Surviving Hiroshima: An Hermeneutical Phenomenology of Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa

• Authors: dela Cruz Noelle Leslie
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

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 detonation and the hardships of the American occupation. My framework for critique follows Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutical phenomenology, which applies the descriptive method of phenomenology to cultural texts.

Keywords

EN

Paul Ricoeur; manga; graphic memoirs; comics; sequential art; hermeneutical phenomenology; Barefoot Gen; Hiroshima; Keiji Nakazawa; autobiography

• Publisher: Instytut Filozofii - Uniwersytet Jagielloński
• Journal: Estetyka i Krytyka
• Year: 2016
• Issue: 4(43)
• Pages: 9-44

Dates

published

2016

Contributors

author

dela Cruz Noelle Leslie

• De La Salle University, Philippines

Identifiers

ISSN

1643-1243