Abstract
This paper examines Sakaguchi Ango’s novel Hakuchi (The Idiot). The significance of this novel lies in its description of the air bombing of Tokyo by the U.S. Army Air Forces in the Second World War and the protagonists' escape from the attacks. In this paper, firstly, we examine the meaning of air bombing in the twentieth century and its reflection in this novel. Secondly, we consider the relation between Hakuchi and Sakaguchi’s essay “Daraku-ron (On Corruption)” with reference to the works of Maruyama Masao and other “Post-War democrats.” Through these analyses, this paper attempts to clarify the description of the process of subjectivation in Hakuchi, a discourse unseen previously in the work of other proponents of democracy in the wake of WWII.
