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Ideologies in contemporary picture book representations of tales by Miyazawa Kenji

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posted on 2022-03-28, 23:04 authored by Helen Claire Kilpatrick
This thesis investigates ideologies in contemporary picture books of Miyazawa Kenji's tales from the perspective of the acculturation of children in (post)modern Japan. Miyazawa Kenji (1896-1933) was writing in the early 20'" century, yet he is currently the most prolifically published literary figure in picture book form and these pictorialisations are widely promulgated to children and throughout cultural and educational institutions in Japan. Given Kenji's prominence as a devoutly Buddhist author with a unique position within Japanese literature, the thesis operates on the premise that the picture books are working, inter aha, to decode or encode the inherent Buddhist ideologies of self, identity and subjectivity and that the picture book re-versions are attempting to be 'authentic' to these. (Unlike many other works adapted for picture books, Kenji's original words are left intact.) Such selflother interactions are important to the construction of identity because childhood itself is an ideological construction premised on assumptions about what it means to be a child and what it means to 'be'; in other words, "such fictions are premised on culturally specific ideologies of identity" (McCallum, 1999: 263). Picture books, with their two forms of narrative discourse, pictures and words, are more ideologically powerful than words alone because the pictures also carry attitudes and therefore doubly inscribe both the explicit and implicit ideologies inherent in the words. -- By utilising Miyazawa Kenji's non-humanist Buddhist ideologies as a basis, this investigation compares how different artists are (re-)inscribing these ideals in the most frequently pidorialised versions of his children's tales. It is primarily an investigation into how the artistic responses re-situate or respond to ideologies of self and subjectivity inherent in a select corpus of focused pre-existing texts. Ultimately, the thesis shows how different pictures can shape story and how the implied reader is interpellated into certain subject positions and viewpoints from which to read the texts. This involves an intertextual approach which explores how art and culture interact to imply significance.

History

Table of Contents

Introduction -- The significance of Miyazawa Kenji's ideals in (post) modern Japanese children's literature -- Re-presenting Miyazawa Kenji's tales: cultural coding and discourse analysis -- Tale of "Wildcat and the acorns" (Donguri to Yamaneko): self and subjectivity in the characters and haecceitas in the organic world -- Beyond dualism in "Snow crossing" (Yukiwatan) -- Kenji's "Dekunobõ ideal in "Gõshu the cellist" (Serohiki no Gõshu) and "Kenjũ's park" (Kenjũ kõenrin) -- Beyond the realm of Asura in "The twin stars" (Futago no hoshi) and "Wild pear (Yamanashi) -- The material and immaterial in "The restaurant of many orders (Chũmon no õi ryõriten) -- Conclusion.

Notes

"May 2003". Bibliography: p. 301-332

Awarding Institution

Macquarie University

Degree Type

Thesis PhD

Degree

Thesis (PhD), Macquarie University, Division of Humanities, Department of English

Department, Centre or School

Dept. of English

Year of Award

2004

Principal Supervisor

John Stephens

Rights

Copyright disclaimer: http://www.copyright.mq.edu.au Copyright Helen Claire Kilpatrick 2004. Complete version suppressed for copyright reasons. However, on receipt of a Document Supply Request, placed with Macquarie University Library by another library, we will consider supplying a copy of this thesis. For more information on Macquarie University's Document Supply, please contact ill@library.mq.edu.au

Language

English

Extent

iv, 332, [31] p. ill. (some col.)

Former Identifiers

mq:6815 http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/62731 1294114