Japanese Program, Asian Studies Program, Division of Languages and Literature, and Interdisciplinary Study of Religions Program Present

Religion, Modernity, and Japanese Literature in the Early 20th Century

Many Japanese authors from the 1880s to 1900s either converted to Christianity or seriously flirted with religion. By the 1910s, however, the number of vocally religious authors had plummeted. Was literature therefore purged of the supernatural and filled instead with scientific rationality? Not exactly. I will argue that in Japan, and across the globe, the modern shift away from institutional religion, especially Christianity, did not necessarily foster a broader “disenchantment.” Instead, Japanese authors, along with their contemporaries across the globe, sought alternative avenues for the spiritual and supernatural. Some speculated that hypnotism would allow access to powers that the rational mind could not reach. Others investigated the mystical teachings of medieval Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism for ideas on how the modern subject might still access aspects of reality that science could not. Most importantly, art, including the best works of literature, was seen as a possible vessel for modern enchantment. In this talk I will offer a brief history of religion and secularization in modern Japan before moving on to several case studies that expose the complex contours of belief among several authors in the early twentieth century. 

Joshua Rogers is an assistant professor at Queens College, CUNY, teaching Japanese literature and cinema. Their research examines how religion and secularity impacted modern Japanese fiction and aesthetics. Joshua is the author of the upcoming article “Politics of the Spirit: Secularity and the Power of Art in 1910s Japan,” and is working on a book manuscript titled Secularity and Enchantment in Modern Japanese Literature.

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For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].

Time: 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm EDT/GMT-4

Location: Olin Humanities, Room 102

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