The Third Nihon Koshimaki Literary Grand Prize - This Month's Qualifying Entries (July 1974)

The Third Nihon Koshimaki Literary Grand Prize - This Month's Qualifying Entries (July 1974)
The Third Nihon Koshimaki Bungaku Taisho (Japan Koshimaki Literature Award), held in 1974 in the magazine Omoshiban (Funny Half), symbolized the atmosphere of the time when postwar literature was institutionalized and the authority of the literary world was beginning to waver. Koshimaki literature refers to literary art that is so explicit and full of life that it attracts readers with an obi, and was a symbol of rebellion that laughed off the authority of pure literature. At the time, the lingering heat of the Security Treaty struggle and the Zenkyoto movement was still in full swing, and society, while affluent, was enveloped in a spiritual stagnation. Young artists were seeking new forms of expression by depicting familiar themes such as sex, loneliness, and boredom rather than politics and ideology. The group of works that passed the qualifying round were mixed with a sense of emptiness toward postwar democracy and a thirst for freedom, and there were also influences from
subcultures, underground theater, and film. The "Funny Half" was an experiment in deconstructing literary forms and breaking down the boundaries between readers and writers. It breathed the fervor and freedom of the Showa era's underclass, born in the period after the collapse of postwar idealism.