October 5-6, 2012
Western Washington University - Bellingham, Washington
Western Washington University’s Center for East Asian Studies is pleased to host the seventh annual Conference of the International Society for Akutagawa Ryūnosuke Studies. Previous conference hosts include University of Rome “La Sapienza” in 2010 and Beijin Foreign Studies University in 2011.
Known as the “Father of the Japanese short story”, Akutagawa is one of the most intriguing and celebrated authors of early twentieth century Japan. His works In a Grove and Rashōmon inspired Akira Kurosawa's classic movie from 1950. The Akutagawa conference is open to anyone with an appreciation for literary works; no formal admission to Western is required.
This conference is sponsored by the Center for East Asian Studies at Western Washington University.
*Please note: With the exception of Professor Rubin’s lectures, the official language of the conference is Japanese.
Keynote Speaker
Jay Rubin, professor and translator
"A Translator's View"
11:30 a.m., Friday, October 5, 2012, Viking Union Multipurpose Room
Professor Rubin has translated NatsumeSōseki 's novels Sanshirō and The Miner, Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, after the quake, and Books 1 and 2 of 1Q84. He is the author of Injurious to Public Morals: Writers and the Meiji State and Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words, and the editor of Modern Japanese Writers.
Rubin began to study Japanese at the University of Chicago, where he received his Ph.D. in 1970, and has been a professor of Japanese literature at the University of Washington and Harvard University.
Jay Rubin will also be presenting a campus wide lecture, “Haruki Murakami and Seiji Ozawa Talk about Music” on Thursday, Oct. 4 at 4 p.m. in SL 150. Professor Rubin's lecture and keynote will be presented in English, and are free and open to the public.
Download a full conference schedule (in Japanese)