On March 12th, the second session of “Leading Lecture Series on Frontier Studies” of Zijingang Global Forum on Interdisciplinary Studies 2024, organized by the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies of World Literature of Zhejiang University, was held on Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University. The lecture entitled “Reading and Interpreting: Basics of Japanese Literature Research” was delivered by Professor Tsuyoshi Namigata, a Professor of Modern Japanese Literature at the Graduate School of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University, Japan as well as a visiting scholar at Harvard-Yenching Institute. The lecture was moderated by Special Associate Research Fellow REN Jie of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies of World Literature and was attended by undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral students from the School of International Studies of Zhejiang University.
During the lecture, Professor Namigata first introduced two vivid examples to illustrate the focus and approach of literary research. When introducing the selection and combination of images in “When I Sing a Song” (うたをうたうとき), a children’s song by poet Michio Mado, Prof. Namigata raised questions to guide the attendees to consider the differences between the real world and the poetic world, therefore emphasizing the importance of addressing and interpreting the ‘illogical’ elements of literature. Prof. Namigata also took the unusual setting of identity of the protagonists in the picture book Doradov, A Partner In Justice (せいぎのみかた ドラフラ巻) as an example to support the idea that literary studies should try to account for and interpret the “incomprehensible”.
Then, Professor Namigata discussed the foundational methods of literary research by citing Hikaru Okuizumi’s views on “literariness” (文学的であること) and Robert Scholes’ views on “Interpretation”, supported with examples. Through analyzing the opening and closing paragraphs of Japanese writer Kobo Abe’s Red Cocoon (赤い繭), Professor Namigata emphasized the differences between impression and interpretation, highlighting that impressions stem from understanding after reading, while interpretation starts from the incomprehensible parts after reading. He pointed out that literary research is expected to analyze and interpret the language, characters, and events in texts as elements of linguistics, psychology and history to draw objective and convincing conclusions based on previous research and the application of appropriate critical theories.
In the end of the lecture, Prof. Namigata introduced the basic theory of Semiotics. With “POP STAR”, “Signifier” of the music POP STAR created by Hirai Ken as an example, he claimed that, in the interpretation of the “Signified” meaning, literary research is expected to go beyond to broader objectives, genres and fields in the contemporary era instead of being limited to the traditional genres of novels and poetry. He encouraged the students to explore the incomprehensible issues in the literary works of interest, employing various theories with rigor, interpreting and discussing literary works from interdisciplinary perspectives.
During the Q&A session, students had extensive and in-depth exchanges regarding researchers’ positions in different literary genres and the significance of literary research for beginners with Prof. Namigata. Among them, DING Lingjun asked about the three research directions of literary works in the lecture and their application to the specific and unique genre of crime fiction. Prof. Namigata suggested analyzing the role of novel language in story construction with the unique narrative mode of crime novel as a starting point because crime fiction is usually developed in this way. In addition to “language”, he also suggested deliberating on the characteristics of the times from the perspective of “objects”. Responding to Xu Nuo’s inquiry about the children’s song “When I Sing a Song”, Prof. Namigata affirmed that both child-centered and adult-centered approaches are meaningful in studying children’s literature. Adults and children are both significant in their unique cognition even though they are likely to misread the children’s songs.
Finally, Ms. REN Jie concluded that making a distinction between “reading” and “interpretation” is a starting point for literary research, while a flexible application of literary theories is a necessary channel for literary research. Meanwhile, the study of foreign literature in the 21st century should strive to explore new modes of research across genres, media, cultures and countries, and highlight transnational writing. University students and young scholars in the new era should make efforts to innovate foreign literature research methodology, draw on and absorb the research experience of other disciplines, broaden the new paths of cross-disciplinary research, conduct interdisciplinary research, and form a methodology with Chinese characteristics from the cross-cultural perspective.
The lecture is supported by the major project of the National Social Science Fund “Collation, Translation and Research of Contemporary Western Ethical Criticism Literature” [Project No. 19ZDA292].
“Zijingang Global Forum on Interdisciplinary Studies”, named after Zijingang Campus, the main campus of Zhejiang University, aims to provide an interdisciplinary platform for scholars engaged in humanities at home and abroad, especially those who are devoted to literary studies, to facilitate theoretical advancement, methodological innovation, intellectual promotion, and information exchange. As a foundational part of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies of World Literature, “Zijingang Global Forum on Interdisciplinary Studies” launches a series of academic activities and keeps its participants informed about current scholarship in the field. To be more specific, it consists of four major forums: “Leading Lecture Series on Frontier Studies”, “Leading Publication of Academic Achievements”, “Leading Forum on Interdisciplinary Studies for Young Scholars”, and “Leading Forum for University Students”.
Text: YANG Wushuang
Photos: HUA Xinyi
Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies of World Literature, Zhejiang University
March 12, 2024
Translated by LIU Mingyuan, Proofread by XU Xueying
