East Asian Languages and Societies Commons^™

蟾蜍記憶, Lok Yi Lam

Dissertations from all years

一次蝌蚪的失蹤事件，一碗不尋常的湯。

家族突然開始發生一連串的事故——爸爸後背長了一顆腫瘤，族人開始生病，嫲嫲驟然離世……

親戚們甚至開始蛻變成一副蟾蜍相貌！

幼時被迫喝下奇怪湯水的我，會不會隨他們一樣，最終變態成嘔心醜陋的蟾蜍呢？

這篇小說是一個家族變異史，也是一個都市寓言故事。

因為我相信現實世界所發生的一切，遠比故事內的情節更荒謬。

城市是冰冷的，人的心也是冷漠的。在社會的大環境下，人們逐漸異化，貪婪自私的本質暴露無遺。

即便是最親近的家人，面對物質上的爭奪與搶掠，人性自私的那一面就會顯露。

「貪婪仿佛是都市人深入血髓的記憶。」

或許一天，我們也終會在社會的泥潭裡異化成一隻隻醜陋不堪蟾蜍。

安樂, Kiu Tim Ma

Dissertations from all years

講述一喜愛規則的人，機緣巧合下前往另一個世界得到自己夢寐以求的生活，得到安樂。希望藉此故事，反思一下何謂有意義的人生，順便把自己對過往反烏托邦小說做一個小反思：衷心喜歡「烏托邦」生活的人到底是多麼令人討厭，到底算不算人。算是老生常談，但這種甘心受制於某種「無上意志」的人，挺切合中國社會，可能是過往帝制吧！假如讓人討厭小說中的人物從而反思自己有否近乎病態地遵守規則，我就當成功。

Botchan, Natsume Sōseki, Yasotaro Morri , Trans.

Zea E-Books Collection

This English translation of 坊っちゃん (1906) was published in Tokyo by Ogawa Seibundo in 1918. It is a first-person narrative of a young man’s two-month tenure as assistant mathematics teacher at a provincial middle school in 1890s Japan. A native son of Tokyo, with all its traits and prejudices, he finds life in a narrow country town unappealing — with its dull and mischievous students, scheming faculty, bland diets, stifling rules, and gossipy inhabitants. Impulsive, combative, committed to strict ideals of honesty, honor, and justice, he is quickly enmeshed in the strategems of the head teacher, “Red Shirt.” His sufferings …

Kokoro: Hints And Echoes Of Japanese Inner Life, Lafcadio Hearn, Koizumi Yakumo

Zea E-Books Collection

The works of Lafcadio Hearn (Koizumi Yakumo) played a critical role in introducing his adopted Japan to a worldwide audience. In Kokoro: Hints and Echoes of Japanese Inner Life, he writes, “The papers composing this volume treat of the inner rather than of the outer life of Japan, — for which reason they have been grouped under the title Kokoro (heart). This word signifies also mind, in the emotional sense; spirit; courage; resolve; sentiment; affection; and inner meaning, — just as we say in English, ‘the heart of things.’” After centuries of isolation Meiji-era Japan was forced to adjust …

I Am A Cat, Natsume Sōseki

Zea E-Books Collection

This English version of 吾輩は猫である (Wagahai-wa neko de aru: I Am a Cat), Chapters I and II, written by Natsume Sōseki, pseudonym of Natsume Kinnosuke (1867–1916), and translated by Kan-ichi Ando (1878-1924), was published by Hattori Shoten, Tokyo, in 1906.

It begins: "I am a cat; but as yet I have no name." Its sardonic feline narrator describes his origins, his settlement in the household of a Meiji teacher-intellectual, and the goings-on and conversations among the cats and humans about the neighborhood. Of the men he concludes: "They are miserable creatures in the eyes of a cat."

Japanese novelist Natsume …

Remembering Two Titans Of Manga: Shirato Sanpei And Saitō Takao, Natsume Fusanosuke, Jon Holt, Teppei Fukuda

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

What follows is a pair of recent tributes Natsume Fusanosuke wrote for Japanese newspapers, concerning the pioneering cartoonists Saitō Takao and Shirato Sanpei, who died, respectively, on September 24, 2021, and October 8, 2021. The two articles are here presented in English for the first time.

Translated by Jon Holt & Teppei Fukuda

Takahashi Rumiko And The Turning Point In The History Of Manga And Anime, Natsume Fusanosuke, Jon Holt, Teppei Fukuda

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

Takahashi Rumiko’s entry onto the manga scene represented the turning point in the history of manga and anime. This turning point signifies the emergence of the genre of romantic comedy (rabukome = “love comedy”)—a romantic relationship-centered genre certainly common to shōjo (girls’) comics category at the time—now beginning to appear in shōnen (boys’) comics, too.

Translated by Jon Holt & Teppei Fukuda

Haiku, Mary Hohlman

The Tuxedo Archives

No abstract provided.

Tanka And Micropoetry, Mary Hohlman

The Tuxedo Archives

No abstract provided.

Charlie Brown And Me, Natsume Fusanosuke, Jon Holt, Teppei Fukuda

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

Charles Schulz’s Peanuts turned 71 years old on October 2, and we celebrate the anniversary of this world-famous comic strip with a love letter from Japan. Natsume Fusanosuke originally wrote this essay[1] about his connection to Peanuts in 1999 for a supplement issue of Bungei Shunjū magazine: a special on one of the gods of comics, Tezuka Osamu, with whom Charles Schulz stands in great company. Natsume is a voracious reader and a global observer of both manga and world comics. Here, he describes the appeal of Peanuts for Japanese readers and how it compares to a similarly beloved Japanese …

Making It Just In Time: Author-Creator Matsumoto Taiyō, Natsume Fusanosuke, Jon Holt, Teppei Fukuda

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

Translated by Jon Holt and Teppei Fukuda

The first time I can remember encountering Matsumoto Taiyō’s work was probably when he released his short story collection, Blue Spring (Aoi haru - Matsumoto Taiyō tanpenshū [stories published from 1990 to 1993; Shōgakukan, 1993]). All of the stories concern a bunch of young dudes -- full of desires, frustrations, and violent tendencies -- and no chance they can ever get past those things. I thought to myself at that time, “Ah, I bet this stuff means a lot to readers in their teens, but they don’t really do anything for me.” …

Time To Re-Evaluate Taniguchi Jiro's Pace In Manga, Natsume Fusanosuke, Jon Holt, Teppei Fukuda

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

Natsume Fusanosuke is Emeritus Professor of the Graduate Program of Cultural Studies in Corporeal and Visual Representation, Gakushūin University. Despite his recent retirement from Gakushūin in March, he is still very active in manga criticism and scholarship. Originally a manga artist himself in the 1980s, by the 1990s he began doing more writing about manga, although he often still employs his cartooning skills to assist in his analysis and explanation of his subjects, much like his American contemporary Scott McCloud. It is not a stretch to compare the latter’s Understanding Comics to Natsume's work in the classic How to Read …

Eggs, Hair, Seeds, Milk, Patrick West

Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language

Short story

Looking For Marianne North, John Charles Ryan

Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language

This poem reflects on the life of peripatetic botanical illustrator Marianne North (1830-1890) who travelled to Southwest Australia in 1880.

Critically Imagining A Decolonised Vision In Australian Poetry, Cassandra Julie O'Loughlin

Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language

Postmodern ecocriticism, given its broad range of perspectives, offers an agreeable platform for articulating a new, advanced and inclusive framework for a decolonising theorisation of literature and the environment. This article seeks to identify Australian Western decolonising poetry that sits in harmony with Indigenous aural and literary versions of communicative engagement with Country. The concept of human embeddedness in ecological relationships and biological processes as part of a complex matrix of interdependent things is embraced. In particular this article focuses on inclusivity and interconnectedness of all life forms to illustrate aesthetic and conceptual interfaces between Aboriginal Australia and Western poetics. …

Issue Introduction Volume 10, David Gray

Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language

Issue Introduction and Editorial for Volume 10, Issue 1.

Complete Issue 1, Volume 10, David Gray

Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language

Complete Issue 1, Volume 10

Imagining An Asian American Superhero Of North Korean Origin: A Design Fiction, Seo-Young J. Chu

Publications and Research

My talk, a thought-experimental blend of literary criticism and speculative "design fiction," will introduce you to an Asian American superhero of North Korean origin. In this science-fictional superhero, whom I have tentatively named "구름"/"☁️"/"Ku-reum," Korea's elusive realities coalesce into legible form. More specifically, they become available for narrative experience and relatable to us as an anthropomorphic character, a person with whom we might identify, come face-to-face, sympathize, interact dynamically, and have a conversation. Ku-reum is designed to reflect Korea's complex past and hopes for the future. Existing beyond division systems, Ku-reum uses the non-binary pronouns "one"/"they." Neither "South" nor "North," …

Notes On Contributors, Molly Lynde-Recchia

Transference

No abstract provided.

What Are You, Really?/Afar, Gazing At The Holy Mountain By Du Fu, Michael Zhai

Transference

A translation and commentary of Du Fu's poem "Afar, Gazing on the Holy Mountain," with a worksheet for readers to produce their own translations of the poem.

On Tasso In Prison By Charles Baudelaire, Sharon Fish Mooney

Transference

Translation of and commentary on Baudelaire's "On Tasso in Prison," which is an ekphrastic poem after Delacroix's painting of the same name.

Four Poems By Toshiko Hirata, Eric Hyett, Spencer Thurlow

Transference

Translations of "Is It February?" "Is It March?" "Is It November Again?" and "Is It December Again?"

Lullaby By Rainer Maria Rilke And Amen By Georg Trakl, Wally Swist

Transference

No abstract provided.

Drops From Black Candles By Abdallah Zrika, Mike Baynham

Transference

English translation of Abdallah Zrika's "Drops from black candles" accompanied by an essay on the translation process which includes consideration of Laâbi's French translation of the same poem.

While Dreaming, While Writing (Excerpt) By Max Alhau, Patrick Williamson

Transference

A free rendering of Max Alhau's "While dreaming, while writing," with commentary. The original source text is included.

Corona By Paul Celan, David Capps

Transference

No abstract provided.

Five Poems By Michael Krüger, Louise Stoehr

Transference

No abstract provided.

Two Poems By Charles Baudelaire, Arnold Johnston

Transference

Arnold Johnston's translations of Baudelaire's "The Lovely Ship" and "Invitation to the Voyage."

Blue Crystal By Martha Hofmann, Paul J. Shlichta

Transference

A translation of a German poem by Martha Hofmann into English verse. The commentary includes a brief biography of Hofmann and a link to additional information.

Two Poems By Nohad Salameh, Susanna Lang

Transference

Susanna Lang's translations of Nohad Salameh's "I Greet You, My Twin" and "Dance of the One/the Moon."