MAJLS NEWSLETTER
Midwest Association for Japanese Literary Studies
No. 5 (Spring, 1997) Edited by Eiji Sekine
MAJLS, 1359 Stanley Coulter Hall, Purdue University, W. Lafayette, IN 47907
765.494.2258 (tel); 765.496.1700 (fax); esekine@purdue.edu (e-mail)
[MAJLS Newsletter Sponsor: FLL Purdue University]
THE NEW HISTORICISM IN JAPANESE LITERARY STUDIES: TEXT AND CONTEXT
October 24-26, 1997 University of Michigan
*Call for Papers
The Midwest Association for Japanese Literary Studies will hold its sixth
annual conference October 24-26, 1997, at the Ann Arbor campus of the University
of Michigan. The conference is part of the Association's project of exploring
the uses and critical implications of the new approaches spawned by the
theoretical and interdisciplinary turn in the Western humanities. This time
we will focus on the theme THE NEW HISTORICISM IN JAPANESE LITERARY STUDIES
or the issue of TEXT AND CONTEXT. We invite paper and panel proposals that
examine the historical situatedness of literary texts and their interpretation,
the sociopolitical and material circumstances of their production, or the
various constructions of Japanese literary and/or cultural history. Possible
panel topics would include questions pertaining to: the "modern"
as ideology, its impact on the "premodern," and the meaning of
the Japanese "postmodern"; the
narrativization of history (nation, class, clan, etc.) in literary or historical
texts; in film, theater, manga or anime aesthetics, politics, and/or economics;
contributions (big or small) towards illuminating the formation of the literary
canon; "what is (Japanese) literature" or the history of the term
bungaku and what is admitted under its aegis, the place of michi, bungei,
or geido; the ideology of gender and its impact on literary transmission;
issues of representation--of Heian women's writing, of love and sexuality,
of Japan in Asia, of the West in Japan or Japan in the US; nihonjinron,
or orientalism, and (post)colonial criticism; a critique of historicism
itself. We also invite participants for a pedagogy forum on rewriting literary
history and the canon for use in undergraduate classes in the light of interdisciplinarity:
what would you include, exclude, and why?
- Deadline for Paper/Panel Proposals: May 15,
1997
A 1-2 page proposal, together with the form in
this newsletter,
should be sent to the Conference Chair. All inquiries related to the call
for papers, as well as the annual meeting, should also be addressed to her.
Esperanza Ramirez-Christensen, Conference Chair
Visiting Professor, National Institute of Japanese Literature
1-16-10 Yutaka-cho, Shinagawa-ku,
Tokyo 142, JAPAN
Office Tel 03.3785.7131, ext. 245
Fax 03.3785.4452 or 4454
Email erchrist@nijl.ac.jp
Home Tel/Fax 03.3455.8699
The "Ga/Zoku Dynamics" conference was held at Indiana University on November 1-3, 1996. A wide range of papers were presented so as to discuss and examine the dynamics in the construction of Japanese literary texts. Professor Chizuko Ueno presented the keynote address in which she gave a thought-provoking overview of the history of modern literary styles as products of gendered politics. Professor Kenji Watanabe provided a major address in which he discussed the complex understanding of ga/zoku among various literary institutional leaders in Edo period. His address was supplemented by his friends and Edo specialists from Japan (Professors Kigoshi, Ibi, and Ichiko), who provided a variety of insightful remarks on the conceptualization of ga/zoku in Edo literature. The Association's first three-day meeting was thoughtfully organized by Professor Edith Sarra. Her effort, together with the IU East Asian Studies Center's extensive support, were highly appreciated by all conference participants and audience members.
Currently, we have 110 members (the MAJLS Directory is included in this newsletter). If you have not yet joined us, please do so this time. Those who joined and received a copy of the "Revisionism" proceedings, please renew your membership now. Inquiries and orders (with checks payable to MAJLS) should be addressed to the MAJLS office.
We have host institutions in line through the year 2000: Oberlin College for 1998 (Professor Ann Sherif, Chair), University of Colorado for 1999 (Professor Stephen Miller, Chair), and University of Notre Dame (Professor Eileen Mikals-Adachi, Chair). If you are interested in hosting the MAJLS meeting for 2001 or later, please contact the MAJLS office. Information on the organization of the past meetings is available.
A listservice for Japanese literature has been created and is now running. In order to subscribe to this list, send to listserv@vm.cc.purdue.edu a short message that says: sub JLIT-L xyxy (put your own name in place of xyxy). You will immediately receive a confirmation and can participate in this network by sending your messages to: JLIT-L@vm.cc.purdue.edu. Subscription is free. Please join other netters from all over the world and exchange various topics and information related to Japanese literature/culture. Currently, we have around 250 subscribers. MAJLS activities are also regularly reported on this network.
Back issues of the proceedings are available. Each copy is $7.00 for MAJLS members and $10.00 for non-members. Orders should be sent to the MAJLS office.
An anthology of selected and translated essays
from our first two meetings was published from Shinwasha in Tokyo in 1996.
The 334-page book, entitled, Uta no hibiki, monogatari no yokubo: Amerika
kara yomu Nihon bungaku (Echo of poems, desire for narratives: Reading Japanese
literature from America), includes seventeen essays discussing Japanese
poeticity and narrativity. Inquiries and orders should be sent to: Oishi
Yoshinori, Shinwasha, 2-5-9 Sarugaku-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101, JAPAN.
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PAPER/PANEL PROPOSAL FORM
THE NEW HISTORICISM IN JAPANESE LITERARY STUDIES
DEADLINE: MAY 15, 1997
[Please attach a 1-2 page proposal to this form and send to Esperanza Ramirez-Christensen,
National Institute of Japanese Literature, 1-16-10 Yutaka-cho, Shinagawa-ku,
Tokyo 142, JAPAN. You can also email to: erchrist@nijl.ac.jp.]
Title: __________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Name: _______________________________________________________________________
Institution: __________________________________________________________________
Mailing Address: _____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Telephone (Fax and E-mail): __________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
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