Akadēmiskais centrs
Stina Jelbring, Ph.D., Associate Professor of the Language and Culture of Japan, Department of Asian-, Middle Eastern and Turkish Studies, Stockholm University. Her research interests concern on the one hand, the classical Japanese literature, particularly in the period stretching from the ninth to the twelfth century, and on the other, theoretical problems of metaphor and translation. E-mail: Stina.Jelbring@su.se
Lekcija (angļu valodā) 11.aprīlis, LU HZF Visvalža iela 4a, 401.kab. 12:30-14:00 "Love and Longing in Japanese Court Poetry: With Focus on the Poetry of Ono no Komachi in the Poetic Anthology Kokin Wakashū" As a legendary figure, Ono no Komachi is renowned, not only for her brilliant poetry, but also for her unrivalled beauty – as well as for her tough way of handling the suitors who asked for her hand. However, in fact we do not know so much about the historical person Ono no Komachi. She is assumed to have lived some time during the 9thcentury. Her poems appear for the first time in the poetic anthology the Kokin Wakashû (Anthology of Japanese Poetry, Ancient and Modern, 905–14), but reappear later in other works. Among them many are poems of love and longing. Because of the often speculative approach of most studies on Ono no Komachi, a method of analysis that focuses on the poetic text itself is called for. This is especially relevant for the the poems that, on the one hand, have been exposed to biographical readings, giving rise to the rich flora of legends that surround the poet, and on the other, have been depreciated by many commentators. This is indeed the case with the poems that have been chosen for this lecture for an attempt at re-interpretation.
Lekcija (angļu valodā) 12.aprīlis, LU HZF Visvalža iela 4a, 401.kab. 14:30-16:00 "Lovesick Ladies, Emotional Gentlemen, and a Japanese Don Quijote: Some Humoristic Points of Impact in the Court Literature of the Heian Period" When, at the end of the 8th century, the capital of Japan moved to today’s Kyoto, the so-called Heian period (794–1185) began. At court, persons with literary skills gathered in a kind of literary salon wherein they found a circle of readers. What kind of literature and aesthetic ideals were predominant? One way of describing it is that it put sensitivity and suggestion in first place: Literature should evoke emotion towards the transitoriness of things and human relations. However, what did not warrant equal attention was that this sensitivity to inconstancy could also bestow a humorous touch. We actually find frequent examples of various kinds of humour such as irony, parody, wordplay, etc., in this literature. Among these, one outstanding object of parody was, according to the courtiers, the exact aesthetic ideal to which sensitivity could be counted. In, for example, the 10th century Tales of Ise (Ise Monogatari) – a collection of short stories revolving around poems, which are said to depict the “elegance at the court” – it is quite evident that the ideal of sensitivity to transient things manifests itself in easily moved male courtiers, who were at times depicted as comical. In Episode 9, there is even a witty comparison of how an abundance of tears could make “the rise swell”, and in Episode 63 it takes even more drastic forms when the story of an elderly woman’s longing for love is told. In this story, the paragon of an irogonomi character, Narihira, also appears. Another instance of parody worth mentioning is the way the narrator, to some extent, makes fun of her main character Genji in the second chapter of the 11th century Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari). She introduces him as if he would have been laughed at by the personification of a real hero, and after this follows a series of amorous affairs that only lead to disappointment. This makes us wonder whether Genji should be regarded as a Don Quijote figure rather than a Don Juan figure, as he has often been regarded.
Organizators: Asoc.prof. Agnese Haijima, LU HZF Japānas studiju moduļa vadītāja, agnese770@gmail.com Ieeja brīva visiem interesentiem!
Lekcija (angļu valodā) 11.aprīlis, LU HZF Visvalža iela 4a, 401.kab. 12:30-14:00 "Love and Longing in Japanese Court Poetry: With Focus on the Poetry of Ono no Komachi in the Poetic Anthology Kokin Wakashū" As a legendary figure, Ono no Komachi is renowned, not only for her brilliant poetry, but also for her unrivalled beauty – as well as for her tough way of handling the suitors who asked for her hand. However, in fact we do not know so much about the historical person Ono no Komachi. She is assumed to have lived some time during the 9thcentury. Her poems appear for the first time in the poetic anthology the Kokin Wakashû (Anthology of Japanese Poetry, Ancient and Modern, 905–14), but reappear later in other works. Among them many are poems of love and longing. Because of the often speculative approach of most studies on Ono no Komachi, a method of analysis that focuses on the poetic text itself is called for. This is especially relevant for the the poems that, on the one hand, have been exposed to biographical readings, giving rise to the rich flora of legends that surround the poet, and on the other, have been depreciated by many commentators. This is indeed the case with the poems that have been chosen for this lecture for an attempt at re-interpretation.
Lekcija (angļu valodā) 12.aprīlis, LU HZF Visvalža iela 4a, 401.kab. 14:30-16:00 "Lovesick Ladies, Emotional Gentlemen, and a Japanese Don Quijote: Some Humoristic Points of Impact in the Court Literature of the Heian Period" When, at the end of the 8th century, the capital of Japan moved to today’s Kyoto, the so-called Heian period (794–1185) began. At court, persons with literary skills gathered in a kind of literary salon wherein they found a circle of readers. What kind of literature and aesthetic ideals were predominant? One way of describing it is that it put sensitivity and suggestion in first place: Literature should evoke emotion towards the transitoriness of things and human relations. However, what did not warrant equal attention was that this sensitivity to inconstancy could also bestow a humorous touch. We actually find frequent examples of various kinds of humour such as irony, parody, wordplay, etc., in this literature. Among these, one outstanding object of parody was, according to the courtiers, the exact aesthetic ideal to which sensitivity could be counted. In, for example, the 10th century Tales of Ise (Ise Monogatari) – a collection of short stories revolving around poems, which are said to depict the “elegance at the court” – it is quite evident that the ideal of sensitivity to transient things manifests itself in easily moved male courtiers, who were at times depicted as comical. In Episode 9, there is even a witty comparison of how an abundance of tears could make “the rise swell”, and in Episode 63 it takes even more drastic forms when the story of an elderly woman’s longing for love is told. In this story, the paragon of an irogonomi character, Narihira, also appears. Another instance of parody worth mentioning is the way the narrator, to some extent, makes fun of her main character Genji in the second chapter of the 11th century Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari). She introduces him as if he would have been laughed at by the personification of a real hero, and after this follows a series of amorous affairs that only lead to disappointment. This makes us wonder whether Genji should be regarded as a Don Quijote figure rather than a Don Juan figure, as he has often been regarded.
Organizators: Asoc.prof. Agnese Haijima, LU HZF Japānas studiju moduļa vadītāja, agnese770@gmail.com Ieeja brīva visiem interesentiem!