New Books in Japanese Studies

Satoru Hashimoto, "Afterlives of Letters: The Transnational Origins of Modern Literature in China, Japan, and Korea" (Columbia UP, 2023)

Oct 11, 2024

Satoru Hashimoto, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University specializing in comparative thought and literature, dives into the transnational origins of modern literature in China, Japan, and Korea. He explores how 19th-century cultural exchanges reshaped literary norms, emphasizing figures like Liang Qichao and Lu Xun. Hashimoto discusses the role of historical fiction in forging national identities and how literature served as a form of resistance during tumultuous times, showcasing a rich interplay of tradition and modernity across East Asia.

01:13:16

Episode guests

Satoru Hashimoto

AI Summary

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Modern literature in East Asia emerged through transnational exchanges among Chinese, Japanese, and Korean intellectuals during the 19th century.

Writers like Liang Qichao used literature as a tool for political reform, bridging literary traditions and fostering national consciousness.

Deep dives

Transnational Origins of Modern Literature

Modern literature in East Asia emerged from a rich history of cultural exchange among Chinese, Japanese, and Korean intellectuals, particularly felt during the 19th century when the region opened to global influences. The interconnectedness between these countries fostered shared literary concepts, challenging the notion of isolated national literatures. This creative process was marked by an attempt to synthesize traditional values with modern systems of thought in response to profound societal changes. The interaction among diverse literary traditions played a crucial role in shaping the distinct yet related paths of modern literature across East Asia.

Intro

2min

Cultural Ties in East Asian Literature

24min

Reshaping National Identity Through Historical Narratives

6min

Parody and Tradition in Modern Literature

7min

Exploring Historical Fiction's Role in East Asian Modern Literature

5min

Navigating Literature in Wartime

19min

Exploring Post-War Literature and Cross-Cultural Movements in East Asia

4min

When East Asia opened itself to the world in the nineteenth century, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean intellectuals had shared notions of literature because of the centuries-long cultural exchanges in the region. As modernization profoundly destabilized cultural norms, they ventured to create new literature for the new era.

Satoru Hashimoto offers a novel way of understanding the origins of modern literature in a transregional context, drawing on Chinese-, Japanese-, and Korean-language texts in both classical and vernacular forms. He argues that modern literature came into being in East Asia through writerly attempts at reconstructing the present’s historical relationship to the past across the cultural transformations caused by modernization. Hashimoto examines writers’ anachronistic engagement with past cultures that were deemed obsolete or antithetical to new systems of values, showing that this transnational process was integral to the emergence of modern literature.

A groundbreaking cross-cultural excavation of the origins of modern literature in East Asia featuring remarkable linguistic scope, Afterlives of Letters: The Transnational Origins of Modern Literature in China, Japan, and Korea (Columbia UP, 2023) bridges Asian studies and comparative literature and delivers a remapping of world literature.

Satoru Hashimoto is assistant professor of comparative thought and literature at the Johns Hopkins University. He has published in English, Japanese, Chinese, and French on topics in comparative literature, aesthetics, and thought engaging East Asian and European traditions. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of World Literature.

Li-Ping Chen is a teaching fellow in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include literary translingualism, diaspora, and nativism in Sinophone, inter-Asian, and transpacific contexts.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/japanese-studies