Cultural treatments of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Cultural treatments of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Contents

Literature

  • The book Hiroshima Mon Amour, by Marguerite Duras, and the related film, were partly inspired by the bombing. The film version, directed by Alain Resnais, has some documentary footage of burn victims and the aftereffects of devastation.
  • The story of Sadako Sasaki, a young Hiroshima survivor diagnosed with leukemia, has been recounted in a number of books and films. Two of the best known of these works are Karl Bruckner's The Day of the Bomb (1961), translated into 22 languages and Eleanor Coerr's Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (Putnam, 1977). Sasaki, confined to a hospital because of her leukemia, created 644 origami cranes, in reference to a Japanese legend which granted one wish to whoever could fold 1,000 cranes.
  • Native American novelist Gerald Vizenor`s "kabuki novel", Hiroshima Bugi (2003), compares the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing to the aftermath of the conquest of the Americas.
  • The Japanese author Fumiyo Kouno wrote her graphic novel about a story of a family after the atomic bomb, Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms (2004), and translated into some languages.
  • The rock band Wishful Thinking had a hit in 1971 with "Hiroshima", a song about the bombing.
  • The Japanese rock band L'Arc-en-Ciel recorded the song "Hoshizora" ("Starlit Sky") on the 2005 "Awake" album using Hiroshima as a metaphor of the devastation of war. The song was also dedicated to the victims of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Manga

  • The Japanese manga "Hadashi no Gen" ("Barefoot Gen") is a manga which deals with the bombing in Hiroshima.

Music

  • The musical piece "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima" by Krzysztof Penderecki (sometimes also called Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for 52 Strings, and originally 8'37" as a nod to John Cage) was written in 1960 as a reaction to what the composer believed to be a senseless act. On the 12th of October, 1964, Penderecki wrote: "Let the Threnody express my firm belief that the sacrifice of Hiroshima will never be forgotten and lost."
  • The Canadian progressive rock band Rush performed a song called "The Manhattan Project" depicting the events of and leading up to the bombing of Hiroshima.
  • The book Hiroshima mon amour served as inspiration for the like-titled 1977 song by the British New Wave band Ultravox.

Art

  • Composer Robert Steadman has written a musical work for voice and chamber ensemble entitled Hibakusha Songs. Commissioned by the Imperial War Museum North, Manchester, it was premiered in 2005.
  • Artists Stephen Moore and Ann Rosenthal examine 60 years of living in the shadow of the bomb in their decade-long art project "Infinity City." Their web site http://infcty.net documents their travels to historical sites on three continents and explores their art installations and web works reflecting on America's nuclear legacy.

Films about the events


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