai-

  • Journal of Japanese Culture
  • 2018, (78), pp.255-275
  • DOI : 10.21481/jbunka..78.201808.255
  • Publisher : The Japanese Culture Association Of Korea (Jcak)
  • Research Area : Humanities > Japanese Language and Literature
  • Received : June 22, 2018
  • Accepted : August 3, 2018
  • Published : August 31, 2018

Kim, Kyung-Sook 1

1덕성여자대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to examine the sociocultural state of Japan and Japanese people’s consciousness after the lost war, using the literary works of Japanese representative writer Osamu Dazai. Dazai’s works of the time describe a chaotic society, in which the new paradigm of western democracy, liberalism, and individualism was dependently formed by General Headquarters (GHQ). Against the new power of GHQ, Dazai tried to express the identity of Japan by supporting the Emperor as the essence and symbol of Japanese history. In addition, the characters appearing in Dazai’s works tend to recognize their mistakes, have a moral sense of responsibility, and contribute to the whole of Japan without egoism, thereby obtaining “ethical freedom.” Dazai considered these characters to be cultured men who were appropriate for the new age, because he believed them to be capable of “realizing political freedom,” as pointed out by Masao Maruyama.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.