Community Writing In The Works Of Kobo Abe

The research object of this paper is the community writing in the works of Japanese postwar writer Kobo Abe.Through the close reading of the texts of Abe’s specific works in different periods,combined with the background of the times,Abe’s personal experience and thoughts,this paper analyzes the social situation presented by the texts by using the theories of political philosophy and cultural research,in order to understand the contradiction between community and individual subjectivity in Abe’s literary writing,and grasp Abe’s conception and prospect of the ideal community as an “Organic intellectual” in the context of the post-war era.This paper consists of introduction,four chapters and conclusion.The introduction briefly describes the background and problem consciousness of this paper,sorts out the main research results of Kobo Abe’s literature at home and abroad so far,summarizes and comments on the related previous studies on the theme of“community”,and introduces the research methods and significance of this paper.The second chapter “the Concept of ‘Community’ and the Origin of Abe’s Community Writing” sorts out the connotation and evolution of the concept of “community” in western sociology and philosophy,briefly describes the sense of community in Japanese ideology and culture,and then focuses on the “community complex” of Abe,which originates from identity anxiety.Abe’s community writing has always been closely connected with the lack of individual subjectivity(self-identity crisis)and construction,and the thinking dimensions of this problem vary with the context of the times and the main social contradictions.The third,fourth and fifth chapters divide it into three stages based on the theme of the specific text.The second chapter,“Community Illusion and the Hollow Subject”,takes the Road Sign at the End of the Road,League of the Hungry and Enomoto Takeaki as the objects to interpret the crisis of individual subjectivity caused by the collapse of community values in the early postwar period and the attempt of individual identity reconstruction.On the individual level,the Road Sign at the End of the Road presents the ontological thinking of individual’s struggle against “destiny” and pursuit of unique survival significance.It involves the multiple trauma of “hometown” in Abe’s growth experience and defeat experience,and questions and rejects the stipulation of“hometown”/ community from the perspective of individual subjectivity.On the social level,League of the Hungry reveals how the will of the ruling class,under the cooperation of some intellectual elites,forms a discourse construction mechanism in which the value norms with social ethical binding force and coercive force act on the members of the community.It can be seen as Abe’s exposure of the tendency of Narrow Nationalism hidden in the “National Literature Controversy”,which contains Abe’s reflection on the discourse construction mechanism of Nationalism since the early Showa period and the historical philosophical background of “National Folklore” and “Beyond the Modern” behind it.On the ideological level,Enomoto Takeaki depicts the conflict between community ideology and individual subjectivity,as well as the individual identity crisis and ethical dilemma caused by the change of times and the subversive change of community core values.The work reflects Abe’s reflection on the proposition of “War Responsibility Investigation”;At the same time,it reveals the value orientation of public opinion and historical commentary,as a part of the representative ideology of “the big Other”,which gives guidance and discipline to individuals,and then explores the way to realize the return of individual subjectivity by using Enomoto’s “the third way” based on his own value pursuit.With the keywords of “hometown”,“nation” and “times(values)” respectively,the three works reveal the characteristics of ideological construction behind this series of shadowy “community” discourse groups,showing Abe’s disclosure of the essence of Japanese imperialist ideology and his thinking about the living situation of the individual who is lack of identity and become a hollow subject.The third chapter,“Community and the Subject of Homogenization and Atomization in the Process of Modernity”,takes Inter Ice Age 4,The Woman in the Dunes and The Box Man as the objects,analyzes the depiction of the crisis of individual subjectivity under the dual alienation of capital and power,and interprets Abe’s assumption of the return of individual subjectivity and the construction of a new community containing heterogeneity and self-other coexistence.By using science fiction as a carrier,Inter Ice Age 4 allegorically refers to the historical events of the same era.It not only reveals all kinds of social defects,but also explores the endogenous paradox of modern values at the universal level of “community of human destiny”,aiming at deconstructing the self-evident nature of modern values and exploring the possibility of overcoming the negative side of modernity.The Woman in the Dunes reveals the emptiness of individual value orientation in modern cities.Individuals have to rely on the value benchmark constructed by capitalist ideology –“The sublime object”,and obtain self-identity through the identity of “the big Other”;By depicting the individual’s reflection on the living conditions of the urban community in the extreme living environment,the work deconstructs the ideological stipulation of modern people’s desire object,and hopes to awaken the individual’s spontaneous subject consciousness.Furthermore,The Box Man shows the living conditions of individuals in the urban community as if they were in a “Panopticon”.By voluntarily returning to the “bare life”,the “box man” tries to break away from the capital and homogenize and atomize the individual through highly industrialized and monetary system,as well as the unified discipline and governance of state power to individuals through various mechanisms,it reflects Abe’s insight into individual spiritual crisis in highly industrialized society.From the perspectives of modernity,urban community order and the shaping of state power/ ideology,the three works explore the contradiction between community and individual subjectivity,which is increasingly exposed with the advancement of modernization.At the macro level,they reflect the inherent paradox of bourgeois modernity,at the same time,it analyzes the individual’s spiritual crisis and survival dilemma at the micro level.The fourth chapter,“Community and the Subject Seeking the Link in the ‘Liquid Modernity’ ” takes The Ark Sakura and Kangaroo Note as the objects to interpret the works’ revelation of the specific contradictions in Japanese society and reflection on the survival dilemma of individuals in the “liquid modernity”.The Ark Sakura uses“nuclear shelter” to allude to the current war clouds,criticizing Japanese Neoconservatism,strengthening military power and other political practices.On the other hand,it focuses on the individuals with alienated interpersonal relationship and lack of sense of belonging under the thinking of “zero sum game”,who self-enclosed or trying to seek “alternative community”.While revealing the fascist nature of the community pursuing identity and rejecting heterogeneity,the work looks forward to coexisting with “strangers” in the ethical environment of respecting diversity and containing differences.In Kangaroo Note,the image of “marsupials”,like the mirror image of “eutherian”,runs through the whole work,metaphorizing the vulnerable groups in the social survival competition,and symbolizing the sense of responsibility and the possibility of existence outside the social order.From the perspective of the“heterogeneous other” excluded by social power order and values,the work achieves the rediscovery of the “other” through the confrontation with power order and traditional domestication forces,and hopes that the “children group” will build a new“Creole” community beyond traditional inheritance and established order.From different perspectives,the two works depict the evolution characteristics of communism in “the era of Ark without anchor”,as well as the anxiety and uneasiness of individual interpersonal alienation and lack of certainty,which reflects Abe’s vigilance to the revival of nationalism/ nationalism and his humanistic concern for“the weak” in the competition of social survival.Kobo Abe’s community writing is based on the dual dimensions of ideological criticism and modernity.It focuses on the paradigms of community,individual and the other in different contexts of the times,and the complex and interlaced contradictory relationship.It not only reflects the subversive social critical dimension of dystopia literature,but also contains the persistent search for the reconstruction of individual subjectivity,the restoration of the “other ethic” and the construction of a more inclusive new community.It reflects Abe’s sense of criticism and responsibility as an “organic intellectual”.