Thesis Title
Japanese Manga and Modern Literary Heroism: Heroes of Action and Inaction in Japanese Comic Books
Department or Program
Asian Studies
Abstract
From the mid-nineteenth century onward, the “hero” as a literary figure has been problematized by the likes of Sartre and Dostoevsky. Feeding off the philosophies of determinism and existentialism and rejecting the romantic hero that preceded them, these authors argued that true heroism was impossible in the modern age, at least as it was understood up until that point. However, the Japanese authors Mishima Yukio (1925-1970) and Oe Kenzaburo (1935- ) constructed a heroic pair dynamic that Susan Napier calls in her dissertation “Heroes of Action and Inaction.” These authors pair the hesitant, existentially crippled, and often cowardly intellectual with a more active, unhesitant, and bold hero to create a dynamic that at once satisfies the reader’s thirst for an intellectual perspective of the world, while still offering a heroic figure to inspire both the reader and the intellectual protagonist. This thesis argues that this pairing reappears in Japanese manga (Japanese comic books), most notably in Oda Eiichiro’s One Piece and Oku Hiroya’s Gantz, and that it is in fact enhanced by the conventions of the medium.
Level of Access
Restricted: Campus/Bates Community Only Access
Date of Graduation
Spring 5-2012
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Recommended Citation
Culliton, Brendan Steel, "Japanese Manga and Modern Literary Heroism: Heroes of Action and Inaction in Japanese Comic Books" (2012). Honors Theses. 17.
https://scarab.bates.edu/honorstheses/17
Number of Pages
73
Components of Thesis
1 pdf file
Restricted
Available to Bates community via local IP address or Bates login.