33rd German Oriental Conference: Asia, Africa and Europe
September 18-22, 2017, Friedrich Schiller University Jena

Abstract Panel
Literary History in Japanese Studies

Literary history is a subject that has been somewhat neglected in JapaneseStudies. Following English speaking models, current research tends to stresstheory. Harald Meyer (University of Bonn) comments that “This approach,though often referred to as theory orientation, remains ill-defined and yet has
resulted over the past several decades in a reluctance in German Japanology toengage in major work about Japanese literary history” (Harald Meyer, 2015).

In Japan, however, literary scholars have become aware of the historicity of what
is known as contemporary literature (gendai bungaku). Since 1995, when theprevious five decades were commemorated under the motto sengo gojûnen (50years after the war), it has hardly been possible to speak of contemporary
literature as “post-war literature” (sengo bungaku), the point of reference ofwhich is 1945 (Kawamura Minato, 1999). The literature of the Heisei Era (Heiseibungaki; Urata Kenji, 2015), the beginnings of which date from the death ofEmperor Hirohito (1901-1989) and the end of the Shôwa Era in 1989,
meanwhile covers nearly three decades and comprises a substantial set of texts.
From the 1990s onwards one might now distinguish several phases incontemporary literature. Events such as the Aum Incident and the Kôbe
earthquake, both in 1995, and the triple catastrophe of Fukushima on March 11,2011 mark significant caesuras. They emphasize the perceived distance frompost-war literature as well as “classical contemporary literature” (gendaibungaku; 1960s to 1990s).

The time has come, therefore, to take a fresh look at Japanese literature.
Established works of literary history are beginning to show their age and theirguiding principles need to be subjected to renewed scrutiny. Today, authors andworks of the classical modern period around 1900 (Jap. kindai bungaku) and of
the present day would be approached from different angles. Instead ofreconstructing the biographical and historical context of a “literary work of art” –often taking a comparative view – current constellations of research would
attempt to grasp complex interconnexions by means of a multidisciplinary
strategy. Matters that deserve closer study include for instance the literarymarket, the performance of authors as “intellectuals”, counselors or lifestyleicons, literature as an instrument of cultural policy, “national literature”,
contemporary literature and its place in the political sphere, popular and mass
literature, diversity and interdependence of genres, literature and visual culture,
innovation in literary formats (cell phone novels, “twitter literature”), literary
journals and the media in the context of literature, literary prizes, fashionable
research paradigms (“trauma”), specialized histories (for example genbaku
bungaku, narratives of technology, religious poetics, regional literature, theachievement of “cultural translators”) as well as the traditional literary canon,Japanese postmodernism, less well-known writers/texts and last but not least
up-to-date academic teaching of Japanese literature.

Japanese and western research on modern Japanese literature need to beperceived as integral parts of a wider history of research that is subject to criticalreflexion from a twenty-first century perspective. Taking stock inevitably means
scrutinizing one’s own work and therefore a reconsideration of the history ofJapanese Studies with specific reference to literary studies may well turn out tobe a fascinating subject, one which has been neglected for a reason: ever since“Fukushima”, probing questions have been asked about broader contexts andabout “critical Japanese Studies”.

Presentations
1. Lisette Gebhardt (Frankfurt): Japanologische Fachgeschichte im Bereich derLiteraturforschung: Ergebnisse, Inhalte, Haltungen,
2. Mechthild Duppel (Tokyo): „Japanische“ Autoren und „japanische“ Genresoder Nationalliteratur und Weltliteratur – zur Frage nach “fremden” Einflüssen
auf das Schreiben im modernen Japan
3. Frank Jacob (New York): Neuerfindung: Die historischen Ursprünge dermodernen japanischen Literatur
4. Beate Wonde (Berlin): Mori Ôgai: transkulturelles Modul und „Blogger“ –Literaturgeschichte neu gesehen als Zeitgeschehen
5. Simone Müller (Zürich): Literaturgeschichte als Debattengeschichte Überlegungen zu einer japanischen Literaturgeschichtsschreibung im Spiegel
intellektueller Diskurse
6. Christian Chappelow (Frankfurt): Zwischen Diversifizierung, Transition und(Dis)Kontinuität - Zur Relevanz des Forschungsfelds Lyrikgeschichte im Kontext
zeitgenössischer japanologischer Literaturwissenschaft