We are pleased to announce that the following lecture will be provided by Assistant Professor David Atherton at Harvard University.
Title: What is an Author in Early Modern Japan? Answers from the Pages of Illustrated Fiction
Date: January 15th (Mon) , 2018
Time: 4:30pm – 6:00pm
Venue: Conference Room 10, Bldg. 33, 16th floor
Toyama Campus, Waseda University
Language: English
Q&A: English and Japanese
No reservation required.
<Abstract>
Beginning in the 1770s, a new character appeared in the landscape of popular Japanese illustrated fiction (kusazōshi): the author himself, fighting writer’s block, pulling all-nighters, and scrambling to meet deadlines. In these works, the author is the main protagonist, and the plot is his struggle to create the book in the reader’s hands. This talk examines how writers employed the author-as-protagonist to differentiate their creative labor from that of other figures involved in the creation of a book (such as publisher, illustrator, block carver, and printer). In the process, they afford us novel glimpses into the early modern imagination of the creative process itself.
For detail, please refer to the below flyer :
