Donald Keene Center Events Calendar
Spring 2002
|
• Please check this site for calendar updates.
• All events at Columbia are free and open to the public.
• Unless otherwise indicated, all of the programs listed below take
place at Columbia University, 116th Street between Broadway and
Amsterdam Ave.
• To view a campus map,
click here. |
February 6 (Wednesday)
Lecture: Foreign Letters, the
Vernacular, and Meiji Schoolgirls
Indra Levy (Assistant Professor of
Japanese Literature, Department of Asian Languages and
Cultures, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. & Amsterdam
Ave.)
6:30 PM
 |
|
illustration from Ukigumo
|
In July 1887, Futabatei Shimei published the first
installment of Ukigumo (Drifting Clouds),
and Yamada Bimyô, his rival in the creation of the
modern vernacular novel, published the first
installment of Fûkin shirabe no hitofushi (An
air for the organ) in the women's education
magazine Iratsume. Both novels attempted to
forge a new literary style based on the spoken idiom
(genbun-itchi); both also focused on
schoolgirls as timely new subjects for fiction.
The uncanny synchronicity of the Meiji schoolgirl's
double debut in Japanese vernacular fiction suggests
that the connection between this semi-exotic female
figure and new literary media was not a matter of
sheer coincidence. Professor Levy will examine the
relationship between Meiji schoolgirls and the
vernacular as a function of the exotic textuality of
foreign letters themselves. |
February 13 (Wednesday)
Lecture: Takeuchi Yoshimi,
Literature, National Literature
Dr. Richard Calichman
(Research/Translation Fellow at the East Asian Institute,
Columbia University)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. & Amsterdam
Ave.)
6:00 PM
 Takeuchi
Yoshimi, the postwar critic and Sinologist, devoted
much of his thought to the question of literature.
He saw in literature a site of openness to the
world's materiality, and in this way sought to
redefine man as less an epistemological subject than
an agent of action. Nevertheless, Takeuchi's notion
of literature as a site of openness comes to be
greatly restricted through his elaboration of the
notion of "national literature," (kokumin bungaku).
Here literature is seen as subsumed by the nation,
such that it functions as the privileged vehicle
through which the nation comes to be expressed. In
this talk Dr. Calichman will show how Takeuchi's
notion of literature contradictorily leads to such a
conception of national literature while at the same
time opening up a path of "resistance" (teikô)
to it. |
April 11 (Thursday)
Lecture: The Problem of the 47th
Rônin: A New Look at the Akô Incident and the Chûshingura
Legend
Henry D. Smith II (Professor of
Japanese History, Columbia University)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. & Amsterdam
Ave.)
6:00 PM
|
|
|
Teraoka Heiemon
by Utagawa Kunisada
|
One of the most intriguing aspects of the famous
story of the 47 Rônin is the role of the
lowest-ranking member of the group, Terasaka
Kichiemon. His name appeared on the list of the
forty-seven who signed the manifesto
left at the mansion of Kira Kozuke-no-suke when they
attacked it on a winter day in late 1702. But he
disappeared sometime before the other forty-six
rônin turned themselves into the authorities
later the same morning. While the 46 were executed
by seppuku two months later, Terasaka lived
on another forty-five years to the age of 82.
What happened to Terasaka? Did he flee the scene of
the attack from cowardice, or was he sent on a
secret mission to carry the news to others? How did
he then re-emerge in the stage versions of
Chûshingura as "Teraoka Heiemon" and what was
his role there? This talk explores the riddles and
paradoxes of the 47th rônin, in an effort to
understand the ways in which the Akô Incident
evolved into Japan's national legend. |
Co-sponsored by the
Ukiyo-e
Society of America, Inc
April 12 (Friday)
Documentary Film: Sugihara:
Conspiracy of Kindness
Produced by Diane Estelle Vicari
Directed by Robert Kirk
Executive Poducers: Dentsu Inc., David Rubinson and Friends,
and Creative Production Group
Altschul Auditorium, 417 International Affairs Building
(118th St. and Amsterdam Ave.)
» Campus Map
6:00 PM (run time: 102 minutes)
Producer Diane Estelle Vicari will be present to
introduce and answer questions about the film.
 |
|
Chiune and Yukiko Sugihara
|
"Sugihara: Conspiracy of Kindness" is a celebration
of the selfless humanitarian spirit and a testament
to the powerful statement, "One man can make a
difference." In the fall of 1939, Hitler's murderous
wave was sweeping through Eastern Europe. In the
face of the Nazi onslaught, Chiune Sugihara
single-handedly saved more than 2,000 lives. As the
Japanese Consul to Lithuania, he used his power as a
diplomat to rescue Jewish refugees, risking his
career, disgrace, and even his life by disobeying
government orders and writing visas for these
desperate refugees, allowing them to escape through
Russia to a safe haven in Japan. "Sugihara:
Conspiracy of Kindness" is the definitive telling of
this moving story and a monument to the life and
legacy of a true hero.
Producer Diane Estelle Vicari is an award-winning
documentary filmmaker who has produced numerous
films highlighting humanitarian causes and social
change. Over the course of six years, she produced
"Sugihara: Conspiracy of Kindness," presented at the
United Nations in New York and in Geneva in the
summer of 2000. The film won BEST DOCUMENTARY 2000
at the Hollywood Film Festival and is the winner of
the prestigious 2000 International Documentary
Association/PARE LORENTZ Award. It was also a
selection of the 2001 DOCtober Film Festival. Ms.
Vicari is the founder of DOCdance Productions, a
documentary company aimed at producing international
independent documentaries that promote the
advancement of our individuality and our global
interdependence. Her credits include the Emmy
Award-winning "Titanic: Death of a Dream," "The
Legends Live On," the Emmy Award-nominee "The Last
Days of World War II," and the NBC Special "Angels
II." |
April 17 (Wednesday)
Lecture: A Hundred Years of
Japanese Film
Donald Richie (Author and Independent
Scholar)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. & Amsterdam
Ave.)
6:00 PM
Reception to follow
Books will be available for purchase and signing
For over fifty years, Donald Richie has been living
in Japan and writing about Japan and its people. He
has written over forty books and hundreds of
articles and today is considered one of the foremost
experts on Japanese culture and films.
|
|
|
A Hundred Years of Japanese Film
|
At this event, Donald Richie will discuss his new
book A Hundred Years of Japanese Film
(February 2001 by
Kodansha International). From its inception in
the late 1800s through the achievements of Kurosawa,
Mizoguchi, Ozu, and on to the notable works of
today's young filmmakers, in this book Mr. Richie
gives us an incisive, detailed, and highly
illustrated history of Japan's cinema. He discusses
the careers of Japan's rising stars and celebrated
directors, and also offers a fascinating view of the
strategies and politics of the movie studios
themselves.
|
April 18 (Thursday)
LET THOSE WHO APPEAR:
Readings and Discussion by Poet Kazuko Shiraishi
Kazuko Shiraishi (Poet)
Introduction by Poet and Translator Hiroaki Sato; Ms.
Shiraishi will be joined by the translators of Let Those
Who Appear, Yumiko Tsumura and Samuel Grolmes
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. & Amsterdam
Ave.)
6:00 PM
Poems will be read in both Japanese
and English
Reception to follow
Books will be available for purchase and signing
 |
|
Pic: Nobuhiko Hishinuma
|
One of Japan's leading poets, Kazuko Shiraishi was
born in Vancouver, Canada in 1931. She was taken to
Japan by her family just before war broke out.
Young, and independent minded, Shiraishi began her
poetic career in her early teens among the turmoil
and devastation of post-war Japan. Recognized by the
leading poets of the time, she insisted on her
artistic independence, and struck out on her own to
develop a unique voice and style. Influenced by
abstract art, experimental literature and avant
garde jazz music, she began a career of innovation
and expansion at an early age, and has followed that
path throughout her life. She braved the mores of
conventional Japanese society to write explicitly
about sexual and spiritual freedom. She read her
poetry along with jazz music, inspired by the
improvisational freedom and genuine emotional
expression she found there. Her books of poetry have
received the highest literary awards Japan has to
offer. Recognized world wide, she has been invited
to poetry festivals and conferences in every
continent. Her poems have been translated into more
than 20 languages, and she had performed and read in
over 30 countries.
 |
|
Let Those Who Appear
|
Let Those Who Appear, a volume of
translations by Yumiko Tsumura and Samuel Grolmes,
(to be published by
New Directions in March 2002), brings this
unique poet's voice up to date. Her care and concern
for humanity, her passionate devotion to life in all
forms, here makes a giant step beyond her first
sensational book in English, Seasons of Sacred
Lust, which Kenneth Rexroth brought into the
world more than twenty five years ago.
Kazuko Shiraishi's trip to
the United States, in conjunction with the
publication of "Let Those Who Appear", is being
sponsored by the
Japan Society, New York. |
April 24 (Wednesday)
Lecture: Wuthering Heights and
Modern Japanese Literature
Eve Zimmerman (Assistant Professor of
Japanese Literature and Language, Wellesley College)
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th St. & Amsterdam
Ave.)
6:00 PM
| Professor Zimmerman will discuss
the relationship between Wuthering Heights
and modern Japanese women's writing. Referring to
three works: Wuthering Heights, the original
text; Wuthering Heights, the play by Kono
Taeko; and Tsushima Yuko's fictional and
non-fictional writings based on this classic text,
Professor Zimmerman looks at the text's initial
arrival to Japan and, subsequently, how it has
affected modern Japanese fiction. She then considers
how Japanese authors have altered the text itself.
Finally, Professor Zimmerman will discuss how the
term "shojo," or girl, in modern Japanese literature
might be illuminated from Wuthering Heights. |
April 26 (Friday)
Award Ceremony and Reception for
Translation Prizes
Main Reading Room, C.V. Starr East Asian Library, Kent
Hall, Columbia University (116th St. & Amsterdam Ave.)
6:15 PM
Reception immediately following ceremony
RSVP REQUIRED
PLEASE E-MAIL the Donald Keene Center at
donald-keene-center@columbia.edu or call 212-854-5036
by April 18th if you plan to attend
April 30
(Tuesday)
2002 Soshitsu Sen XV
Distinguished Lecture on Japanese Culture:
Tradition and Creative Power in Theatre
Tadashi Suzuki
(World-renowned Experimental Theater Director)
Low Rotunda, Low Memorial Library, Columbia
University (116th Street between Broadway and
Amsterdam Avenues)
» Campus Map
6:00 PM
Lecture to be given in
Japanese with English translation
Reception to follow (Faculty Room of Low Memorial
Library)
RSVP REQUIRED
PLEASE E-MAIL the Donald Keene Center at
donald-keene-center@columbia.edu or call
212-854-5036 by April 22nd
Tadashi Suzuki is
a world-renowned experimental
theater director and the creator of
the Suzuki Method of Acting
Training. He is also the founder and
director of the Suzuki Company of
Toga (SCOT), Chairman of the Japan
Performing Arts Foundation (JPAF),
and Artistic Director of the
Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC).
His multicultural creative vision
and pioneering style have made a
major impact on theater throughout
the world.
His works include "On the Dramatic
Passions," "The Trojan Women,"
"Dionysus," "Lear," "Cyrano de
Bergerac," "Oedipus Rex," "Electra,"
and the opera "Vision of Lear." The
Suzuki Method is a system of
exercises designed to communicate
Suzuki's philosophy on performance.
The cornerstone of this philosophy
is a belief in the fact that human
beings possess the ability to tap
into the expressive power of animal
energy and that theater, as a
context for this expression, is
crucial on both a social and
spiritual level in today's global
environment. Suzuki has articulated
his theories in a number of books
including a collection of writings
in English, "The Way of Acting,"
published by the Theatre
Communications Group of the U.S.A. |
|
|
|
May 8 (Wednesday)
Lecture: Emperor of Japan: Meiji
and His World, 1852-1912
Donald Keene (University Professor
Emeritus at Columbia University and Shincho Professor of
Japanese Literature Emeritus)
Asia Society and Museum (725 Park at 70th Street, New York
City)
6:30 PM
Tickets: $7 Asia Society members; $10 nonmembers; free to
students with valid I.D. on a first come first served basis
Book signing and reception follow
For further information about this
lecture, please call the Asia Society at (212) 517-ASIA
(2742) or go to www.asiasociety.org
The preeminent American authority on Japanese literature
presents a vivid and engrossing biography of the Emperor
Meiji, who opened Japan to the West and saw the country
transformed from a land dominated by the shogun and the
daimyos to a modern, industrialized state.
This lecture is in conjunction with the exhibition New Way
of Tea presented simultaneously at Asia Society and Museum
and Japan Society, March 6 through May 19.
Co-sponsored by
Asia
Society and the
Japan Society
May 8 (Wednesday)
Panel Discussion : Cross-Cultural
Influences in Theater
Room 301, Uris Hall, Columbia University (116th Street
between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenues)
» Campus Map
7:00 PM-8:30 PM
• Tadashi Suzuki
(Artistic Director of the Shizuoka
Performing Arts Center & Visiting Fellow of the Keene
Center)
• Ming Cho Lee (Theatrical Set
Designer)
• Mel Gussow (The New York
Times Drama Critic and Cultural Writer)
• Ben Cameron (Executive Director
of the Theatre Communications)
• Arnold Aronson - Panel
Moderator (Professor of Theatre Arts Division, School of the
Arts, Columbia University )
Introduction by Paul Anderer
(Professor of Japanese Literature, East Asian Languages and
Cultures Dept., Columbia University)
Co-sponsored by the
Theatre Arts Division,
School of the Arts and supported by the
Center on Japanese Economy and Business
Mr. Suzuki is a Visiting Fellow of the Donald Keene
Center, under a program supported by the
United
States-Japan Foundation.
|
|
Return to the top of the page |
