Christopher L. Hill, East Asian Languages & Literatures, Yale University
| DATE: | Friday, September 16, 2005 |
|---|---|
| TIME: | 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM |
| PLACE: | 370 Dwinelle Hall |
| FORMAT: | Colloquium |
| SPONSORS: | Center for Japanese Studies |
The literary school of naturalism spread rapidly around the world from the time of its rise in France in the mid-nineteenth century. By the early twentieth century writers acknowledging a tie to naturalism could be found on every inhabited continent. Naturalism was not a solitary traveler, however: it moved along with other genres such as criminology, reportage literature, and evolutionary social theory that together constituted a modern social imaginary. The example of Japanese naturalism shows that representation of the degenerate body played an important role in this imaginary as an anchor for the description of society and the rapid changes it was experiencing.
Free and open to the public.
