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Suekichi Aono

Japanese literary critic and specialist in literature (1890-1961)

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ615906 ↗
Source-derived summary

Suekichi Aono (Japanese: 青野 季吉; 24 February 1890 – 23 June 1961) was a Japanese literary theorist and critic.

Biography

Aono was born into an impoverished landlord family. In 1915, he graduated from the English Department of Waseda University and joined the Yomiuri Shimbun in the same year, but later resigned because he opposed the editorial of the newspaper's head supporting intervention in Siberia.

In 1922, Aono joined the Japanese Communist Party and began to publish articles in Tane maku Hito in the same year, but later withdrew from the Japanese Communist Party. In 1926, he published the article "Natural Growth and Purpose Consciousness", which called on the proletariat to express themselves consciously and led to him becoming one of the main theorists of the proletarian literature movement in Japan during the 1920s. In 1927 he joined the Labor-Peasant Faction, a Japanese Marxist group made of Japanese Marxist intellectuals critical of the JCP. In 1938 he was arrested and imprisoned during the Popular Front Incident, but was released on bail the following year.

After World War II, he worked hard to rebuild the Japan PEN Club, serving as its vice-president from 1948. In 1949, he also served as a member of the newly established National Language Council.

In 1950, he won the first Yomiuri Literature Prize for Literary Criticism for "Modern Literature Theory". In 1951, he became president of the Japan Writers Association.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Suekichi Aono” as japanese literary critic and specialist in literature (1890-1961). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Suekichi, Aono and Japanese.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1890, 1961, 1915, 1922—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1890-01-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Suekichi, Aono and Japanese providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Suekichi Aono”, the useful work is to connect “japanese literary critic and specialist in literature (1890-1961)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q615906. VIAF identifies the subject as 57414589. The Library of Congress control number is n86056443. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1890, 1961, 1915 and 1922.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

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  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
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Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Suekichi Aono”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Suekichi Aono primary sources, Suekichi Aono archive and Suekichi research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Suekichi Aono” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.