Kern 102

Lunch: 12:15-12:30 (BYOL)

Presentation: 12:30-1:20

Q&A: 1:20-2:00

Participants:

AZUMA Hiroki, Shion KONO, Jonathan ABEL

Moderator: Charlotte EUBANKS

Chair: Reiko TACHIBANA

Interpreters: Yuka AMANO, Rebecca HU

Theorist-philosopher-novelist Azuma Hiroki speaks on the afterlives of literature.

What are we to make of Mizumura Minae recent claims about the fall of the Japanese language? Is the category of “literature” still relevant or useful?  For whom?  Why?

What is the environment in which the literary is possible?

Do cell phone novels, anime, and manga reduce the possibilities for literature?

What is the literary history connecting Murakami Haruki to the recent boom of cell phone novels?

Why are light novels important? 

References:

東浩紀『ゲーム的リアリズムの誕生』

東浩紀『キャラクターズ』

早稲田文学２号

水村美苗『日本語が亡びるとき』

Funded with the generous support of the Japan Foundation.