Barefoot Gen 1

by Keiji Nakazawa, Art Spiegelman (Introduction)

'Gen - Pés Descalços' é uma história autobiográfica. O autor, Keiji Nakazawa, tinha 7 anos quando a bomba atômica atingiu Hiroshima, cidade onde morava com a família. O livro é um relato da vida de uma família japonesa, vítima da bomba atômica, durante e após a Segunda Guerra Mundial.

Genres: Manga, Japan, Graphic Novels, Comics, History

304 pages, Paperback

Published July 27, 1995

About the author

Keiji Nakazawa (中沢啓治; Nakazawa Keiji) was born in Hiroshima and was in the city when it was destroyed by an atomic bomb in 1945. All of his family members who had not evacuated died as a result of the explosion after they became trapped under the debris of their house, except for his mother, as well as an infant sister who died several weeks afterward. In 1961, Nakazawa moved to Tokyo to become a full-time cartoonist, and produced short pieces for manga anthologies such as Shōnen Gaho, Shōnen King, and Bokura.
Following the death of his mother in 1966, Nakazawa returned to his memories of the destruction of Hiroshima and began to express them in his stories. Kuroi Ame ni Utarete (Struck by Black Rain), the first of a series of five books, was a fictional story of Hiroshima survivors involved in the postwar black market. Nakazawa chose to portray his own experience directly in the 1972 story Ore wa Mita, published in Monthly Shōnen Jump. The story was translated into English and published as a one-shot comic book by Educomics as I Saw It.
Immediately after completing I Saw It, Nakazawa began his major work, Hadashi no Gen (Barefoot Gen).This series, which eventually filled ten volumes, was based on the same events as I Saw It but fictionalized, with the young Gen as a stand-in for the author. Barefoot Gen depicted the bombing and its aftermath in graphic detail, with Gen's experiences being even more harrowing than Nakazawa's own. It also turned a critical eye on the militarization of Japanese society during World War II and on the sometimes abusive dynamics of the traditional family. Barefoot Gen was adapted into two animated films and a live action TV drama.
Nakazawa announced his retirement in September 2009, citing deteriorating diabetes and cataract conditions.He cancelled plans for a Barefoot Gen sequel. In September 2010, Nakazawa was diagnosed with lung cancer and in July 2011, metastasis from lung cancer was found. He died on December 19, 2012.

Reviews

[J.D. Holman]

It's fitting that Art Speigelman wrote the introduction to this, because The Complete Maus and Barefoot Gen both offer a look at some of the greatest horrors of World War II and the terrible ways both sides obliterated vast numbers of people - from very personal vantage points. Maus and Barefoot Gen are both very much worth reading.

Do read the introduction. It serves as a thoughtful trigger warning. And yes, there is more to consider than just how catastrophic having an atomic bomb destroy one home's city is.

This book also shines a black light on the Japanese wartime culture, and the stains light up like a forensic documentary. And here we get into what's so jarring and dissonant about the book: (Western-style) cartoonish portrayal of a father who opposes the war while beating his sons. The community villains would be laughable in any other situation.

Then there's that ending ...

This is a book that will certainly unsettle you - as it's supposed to. But it can also really mess with your head.

No stars given for a rating. Just know that it's an important book, and it should be read by mature audiences. I cannot truly say I "liked" it, but I definitely respect it.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A grim account of life in Hiroshima in the summer of 1945, ending with the city's destruction in a nuclear attack. It is particularly good on how pathological Japanese society had become in that late stage of the war.