Paper short abstract:

Nakajima Atsushi is sometimes labeled a forerunner of Japanese postcolonial literature. This fact is rather surprising for at least two reasons. Not only was Japan a colonial superpower for almost eighty years, but Nakajima also did not live to see the collapse of the Empire of Japan in 1945.

Paper long abstract:

Although practically unknown outside Japan, Nakajima Atsushi (1909-1942) is sometimes labeled a forerunner of Japanese postcolonial literature even by some prominent Japanese literary historians. He was a bright student that showed his passion for literary pursuits while still in middle school. Nakajima wrote his first short stories while living in Keijō (now Seoul); after moving back to the colonial metropolis, he could not stop dreaming about returning to the imperial periphery. A few years before his premature death, Nakajima came across the literary works of Robert Louis Stevenson and instantly became an eager reader of the author. He even wrote a quasi­-diary about this Scottish novelist. In addition to his recurring health problems, Nakajima's fascination with Stevenson was undoubtedly among the reasons why he decided to move to Koror, Palau, when he was offered a position as a supervisor for elementary­-school textbooks

In his diaries and letters to his family, Nakajima was critical of the Japanese colonial policies, yet he never directly opposed the imperial elites in Tokyo. In my opinion, his recent rediscovery should be placed in the broader perspective of the rediscovery of the Japanese imperial past after Hirohito's death in 1989—which, on the other hand, did not end the widespread belief among the Japanese that in the first half of the twentieth century they were actually victims, and not victimizers. This clearly shows that literary canonisation is frequently a political statement and serves some political purposes of the time.