The War Experiences In Japan's Postwar Literary Creations

Japan's postwar literary creation came to an end in 1954. This dissertation mainly aims at analyzing Japan's postwar literary creations concerned with the experiences of the Second World War. The experiences of war in this aspect have special traits and significance of its own, which mainly comprises three parts: Prewar Experiences, Wartime Experiences and Postwar Experiences as Defeated.Literature, particularly novels, could best reveal the internal feelings and characters of a nation. Japan's postwar literary creation, with the Postwar School as the representative, helps us to perceive the special experiences and manners of perception towards the Second World War, and see the overall features of the recounting of the war in Japan's postwar literary creations, which emphasizes upon rethinking the war profoundly and reflects its concern with humanity, the call to love, the introspection to autocracy, and the longing to its self-recognition. However, it recalls the war from the point of view that Japan itself is the victim of the war, and it is for this reason therefore that the war should be criticized and retrospections shall be conducted. The most important thing is that it exaggerates Japan's victim role in the war and ignores the fact that it is the force that brings injury to other nations.The recounting of historical events is not only the patent of the historians. The literary recounting of history has its profound significance as well. The special way of representation of the war experiences in Japan's postwar literary creations is actually . another means of recounting the war and history. What's more, this way of one-sided recounting—exaggerating its role of victim in the war, and ignoring their offence of injuring others—would inevitably affect the readers' perception and memory of the war.