{"id":1579,"date":"2012-05-29T09:14:02","date_gmt":"2012-05-29T14:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bourdaghs.com\/blog\/?p=1579"},"modified":"2012-05-29T09:14:02","modified_gmt":"2012-05-29T14:14:02","slug":"special-issue-on-sosekis-theory-of-literature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bourdaghs.com\/blog\/?p=1579","title":{"rendered":"Special Issue on Soseki’s “Theory of Literature”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nThe May\/June 2012 issue of Iwanami Shoten’s journal Bungaku<\/em> is out now. It’s a special issue devoted to the theme of “Opening Up Soseki’s ‘Theory of Literature'”–in other words, new approaches to Natsume Soseki’s 1907 Bungakuron<\/em>, his attempt to construct a fully scientific, universally valid theory of literature. The first part of the issue draws from a conference hosted last December by the University of Tokyo and features essays by Komori Yoichi, Joseph Murphy, Noami Mariko, Saito Mareshi, Atsuko Ueda and yours truly. It also includes a transcript of the concluding roundtable discussion from that event.<\/p>\n

The rest of the issue includes a number of very interesting looking new articles on the topic by both veteran and younger scholars. I actually haven’t received my copy of the issue yet, so can’t say a great deal at this point about them, other than that their titles are quite intriguing. Check out the full table of contents here <\/a>(Japanese language only).<\/p>\n

The issue can be ordered through Amazon.com’s Japan site<\/a>, and of course the English translation of Soseki’s Theory of Literature and Other Critical Writings<\/a><\/em> is still available. <\/p>\n

Even after ten years of nearly constant work on it, I still find Soseki’s Theory of Literature<\/em> a remarkably interesting, even mysterious, work. I know I will be wrestling with it for many years to come. This new special issue hints that it’s a fascination I share with many others.<\/p>\n