Postmemoria e letteratura per l’infanzia: trasmettere il trauma del bombardamento atomico alle nuove generazioni

Abstract

The end of World War II and the trauma of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki mark a complete rupture in Japan’s recent history. Both Japanese and non-Japanese authors of children’s literature have addressed this traumatic memory in their works, aiming to pass it on to the next generations and thus contributing to the construction of a carefully curated postmemory (Hirsch 2012) that conveys specific messages and feelings. There are several perspectives from which the catastrophe is retold, shifting from those who are the “victims” to those who can be considered the “accomplices” and influencing the way this specific memory is passed on to young readers. Through the analysis and comparison of three works of children's literature, including Hiroshima no uta (1960) by Imanishi Sukeyuki, this paper sets out to explore a new way of looking at children's literature that deals with the trauma of the atomic bombing, exploring the role that these texts have played in the transmission of this historical memory to later generations.

Keywords

• japanese literature
• hiroshima
• postmemory
• children's literature
• atomic bombing