Animals Huddled Together: A Study of Oe Kenzaburo's <i>Man'en Gannen No Futtoboru</i>

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  • 傍らに寄り添う動物
  • 傍らに寄り添う動物 : 大江健三郎『万延元年のフットボール』論
  • カタワラ ニ ヨリソウ ドウブツ : オオエ ケンザブロウ 『 マンエン ガンネン ノ フットボール 』 ロン
  • ――大江健三郎『万延元年のフットボール』論――

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Abstract

<p>This essay aims at filling the lack in the preceding critical works on Kenzaburo Oe's Man'en Gannen No Futtoboru (Silent Cry) by examining the images of animals in the work. Firstly, criticism focusing on the deconstruction of the subject in the novel has missed what follows the process, that is, the interdependent relationship of the characters who are represented as animals. Secondly, interpretations focusing on history and memory have tended to overemphasize the novel's affinity with more recent views of history, and thereby have missed its engagements with the contemporary contexts such as the relationship between the United States and Japan during the Vietnam War, giving little heed to the mechanism that functions in the repression of such people as animals by the sovereignty of the nations. Furthermore, interpretations that highlight the competitive struggle between Mitsusaburo and Takashi have tended to belittle the relevance of Takashi's animal-like agonies and the important theme of forgiving and grace that accompanies them. Lastly, interpretations focusing on the possibility of “translation” should deconstruct the border between human beings and the animals and stress the importance of the sympathetic resonance that is produced by the bodies of the vulnerable existence. It is only through such interpretations that readers can overcome the violence exerted by subjectivity/sovereignty and step for forgiving and grace collectively.</p>

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