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- Convenors:
-
Simone Müller
(University of Zurich)
Atsuko Ueda (Princeton University)
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- Stream:
- Modern Literature
- Location:
- Torre A, Piso -1, Auditório 001
- Sessions:
- Friday 1 September, -
Time zone: Europe/Lisbon
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 1 September, 2017, -Paper short abstract:
My presentation aims to propose strategies for reading "border-crossing literature" (ekkyō bungaku) by tackling Rībi Hideo. A close reading that focuses on his writing style might lead us to regard his work as a truly literary practice, not as just testimony of our globalized world.
Paper long abstract:
Since the early 1990s literary works have emerged that critics would later call "border-crossing literature" (ekkyō bungaku), although they remain a marginal presence on the Japanese literary scene. These works, which are primarily characterized by being written in Japanese by non-native authors, have to-date tended to emphasize the globalized modern world and the main issues it faces, such as identity crises. As such, they have also challenged the concept of "Japanese literature," which had previously been accepted as a self-evident truth. Indeed, a number of studies on this literary genre have explored these very issues. What seems necessary today, however, is an analysis that not only takes into account external factors but takes a closer look at the internal movement perceptible in the text. Which words do border-crossing writers choose and use to address us, the readers? A close reading that focuses on the effects of the words underpinning each work might lead us to regard border-crossing literature as a truly literary practice.
My presentation aims to adopt this approach by tackling one of the most important border-crossing writers, Rībi Hideo, with a particular focus on his writing style. The work of this American author, who describes his own writing practice as "border-crossing", often features the theme of movement. And it is true that many of the sentences in his novels are written with verbs that indicate movement in the broadest sense of the term. On the other hand, these sentences are accompanied by multilayered segments or phrases that often slow the reader down, standing in stark contrast to the verbs of movement to which they relate. This contradictory written style creates texts that appear highly ambivalent as to the "border-crossing" concept that constitutes their original main theme. In this way, Rībi's novels provide insight into the most fundamental function of literature: the search for the possibilities and limits of language.
Paper short abstract:
This paper discusses Medoruma Shun's essay collection Okinawa 'sengo' zero-nen and Ôe Kenzaburô's Okinawa nôto. It will be analyzed what aspects of the relationship between Okinawa and Japan are addressed, what writing strategies are used, and what overall messages can be identified.
Paper long abstract:
Since the early 1970s, Okinawa has been increasingly commercialized as a tourist destination and imaginary site of 'iyashi', supposedly being able to cure the ills of contemporary Japanese society. On the other hand, the prefecture's history of colonization and the traumatic experiences of the Battle of Okinawa have been excluded from the dominant Japanese discourse about Okinawa and its relationship to Japan. However, many literary texts written by authors from Okinawa - and by politically engaged writers from the Japanese main islands as well - refer to aspects of Okinawa's history of suppression which have long been evaded, concealed, and forgotten. Representing hitherto unarticulated experiences can therefore be identified as a conscious act of resistance in a postcolonial setting by which authors claim recognition and agency for Okinawan subjects.
This paper will discuss two collections of literary essays from a comparative perspective: Medoruma Shun's Okinawa 'sengo' zero-nen (2005) and Ôe Kenzaburô's Okinawa nôto (1970). As different as these two authors are in terms of writing styles and literary approaches, they seem to pursue a similar enterprise in these volumes, as they both very openly address the historical and current power imbalances between mainland Japan and Okinawa. It shall therefore, as a first step, be analyzed what aspects of the difficult relationship between Okinawa and Japan are exactly discussed in these essays. It is then to be asked how the respective problems are addressed: What argumentation patterns can be identified, what kinds of narrative and stylistic means are employed, and from where do the authors speak? Finally, conclusions regarding the essays' overall message concerning the relationship between Okinawa and Japan shall be drawn. My current hypothesis is that both authors (by quite different means) advocate Okinawan empowerment and argue against the notion of a homogeneous Japan, highlighting the fact that with Okinawa there clearly exists an 'other' within the Japanese national context whose 'otherness' should not be suppressed and eliminated by assimilation.
Paper short abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to shed light on how the imagination of Irish literature traversed geographical boundaries as well as to show how Kikuchi Kan adapted Lady Gregory's play and how Liang Qi-chao's adopted the political narratives to represent the colonial Taiwan.
Paper long abstract:
When literary critic and writer Kikuchi Kan participated in the fourth movement of The New Trends, or "shin shichō," the great majority of the works he published in the shin shichō journals were plays which were influenced by Irish dramatic works, especially plays from the Abbey Theatre. Critics have noted elements of Lady Gregory's "The Goal Gate" in "The Son of the Rebel" (Boto no ko), published in the first issue of the journal Shin shichō in February 1916. However, "The Son of the Rebel" transposed the stage of "The Goal Gate" from the Irish countryside to colonial Taiwan, which had been paced under Japanese colonial rule in 1895 when Japan defeated China. Kikuchi focused on the Incident of Tabani in colonial Taiwan in 1915 in his play, in contrast to the Irish rebellion against England's rule in "The Goal Gate." Along similar lines, the Chinese thinker Liang Qi-chao, who went into exile in Japan when he failed to reform as well as to modernize China in the late Qing period, also drew on the Irish independence movement to suggest a possible direction for the future of Taiwan under Japanese colonialization. This transpired when Lim Hien-tong, leader of the social and nationalist movement in colonial Taiwan, visited him to require the suggestions for leading the nationalist movement to fight against the Japanese colonial regime in Nara, Japan. Liang's idea on the Irish experience is seen to be inspired from the genre of political narratives called seiji shōsetsu.
The purpose of this paper is to shed light on how the imagination of Irish literature traversed geographical boundaries as well as to show how Kikuchi Kan adapted Lady Gregory's play to represent the Incident of Tabani in colonial Taiwan. Finally, I examine how Liang Qi-chao adopted the Irish experience from the Japanese political narratives to encourage Taiwanese to create their own "Formosa experience."