Abstract:
The General by Akutagawa Ryuunosuke belongs to the fiction which is possessed of anti-aggression consciousness, and it is a cycle of stories correspondent to the four texts marked with A, B, C and D in this thesis. There are no words what so ever in
The General proper, so we may call it a general text of effect.
Travels in China, a book written by the same writer, may be regarded as the prolongation of text B in that imperialist countries' aggregation against China is condemned in a concentrative way in this book. In the four texts mentioned above there is general N, who is an omnipresent agent. The theme of
The General is like this. By describing general N's subtle direction to his troops, the foolish loyalty of Japanese soldiers is represented, the sacrificial spirit of Chinese scouts is exhibited, the vulgarity of Japanese barracks' culture is exposed, and the unconsciousness of Japanese young fellows who accept the foolish loyalty is condemned. Thus those Japanese servicemen who faithfully carry out the line of militarism are nailed historically to the pillory. When one reads the almost absurd description of
The General, his thoughts may naturally incline towards knowing the danger and harm of militarism. The ideological tendency of a work is conveyed silently in the narration, as is the essentials of Akutagawa Ryuunosuke's narrative art.