The Politics and Aesthetics of Haunting in 1950S Japan
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The Politics and Aesthetics of Haunting in 1950s Japan by Darcy Gauthier A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Comparative Literature University of Toronto © Copyright by Darcy Gauthier, 2020 The Politics and Aesthetics of Haunting Darcy Gauthier Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Comparative Literature University of Toronto 2020 Abstract This thesis examines the politics and aesthetics of haunting in 1950s Japan. A distinct historical conjuncture separate from the social upheaval of the immediate postwar as well as the overt politicization of the 1960s, the 1950s is characterized by a narrative of national rebuilding and return that marginalized discrepant experiences of the present—producing a disjointedness that I articulate as a form of ‘haunting.’ In order to develop this, I turn to two triptychs of creators (two writers, two filmmakers, two composers) who collaborated to document the ‘haunted’ reality of 1950s Japan: Marguerite Duras, Alain Resnais, and Giovanni Fusco; and Abe Kōbō, Teshigahara Hiroshi, and Takemitsu Tōru. Collectively, these artists articulate a crisis where concrete lived experiences did not correspond with national narratives of recovery and the economic, social, and political modes of structuring that regulated people’s lives. Their fiction and theory attempted to bring this crisis into focus by representing the ghostly estrangement of modern subjects and also by theorizing alternative methods of historicization following a logic of ‘haunting,’ one that challenged the accepted reality—the taken-for-grantedness—of celebratory narratives of postwar life. ii Acknowledgments Without the support and inspiration from various individuals and institutions I would not have been able to complete this dissertation. First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Atsuko Sakaki, for her inexhaustible supply of knowledge and expertise, her care and enthusiasm for my work, her meticulous and insightful feedback, and her infinite patience—all of which went well beyond what anyone could expect from a thesis supervisor. I also express my many thanks to the other members of my supervisory committee. In the early stages of my PhD, Antje Budde supervised my independent research project on Abe Kōbō’s experimental theatre projects in the 1970s, which was in many ways the impetus for what eventually became my thesis. Since then, her knowledge of the theatre world and her comments on my work have always led to surprising and unexpected discoveries and avenues of research. Eric Cazdyn has also been a very strong inspiration and has influenced my own thinking in many ways throughout the years. His guidance opened many new horizons of thought and inspired me to always rigorously interrogate (and sometimes accept) the ‘blind spots’ inherent to any intellectual problem. I also need to thank Eva-Lynn Jagoe and Rebecca Comay, who served on my committee during an earlier, somewhat different version of my dissertation, and who helped me tremendously in finding its direction. The Department of Comparative Literature has always been supportive during my studies, and my thanks go to John Paul Ricco, Ann Komaromi, Barbara Havercroft, Jill Ross, Neil ten Kortenaar, Bao Nguyen, and Aphrodite Gardner. I have also depended heavily on the support of my other home, the Department of East Asian Studies. Many thanks go to Thomas Keirstead and Andre Schmid, who served as Chairs during my degree, and to the ever-supportive administrative staff, Norma Escobar, Natasja VanderBerg, and Paul Chin. I also thank the Cheng iii Yu Tung East Asian Library, especially Fabiano Takashi Rocha and Helen Bixia Tang, who always endeavored to help me track down hard-to-find materials. I am thankful to the University of British Columbia, where I completed some of my PhD coursework as a graduate exchange student. In particular, I would like to thank Sharalyn Orbaugh in the Department of Asian Studies, and Rhea Tregebov, whose literary translation workshop served as a venue for me to work on translations of several of Abe Kōbō’s works. I am grateful for the generous support provided by the Japan Foundation Fellowship Program, whose funding enabled me to do one year of research in Japan. Thanks go to Suzanne Pragg, Program Officer for The Japan Foundation office in Toronto during my fellowship, as well as Shūji Fujimura and Sachiko Igushi from the Japan Foundation office in Tokyo. Thanks also go to Shion Kono, who served as my supervisor in Japan during my fellowship, and to the Institute of Comparative Culture (ICC) at Sophia (Jōchi) University, which hosted me as a visiting researcher during my stay. I am also privileged to have many brilliant academic friends, colleagues, and senpai, whose conversation, camaraderie, and mentorship have motivated me throughout the years. I would like to give a special thanks to Baryon Posadas, Sara Osenton, Wang Jing, Jennifer Lau, Lauren Beard, Antonio Viselli, James Poborsa, Alexandre Paquet, Alexandra Jocic, Brenton Buchanan, James Welker, and Ben Whaley. They took the time to listen to my ideas, share their knowledge, critique my chapters during various stages of the writing process, or provide venues in which to share and develop my work, for which I am especially grateful. iv Finally, I would like to thank my partner, Nicole Go, upon whom I constantly rely for all things, as well as my parents, Marsha and Marcel Gauthier, and Nicole’s parents, Cynthia and Joseph Go. v Table of Contents Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. viii Introduction: The Politics and Aesthetics of Haunting in 1950s Japan ......................................1 Historical Context: Contradiction and Crisis in 1950s Japan .....................................................1 Theory and Method: “Haunting” as Knowledge System and as Practice ...................................9 Organization: Realism, Return, Relation ..................................................................................28 Realism ..............................................................................................................................29 Return .................................................................................................................................35 Relation ..............................................................................................................................40 Learning to Listen to Ghosts .....................................................................................................47 Three Ghosts, Three Transparencies, Three Limits in Pitfall and Hiroshima mon amour .......52 Labour, Archive, Film ...............................................................................................................56 First Ghost: Labour ............................................................................................................60 Second Ghost: Archive ......................................................................................................83 Third Ghost: Film ..............................................................................................................97 Interrogating the Limits of Capital, History, and Representation ...........................................109 The Ghost is “Here”? Return and Displacement in 1950s Japan ............................................111 The Early Postwar Avant-Garde (1945–1950) .......................................................................114 1950s Japan: The Emergence of Mass Culture and The Rationalization of Everyday Life ...117 Interwar Japan: Tosaka Jun and Re-historicizing the Everyday .............................................122 Abe Kōbō’s Theory and Practice: A Spectral Materialism .....................................................129 Song of a Dead Girl: The Forgetting of Female Textile Workers in Postwar Japan ..............135 Return ‘To’ and Return ‘From’ War in 1950s Japan ..............................................................146 vi Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................163 Learning to Listen to Ghosts: A Politics and Aesthetics of Counterpoint ..............................164 1950s Avant-Garde: Totality (Sōgō) and Counterpoint ..........................................................167 Abe, Takemitsu, and Teshigahara ...........................................................................................173 Resnais, Duras, and Fusco ......................................................................................................190 Deprivileging the Visual Register in Hiroshima mon amour .................................................192 Listening Vertically: A Contrapuntal History .........................................................................198 Counterpoint and Colonialism ................................................................................................206 A Reflection on the Discipline of Comparative Literature: Counterpoint and Comparativity ..................................................................................................................213