Rosa Vania Setiowati; Elisa Dwi Wardani

doi:10.24071/joll.v16i2.364

Capitalism as an Ideology Criticized through Allegory in Ry?nosuke Akutagawas Kappa

Rosa Vania Setiowati^(1*), Elisa Dwi Wardani⁽²⁾,

(1) Universitas Sanata Dharma
(2) Universitas Sanata Dharma
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract

Ryunosuke Akutagawa?s novel entitled Kappa (1926) is believed to be the allegory of Japanesetructure of politics and the economy in the 20th century Japan. Yet, none of the study focused on describing the function of this allegorical Kappaland and its society to criticize the system of capitalism in Japan. Thus, the writer finds it important to scrutinize how the author of the story employs the allegory, as a rhetorical device of literary works, to criticize the reign of the dominant class in Japanese systems of politics and economy. Focusing on the allegorical characters, setting, and significant events, this study seek for, the evidence that Kappa is the representation of Japanese society. Some events are created to signify the real condition of Japan in the early of 20th century, after the Meiji Restoration. The effect of industrial revolution brings several questions, including the role of the State and its apparatuses, to be problematized in this study. In addition, Akutagawa points out some of the lacks and shortcomings of humans through the allegorical characters and events in Kappaland. The settings are employed to show the life-likeness of Kappa and humans and support the wholeness of allegory. Analysis on parallelism of Kappaland and Japan is deemed important to reveal the criticism Akutagawa raises through the characters and the significant events. The setting of the story is pretty similar to what Japan was experienced, for instance the massive industrial production linked to the capitalist mode of production, the accumulation of power and wealth to the small amount of the dominant class. It is observed that Kappa is a disgusting and deformed mirror Akutagawa gives to humans to reflect their life.

Keywords: capitalism, ideology, Akutagawa

Full Text:

PDF

References

Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Ninth Edition. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009.

Althusser, Louis. Lenin and Philosphy and other Essays. New York: Mothly Review Press, 1971.

Akutagawa, Ryunosuke. Kappa. London: Peter Owen Publishers, 2009. Barefelt, Gunnar. On Symbol and Allegory. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. Vol 28, No. 2 (1969): pp. 201-212. JSTOR (www.jstor.org/stable/428569) February 11, 2016.

Bennett, Andrew and Nicholas Royle. An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 2004.

Boudon, Raymond. The Analysis of Ideology. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1989.

Boyd, James Robert. Elements of Rhetoric and Literary Criticism, with Copious Practical Exercises and Examples, for the Use of Common Schools and Academies. Eight Edition. New York: Harper & Brothers Publisher, 1860.

Bressler, Charles E., Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.

Brooker, Peter. A Glossary of Cultural Theory. New York: Bloomsbury, 2002. Copeland, Rita and Peter T. Struck. The Cambridge Companion to Allegory. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Cowan, Bainard. Walter Benjamin?s Theory of Allegory. New German Critique. No. 22 Special Issue on Modernism (1981): pp. 109-122. JSTOR (www.jstor.org/stable/487866) February 11, 2016.

Eagleton, Terry. Marxism and Literary Criticism. London: Routledge Classics, 2002.

Fletcher, Angus. Allegory: The Theory of a Symbolic Mode. New York: Cornell University Press, 1964.

Forster, E.M. Aspects of the Novel. New York: A Harvest Book, 1985.

Fulcher, James. Capitalism: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Giddens, Anthony. Capitalism and Modern Social Theory: An Analysis of the Writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971.

Holman, C. Hugh. A Handbook to Literature. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Educational Publishing Company, Inc., 1960.

Howell, David L. Capitalism From Within: Economy, Society, and the State in a Japanese Fishery. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995.

Ike, Nobutaka. The Development of Capitalism in Japan. Pacific Affairs. Vol. 22. No. 2 (1949): pp. 185-190. JSTOR. (www.jstor.org/stable/2751596) September 23, 2015.

Kato, Sh?ichi. Taisho Democracy as the PreStage for Japanese Militarism. Showa Japan: 1926-1941. Large, Stephen S. New York: Routledge, 1998.

Koon-ki, Ho. Kappa as a Dystopia: A Study of Akutagawa?s Anti-utopian Thought. NOAG . No. 153. (1993): pp.45-62

Leyburn, Ellen Douglass. Notes on Satire and Allegory. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Jun., 1948): pp. 323-331. JSTOR (www.jstor.org /stable/426959) February 4, 2016.

Lois, Tyson. Critical Theory Today: A Userfriendly Guide. New York: Routledge, 2006.

Mardiana, Theresia Vemi. Social Criticism toward Japanese Society in 1920s as Revealed through the Life of Imaginary Characters in Ryunosuke Akutagawa?s Kappa. Undergraduate Thesis. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University, 2008.

Marshall, Byron K. Capitalism and Nationalism in Prewar Japan: The Ideology of the Business Elite, 1868-1941. California: Stanford University Press, 1967.

Marx, Karl. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. Volume Two. London: Penguin Classics, 1993.

Morishima, Michio. A Historial Transformation from Feudalism to Capitalism?. Discussion Paper. No. JS/86/138. (1986): pp. 1-60.

Peace, David. Last Words. The Guardian Book Review. September 8, 2007. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2 007/sep/08/featuresreviews.guardianre view13. February 15, 2016.

Rubin, Jay. From Wholesomeness to Decadence: The Censorship of Literature under the Allied Occupation. The Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol 11, No. 1 (Winter, 1985) pp.71-103. (www.jstor.org /stable/132230) June 30, 2016.

Shigeto, Tsuru. The Economics of the Meiji Restoration. Japans Emergence as a Modern State: Political and Economic Problems of the Meiji Period. Norman, Herbert E. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2000.

Spisso, W. Ideology and Practice: The Material Social Production of Human Experience. On Politics (2006): pp. 83 - 93.

Tambling, Jeremy. Allegory: The New Critical Idiom. New York: Routledge, 2010.

Tsuruta, Kinya. Review. Monumenta Nipponica, Vol 27, No. 1. Tokyo: Sophia University, 1972.

-------------------. AkutagawaRyunosuke: His Concept of Life and Art.

Dissertation. Seattle: University of Washington, 1967.

Widiharyanto, Norbertus I NyomanEdy. The Functions of Allegory in Hemingway?sThe Old Man and The Sea. Undergraduate Thesis. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University, 2001.

Yu, Beongcheon. Akutagawa: An Introduction. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1972.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/joll.v16i2.364