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A Study on Kichigai jigoku by Yumeno Kyusaku

  • 日本硏究
  • 2012, (33), pp.161-177
  • Publisher : The Center for Japanese Studies
  • Research Area : Humanities > Japanese Language and Literature
  • Published : August 20, 2012

Lee Hyun-Hee 1

1고려대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Yumeno Kyusaku is a mystery novel writer in the 1920-1930’s in Japan. This thesis focused on the meanings and the roles of the psychiatric hospital in his novel Kichigai jigoku[HELL OF THE MANIACS] which was published on the magazine [KAIZO] in 1932. The psychiatric hospital in this novel was described as a modern urban space and it worked only for the rich and the privileged class to maintain their wealth and power. The psychiatric hospital was not a place for helping and treating the people with mental illness but for imprisoning and controlling the people who were considered harmful for society. In the historical context of the 1930’s in Japan, psychiatric hospitals were often regarded as unusual, terrifying and uncanny spaces and also they were totally isolated from the society. As the word of the title ‘hell’ shows, in this novel, psychiatric hospital is symbolized as an absolute darkness. And once a person fell into it, he is never able to get out of the darkness by himself and it was just same as how the system of psychiatric hospitals worked. Kichigai jigoku[HELL OF THE MANIACS] could be said that it was a novel which showed the dark hidden side of Japanese modern society in the early 1930’s.

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