著者

有山 輝雄

出版者

桃山学院大学

雑誌

桃山学院大学人間科学 (ISSN:09170227)

巻号頁・発行日

no.35, pp.7-25, 2008-07-07

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In studying the history of media, it is most important to identify the type of people who read a certain book. However, it is very difficult to do so when only limited reference materials are available. This paper analyzes which type of people read Karl Marx's "Capital " in Yanagawa Town, Fukushima Prefecture (present Date City) in 1928, using materials offered by Abe Kaishundo, a newspaper distributor in the town. The analysis reveal that as many as 16 residents of this small town in the Tohoku region read "Capital ," a rather difficult book for the general public. Those 16 residents were either members of the upper level in the town, or agricultural engineers engaged in silkworm-related business. None of them had ever been involved in any leftist movements. It seems that such people struggled to obtain pointers to overcoming the difficulties Yanagawa-Town residents were facing at that time.