International Conference „Theorizing Japanese Literature: Memories, Evocations, Ghosts"

What can the field of Japanese literature offer in terms of critical
theory? How can we approach Japanese literature as a world literature?
Drawing from the wealth of approaches that have been applied to Japanese
literary study inside and outside Japan, this workshop will consider how
this area of study may contribute to other fields and how shared interests
may be fostered with related fields. Three themes will be used as
springboards for discussion and debate: memory, evocations, and ghosts. The
relationship between memory and writing, how narrative voice evokes the
past, and the ghostly influence of history on the present are among the
topics that will be examined over the course of panels and
presentations.The workshop will open with a reading and reception on the
evening of September 9, 2010, followed by two days of presentation and
discussion, ending on September 11, 2010. The organizing committee consists
of Kimura Saeko (Tsuda College), Lauri Kitsnik (Tallinn University),
Rajyashree Pandey (Goldsmiths College, Tallinn University), and Rein Raud
(Tallinn University).The conference will be held in English and Japanese
and will take place in room M-213 (TU Mare building, Uus-Sadama
5).Additional information:Lauri Kitsnik, lauri.kitsnik(at)tlu.ee +372 566
64377Programme:Friday, September 10thSection 1: Narrating the
Body9:30-11:00Rajyashree Pandey (Goldsmiths College, London,
UK)„Reconfiguring Sex, Body and Desire in Japanese Modernity“Ubukata
Tomoko (Rissho University, Tokyo)„Approaching Jung in Modernist
Literature: Kawabata Yasunari‘s Suisho genso‘“Kimura Saeko (Tsuda
College, Tokyo)„Image of Non-Gendered Body: On Hiruko"11:00-11:15 Coffee
and tea breakSection 2: Phenomenology and Narrative11:15-12:15Fujii
Sadakazu (Rissho University, Tokyo)„Grammatically Dissecting the Japanese
Language “Miika Pölkki (University of Helsinki, Finland)„Poetic Matrix
of Court Literature: from narukoto to narumono“12:15-14:15 Lunch
break14:15-15:15Darin Tenev (Sofia University, Bulgaria)„Fading
territories (The case of the Japanese avant-garde magazine A)“Ando Toru
(Ryukoku University, Kyoto)„The Tale of Genji as
Ghost/Example“15:15-15:30 Coffee and tea break15:30-16:30Rein Raud
(Tallinn University, Estonia)„The determinacy of representation“Eve
Zimmerman (Wellesley College, MA, USA)„Under Blossoms, With Ghosts:
Nakagami Kenji and the Excavation of Kumano“Saturday, September
11thSection 3: Uta and memory9:30-11:00 Takagi Makoto (Sagami Women’s
University, Kanagawa)„Time of the Ghost/Song of the Ghost“Hank Glassman
(Haverford College, PA, USA)„Katami: Memory, Loss, and Redemption in Late
Medieval Buddhist Fiction“Alari Allik (Tallinn University,
Estonia)„Setsuwa and Self Writing: Witnessing Death in
Hosshinshu“11:00-11:15 Coffee and tea break11:15-12:15Edoardo Gerlini
(University of Venice, Italy)„Poetry creates memory: Sugawara no
Michizane’s kanshi rielaboration during Heian“Ivo Smits (Leiden
University, Netherlands)„The anecdotal mode of literary discourse in
early medieval Japan“12:15-14:15 Lunch break14:15-15:15Robert Omar Khan
(School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London)„The Ethics
of Intimacy: Explicit and Implicit Moral Codes in Late Heian and Early
Kamakura Fiction“Ninette Poetzsch (University of Edinburgh,
UK)„Prefaces to historiographical works in the Edo-period“15:15-15:30
Coffee and tea break15:30-17:00Aleksi Järvelä (University of Helsinki,
Finland)„Time and Representation - No Future for Mountains and
Waters“Isabel Barroso (Kokugakuin University, Tokyo)„Memory and
Writing: Myth and the re-created Past“Laeticia Söderman (University of
Helsinki, Finland)„Bridging the Gap and Steering the Discourse –
textual strategies of orientation in Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho“
Closing reception