An Hermeneutical Phenomenology of Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa1

Home , Autobiographical comics, Barefoot Gen, I Saw It, Keiji (manga), Keiji Nakazawa

Estetyka The Polish Journal i Krytyka of Aesthetics 43 (4/2016), DOI: 10.19205/43.16.1

Noelle Leslie dela Cruz* Surviving Hiroshima: An Hermeneutical Phenomenology of Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa1

Abstract

In this paper, I present a philosophical analysis of the famous manga series, Bare‑ foot Gen (Hadashi no Gen memoir of his childhood as an atom bomb survivor in Hiroshima, Japan. Against the backdrop of larger issues) of by war Keiji and Nakazawa, peace, Gen’s which family is the struggles author’s with quasi‑fictional 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 detona‑ tion and the hardships of the American occupation. My framework for critique fol‑ lows Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutical phenomenology, which applies the descriptive method of phenomenology to cultural texts.

Key words

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

* PhilosophyEmail: [email protected] Department PaperDe La presentedSalle University, at the 2015Philippines national conference of the Philosophical Associa‑ 1 pertainingtion of the Philippines, to Ricoeur’s “Doing hermeneutical Philosophy phenomenology in the Philippines,” and the held formal at Casa elements, San Pablo is‑ sues,in San and Pablo theories City, Laguna, related Philippines,to comics have on May been 8 -excerpted10, 2015. The from sections my unpublished of this paper re‑ search project sponsored by the University Research and Coordination Office of De La Salle University. 10

Noelle Leslie dela Cruz In this paper, I present a philosophical analysis of the famous manga se‑ ries, Barefoot Gen (Hadashi no Gen) by Keiji Nakazawa, which is the au‑ ‑ vor in Hiroshima, Japan. Against the backdrop of larger issues of war andthor’s peace, quasi‑fictional Gen’s family memoir struggles of his with childhood his father’s as an ideological atom bomb rebellion survi against the nation’s militaristic rule, leading to the family’s persecu‑ tion. 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 phenomenol‑ ogy to cultural texts. In particular, I adopt a Ricoeurian way of read‑ ing sequential art or comics, in order to bring out the existential issues that uniquely arise from Nakazawa’s account and the medium he chose to use. Indeed, comics has come a long way from its initial association, in the public mind, with humor or lowbrow entertainment. The rise ‑ ‑ passesof the “graphic a number novel” of scholarly over the anthologies, past several respected decades journals, is proof conferencof the ma‑ es,turity and of academic the form. courses. Today, the burgeoning field of comics studies encom Academic approaches to works of sequential art include literary crit‑ icism, linguistic analysis, and semiotics. Philosophers have also taken a stab at issues pertaining to the form of comics, or its ethical or ontologi‑ cal contents. What I intend to do is offer a way of reading comics through Ricoeur’s synthesis of phenomenological description and hermeneutic interpretation. I aim to show the relevance of this approach to reading or interpreting comics, i.e. to the problem of how comics makes meaning and its implications for the nature of consciousness. For Ricoeur, and con‑ tra Edmund Husserl, we can only aim for an interpretation, rather than meaning of the world thus entails understanding the meaning of one’s life ina pure one’s description,cultural and ofhistorical the objects contexts. of consciousness. Through a Ricoeurian Understanding approach the toward comics, using Barefoot Gen as a source text, the paper aims to en‑ gage with the peculiar amalgamation of the visual and the verbal so often found in cultural texts – and which is most evident in comics. 11

Surviving Hiroshima… Ricoeur’s hermeneutical phenomenology

‑ Paul Ricoeur (1913–2005) was one of the early French translators and‑ leau‑Ponty,scholars of EdmundRicoeur does Husserl. not enjoy Compared quite the to Husserl’s same stature other or existential following. ist critics such as Martin Heidegger, Jean‑Paul Sartre, and Maurice Mer eclipsed by that of Hans Georg Gadamer. In the area of phenomenological hermeneutics, his influence is similarly be the dialectic progression of his thought. He was not given to a dra‑ maticOne uncompromising reason for the relativestance neglecttoward ofpolarizing Ricoeur’s issues, rich insights but tended may to make the best of both worlds, so to speak. As Ihde2 (1971, 14) notes in his prescient summation of Ricoeur’s methodology, written in the middle of the philosopher’s career, “The general strategy of opposing two sides of a polarity leading to a limit concept becomes a major tactic

‑ enologicalof Ricoeur’s epoché thought.” in exposing the errors of the natural attitude, or of ob‑ On one hand, Ricoeur acknowledges the importance of the phenom limitations of extreme subjectivism in Husserl’s stance, introducing her‑ meneuticsjectivist or asscientific a corrective paradigms. to phenomenology. On the other hand,The result he also is pointsa hybrid to theap‑ proach that lends itself not so much to other philosophers’ critique as to extra‑philosophical applications. Another reason why Ricoeur seems to be less popular than other hermeneutical phenomenologists is that his major projects tend to be open‑ended, and he would move from one topic to another not so much 3 was the philosophy of the will, to which he applied his teacher Mer‑ leau‑Ponty’sby logical necessity work on as the by phenomenology“infamous” detours of perception.. His first Thenmajor in concern his re‑ lated study of the nature of evil, he took a linguistic turn and investigat‑ ed the role of symbols in the making of meaning. Thereafter he pursued issues concerning time and narrative, memory, intersubjectivity, justice, political philosophy, and ethics4

Hermeneutic Phenomenology:. Consequently The perhaps,Philosophy Ricoeur’s of Paul Ricoeur ideas. 2 D. Pellauer, Ihde, 1986. Ricoeur: A Guide for the Perplexed, New York 2007, p. 42. USA: Northwestern University Press. 3 G. Madison, “The Interpretive Turn in Phenomenology: A Philosophical Histo‑ D. 4 Between Description and Interpretation: The Hermeneutic Turn in Phenom‑ enology ry”, [in:] , ed. A. Wiercinski, Toronto 2005, pp. 32–33. 12

Noelle Leslie dela Cruz have a wide applicability, not the least of which is in the analysis and in‑ terpretation of sequential art. For the purposes of this paper, I will focus on his hermeneutical phenomenology, a method of interpretation that takes off from a critique of Husserl’s idealism. Ricoeur tempers Husserl’s premise that essences could be directly in‑ ‑ tempts to bring phenomenology and hermeneutics together (hermeneu‑ tics,tuited, which by introducing arose from the the significance science of biblical of textual interpretation, mediation. Hedeveloped thus at separately from phenomenology). Ricoeur was not the only one to do so; both Heidegger and Gadamer also emphasized the key role that language plays in our understanding of concrete experience. These three thinkers 5. The value Ricoeur put on interpretation derived from his insight that thus represent the “interpretive turn in. phenomenology”He found that the phenomenon of evil could only be understood indirectly6 through a critical engage‑ ment“the symbol with our gives myths rise about to the it 7thought” after The Symbolism of Evil ‑ (Simms 2002, 32–33). His linguistic turn‑ ment with structuralism, which led to he his took interest to task in for Freud – its atemporal to psychoanaly and ob‑ jectivistsis as a kind bias of. Towardhermeneutics the latter of the part psyche – of his career,and to hisRicoeur critical developed engage a theory of textuality8 and discourse, which saw the world itself as textu‑ al and human beings as constantly engaged in interpretation9. possibility of an alternative both to the objectivism of the natural at‑ titudeIn “Phenomenology and the subjectivism and Hermeneutics” of Husserlian (1975),idealism. Ricoeur The main sketches insights the presented in this piece, in particular that phenomenology presuppos‑ es hermeneutics and vice versa, underpin Ricoeur’s abovementioned writings in the theory of interpretation, exemplifying his own approach to concretizing the meanings of being. The article evinces two theses: (1) “What hermeneutics has ruined is not phenomenology, but one of its interpretations, namely its idealistic interpretation by Husserl him‑ ‑ self….”Ibidem, and p. (2) 27. “Beyond a mere opposition, there exists between phe 5 P. Ricoeur, The Symbolism of Evil 6 K. 4 Routledge Critical Thinkers, 77. n.p.: , New York 1967, p. 352. 7 2002 1.11.2014Simms, “Chapter : Metaphor”, [in:] 61– Taylor &Pellauer, Francis Ltd/Books,op. cit., pp. 44 57. ,Literary passim. Reference Center, EBSCOhost [accessed: ]. 8 K. 31. D. – 9 Simms, op. cit., p. 13

Surviving Hiroshima… nomenology and hermeneutics a mutual belonging which is important 10. Ricoeur’s hermeneutical phenomenology is particularly applicable to theexplicate” interpretation of texts produced after what Mitchell11 calls the ‑ sophical lens for critical analysis becomes important, in that the visu‑ al“pictorial cannot be turn.” explicitly With reduced the proliferation to a logical of proposition.the visual in Its media, meaning a philo can even be subliminal and often controversial. It can also be laden with ide‑ ological assumptions, as for example when feminists critique certain works of art as having been produced through the male gaze12 ‑ tial art or comics, as a genre of visual art, can be meaningfully elucidat‑ ed by a hermeneutical phenomenology that pays attention to its. Sequen formal ‑ pression of concrete human experience. It is to this subject that I turn inelements – the next section.e.g. imagery, timing, framing, etc. – as these relate to the ex

Comics: Formal elements, issues, and theories On definitions

‑ thingLet us humorous start with13 the. In word the context “comics” of itself.American It suggests culture, levity; comics after connotes all, its singular form, “comic,” functions as an adjective that describes some language, however, Harvey14 ‑ a superficial or low art form. If you consider the history of the cartoneEnglish argues that the term “cartoon” is more pre cise than “comics.” The former derives from the Italian word ‑ which means card – after the designs etched on sheets of cardboard that are then transferred onto walls or cloth, as a preliminary study for the fi nal work. Cartooning only attained the sense of the comical through the drawings of American newspaper cartoonists, first published in Sunday P. Ricoeur, “ Noûs 1975, IX, p. Web.10 Jan. 2015. Phenomenology and hermeneutics”,Picture Theory: , Essays on 85Verbal. JSTOR. and 16 Visual11 Representation 1994, p. 11. W.J.T. Mitchell,Ways “The of Pictorial Seeing Turn”, [in:]1972 . , Chicago 12 R. ‑ See: J. Berger, , London 13 Comics as Philosophy 2005, p. . Ibidem,Harvey, p. 25. “Describing and Discarding ‘Comics’ as an Impotent Act of Philo sophical Rigor”, [in:] , ed. J. McLaughlin, Jackson 16 14 14

Noelle Leslie dela Cruz meant to entertain and elicit humor15. magazine supplements in New York in the 1890s, which were primarily all of which are funny or trivial, and many of which may feature mature, Nowadays, “comics” can refer to a wide range of literary forms, not‑ tion of humor, the term remains in widespread use. For this reason I use abstract, and highly intellectual content. Despite its misleading connota calls attention to comics’ formal elements and relationship with other it interchangeably with “sequential art,” whose more scholarly sense prodigious work in the American comics industry during its inception contributedart forms. “Sequential to its evolution, art” has in bothbeen style popularized and content, by Will toward Eisner, the whose com‑ plex medium that it is today. for Givena static the print broadness or digital of “comics,”medium primarilyit is necessary characterized to mention by the the more mix ofnuanced verbal and terms visual that components, fall under its which umbrella. can refer Comics to the is comica catchall strip, term the single‑panel cartoon or comic spot such a New Yorker cartoon, comic books, and graphic novels. Finally, one more special term needs to be ‑ ‑ cessesexplained, of production namely “manga.” and cultural Manga reception is simply differthe Japanese markedly term from for those com ofics, English‑language and refers to the comics,specific style as will of becomics explained made in detailJapan. Manga’s in a succeed pro‑ ing section.

Will Eisner: A poetics of comics

Many introductory books comprehensively discuss the formal ele‑ ments of comics, such as Eisner 17 19, and 20 Groensteen 16 18 , McCloud , Bongco , Saraceni . All works are scholarly, although the first two enjoy the

15 W. Eisner, Comics and Sequential Art, Florida . Ibidem, pp. 23–24. 16 Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, New York 1993. 1985 17 M. Reading Comics: Language, Culture, and the Concept of the Superhe‑ S. McCloud, ro in18 Comic Books 2000. M. Bongco, The Language of Comics, New York 2003. , New York and London 19 T. Groensteen, The System of Comics Saraceni, Press20 of Mississippi, Jackson, Mississippi 2009; idem, Comics and Narration, trans. , trans. B. Beaty, N.2015 Nguyen,. University

A. Miller, University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, Mississippi 15

Surviving Hiroshima… most authoritative status; they are cited by every other introductory book on the comics form. Not only are they pioneering, but they are also written by comics practitioners themselves. Eisner in particular shaped the development of the graphic novel. His works mark the boundary between the early incarnation of American comics and the more seri‑ book, though unique in that it is itself entirely rendered in comics form, essentiallyous and variegated elaborates forms on Eisner’s that are insights studied and by scholarstheses. The today. following McCloud’s dis‑ cussion will present Eisner’s framework for understanding comics as se‑ quential art. from his own work to illustrate each one. In this way, his book Comics andEisner Sequential discusses Art becomes at least fivea poetics formal of elements,comics, an providing artistic manifesto, examples an instructional manual, and a guide for criticism all at the same time. imagery. Eisner21 observes that words and images,

One element is demonstratesthe two major the“communicating stylistic dimension devices” of ofwriting comics, itself have22 .a Evensingle key origin. im‑ agesLetters in comics started may out be as basedpictographs, on a basic and symbol; the Chinese for example, art of calligraphy the “wor‑ ‑ ics the posture of an individual kneeling and praying. The symbol, when ship symbol” as an Egyptian hieroglyph and a Chinese character mim‑ pending on the lighting, atmosphere, and other verbal and visual ampli‑ fleshed out23. Heas annotes, image, is infused with specific emotional qualities de fications an understanding of the anatomy of expression, the cartoonist can begin By the skilled manipulation of this seemingly amorphic structure and to undertake the exposition of stories that involve deeper meanings and deal with the complexities of human experience.24

In keeping with words and images as a unitary phenomenon, imag‑ es themselves can function as words. Examples include postcards being

25. Images may also be presented used as verbal/visual devices to frame a story, and onomatopoeic words such asW. “bang!”Eisner, op. functioning cit., p. 13. as images 21 Ibidem, p. 15. 22 Ibidem. 23 24 Ibidem, p. 16. 25 Ibidem, pp. 17–19. 16 Noelle Leslie dela Cruz without words, as in the case of a pantomimic sequence, an artistic feat that presumes a relative sophistication on the part of the reader in inter‑ preting inner feelings . 27 A second element 26is timing. Eisner waxes philosophical as he de‑ scribes time as an essential structure of human experience, which in it‑ self makes it a key element in the art of comics. The panel (sometimes also referred to as the frame or box), the caption, and the speech balloon may all serve as time indicators; the panel more so in that it contains the action and hence illustrates the duration of an event. More panels indi‑ cate compressed time . A third element, related28 to the previous one, is framing. Just as time or duration is integral to human experience, perception occurs in frames or episodes. A comics panel freezes “one segment in what is in reality 29 empty space between panels, called the gutter. an uninterruptedThe element of flowframing of action” in comics. The invites reader’s comparisons imagination to theater fills in andthe ‑ ulated by actors or characters30 iscinema. the product Like the of theatrical technology, stage, the acomics comics frame frame ispresents part of athe scene creative pop process itself31. Recording a scene. But and unlike editing the a videocinematic require frame more which me‑ chanical intervention than comics paneling, in which the narrative illus‑ tration is edited in the artist’s mind and then rendered directly on the page. A key difference of comics from live action media is that, given a static page around which the eye can freely roam, the comics artist has less power over the audience’s perceptual experience. Thus, the panel ‑ ing scenes32. This control may be exercised in several ways. becomes a “medium of control” that directs the reader’s manner of view of a character may be shown, as opposed to medium or close‑up. When onlyFirst, a sequence the panel of headsembodies is shown, the artist’s it is presumed choice of focus:that the the reader full figure ima‑ 33. As a slice of reality, gines Ibidem,the rest p. 24.of each figure outside the borders 26 Ibidem, p. 25. 27 28 Ibidem, p. 39. Ibidem, p. 28. 29 30 Ibidem, p. 89. 31 Ibidem, p. 40. Ibidem, p. 38. 32 33 Ibidem, pp. 42–43. 17

Surviving Hiroshima… orthe objective panel may distance, also adopt respectively different 34perspectives –. e.g. a worm’s eye view or a bird’s eye view – which may convey a sense of alarming nearness‑ tion as a full frame in the case of the splash page, or divided into differ‑ ent‑sizedSecond, or the ‑shaped page boxesitself whichmay be are utilized themselves as a meta‑panel; determined it by can the func tim‑ ing and rhythm of the action35. The rich examples taken from Eisner’s Spirit series attest to the range of his artistic style and the exciting pos‑ sibilities of the comics page. Finally, the artist can play with panel borders as narrative devic‑ es. For example, a wavy border can serve as a past time indicator while a cloudlike one suggests a thought or a memory. A jagged frame con‑ veys an emotionally charged situation; a long panel provides the illusion of height; a panel out of which a character bursts can magnify the sense of threat . A panel outline can be absent entirely to suggest unlimited 36 a doorway as a panel edge37. space,A fourth whereas element the opposite – is expressive confinement – anatomy. Eisner can be conveyedconsiders bythe using hu‑ man form the most universal image in the arsenal38 of the comics art‑ ist, citing its historical importance in culture from ancient cave paint‑ ings and hieroglyphics to professional acing to the art of deciphering body language in pop psychology. Gestures and postures are mean‑ ingful the world over, and facial expression in particular is a “window 39. To prove his point, Eisner40 provides a detailed analysis of a short artistic exercise in which a ghet‑ to the mind,” or indicator of personality Hamlet ‑ to denizen – sporting a headband and shabby clothing – enacts scenes‑ fromtions Shakespeare’sare genuinely rendered on through a rooftop the in character’s New York. gestures,Despite the postures, unusu andal combination facial expressions. of Shakespearean The essence language of Hamlet and is ghetto retained. atmosphere, emo writing. This encompasses not just the production of words, but more importantly, the bigger picture of crea‑ A fifth and final element is Ibidem, p. 90. 34 35 Ibidem, p. 80. 36 Ibidem, p. 47. Ibidem, pp. 45–46. 37 38 Ibidem, p. 109. Ibidem, pp. 100–103. 39 40 Ibidem, pp. 112–121. 18 Noelle Leslie dela Cruz tive authorship: idea conception, image arrangement, sequence con‑ struction, and dialogue composition41 ‑ tion, Eisner42 notes, . In view of this expanded defini ‑ cognize the primacy of the writing. In doing so, however, one must then im‑ […] there is therefore no choice (in fairness to the art form itself) but to re

and the artist should be embodied in the same person. The writing (or the mediately acknowledge that in a perfect (or pure) configuration the writer writer) must be in control to the very end.

In actual practice, however, comic book production may entail the collaboration of writers, pencillers, inkers, letterers, and colorists. If the writer and artist were different people, the process may follow two dialogue, and possibly some artistic direction); and second, the artist’s steps: first, scriptwriting (which lays down the story idea, narrative, and‑ ist may deviate from the script and take a hand in storytelling. For exam‑ ple,interpretation she may choose of the toscript. omit Despitenarrative not that being can the be writer demonstrated herself, thevisual art‑ ly, or she may enlarge a sequence of panels in the service of timing43.

Talking points for an hermeneutical phenomenology of sequential art that are of special interest to the hermeneutical phenomenologist. The studiesThere are I cite several below areas come infrom the diversemultidisciplinary disciplines fieldsuch ofas comicsautobiography studies studies (on comics and the autobiographical subject), cognitive science (on comics and theory of mind), and sociology (on comics and popular ‑ ature and the theories I present here have been selected on the basis ofcultural their relevancememory). toComics certain studies aspects encompasses of Ricoeur’s a method. vast amount My aim of literis to trace the intersections between the unique features of comics and the intersubjective meanings that can be derived from historical lived ex‑

Ibidem, p. 122. 41 Ibidem, p. 127. 42 43 Ibidem, pp. 132–133. 19

Surviving Hiroshima… with a list of critical questions to ask toward a Ricoeurian interpreta‑ tionperience – of sequential i.e. the art.main concern of hermeneutical phenomenology. I end El Rafaie’s44 work on the autobiographical subject of graphic mem‑ oirs (i.e. autobiographical comics) resonates with Ricoeur’s hermeneu‑ ‑ tic critique of phenomenology. Autobiographical comics first prolif‑ jectserated45 . viaThis the comics underground genre is comixcharacterized movement by seriousof the 1960s, or heavy which themes was conducive to “confessionals” that addressed all manner of taboo; and sub the 46 ‑ tivedrawn study, from El real Rafaie life; lists a highly three stylicized theses about autobiographical how comics artists “I” produce absence of a clear boundary between memory and fiction. In her exhaus‑ ity, and (3) authenticity: the “I” of graphic memoirs. These involve (1) embodiment, (2) temporal ‑ cessarily involves an intense engagement with embodied aspects of iden‑ […] the requirement to produce multiple drawn versions of one’s self ne tity, as well as with the sociocultural models underpinning body image.

The formal tensions that exist in the comics medium – between words and many new ways of representing their experience of temporality, their me‑ images, and between sequence and layout, for instance – offer memoirists mories of past events, and their hopes and dreams for the future. Further‑ more, autobiographical comics creators can draw on the close association in Western culture between seeing and believing in order to persuade rea‑ ders of the truthful, sincere nature of their stories47.

In underscoring shifting modes of embodiment in the graphic repre‑ sentation of the self in comics, El Rafaie’s analysis echoes Ricoeur’s cave‑ at that self‑knowledge, from the point of view of hermeneutical phenom‑ enology, remains doubtful. The distantiation between the narrating and narrated selves occurs through the artist’s graphic interpretation of her ‑ while, El Rafaie’s observations about the unique way that the comics me‑ own changing body – an hermeneutics of body image, if you will. Mean dium E.allows El Rafaie, the Autobiographicalmemoirist to render Comics: past, Life Writing present, in Picturesand future, Jacson affirm 2012 the. 44 45 M.A. Critical essays on autobio‑ Ibidem, p. 36. graphy46 and graphic novels 2011 7. E. El Rafaie,Chaney, op. “Introduction: cit. p. 4. Graphic subjects”, [in:] , ed. M.A. Chaney, Wisconsin , PDF e‑book, p. 47 20

Noelle Leslie dela Cruz phenomenological description of time offered by Merleau‑Ponty and dis‑ toward historicity. This is evident as the graphic memoir, an account ofcussed its subject’s by Ricoeur. unique Such experience a phenomenology of temporality, of time itself indicates becomes a movement an arti‑ fact or text of history and is eventually liberated from authorial inten‑ tion. Finally, El Rafaie’s conclusion about authenticity recalls Ricoeur’s rejection of the direct intuition of essences in phenomenology. Authen‑ ticity in comics hinges on the principle that believing someone’s story entails seeing the facts for oneself, for example through drawn images.

But the images are not the things themselves. In place of direct intuition, RicoeurAnother suggests study, that Zunshine’s there is always work aon textual the various mediation – ways thate.g. the comics text of comics – between consciousness and meaning. presume and cater to the viewer’s48 instinct for mind‑reading, is relevant to hermeneutical phenomenology. Mind‑reading here does not pertain to psychic ability, but to the theory of mind, i.e. a principle in cognitive science. The nature of the human mind is such that it assumes or ima‑ gines a consciousness similar to its own when confronted with the be‑ haviors and activities of others. Zunshine49 writes that it is the theory of mind that makes our pleasure possible in various cultural activities, such as reading novels, watching ballet, attending the theater, partici‑ ‑ pating in team sports, and – last but not least – viewing graphic narra‑ drome,tives (Zunshine’s cannot appreciate terminology complex for narratives comics). Studies involving show social that situations, someone who has little to no theory of mind, such as a sufferer of Asperger’s50 .Syn For example, appreciating what’s at stake in the plot of Jane Austen’s Pride andi.e. texts Prejudice that, demanda classic anovel high oflevel manners, of “sociocognitive requires an complexity”awareness of sub‑ ‑ acters’ conversations or in the causal relations between events in the story.text. Subtext To truly is notunderstand immediately a work discernible like Pride in the and literal Prejudice content, the of readchar‑ main characters, even and especially if the story is not told from these characters’er must first point attribute of view. feelings, desires, aspirations, and the like to the

Substance: A Review48 Of Theory & Literary Criticism, 2011, 40.1 25 L.2014 Zunshine,. “What To Expect When You Pick Up A Graphic Novel”, . Literary Reference Center. Web. Dec. 49 Ibidem, p. 116. 50 Ibidem, p. 118. 21

Surviving Hiroshima… Fiction, and graphic novels in particular, typically deal with third‑lev‑ el sociocognitive complexity or higher51 ‑ del’s graphic memoir Fun Home: A Tragicomic, Zunshine52 ‑ eral levels of complexity: the self trying to. In read her otheranalysis characters’ of Alison mindsBech by the author or comics artist (second identifies level), sev of(first the level),present, as i.e.narrated the time of writing (third level). Graphic narratives orwho comics also are reflects distinctive upon thein their scene relationship as a memory with from the thetheory perspective of mind, because they are

artifacts that coordinate text and images so that the information about people’s feelings that we get from looking at their body language elabora‑ tes, contradicts, or otherwise complicates the verbal description of their fe‑ elings.53

Thus, a special way of reading or interpreting comics is in order, and

‑ ticalhermeneutical phenomenology phenomenology – shares with in cognitive light of Zunshine’s science an insightsanti‑solipsistic about stance.the theory It presumes of mind – intersubjectivity may be the most given appropriate the nature method. of consciousness Hermeneu as an activity that is always other‑orientated; or, in Ricoeur’s herme‑ neutical reading of Husserl, consciousness is always meaning‑oriented. In the phenomenological reduction, the question of existence is bracket‑ ed, thereby dissolving the problem of skepticism (about the world, about other minds). Hermeneutical phenomenology goes one step further and interprets the existence of other people through engagement with texts. An hermeneutical phenomenology of sequential art therefore takes heed of the sociocognitive complexity involved in understanding the motiva‑ tions of characters, which may entail careful attention to the subtext of word‑image juxtapositions. ‑ quential art is Kukkonen’s54 work on the relationship between comics andA popularfinal study cultural that memory. is relevant The to study a Ricoeurian takes off interpretation from Jan Assman’s of se

Ibidem, p. 120. 51 Ibidem, p. 121. 52 53 K. Ibidem, p. 116. 54 NORDICOM Review, , 29.2, pp. 273 Kukkonen, “Popular25 Cultural2014. Memory: Comics, Communities And Context Knowledge”, 2008 261– . Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. Dec. 22

Noelle Leslie dela Cruz idea of collective memory, which includes (1) the communicative memo‑ ry of living people, and (2) cultural memory which is embedded farther back in history. The idea of cultural memory is extended to popular cul‑ tural memory in relation to comics. Popular cultural memory has three dimensions, namely: the social, which pertains to the audience; the ma‑ terial, which refers to media texts; and the mental, which relates to codes and conventions. These dimensions, taken together, account for the ways in which identity is concretized over time, as in the case of fan communi‑ ties; as well as the capacity of certain narratives to be constantly recon‑ structed, as in the case of the many versions of fairy tales55. The study contributes to a new understanding of comics in two ways. First, it shows how audience communities are created through a glo‑ balized and intercultural process of media consumption, so that, for ex‑ ‑ anese readers ample, the appreciation of samurai fiction for is no longer limited to Jap context knowledge,56 as in the case of Hansel’s story from the graphic nov‑ el series Fables . Second, it delineates the interaction between text and in 17th‑century America as a serial killer in Puritan garb. Images exert by Bill Willingham. Here, the character of Hansel appears‑ er texts57. This is why the appearance of a familiar character in an icon‑ ica special costume “power has an of instant appeal” impact. on memory, The context eliciting knowledge remembrance of the of reader earli is derived from membership in an audience community that has been ex‑ ‑ sons about witch persecutions in New England. posed to various iterations of “Hansel and Gretel,” as well as history les assumption of hermeneutical phenomenology. Ricoeur’s innovation The significance of the cultural dimension of lived experience is a key‑ interpretationon Husserl is to takes stress the the place interpretative of universal –as description, opposed to purelyalthough descrip noth‑ ingtive – new role is ofcreated phenomenology ex‑nihilo. This in making is because sense texts, of experience. in the form Historicalof, for in‑ reader and shape her context knowledge. stance,The foregoingKukkonen’s survey “popular of relevant cultural literature memory,” from predate comics the studiesindividual re‑ veals three main points of intersection between sequential art and her‑ ‑ meneutical phenomenology. The first concerns the narrative construc

55 Ibidem, pp. 261–264. 56 Ibidem, p. 265. 57 Ibidem, p. 264. 23

Surviving Hiroshima… tion of the autobiographical subject, or how comics reveals the ontology of the self who tells the story. (While this aspect serves the interpreta‑ tion of the graphic memoir, it is also applicable to comics generally, inas‑ much as comics writers and artists bring their autobiographical selves into their work, to varying degrees.) The second concerns the way that comics situates the story of the individual against her cultural and his‑ torical contexts. The third concerns the portrayal of intersubjectivity

‑ icsas integral against tothese meaning two axes and of action interpretative in comics. criteria. To flesh The out matrix a Ricoeurian below summarizesmethod of reading the sorts comics, of critical I will set questions Eisner’s fivewe may formal ask elements toward ofan com her‑ meneutical phenomenology of sequential art:

Formal Axis of Axis of Axis of history and elements autobiography intersubjectivity popular culture Imagery Are there any icons, What iconic shapes, What sociocultural shapes, or symbols symbols, or images contexts do familiar used recurrently are put to use in por‑ icons, symbols, and to signify the narrat‑ traying the interaction signs evoke? Are ing self? How do such between characters? any of them spe‑ imagery convey the Are word‑images (e.g. narrator’s representa‑ postcards, missives, a community? What tion of her body? How posters, onomatopoeic changes,cific to a genreif any, oroccur to is a history of the self words, etc.) employed in these familiar im‑ rendered through in illustrating relation‑ ages over different familiar icons, shapes, ship dynamics? What historical periods? or symbols? How familiar body postures How do the artist’s do these contribute or shapes derived background and iden‑ to the authenticity from ancient symbols tity (race, class, sexual of the narrator’s testi‑ are depicted to convey orientation, gender, mony? different types of so‑ age, religion, etc.) cial relationships? or her artistic style? influence, if at all, his 24

Noelle Leslie dela Cruz Formal Axis of Axis of Axis of history and elements autobiography intersubjectivity popular culture Timing How do the changes How are characters’ What conventions in the narrator’s body changing perceptions ‑ image convey dura‑ of themselves and ciocultural setting tion? What formal de‑ of one another depict‑ ofspecific the story to the affect so the vices are used to indi‑ ed over time? How are depiction of duration? cate the protagonist’s the characters’ experi‑ How is historical time experience of time? ‑ rendered in the page? Are certain scenes ex‑ terminable, slow, Are there any histori‑ tended or compressed quick,ence of lightning‑fast, duration – in cal events referenced, in terms of their and if so, how do they respect to their vari‑ affect the timing of the storyteller? How does ousetc. – shown interactions? with How narrative? timingsignificance in the to narrative the are changes in the self relate to the truthful‑ and one’s perception ness of the account? of others conveyed through introspec‑ tion, imagination, and anticipation? Framing What experiences How are the char‑ Are there any of the author loom acters’ perceptions historical or cultur‑ large as a result of each other and of formal choices of themselves framed persons, or ideas in framing? How in the story? Are thatally specificare focused events, is the narrator’s body any scenes framed on or shown through image portrayed as a character’s distinctive paneling variously in scenes thought, memory, devices? How does the framed as a recol‑ speculation, fantasy, type or style of panel lection, fantasy, narration, etc.? How borders relate to the or anticipation? How do the size, shape, and social and historical is framing used in the size of the individual setting? What cultur‑ service of authenticity panels relate to the ‑ in storytelling? Are status or situation teristics or concepts hallucinations and of each character? areally evokedspecific by charac the false or unreliable ac‑ utilization of the page counts marked in the as a meta‑panel? What choice of panel border cultural or social mes‑ style? sages, if any, predomi‑ nate in splash pages? 25

Surviving Hiroshima… Formal Axis of Axis of Axis of history and elements autobiography intersubjectivity popular culture Expressive What type of body How do the charac‑ What messages about anatomy image is revealed ters’ facial expres‑ race, gender, class, by the narrator’s facial sions, gestures, and sexual orientation, expressions, affecta‑ body postures reveal age, religion, national‑ tions, movements, and how they feel about ity, ethnicity, and oth‑ the like? How does themselves and oth‑ er aspects of identity the represented body are conveyed by the change over time? physical appearances portrayal of the body? What is the degree varyers? Dobased the oncharacters’ point What ideological as‑ of actual resem‑ of view? How are the sumptions, if any, are blance between the physical attributes conveyed or critiqued narrator‑character of characters depicted through the depic‑ and the author‑nar‑ in remembrance, tion of facial expres‑ rator? What does this introspection, fan‑ sions, gestures, body signify in terms of the tasy, or imagination? postures, and body author’s self‑repre‑ Are the characters shapes? Are there any sentation? shown to communi‑ cultural stereotypes cate through body, that are reinforced in addition to ver‑ or debunked? bal, language? If so, what does this body language say about the nature of their relationships? Writing What can be deduced What can be deduced What central theme, about the protagonist about the characters’ issue, or argument or narrator based relationships with is presented in the on the tone or style each other through story? How is it re‑ of storytelling in the the caption narration lated to the historical captions? How does and dialogue? What and cultural contexts dialogue contribute main theme or idea to the representation is offered about self captions and dialogue of the narrator’s self? and other? Is the story serveof the aswork? a historical Do the Is the story presented pessimistic or opti‑ or cultural critique? as an authentic testi‑ mistic about human How does creative col‑ mony or otherwise? relationships? laboration affect the central theme, idea, or argument?

The story of Gen

Barefoot Gen: A Story of Hiroshima by Keiji Nakazawa is a 10‑volume shōnen manga series chronicling the life of a boy, Gen Nakaoka, who sur‑ 26 Noelle Leslie dela Cruz vives the bombing of Hiroshima. His name alludes to “the basic compo‑ genso, which means chemical element . The series narrates not just Gen’s ex‑ sition of humanity”; it is also the first half of the Japanese word periences on the day of the bombing58 and its immediate aftermath, but also how he and his remaining family coped in the succeeding years as hibakusha 59. Barefoot Gen is inspired by real life , or literally, “those who were bombed” Although it is a work of fiction, Enola Gay dropped a 10,000‑pound uraniumevents. Nakazawa bomb over was Hiroshima, six years old Japan. on the He morning was at school,of August and 6, 1945,his prox the‑ imityday that to athe wall American which collapsed B‑29 bomber and sheltered him from the worst of the blast saved his life ‑ er sister were to die60 under the rubble of their house. His pregnant moth‑ er survived, and heard. Unfortunately the dying screams his father, of her younger husband brother, and son and as oldshe home. Nakazawa’s other brother, who had been evacuated out of town, alsofailed survived. to save themHis mother from the gave firestorm birth later that that eventually day, to a engulfed newborn their girl who will die from starvation in a month’s time. moved to share his bomb experience after his mother died. The trigger‑ ingDecades event was later his whenenraged he wasdiscovery, a successful upon her manga cremation, artist, Nakazawa that there was very little bone left in her remains. Most of it had disintegrated over the years as a result of radiation . Thereafter, he began drawing “atomic 61 a single‑issue noir detective story . Works dealing with bomb manga.” His first attempt was other topics followed this, and he returned to the62 subject in 1972 with entitled “Pelted by Black Rain,” published in 1967 ‑ ographical series by manga artists a single‑issue nonfiction work, “I Saw It,” which was part of an autobi 63 . Thus, by the time the first issue K. Nakazawa, Hiroshima: The Autobiography of Barefoot Gen, ed. and trans. 58 2010. ‑ R.H. Minear, London 59 Virginia Quarterly Review 81, Fall 2005, no. 4, p. 27 L. Cameron, M. Miyoshi,7.05.2015 “Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the World Sixty Years La ter”, K. Nakazawa, Hiroshima: The Autobiography of Barefoot. Academic Gen ,Search op. cit., Complete, p. 34. EBSCOhost [accessed: ]. 60 Ibidem, p. 152. 61 Ibidem, p. 154. 62 K. Takayuki, “Barefoot Gen 63 Comics Worlds and the Worlds of Comics: Towards Scholarship on a Global Scale (seriesand Global ‘A‑Bomb Manga Literature’: Studies, vol. Re‑recollecting 1) the Nuclear Experience”, trans. Nele Noppe, [in:] , ed. Jacqueline Berndt, 27

Surviving Hiroshima… of Barefoot Gen was published in Shōnen Jump magazine in June 1973 , the artist had already revealed traces of his testimonial narrative in pre64‑ vious works. Barefoot Gen Nakaoka family’s struggles in prewar and wartime Hiroshima and how some of them may survived be divided the bombing into two and parts: its aftermath; The first followsthe second the shows an older Gen reconciling himself to the deaths of his loved ones and leaving Hiroshima for Tokyo to become a professional cartoonist . 65‑ ized in Shōnen Jump; the rest were published in public education maga‑ zinesOnly the. first four volumes of the collected series were originally serial Nakazawa’s66 story achieved considerable popularity, spawning a TV . However, it was not until the 1990s that it gained widespread recognition67 outside Japan,cartoon after series, the English a live action translation film, andwork an initiated animated by Project film Gen. This ‑ ‑ volunteer organization was founded in 1976 “as a result of anhibakusha encoun ter between Japanese. Nakazawa’s participants masterpiece in the was Continental both a harrowing Walk for Disarma testimo‑ ment and Social Justice and Americans eager to learn about ny by an atom68 bomb survivor and a powerful argument for peace. Ac‑ experience” cording to Szasz and Takechi,

2010, p. 253 2010 09 20100924 20 20 20 20 20 20 7.05.2015 CanadaK. Nakazawa, Hiroshima:, [online] The http://imrc.jp/ Autobiography of /Barefoot/26/ Gen, op. cit.,Comics% p. . Worlds% and% the% World% of% Comics.pdf [accessed: ]. 64 F.M. ‑ 163 panese65 cartoonists confront the onset of the nuclear age, 1945 The Historian, 2007, 4, p. Szasz, I. Takechi, “Atomic heroes and atomic monsters:7.05.2015 American and Ja T. Barefoot–80 Gen”, Comics 748. Academic OneFile, EBSCOhost [accessed: ]. Worlds66 and the Worlds of Comics: Towards Scholarship on a Global Scale (series Glo‑ bal MangaLamarre, Studies, vol.“Manga 1) Bomb: Between the2010 Lines, p. of ”, [in:] 2010 09 20100924 20 20 20 20 20 20 7.05, ed..2015 J. Berndt, Canada 265, [online] http://imrc.jp/ /R.H./26 / Comics% Worlds%Hiroshima:and% The Autobiographythe% World% of Barefootof% Comics.pdf [accessed: ]. Gen67 2010, p. viii. Minear, “Introduction”, [in:] ‑ , ed. and trans. R.H. Minear. London 68 Barefoot Gen Comparative Literature Studies, 2009, p. 127 Ch. Hong, “Flashforward Democracy:7.05.2015 American Exceptionalism and the Ato mic Bomb in ”, [in:] . JSTOR Journals, EBSCOhost [accessed: ]. 28 Noelle Leslie dela Cruz

Maus Excluding Art Spiegelman’s two‑volume cartoon story of the holocaust, comic book publisher has produced any counterpart to Barefoot Gen . – which was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize in 1992 – no American 69 In 2010, the artist’s prose autobiography, interspersed with new il‑ lustrations and excerpts from Barefoot Gen, was published. It revealed striking similarities between his own life and the scenes dramatized 70 expressed his ‑ in the fictional manga. At the end of the book, Nakazawa ‑ plans to travel to places such as Chernobyl,Barefoot GenNevada and Three Mile Is forcedland, Bikini him toIsland, cancel Auschwitz, this project and in Nanjing, 200971. andHe died to write from about complications his expe riences in “further installments” of . Unfortunately, cataract due to lung cancer on December 19, 2012. An hermeneutical phenomenology of Barefoot Gen

‑ lier, which represent the intersection between the formal elements ofIn comicsthis section, according I will tobe Eisner applying72 and the thecritical key questionsfeatures of I identifiedRicoeur’s herear‑ ‑ kazawa’s manga that is based on a new theory of comics interpretation, onemeneutical that emphasizes phenomenology. the autobiographical, I hope to present cultural a critical and reflection historical, on andNa intersubjective dimensions of lived experience. I group my remarks into three main themes: (1) resilience and re‑ ‑ tarism; and (3) the human being’s capacity for violence against others, birth through a proverbial baptism of fire; (2) the evils of war and mili ‑ including the other side of that capacity – unconditional love. The first theme is clearly expressed by the symbol of wheat, which ap pears on the first page (see figure 1). Gen, his younger brother Shinji, and his father are standing over the family’s small field of wheat months before the bombing of Hiroshima. The captions of the first two panels read, F.M. 750. 69 K. Nakazawa, Hiroshima: The Autobiography of Barefoot Gen, op. cit., pp. 171 172. Szasz, I. Takechi, op. cit., p. 70 Anime News Ne‑ – twork71 , 2009 2009-09-15 ‑ “Barefoot Gen’s Nakazawa Drops Sequel Due to Cataract”,7.05 .2015 W. Eisner,, [online] op. cit. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/ /ba refoot‑gen‑nakazawa‑drops‑sequel‑due‑to‑cataract [accessed: ]. 72 29

Surviving Hiroshima… Wheat pushes its shoots up through the winter frost, only to be stepped on again and again. The trampled wheat sends strong roots into the earth, endures frost, wind and snow, grows straight and tall and one day bears fruit.73

the publisher, Last Gasp. of wheat; this is followed by an image of rows of wheat stalks standing tall,The shown first from panel the shows perspective a pair of of child’sthe ground, feet treading emphasizing on young their shootsheight of the war effort, the Nakaokas are ostracized as traitors in their village, and solidity. Later in the story, because74 of Gen’s father’s vocal criticism again, the wheat does reappear, and is in fact one of the last images in the closingand their pages wheat of fieldthe last is vandalized volume. . But although it takes years to grow

War II also endured enormous violence and destruction, but emerged fromLike the this experience hardy plant, renewed. the JapaneseJapan’s military before, ambitions during, and were after crushed World and their nation humbled when American atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In Hiroshima alone, more than 140,000 peo‑ ple perished and 70,000 buildings leveled. An area of four square miles from the epicenter of the detonation was almost completely obliterat‑ Barefoot Gen’s international ed. But fifty years after, during the height of

K. Nakazawa, Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, vol. 1, with an Intro‑ 73 2004, p. 1. duction by A. Spiegelman, San Francisco 74 Ibidem, p. 86. 30

Noelle Leslie dela Cruz popularity, Hiroshima was a thriving city once more and it had become an advocate of global peace and nuclear disarmament75. Indeed, Barefoot Gen is the story not just of the individual characters, but also of the Japanese people themselves. Japan is known as the land

This association is emphasized by the sun as a dominant symbol, which of the rising sun, its flag featuring a red circle on a white background. considers this image as evidence of Barefoot Gen’s darker undertones, appears more than twenty times in the first two volumes alone. Lamarre in direct opposition to the characters’ “cuteness,” an influence of Osamu Tezuka’s Disney‑like style: image of the sun that punctuates the manga without reference to the story’s The darker modalities associated with gekiga appear… in the recurrent actions or characters’ emotions. The sun is a thoroughly perplexing evoca‑ tion of the power of the bomb, the emperor (his mythic status of descedent of the sun goddess), the passage of time, and the fecundity and brutality ‑ gural coincidence . of the natural world, all of which collectively perplex the manga in their fi 76 The sun tells the reader whether it is morning, noon, late afternoon, or dusk. Its ubiquity and highly variable appearance heighten the sense ‑ ble hardships that the characters are going through. At other times the discthat dayshangs are ominously passing quickly.in the sky, Sometimes, usually preceding it underscores a cataclysmic the intermina event in the story. In some places it evokes hope and exuberance, as in a two‑page ‑ math of the bombing, boards a riverboat on his way back to his mother andspread newborn (figure sister 2) where77. The Gen, sun having is depicted found in some an unusual food during way here, the afterlarge, shaded, and half‑covered by dark clouds. At the center of the spread is Gen aboard the boat, which is bobbing on churning waters. The sun, about to set, glows in the upper right corner of the page while its rays extend to the horizon, toward Gen. The triumphant tone of this illustra‑ tion is all the more striking as the previous page shows Gen’s depart‑

T. National Geographic 188, August 199575 , 2, pp. 92. T. Gup, “Up from Ground291 Zero:. Hiroshima”, 82– 76 K. Nakazawa, Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, vol. 2, with an Intro‑ Lamarre, op. cit., p. 77 2004, p. 125. duction by A. Spiegelman, San Francisco 31

Surviving Hiroshima… ing feet leaving imprints on the shore, which is strewn with skeletal re‑ mains. In spite of the evidence of death that he walks through, he sails across the river under the day’s last defiant light.

Apart from the wheat andthe publisher, the sun, anotherLast Gasp. important symbol of resil‑ wereience left.and rebirthThe following is the element historical of fire.account The immensedescribes heat hell releasedon earth: by the bomb caused conflagrations, which razed everyone and everything that ‑ lowed by a deafening blast and a powerful shock wave that heated the air The bomb exploded over the city with a brilliant flash of purple light, fol

ground zero, temperatures rose to approximate those on the surface of the as it expanded. A searing fireball eventually enveloped the area around sun, and a giant mushroom cloud roiled up from the city like an angry gray ghost. 78 In Barefoot Gen 79 of people pinned under, there theirare horrific houses splash are shown pages inof thea burning foreground horse . and of victims running from the flames, while the heads and limbs M.J. Hi80‑ roshima78 in History and Memory, ed. M.J. Hogan. New York 1999, p. 1. K. Nakazawa,Hogan, “Hiroshima Barefoot Gen: in AHistory Cartoon and Story Memory: of Hiroshima An Introduction”,, vol. 1., op. cit., [in:] p. . 79 Ibidem, p. 271. 256 80 32

Noelle Leslie dela Cruz ‑ ly. In the second volume, Gen helps his neighbor, Mr. Pak, cremate the lat‑ These are not the only places in the story where fire appears prominent . A few pages later, he strikes out for the loca‑ ter’s father. Gen discovers that the human body, as it goes up in flames, tion of his old house in order81 to retrieve the bones of his father, brother, andcurls sister. up like As fish he digson a throughgrill the charred ruins, he relives their last mo‑ ‑ ‑ ments, trapped and screaming for help as fire consumed them. Eventu ally, Gen finds and gathers their bones and skulls. Testimonies like Naka‑ zawa’s – as they could only have been made by those who lived through fire, like the fabled phoenix – attest to the paradoxical nature of this ele‑ ment as the force of both destruction and recreation. Fittingly, the first volume ends with the image of. Gen’s newborn sister (figure 3) – deliv ered on the day of the bombing – being help up triumphantly against 82 a backdrop of fire and smoke

K. Nakazawa, Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, vol. 2, op. cit., p. 173. 81 K. Nakazawa, Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, vol. 1., op. cit., p. . 82 284 33

Surviving Hiroshima…

The second theme, thethe evils publisher, of war Last and Gasp. militarism, is explicitly con‑ veyed through narration and dialogue. The story is a forceful critique of the people’s conformity to the Japanese imperial system and its sin‑ walkinggle‑minded out, appetite he states, for war. In the opening chapter of the first volume, Gen’s father argues with the trainer during a civilians’ spear drill. Before America has more resources than Japan does. A small country like Japan can only survive by foreign trade. We should keep peace with the rest of the

world. Japan has no business fighting a war! The military was misled by the 34

Noelle Leslie dela Cruz

You’re all sick with war fever! This war is wrong! rich. They started the war to grab resources by force, and drew us all in…. 83

the publisher, Last Gasp. ‑ in theirThis community, ideological thesisespecially permeates after his the father first is volume arrested and as a is political validat dissenter.ed in several The ways. pernicious The first groupthink is through that the Gen’s persecution father hasof Gen’s denounced family becomes evident as storekeepers refuse to sell them food, other children taunt Gen and his siblings for being traitors, and Gen’s sister is falsely accused of theft at school. Another way in which the anti‑war message is reinforced is through the story of Gen’s older brother, Koji, who sur‑ vives to join the Japanese navy. However, at the naval base, he encoun‑ condemned to die as a kamikaze pilot, a fate he is dreading. A few pages later,ters a as belligerent Koji arrives drunk – at a training a senior center, officer the who narration later revealsreads, that he is

K. Nakazawa, Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, vol. 1., op. cit., p. 13. 83 35

Surviving Hiroshima…

The prep pilot courses held at Naval Air Corps bases throughout Japan seven‑button uniform. As the war neared its end, each class boasted nearly recruited boys age 15 to 17 who dreamed of flying and wearing the smart

snuffed out one after the other. 3,000 volunteers. Used like so many human bullets, their young lives were 84 of its cumulative effect on the populace: Gen and his siblings are depict‑ ed asBut constantly the manga’s starving. most obvious People argumentlive in fear against of air raids. war is And the ofportrayal course, the bombing of Hiroshima unleashes unimaginable suffering on those who have not been killed instantly in the explosion. These hardships related to the nuclear experience are at the heart of Nakazawa’s work as a hibakusha testimony. Barefoot Gen, however, is criti‑ cized by Hong The humanist and pacifist message of implicit support85 for “an American‑sponsored democracy‑to‑come prem‑ as being infected with “American exceptionalism,” or an three decades after the conclusion of World War II , long after the Japa‑ neseised onthemselves US military had intervention.” denounced their The formermanga leaderswas produced and blamed more themthan for their hardships. Thus, the critical tone of the story, set at a time be‑ ‑ . Moreo‑ fore this national attitude fully crystallized, exemplified an anachronis ver, the manga as a medium for mass entertainment transformed86 the tic “flashfoward reading” of the bombing as a necessary evil ‑ bombing“testimonial of Japan comics. image” into a “prosthetic memory” that erased his torical differences and failed to truly take the US to task for its atomic 87 Bare‑ foot Gen I disagree with Hong’s reading for two reasons. The first is that should be read in the context of its predecessor, “Pelted by Black‑ chiRain”, (1966),this manga whose “presages hero, Jin, all is thean assassinqualities targeting that would Americans later go whointo are trading weapons in the black market. According to Szasz and Take Barefoot88 Gen, and its no‑holds‑barred accusations against the Ameri‑ ‑ ic bomb manga oeuvre shows that it condemns all those responsible for cans are boldly stated.” Situating the story in terms of Nakazawa’s atom Ibidem, p. . 84 Hong, op. cit., p. . 162 85 Ibidem, p. 139. Ch. 128 86 Ibidem, p. 145. 87 F.M. 747. 88 Szasz, I. Takechi, op. cit., p. 36 Noelle Leslie dela Cruz if Barefoot Gen is read in relation to the literature of war manga in Japan, itsany subversive possible nuclear message apocalypse, becomes and more the conspicuous. US is not an exception.The genre Second, of war manga in Japan may be broadly divided into two periods: the late 1950s

‑ creasinglyto the late 1960s,critical characterized attitude toward by thea hegemonic heroic war narrative narrative, that re‑envision valorized‑ ingJapan’s the militarywar years past; as disastrousand the late .1960s Barefoot to late Gen 1970s, falls squarely which saw into an the in latter, and its denunciation of Japanese89 militarism and the imperial sys‑ so much as of historical circumstances. temTo may reduce not thebe thepolitical product message of an incipientof the story “American to a simplistic exceptionalism” allegiance to the democratic values of a mightier nation is to obscure the uniqueness and complexity of Barefoot Gen, a testimonial manga that challenges pat misery of kamikaze pilots, long dismissed as brainwashed drones through adualisms Western about lens; responsibilitythe social persecution for war. Itsof anybodytakes an unflinchingcritical of the look imperial at the system; and the dehumanizing treatment of forced laborers from Korea. itself, created by American scientists and dropped by an American plane Japan’s hands are not clean, indeed. On the other hand, the atomic bomb‑ tion’s unmitigated power and aggression. It unleashed a violence direct‑ edon militaryat military personnel personnel and and civilians civilians alike, alike, is a Japanese reflection and of thenon‑Japanese, source na doingincluding with American their buildings, prisoners Gen of says, war. “Now After our Gen house and Shinji won’t paint get hit big by black ene‑ P’s on the roof90. Theof their reader house, gets which a sense they of thehave futility noticed of thethis American effort. After POWs all, it is known that the bomb will obliterate practically all of Hiroshima and killmy planes!”or severely injure everyone on it. This brings us to the third and last theme: the human being’s capac‑ ity for violence against others (as well as its anti‑thesis, unconditional love). Barefoot Gen is unquestionably a violent story and a story about vi‑ ‑ al way that characters hit, slap, shove, wrestle, stab at, bite, or otherwise tryolence, to physically on both facetious harm others and fundamental may be easily levels. explained On one hand,by the the conven casu‑

E. ‑ se Manga,89 1957 1977 Japanese Visual Culture: Explorations in the World of Man‑ ga and AnimeNakar,, ed. “Framing M.W. MacWilliams. Manga: On NarrativesNew York of the, pp. Second 191World. War in Japane K. Nakazawa,– Barefoot”, [in:] Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, vol. 1., op. cit., p. . 2008 178– 90 178 37

Surviving Hiroshima… tions of shōnen manga, a genre aimed at young boys and which frequent‑ ly feature “’fascination91. Indeed, for war‑related the slapstick items,’” quality “’the of striking the many prevalence instanc‑ of depictions of violence,’” and “’the main characters’ resolute fighting for their beliefs’” Dragon Ball,es of Slamabuse Dunk – which, and occurs Naruto as frequently between intimates as betweenBarefoot Genstrangers – also depicts is a familiar a form oftrope violence in boys’ that manga manifests and anime, itself in such technological as , to name a few. On the other hand, phenomenological point of view. andAn institutional overt example ways. is I the find use this of of the more atomic interest bomb from itself an hermeneuticagainst the

92 bringsunsuspecting home the population human toll of Hiroshima –of this catastrophe a historical by juxtaposing event depicted long in a work of fiction with considerable testimonial authority. Nakazawa views of depopulated images delineated with clinical precision (a fleet imagesof bombers of personal planes preparingsuffering (peoplefor flight, with Enola melted Gay cruisingfaces and over skin, the or cityim‑ paledand dropping by tiny glass“Little shards; Boy,” thethe resultingstreets strewn cloud – with see debris).figure 5), This and parade stark of grotesqueries continues in the second volume as Nakazawa93 depicts putrid gas; maggots hatching from inside open wounds; people being rotting corpses floating in the river, their bellies popping open with abstract rationalization of the use of the atomic bomb under any circum‑ stances.burned alive under the ruins of their houses. Such images challenge any Aside from its incarnation through nuclear weaponry, this dehuman‑ izing violence also occurs through the mechanism of social institutions around the Emperor. The line between individual choice and social co‑ ercionsuch as is the blurred, military as when state an and entire the culturevillage ofturns deification against thatits members revolves who are perceived as traitors94; young boys are pressured into sacri‑ 95; and the Japanese are encour‑ ficing their lives for the military cause

91 K. Nakazawa, Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, vol. 1., op. cit., T. Lamarre, op. cit., p. 265, quoting Itō and Omote. pp. 24192 . K. Nakazawa, Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, vol. 2, op. cit., p. 50. –258 93 K. Nakazawa, Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, vol. 1., op. cit., pp. 14 . 94 Ibidem, pp. 99. –58 95 96– 38 Noelle Leslie dela Cruz aged to kill themselves rather than surrender to the occupying army . Thoughtless hatred, borne of constant sociocultural reinforcement, is di96‑ rected not just against critics of the war but also and especially against American prisoners. The Japanese pelt the latter with stones through their barbed wire enclosure, accusing them of having killed their fam‑ ily members. As Gen and his father witness this, the parent counsels the child, “Those Americans have families just like we do. War just makes 97. After the American prison‑ ers are themselves destroyed by the bomb, villagers curse and throw stonespeople athate a burnt each Americanother, kill corpseeach other….”. 98

This methodical erasurethe publisher, of the other,Last Gasp. the metaphysical violence however,against his are or instances her personhood – of one character which, philosophically, reaching out to also others goes in by what the name of “evil” – is attributed to the logic of war. Counterbalancing this,

Ibidem, pp. 109. 96 Ibidem, pp. . 108– 97 K. Nakazawa, Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, vol. 2, op. cit., pp. 22 23. 166–167 98 – 39

Surviving Hiroshima… can only be described as unconditional love. Gen’s father tearfully sa‑ lutes his son Koji even as the latter leaves to serve in a war that the fa‑ ther detests99; Mr. Pak, the Nakaokas’ Korean neighbor, give them mon‑ ey for food when he himself is no better off100 a prized toy battleship despite their personal differences101; and Gen ; Gen gifts Shinji with 102. The message seems to be that, even in the facetries of to the convince most inconceivable Natsue – a girl suffering whose face and isevil, horribly humankind disfigured is not by with the‑ blast – to keep on living circle with Barefoot Gen out redemption. This notion brings the foregoing reflections to a full‑ versity. ’s iconic image of the wheat – a main source of staple food for the Japanese – the symbol of revitalization through ad

Conclusion

In this study, I have endeavored to show that a philosophical treatment of comics, a medium that has reached the peak of its maturity, has the potential to offer us new ways of thinking about ourselves and our rela‑ studies of comics, aiming primarily to (1) provide a philosophical dis‑ cussiontionship of with the thesubject world. matter There of have comics; been (2) many apply significant philosophical philosophical concepts to narratives and themes in comics; (3) show how insights from comics could contribute to existing conversations about traditional philosophi‑ cal problems; or (4) resolve puzzles related to the comics form by way of conceptual analysis. My special concern has been to outline and sub‑

‑ nomenology.stantiate a way To my of readingknowledge, sequential Riceour’s art – interpretive specifically, method comics has in yet its tomodern be applied form – to throughworks that Paul feature Ricoeur’s the special method interaction of hermeneutical of word pheand image, such as comics. The framework of reading comics that I have provided relates Ricoeur’s method to the formal elements of sequential art as theorized by Will Eisner. In keeping with the linguistic or hermeneutic turn that

K. Nakazawa, Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, vol. 1., op. cit., p. . 99 118 100 Ibidem, p. 186. 101 K. Nakazawa, Barefoot Gen: A Cartoon Story of Hiroshima, vol. 2, op. cit., Ibidem, pp. 226–241. pp. 102 .

65–106 40

Noelle Leslie dela Cruz Ricoeur represents in the phenomenological tradition, I focus on three relevant aspects of comics production and representation: autobiogra‑ questions along these axes of interpretation that are relevant to ask in re‑ gardphy, intersubjectivity,to imagery, timing, and framing, history expressive and popular anatomy, culture. and I have writing. identified ‑ nomenology of sequential art is not reducible to formalist criticism, since it alsoDespite purports its focus to contribute on these to formal our understanding elements, an ofhermeneutical human existence. phe ‑ ‑ tion,On the death, other the hand, meaning it also (or not lack reducible thereof) ofto life,an existentialist spirituality or reading, transcend es‑ pecially because existentialist themes in comics – e.g. the self‑other rela uniqueence, and meaning‑making the like – tend toof thebe obvious medium and. As self‑explanatory.it makes use of cultural Instead, texts the inmethod order looksto interpret into how the these structures specific of themes human areconsciousness, conveyed through an herme the‑ neutical phenomenology of sequential art is also primarily an hermeneu‑ tics of comics, a way of interpreting comics through the lens of being. In regard to Keiji Nakazawa’s biographical Barefoot Gen manga series, the method may be applied to elucidate on symbolic imagery as wheat, through catastrophe. In addition, through the interpretive axis of cul‑ turethe sun, and andhistory fire, as as it these intersects convey with the themessage formal of element resilience of writing,and rebirth the of the atom bomb. This message is an unequivocal rejection of war, em‑ bodiedreader mayin large appreciate part by the bombpacifist itself message and Japan’s of Nakazawa own culture as a survivor of mili‑ bombing of Hiroshima are contested issues, the hermeneutical phenom‑ enologytarism. Sincehas been the proximateaugmented causes with historical and ideological footnotes. agenda However, behind a thede‑ tailed unraveling of the relevant controversies is beyond the scope of the paper, and so it is limited to an analysis of Nakazawa’s necessarily sub‑ jective presentation of this period in history. Finally, focusing on the axis of intersubjectivity as it intersects with the formal elements of ex‑ pressive anatomy and narrative, it is possible to identify the ways that Barefoot Gen reveals the dual capacity of human beings for violence and unconditional love. The incidents that Nakazawa sketches reveal the fas‑ cinating range of human interactions, especially during wartime. The medium of manga showcases this in a particularly effective way through the visual pantomime of expressive anatomy and gesture. 41

Surviving Hiroshima… Thus, an hermeneutical phenomenology of sequential art reveals key insights about the human condition. Among the many possible philo‑ sophical treatments of comics, it uniquely pays attention to the mean‑ ings that arise from the interaction between the verbal and the vis‑ ual. Though it is not my concern here, the method can conceivably be applied to other narrative media that combine words and pictures,

In conclusion, Ricoeur’s hermeneutical phenomenology can make such as film, television, and theater. and comics studies more generally, through its best features as a meth‑ odunique of interpreting and specific or contributionsreading comics. to theThis philosophypaper is an of attempt sequential to pro art‑ vide a rigorous philosophical approach to the analysis of sequential art that draws from the twin traditions of phenomenology and hermeneu‑ tics. While these traditions have been applied to the visual arts, they are rarely, if at all, brought to bear on comics. As an artistic medium, com‑ ‑ tial to provide new insights concerning topics that are of special interest toics – hermeneutes with its peculiar and phenomenologists. combination of word These and include: image – has the poten How the interaction between text and pictures creates meaning; How existentialist themes (e.g. death, freedom, intersubjectivity, – ‑ – municated in comics form; Thetranscendence, various ways the that meaning – the self canor lack be representedthereof – of life,in the etc.) medium; are com How time is experienced in and through comics; – How sequential art draws from and intervenes with historical and – cultural sources; – How moments, contexts, situations, time periods, reveries, and other units of experience are framed, broken down, or opened up in com‑ – ics; and How canonical philosophical texts may be put in conversation with

– the canon. Existingpopular philosophicalcultural narratives, analyses which of comics augment, focus affirm, on the or contentargue against of the story, which makes the analyses themselves indiscriminate given the many forms that comics narratives can take (motion pictures and novel‑ ization, to name a couple of examples). However, there is a need to focus ‑ cal phenomenology provides a set of adaptable heuristics to achieve that. Whileon the other specificity ways of readingthe medium comics in areits interpretation,apropos in light and of their hermeneuti own ob‑ 42

Noelle Leslie dela Cruz jectives, the method outlined here may be used in conjunction with these

is only the starting point. Theother answers ways. Employing derived can the and “Critical should questions be used toto addask into, an complement, hermeneutical en‑ hance,phenomenology or even argue of sequential against, art”existing (see readings. Table 1) After all, a key strength of Ricoeur’s103 interpretive paradigm is its concern with the world’s “un‑ ‑ ly, perhaps the distinguishing characteristic of an hermeneutical phenom‑ enologyfolding layers of the ofRicoeurian meaning,” varietywhich haveis its nowfocus taken on the a pictorialmeaning‑generating turn. Final relation between consciousness and the world, as lived in embodied exist‑ were, at an extremely popular level. It may thus be used in teaching and popularizingence. As applied philosophy, to comics, especially this approach in regard brings to Beingits more down obscure to earth, and as ab it‑ stract precincts. Just as anyone can appreciate sequential art, so too can anyone with the willingness to read and understand get into a philosophi‑ cal frame of mind, or make philosophical inquiries.

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