Asian Studies Program Presents

Writers and Fighters: Criticism and Intellectual Debates in Japan, 1868–2022

This one-day workshop brings together scholars to create an interinstitutional and interdisciplinary space for new dialogues and research on the intersections of literary criticism and intellectual and cultural history in modern and contemporary Japan. It is the initial step in a long-term, sustained effort to develop a regular and ongoing series of meetings and collective scholarly projects on this topic. Focusing on a series of debates (ronsō) and moments of critique (hihyō) from the Meiji through the Heisei periods, we will examine how intellectual communities, forms of expression, and ideological paradigms emerged and evolved through iterations of sophisticated attacks and public dialogues published in journals and newspapers. The workshop’s participants will collectively demonstrate the ways in which intellectual debates or critiques have played a pivotal role in defining literary and media history in Japan.

The workshop will consist of four roundtable sessions, each comprising two or three papers to achieve open discussions on the following topics: 1. The Creation of the Tokyo-based Literary Establishment and Its Discontents; 2. The Art of Debate and The Politics of Media in Modern Japan; 3. Moving Images and Social Movements: Postwar Japanese Cinema and Literature; and 4. Debating Heisei Japan: Mass Culture and Mass Media. Rather than focusing on typological or categorical approaches to literary and intellectual history, the workshop will be oriented around both diachronic and synchronic lenses to illuminate change and continuity across the historical, aesthetic, and social dimensions of these debates and critical inquiries. At the same time, we will consider media and publishing strategies and the shifting cultural values of the public as a mass audience.

---

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

Location: Olin Humanities Building

Subscribe: Save this Event: Subscribe / .ics File