Interrelation with the Other in Wartime World War

Interrelation with the Other in Wartime World War II: “Prize Stock” by Kenzaburo Ōe and The Sun by Aleksandr. Sokurov.

Historical Context: WW II • Japan enters a military alliance (the Axis) with Germany and Italy in 1940, dividing the world domination between the three countries: Germany in Europe, Italy in the Mediterranean region, and Japan in East Asia and the Pacific. • The US imposes economic sanctions on Japan to control its military aggression in China. • Japan attacks the United States Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1941. • The United States declares war on Japan. • Germany declares war on the US; the US responds accordingly and enters the World War, joining the Soviet Union and Great Britain (the Allies) against the Axis.

American Reaction to Pearl Harbor

The US Wartime Posters

Historical Context: WW II • 1944 -45: American air forces attack Japan intensively. • Japan maintains its military dominance in the region until 1945. • In August 1945, the US drops atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; over 120, 000 civilians die. • The Soviet Union declares war on Japan and attacks the Japanese army in Manchuria. • In September 1945, Japan surrenders to the Allies. American forces occupy Japan.

The Sun (2005) by Aleksander. Sokurov • At the end of WW II, the Emperor of Japan Hirohito is held prisoner in a bunker underneath his own palace. • Double isolation: physical and mental. • An unexpected bond forms between Hirohito and his victorious enemy, the US General Mac. Arthur. • Contemplation on how the encounter with the Other changed Japan. • Perspective: a Western view 60 years after the events.

KenzaboroŌe(b. 1935) • Born in a small village in rural Japan. • Exposed to the consequences of war. • Shaped by the storytelling practice of his village. • Educated at the Department of French Literature (Tokyo University) in the classical European humanist tradition. • Author of though-provoking stories and novels. • Received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1994.

“Prize Stock” (1958) by Kenzaboro Ōe • Influenced by Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (children’s world and a boy’s perspective). • Life-changing encounter with the Other. • Loss of the village’s pastoral innocence due to the war. • Mythological level of the story. • Symbolism of a closed culture penetrated by the outside world.

Intercultural chasm • Our perspective: “global village” (Herbert Marshall Mc. Luhan) versusthe narrator’s perspective: a secluded village. • Literary conventions smashed: the story progresses not as expected. • Shocking naturalism: “cruelty” towards the reader.

Food for Thought 1. What could be the purpose of the shock the story gives its readers? 2. What cultural filters stand between us and the events of the plot? 3. What Others are there in the story and how does the boy react to them? 4. What is the meaning of the animal imagery? 5. What brings people together with the Other?

What brings people together? • • • Common physicality (body) Bodily needs and functions Basic emotions (fear, boredom, joy, etc. ) Empathy Work