A Study Of Japanese Bildungsroman And Its Cultural Characteristics

Growth is the eternal theme of human and literature,which has been written assiduously in the literature of all countries in the world for hundreds of years.Bildungsroman is the general term of the growth genre in German,which originated from German literature in the 18 th and 19 th centuries.As the development of this genre itself has brought about breakthroughs in its original framework,limitations and literary schools,the academic circles at home and abroad have not yet reached a unified definition of Bildungsroman,only relatively recognized definitions.Generally speaking,Bildungsroman describes the process in which young protagonists develop their innate qualities and form personalities in the conflict between experience and society.In the growth experience of the protagonist,the process of confliction between the individual and the human environment around oneself is the process of discovering one’s identity in the constant conflict between himself/herself and the world,thus forming oneself a relatively stable internal spirit and personality.The protagonist is often the representative of a certain social stratum,which is based on the author’s ideal image.The author elaborates the ideal and mission of human beings through the protagonist,and all the development of the protagonist aims to this ideal.Moreover,the educational ideal is not set by the author,but reflects the ideological trend of the times and society.In this sense,Bildungsroman not only expresses the thinking and will of the times,but also reveals the contradiction between reality and ideal,and truthfully shows the progress of human and society.Bildungsroman not only occupies an important position in the history of world literature,but also has a long creative tradition.The differences in history and culture make the growth of different countries,nationalities and genders present a colorful appearance in the texts of Bildungsroman.Since the 1950 s and 1960 s,the study of Bildungsroman has gradually become one of the hot topics in the field of literary studies.In addition to the German literary circle,Britain,France,and America are also sorting out the pedigrees and theoretical systems of their own Bildungsroman.The definition of Bildungsroman in the narrow sense refers to the educational novels of Germany in the 17 th and 18 th centuries.Its definition in a broad sense belongs to the important sub-categories of modern novels.This genre of novel exists in the literature of various countries and languages.Moreover,with the changes of the times,the concept of Bildungsroman is constantly evolving,changing,and its extension and connotation have a tendency to proliferate.Bildungsroman not only pays attention to the problems of the new era in terms of content,but also breaks the classic narrative mode in form.The purpose of this study is to criticize Japanese Bildungsroman in terms of art and culture.Is there a Bildungsroman in modern Japanese literature? If so,how would it explain the failure of the protagonists to find a place in society in texts such as Youth and Night Travel? Why are the protagonists of Sanshirou and Nobuko still at a loss and fail to establish a clear direction of life in the end? Can the personality ideals conveyed by the texts such as The Stone by the Road produced under the rule of fascism regarded as smoothly integrating into society? To answer these questions,it is necessary to examine the relationship and difference between the classical Bildungsroman of Western Europe and Japanese Bildungsroman.At the same time,this investigation has triggered a reflection on other issues: Is the evolution of Japanese Bildungsroman also deducing the trend of transition from classical to modern Bildungsroman? If so,what is the social and historical context of its evolution?Compared with Western Bildungsroman,what unique cultural connotations does the protagonists’ growth reveal?Based on these issues,this paper takes the Japanese Bildungsroman from the end of Meiji to the end of 1970 s as the research object,according to the history of the times and literature,and refers to the theories of Bildungsroman,chooses seven representative texts for detailed interpretation.On the basis of text interpretation,reveal the cultural characteristics of Japanese growth novels.Art and cultural criticism is the main research method of this thesis.So far,there has been no systematic research on Japanese Bildungsroman.On the one hand,the study of Bildungsroman is an area that needs time to study.Previous studies focused on Bildungsroman in advanced western countries such as Germany,Britain,France and the United States.In recent years,they began to focus on the growth of Oriental and marginalized subjects.On the other hand,it is difficult for the academic circles to have a unified understanding of the category of Japanese Bildungsroman.The opposite opinions in Japanese academics come largely from the excessive following of German and British Bildungsroman structures.In fact,to strictly limit the model of Bildungsroman is no different from painting self-limitation.It not only denies the objective fact that “Growth” has changed in every historical period,but also does not benefit the development of this genre itself,and makes a field of research which is constantly innovative and energetic become rigid.To clarify the position of this issue is the premise of this study.This paper consists of three parts: the introduction,the main text,and the conclusion.The Introduction expounds the literary origin of the concept of Bildungsroman and its social and historical conditions for its production,summarizes the historical definition of Bildungsroman by literary critics,as well as the overview on present research situation of Bildungsroman.On the basis of explaining the core concept of“Bildung”,this paper defines the Japanese Bildungsroman,and makes a review on its research findings,so as to lay a necessary foundation for specific research.The main text is divided into four chapters.This paper divides the transformation of Japanese Bildungsroman into three periods.The development and evolution of Japanese Bildungsroman embodies the thoughts and reflection of intellectuals of different times on their own growth.Japanese Bildungsroman,written by generations of writers,has gradually become full-fledged,reflecting increasingly rich ideological connotations and unique aesthetic features.The first three chapters are composed of the context and the close reading of text in each historical period.Chapter V is based on the first three chapters to reveal the cultural characteristics of Japanese Bildungsroman.From the Meiji era to the 1960 s and 1970 s,Japan’s modern history has been in the process of the collision,conflict and gradual integration of eastern and western civilizations and cultures.Undoubtedly,Japanese Bildungsroman has a unique color in the universal Bildungsroman.Chapter Ⅰ is “The pursuit and reflection of ‘Becoming Outstanding’----Japanese Bildungsroman in the middle and late Meiji period（1879-1911）”.This chapter clarifies the origin of Japanese Bildungsroman,and expounds that the Japanese Bildungsroman,developed from political fiction,has two sides of coexistence of doubt and compromise since its birth.The ego in Meiji Bildungsroman experienced a change from yearning for “becoming outstanding” to thinking and questioning about this self-education concept,thus deepening the inner cognition of oneself.However,even if the protagonist finds him/herself,it is difficult to establish his/her collective identity in society.The works of this period,represented by Natsume Soseki’s Sanshiro and Mori Ougai’s Youth,depict the diligent pursuit of“self” by the young intellectuals who are like “spray sheep”,and the frustration caused by it.In the period of social transformation,as a young intellectual who receives new education and awakens his self-consciousness,the growing protagonist faces the contradiction between the individual persuit and the modern society.Chapter Ⅱ is “The response to Culturism----Japanese Bildungsroman during Taishou era to the early days of Shouwa era（1912-1930）”.Based on the mutual infiltration of the important trends of thought such as "Culturism" prevailing in the Taishou era and the Bildungsroman of the same era,this chapter points out that in the Taishou era,when politics and economy are relatively prosperous and stable,new trends of thought such as Culturism,Vitalism and Idealism are flourishing,and individualism is flourishing in the field of philosophy and literature.Bildungsroman interacts closely with the upbringing ideological trend of attaching importance to personality cultivation and pursuing spiritual freedom.The goal of growth is no longer confined to achieving success and social status through hard struggle,but also to shaping the self with independent personality through reading and self-reflection,to accomplishing spiritual transformation beyond the secular world.Night Travel is considered to be a work that embodies the Japanese style of growth in particular.Compared with the Meiji period,the identity of the protagonist in the Bildungsroman in the Taishou period is no longer limited to the elite.Moreover,under the influence of pedagogy,“introversion” increased and sociality decreased.In addition,the proportion of self-perception and self-esteem based on libido has increased.At the same time,early female initiation stories such as Nobuko and Wandering also appeared in this period.Chapter Ⅲ is “From Stagnation,Variation to Renaissance----Japanese Bildungsroman in Shouwa Period（1931-1980）”.The Bildungsroman with the characteristics of idealism and humanitarianism encountered suppression under the Fascist regime.In this period,the growth of subjectivity of a generation has actually been aborted,because truth,goodness and beauty,as absolute values,have been relativised under militarism.Therefore,the study of Bildungsroman before World War II should not stop at the review of the surface of the text,but through the narrative ethics of the text,find out how the political pressure,public ethics education and national spiritual culture potentially manipulate the writer’s ideological spirit.This chapter takes The Stone by the Road as examples to explore the alienation of Bildung.After World War II,great growth stories such as The Gate of Youth,which interweave individual growth with modern historical changes,emerged one after another.In addition,with the decline of Culturism,the conceptuality in Japanese Bildungsroman has been significantly weakened.Chapter Ⅳ is “The Cultural Characteristics of Japanese Bildungsroman”.Bildungsroman not only embodies the contemporary concept of personality education,but also contains the cultural representation of the country/nation.First,Japanese Bildungsroman also has the dualistic opposition of “Awakening/Confusion” and“Naivety/Experience” in Western Bildungsroman.However,the identity of Japanese intellectuals has been under the pressure of social politics and ethics for a long time,which makes the most striking tension in the growth of the protagonist“Integration/Alienation” of social life.Secondly,writing emphasizes emotion more than rational thinking,and because the religious foundation is weaker than that of the West,Japanese Bildungsroman pays more attention to the practical life style.Thirdly,quite a number of protagonists are intellectual aristocrats who are not so young,tend to support the “introverted” self-education.Fourthly,due to the serious political regulation of human development,social criticism and publicity in Japanese Bildungsroman are obviously vague compared with Western Bildungsroman.The Conclusion reviews the main contents and viewpoints of this paper,and extracts innovative points and conclusions.First of all,Bildungsroman is not a special genre of a certain country in some period,but is universal.Bildungsroman emerges in almost every important period of social transformation in modern Japanese history.Moreover,the ideological connotation expressed in Bildungsroman will change with the process of modernization.This paper describes the social and cultural background of the evolution of Japanese Bildungsroman.It points that the writing tradition of Japanese literature,the formation of modern self,the rise and fall of “Becoming Outstanding” and “Culturalism” and the militarism have changed the values of the novel and the growth path of the protagonist.Based on close reading of the text,this study reveals the artistic characteristics and cultural connotations of Japanese Bildungsroman,which are different from those of Western Bildungsroman.It holds that the modern self which follows “Master and Servant” ethics,the temperament of introspection and closeness to loneliness,the pragmatic national character and the literary tradition of writing truth,and constructs a unique Japanese Bildungsroman poetics.