Citation

Dai H. Comparatio 2007; 11: 28-35.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Kyushu University)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Strange reunion was written and published in 1920 when Akutagawa was preparing his trip to China. The novel can be viewed as a product of the writer's reflections on China as well as the relationship between Japan and China. After the Sino-Japanese War, Makino prospers after becoming a businessman, which symbolizes a complicit relationship between Japan's modernization and the war. At the same time, his longing for Oren symbolizes a nostalgic feeling towards Japan's pre-modernization period. On the other hand, Kin, Oren's Chinese lover, is a symbol of the weak China, while Oren herself is a symbol of a fragile beauty remaining in China. The novel can be seen as an allegory of the historical situation: Defeating China (the Qing Empire) and successfully progressing in its modernization drive, yet Japan still cannot renounce the past and nostalgia for her pre-modernization period. Japan finally discovers that regardless of the engaged violence or other means of satisfying the past nostalgia, she can never truly be satisfied and finds this longing and hope all but shattered.
Strange reunion was written and published in 1920 when Akutagawa was preparing his trip to China. The novel can be viewed as a product of the writer's reflections on China as well as the relationship between Japan and China. After the Sino-Japanese War, Makino prospers after becoming a businessman, which symbolizes a complicit relationship between Japan's modernization and the war. At the same time, his longing for Oren symbolizes a nostalgic feeling towards Japan's pre-modernization period. On the other hand, Kin, Oren's Chinese lover, is a symbol of the weak China, while Oren herself is a symbol of a fragile beauty remaining in China. The novel can be seen as an allegory of the historical situation: Defeating China (the Qing Empire) and successfully progressing in its modernization drive, yet Japan still cannot renounce the past and nostalgia for her pre-modernization period. Japan finally discovers that regardless of the engaged violence or other means of satisfying the past nostalgia, she can never truly be satisfied and finds this longing and hope all but shattered.