Global Freud: Ah-Q and Ajase

As the first blog leader after the Global Freud conference, I find myself inclined to talk about China and Japan, two of the lectures that I attended (along with Sander Gilman). As Professor Tobin noted, Gilman was definitely the best choice to bring the day to an end, as he tied in Freud and electrotherapy in a really entertaining way. However, I could not stop thinking about the China and Japan talks, and how different their idea of psychoanalysis was than we have learned about. Something that stuck with me was the use of popular literary figures from both China (Ah-Q) and Japan (Ajase).

For those of you who didn’t attend these talks, the literary figures were said to be “models” of the state of psychoanalysis in each country. For example, Keith Vincent deemed Ajase the “Asian Oedipus” to describe the “Ajase complex” of Japan. Heisaku Kosawa visited Sigmund Freud in 1932 and presented this paper on the Ajase complex. For anyone who was unclear on this, here is a definition: “The Ajase complex is an original theory developed by Kosawa, and subsequently expanded by Keigo Okonogi. Whereas Freud based his Oedipus complex on a Greek tragedy, Kosawa developed his theory on the Ajase complex from stories found in Buddhist scripture. The story of Ajase centers on the Buddhist concept of reincarnation. Well known to the Buddhist world, Ajase's story appears with many variations in the scriptures of ancient India.”

“The True Story of Ah-Q” was written by Lu Xun in 1922, and is considered a masterpiece of modern Chinese Literature. One of Ah-Q's greatest faults is that he persuades himself that he is superior to his oppressors; Lu Xun exposes this "flaw" as symptomatic of the Chinese national character of his time. A sample of the literature can be found here.


Also, there a movie made about the book called “Ah Q zheng zhuan,” and I found a video of it. It’s all in Chinese and there are no English subtitles, but it’s still fun to watch!