Chūshingura & the Edo Literary Imagination

- This event has passed.
February 23rd, 2016 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm EST
Cost: FreeDetails » Click here to register »
A lecture by Prof. William Fleming
Organized by The Japan Foundation, Toronto with support from The Asian Institute at The Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto
In the spring of 1701, a daimyō from western Japan drew his sword against a senior shogunal official within the hallowed halls of Edo Castle. This rash, split-second decision set in motion a dramatic chain of events that is retold in a theatrical masterpiece that remains one of Japan’s most captivating and enduring cultural markers: Chūshingura, the story of the forty-seven rōnin.
Chūshingura enjoyed immediate success on stage and quickly captured the Japanese popular imagination, inspiring all manner of imitators, adaptations, and parodies. This talk introduces several works of comic pictorial fiction based on the Chūshingura story and considers their significance as products of the flourishing literary culture of early modern Japan.
Additional dates:
Winnipeg
Wednesday, February 24, 6:30 pm
University College 237, University of Manitoba
Information: Asian Studies Centre (204) 474-7047
co-sponsored by the University of Manitoba Asian Studies Centre
Calgary
Thursday, February 25, 4:00 – 5:30 pm
ICT 122, University of Calgary
Information: https://llc.ucalgary.ca/event/2016-02-25/chushingura-edo-literary-imagination
co-sponsored by the Department of Linguistics, Languages and Cultures, University of Calgary
About the speaker:
William Fleming is an Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages & Literatures & Theater Studies at Yale University. His research focuses on 18th- and 19th-century Japanese fiction and the popular stage. He completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Harvard University, and was a visiting researcher at Kyoto University and Tokyo’s National Institute of Japanese Literature.
Image: Ichieisai Yoshitsuya (1822-1866) Night Attack of the Faithful Samurai/ 義士夜討図 (1857)