Paper short abstract:

The 1940s and 1950s saw the development of Contemporary Japanese Poetry (gendaishi). Looking at the defining moments of this term, I aim to give an overview of ideological aspects of poetry production set for change. Special focus will be given to new debates on the gendaishi since 2011.

Paper long abstract:

The year 2015 marked the 70th anniversary not only of the end of the Pacific War, but also a caesura that came to redefine Modern Japanese Poetry (kindaishi) under the term Contemporary Japanese Poetry (gendaishi) still perceived today. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, a teleological change between prewar and postwar poetics came to the forefront of attention as established poetry groups were quick to reemerge and comment on the changing artistic, cultural and sociopolitical realities of writing. None more so than the modernist poetry group ARECHI, who proclaimed in their manifesto X e no kenji [Dedication to X] in 1951 that "the present is a waste land" (gendai wa arechi de aru), much in line with T.S. Eliots famous poem "The Waste Land" (1922). Other poets and literary figures emerging during that time, like Tanikawa Shuntarô or the hibakusha-writers concerned with the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, helped to redefine and to reimagine the basic conditions for writing poetry in Japan not only through their poetics, but their own experiences and backgrounds. The legacy of the early years of postwar Japanese poetry, with its hard fought political, ideological and personal struggles, stands as a testimony for a literature in desperate need for change after a war that came to undermine a system belief and the role of the political artist alike.

Looking back at the beginning and the defining moments of the gendaishi by combining micro and macro-level case studies, this lecture aims to give an overview of the political and ideological aspects of poetry production set for "change", while also grasping at the neglected research field of Contemporary Japanese Poetry in general. Special focus will be given to current reinterpretations and self-reflections within the field of the gendaishi, which highlighted the desire to look back at 70 years of political writing in Japan after the 3.11 catastrophe, and asked if yet another profound change was imminent. It is part of an ongoing Ph.D. research project into contemporary Japanese poetry and the Fukushima-research project at the department of Japanese Studies in Frankfurt.

Paper short abstract:

Modernism in Japan is characterised by the discontinuation from the past. Junichirō Tanizaki was the writer who reconstructed the lost history in his novella Yoshino-kuzu. His imagination is associated with Walter Benjamin's flâneur who appropriates public history for re-narrating private history.

Paper long abstract:

As modernism is best characterised by the keen sense of discontinuation from the past, so modernist novels tend to emphasise the sense of loss. Junichirō Tanizaki was a novelist who turned this sense of loss into a creative springboard for his novella, Yoshino-kuzu (1931). The story begins with the narrator's research trip to Yoshino for a new historical novel. However, the narrator's interest in history gradually deviates into the personal history of his fellow traveller, Tsumura, who, it turns out, has offerd to accompany the narrator to chase after the shadow of his lost mother.

In a sense, Yoshino-kuzu is Tanizaki's sentimental journey - in the fashion of Laurence Sterne - into the lost past. Tanizaki mourned the loss of his hometown after the major earthquake that hit Tokyo in 1923. As if to compensate for the devastation, the novelist turns to historical past in Yoshino, which boasts of many historical anecdotes and legends, only to find that all the relics it offers are of dubious authenticity. Curiously, though, this inauthenticity that shrouds the past inspires Tanizaki to change his path from a historical novel to the tale of Tsumura's personal search for his lost mother. While supposedly mediaeval relics can only indicate discontinuity, Tanizaki's association of ideas that is evoked from the scenery, the naïveté of the locals and the old tales he remembers leads to a strong sense of redemption. My presentation will argue that this modernist creative process can be redefined as Walter Benjamin's flâneur imagination which is eager to project private vision upon the "public" history.

Paper short abstract:

This paper addresses contemporary notions of nostalgia in Japanese literature and asks why there is a sociocultural need for a sentimentality for the past. Through close readings of Heisei literature it analyzes different (narrative) forms and functions of nostalgia in Japan since the 1980s.

Paper long abstract:

Etymologically, the word "nostalgia" comes from the Greek nóstos, "a return home," and álgos, "pain". Introduced as a medical term for homesickness in 17th century Western Europe, nostalgia first acquired broader implications in French literature of the 19th century, when authors like Balzac and Baudelaire used it do designate a diffuse type of longing. Even though it was not called "nostalgia", this emotional state of mind played from the beginning of Japanese literature an important role in poetry and prose regarding concepts of home town or childhood.

This paper addresses contemporary notions of nostalgia in Japanese literature and culture and asks why there is a need for a sentimentality for the past. In Heisei literature the "past" often refers to the Shōwa or Taishō period, whereas Meiji and Taishō literature often refer to the Edo or Heian period while creating a past. Despite the temporal differences, however, similarities in strategies of constructing the past persist.

Through close readings of literary texts of the Heisei period this paper analyzes different forms and functions of nostalgia (natsukashisa or nosutargia) and retro-trends that refer to a longing for the past. It elaborates on the questions of to which epochs, objects, events and themes nostalgia is connected and which narrative techniques are used to construct a certain figure/notion/imaginary/longing for the "past". The paper also analyzes how the constructed past is related to the literary depicted "present". Thereby it focuses amongst others on literature of Kawakami Hiromi and Yoshimoto Banana.

Finally, the paper presents cultural and sociological explanations for sentimental literature in Japan since the 1980s.