THE FLÂNEUR IN TOKIO.

A READING OF THE SCARLET GANG OF ASAKUSA BY YASUNARI KAWABATA

Abstract

To begin with, it will be analyzed the concept of flâneur, and for that, it will be taken into account the works of Walter Benjamin, to whom we owe the origin of this term. It will also be considered the experience of Charles Baudelaire facing the urban and social transformations that hit Paris in the 19th century during the Second French Empire. Subsequently, it will be explored the configuration of the figure of flâneur in The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa by Y. Kawabata. Based on the assumption that the thematic and structural elements associated to this concept flâneur, are present in this novel.