New Japan Literary Society

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The New Japan Literary Society ( Japanese 新 日本 文学 会 , Shin Nihon Bungakukai ) was an association of Japanese writers between 1945 and 2005 .

timeline

founding

When the Pacific War ended with the defeat of Japan in 1945 , a movement arose which was looking for a new model for Japanese literature and which was founded by authors who were involved in the earlier proletarian literary movement and whose expression had been suppressed during the war . It was clear that this literary movement needed its own organization, and authors like Kurahara Korehito , Nakano Shigeharu and Miyamoto Yuriko called for participation in a new literary group. In December 1945, the founding meeting of the New Japan Literary Society took place. Because the founders at the time only selected members who had not supported the war of aggression, in the course of the search for war responsibility in the second half of the 1950s, some of the founders were criticized for their attitude during the war.

At the beginning of the foundation there were connections to many Japanese writers such as Shiga Naoya or Nogami Yaeko , who were also registered as supporting members, but differences of opinion arose between Shiga Naoya and Nakano Shigeharu, for example with regard to the attitude to Tennō , which led to Shiga discontinuing his support and the literary society did not establish itself as an organization. It was not possible to win a broad membership base for the literary society.

The literary society published the magazine Shin Nihon Bungaku ( 新 日本 文学 , dt. "The literature of the new Japan"). Miyamoto Yuriko's article Utagoe yo! Okore ( 歌声 よ 、 お こ れ , Eng . "Singing voices, rise up!") Called for the foundation of a new democratic literature in contrast to the literature that had withdrawn during the war. As a result, the mood of the post-war labor movement improved and new writers came together in the literary society, such as Noma Hiroshi , who had experienced the student movement before the war, or Ozawa Kiyoshi , who came from the working class. In addition, authors such as Hirano Ken , Honda Shūgo or Odakiri Hideo from the magazine Kindai Bungaku ( 近代 文学 , "Modern Literature") also joined the literary society .

Policy dispute

In 1950 the literary society was influenced by the so-called "50s Problem", in which the Communist Party of Japan split over its political guidelines. Tokunaga Sunao published the magazine Jinmin Bungaku ( 人民 文学 , dt. "Folk literature"), in which authors such as Noma Hiroshi or Abe Kōbō participated. The Jinmin Bungaku was soon discontinued and the members returned to the literary society, but because the then Shokan faction of the CP ( Tokuda-Kyūichii - faction ) interfered in this development, a group emerged in the literary society to eliminate the influence of the CP wanted and exerted great influence on the management of the literary society.

There were more and more members who linked the differences of opinion that had developed in the literary society with the interference of the Communist Party. For example, the dismissal of the editor-in-chief of Shin Nihon Bungaku Hanada Kiyoteru in 1954 for irresponsible finance has been linked to the dispute in the magazine between Ōnishi Kyojin , who played an important role in finance and the organization of society, and Miyamoto Kenji , dem Husband of Miyamoto Yuriko from the Kokusai faction of the Communist Party, who died in 1951 , and who was also a literary critic himself, and viewed as the party's interference in literary society. Little by little, a large part of the literary society accepted this interpretation, and the dispute with the CP became more heated. In connection with the Anpo protests of 1960 and the new party program of the CP in 1961, the differences between the majority group of the literary society and the CP led by Miyamoto Kenji as general secretary became clear.

Break with the CP

Before the 11th General Assembly of the Literature Society (1964) there was a final break with the Communist Party. In a board report to the General Assembly, Secretary General Takei Teruo published in advance a draft for the approval of the ratification of the Treaty on the Ban on Nuclear Weapons Tests , which was currently the political focus. In addition, Kurihara Yukio followed him in the magazine Shin Nihon Bungaku and called for a confrontation with the leading faction of the CP, which opposed this treaty. Also for the CP it was a serious problem for the unification of the party, which was connected with the expulsion of Shiga Yoshio (who afterwards founded the group Nihon no Koe ), which revolved around the approval of the ratification, and a compromise was not possible.

As a result, the literary society removed Eguchi Kan , Shimota Seiji and Nishino Tatsukichi , who tried to file a motion against the board report during the general assembly, and Tsuda Takashi , who had publicly criticized the guideline after the general assembly, and cut ties with the KP. This turned the literary society into a group criticizing the CP. The excluded founded the Nihon Minshushugi Bungaku Dōmei (Eng. "Alliance of Japanese Democratic Literature") in the following year and called themselves the successors of democratic literature.

Decline and dissolution

After breaking off relations with the KP, the literary society planned to collaborate with social movements from all over the country and continued its international involvement, such as the Asian-African Writers' Association . But because Takei Teruo and Ōnishi Kyojin , among others, resigned , the organization gradually weakened. It also became difficult to publish Shin Nihon Bungaku on a monthly basis, sometimes being forced to publish it every two months. The aging of the members deprived the literary society of the basis for survival, and a deterioration in the quality of its publications became evident. Finally, the literary society was dissolved at the end of 2005.

activities

It is worth mentioning in Osaka -based literature school Osaka . An organization that has become independent of the literary society, from which numerous writers emerged. Including authors like the Akutagawa Prize- winning Tanabe Seiko and Gengetsu , who advanced to the center of the literary world.

literature