Barefoot Gen and Hiroshima: Comic Strip Narratives of Trauma

Abstract

Considering comic strip representations of trauma, this chapter focuses on Keiji Nakazawa’s depiction of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in Barefoot Gen. With other sequential comic strip narratives, Barefoot Gen is examined through the lens of literary criticisms trauma theory. This chapter shows how effectively comic strip narratives can represent trauma. The aftermath of Hiroshima was studied by Robert Jay Lifton, a key figure behind the inclusion of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the controversial Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). This chapter questions trauma theory’s acceptance of the diagnosis of PTSD from the DSM. It also seeks to highlight the importance of the sequential comic art form as a subject worthy of inter-disciplinary academic study beyond Art Spiegelman’s Maus.