“国家”与“民主”双重叙事下的战后日本儿童身份重构——论开高健的《皇帝的新装》

Reconstruction of Post-War Japanese Children's Identity Under the Dual Narratives of"Nation"and"Democracy":A Study of Takeshi Kaiko's The Emperor's New Clothes

日本战后作家开高健的代表作之一,《皇帝的新装》以儿童画教师“我”的视角,通过一位名叫大田太郎的孩子,管窥了日本战后儿童教育状况的一隅。一般认为,开高健借“我”之口,批判了日本战后教育界因经济高速发展而出现的功利与拜金现象。然而,此类解读往往忽略了一个事实“:我”所谋求的儿童独立人格并非是先验的存在,而是战后民主教育体制的产物。本文在参考柄谷行人《日本现代文学的起源》中“儿童之发现”等相关理论后认为,该小说并非意图在“功利教育”或“民主教育”间“站队”,而是将讨论引向了以培养“国民”为目标的现代教育体制下儿童身份的构建这一根本问题。所谓“功利教育”与“民主教育”的争锋,在深层上展现的是日本战后“国家”与“民主”叙事在儿童身份重构上的纠葛。

As one of the representative works of post-war Japanese writer Takeshi Kaiko,The Emperor's New Clothes provides a glimpse into the state of post-war children's education in Japan through the perspective of a child's art teacher referred to as"I",with a focus on a child named Taro Oda.It is commonly believed that Kaiko,through the voice of"l"criticizes the utilitarian and materialistic trends that emerged in the Japanese post-war education system due to rapid economic development.However,such interpretations often overlook a crucial fact:the pursuit of an independent personality for children by"l"is not an a priori existence but a product of the post-war democratic education system.Drawing on relevant theories such as"the discovery of children"from Kojin Karatani's Origins of Modern Japanese Literature,this paper argues that the novel does not intend to take sides between"utilitarian education"and"democratic education".Instead,it directs the discussion towards the fundamental issue of constructing the identity of children under the modern educational system that aims to cultivate"citizens".The debate between"utilitarian education"and"democratic education"at a deeper level reveals the entanglement of post-war Japanese narratives of the"nation"and"democracy"in the reconstruction of children's identities.