"Defining “Textual Heritage”. Multidisciplinary approaches to the heritagization of texts, with a... more "Defining “Textual Heritage”. Multidisciplinary approaches to the heritagization of texts, with a focus on Japan"
Introduction video to the curated session of the virtual conference of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies, 26-30 August 2020. Chair: Edoardo Gerlini (Ca' Foscari Uni.).
Video presentation for the ACHS 2020 curated session "Defining “Textual Heritage”. Multidiscipli... more Video presentation for the ACHS 2020 curated session "Defining “Textual Heritage”. Multidisciplinary approaches to the heritagization of texts, with a focus on Japan".
The Awareness of Past and Present in Heian-Period bunjin:
Kanshishū Prefaces as Discourse on Text... more The Awareness of Past and Present in Heian-Period bunjin: Kanshishū Prefaces as Discourse on Textual Heritage
GERLINI Edoardo
The word “Classics ( koten ) ”, invented in the modern period, is often used to indicate the “culture of the past” in contrast with the concept of “modernity”. This use of the word koten reinforces the wrong idea that “things of the past”, being substantially unrelated with the present, are in practice useless to the understanding of issues affecting modern societies. This misunderstanding is probably the main reason leading to the so - called “crisis of the classics” in the last decades.
On the other hand, social processes like the use, re - creation and valorization of the culture of the past in the present have led to the birth and thriving growth of the new academic field of “heritage studies” ( Laurajane Smith 2006 ) . Drawing on this new approach, which considers the “things of the past” as a tool to tie past cultures to present identities, I argue that rethinking “classical literature” as a form of “textual heritage” can offer new insights into the debate about the “crisis of classics” today.
To negotiate present identities through dialogue with the past is not necessarily a modern conception, but it is something that always happened in every age ( David Harvey 2001, 2008 ) . In the case of Japanese Classical Literature of the Heian period, authors always produced texts ― of which literary works were but a subset ― through the reading and quoting of past masterpieces, in both direct and indirect manners. But how was the idea of the past shaped in the writing of Heian poets who inherited and reused style and contents from Man’yōshū or the Wenxuan, and how did this intertextuality lead to the creation of a present identity in contrast or continuity with the past ? In today’s presentation I will draw on the idea of “textual reenactment” Wiebke ( Denecke 2004 ) to identify into the text of kanshi and waka collections’ prefaces of Nara and early Heian a specific discursive construction about the past, similar to processes of “heritagization” theorized by scholars of heritage. This paper is also intended as a mid - term result of the three years’ fellowship I briefly anticipated during the 42 nd International Conference on Japanese Literature in 2018.
Table of Contents
IntroductionXI
Part I
Frederick II, Saga and Uda1
Law reforms with Fr... more Table of Contents
IntroductionXI
Part I
Frederick II, Saga and Uda1
Law reforms with Frederick II and Saga6
The state academy 9
The private relationship between ruler and officials, and the shōden system in Japan15
The monjō hakase and the poetic banquets17
Frederick II’s individualistic administration20
Conclusions22
PART II
Court and Culture23
Emperors as centers of the court, courts as centers of culture23
Latin and Chinese as languages of culture and bureaucracy 27
The prestige of high language30
Imperial power and Literature: the theory33
Some preliminary conclusions41
Imperial power and Literature: the texts44
The role of literature in pre-modern courts54
Utility of poetry: the problem57
Utility of poetry: a possible solution 60
Conclusions63
PART III
Court and Vernacular67
The Kokinwakashū and the Sicilian School of poetry: similarities and differences67
The path to the Kokinshū 69
The shaping of the Sicilian School72
The composition of the poetic community75
The birth of the vernacular canon88
PART IV
Formalization, translation, exclusion133
Formalization in the Sicilian School136
Formalization in the Kokinshū 146
Rhetoric as self-determination of the poetic community159
Conclusions164
Appendix - The exclusion of politics166
Part V
A new concept of love179
The love poetry of the troubadours185
Love and marriage at the Heian court 189
Attempting a comparison from the social point of view 191
Love in the Kokinshū and in the Sicilian School of poetry196
From the troubadours to the Sicilians197
From the Man’yōshū to the Kokinshū 206
The Kokinshū and the Sicilians, a direct comparison216
This paper compares the court poetry of the early Heian period, in particular that of Kokinshū, w... more This paper compares the court poetry of the early Heian period, in particular that of Kokinshū, with the court poetry of the so-called “Sicil- ian School”, a literary movement active at the Italian court of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen in the 13th century. Starting with an explanation of the methodology used in the research, the author demonstrates how re- cent theories of World Literatures studies can be applied to early Italian poetry and Heian poetry through a direct comparison of such issues as the consolidation of vernacular canon, court poetry and the formaliza- tion of poetical language. The aim of this paper is to pique interest in the eld of the Classical World Literatures.
“Like Water Foam”: the Introduction of Buddhist Expressions in Heian Literature With a comparativ... more “Like Water Foam”: the Introduction of Buddhist Expressions in Heian Literature With a comparative approach between kanshi and waka, I intend to address the problem of the import of Buddhist terms and expressions in Japanese poetry. Through the study of the image “water foam” (Minawa or mizu no awa), often used as a metaphor of the short life of man, I want to demonstrate the impor- tance of a conception of literature that transcends the division into genres. We will follow the development of this expression starting from the sutras, and analyzing Man’yōshū, Kūkai, Sugawara no Michizane, Bai Juyi and Ōe no Chisato, and finally the Kokinshū. 「水の泡」- 平安文学における仏教的表現の導入について 本発表は、比較文学論的に平安時代の歌と詩における仏教的表現の導 入を論じるものである。一つの例として、「水の泡」という表現を取 り上げ、その源泉と発展を分析したい。ジャンルの区別に限ることな く、平安文学を包括的な見解から考える必要を肯定する。対象テクス トについては、教典、万葉集、空海、菅原道真、白居易、大江千里か らの事例をあげ、「水泡」という表現の変容を考えたい。
A Bridge between Chinese and Japanese Poetry Sugawara no Michizane's kanshi 和歌と漢詩の架け橋:菅原道真の詩歌... more A Bridge between Chinese and Japanese Poetry Sugawara no Michizane's kanshi 和歌と漢詩の架け橋:菅原道真の詩歌 エドアルド・ジェルリーニ 和漢比較文学の研究はここ五十年間、著しく発達してきた。だが、 このような研究が平安朝文学のどの研究においても大きなメリット があるという観点は、まだ日本文学研究者の間に十分に普及してい るとは言えない。菅原道真の詩と『古今和歌集』の和歌における表 現の共通点は、和歌と漢詩が別々の世界のものではなく、同じ文化 環境に位置し、緊密な関係を維持する双子のような文学であること を表している。この小論では、インターテキストと表現典拠の視点 から詩歌を分析し、このような比較文学研究の必要性を強調したい。
イポテクストとしての菅原道真の詩 『和漢朗詠集』と『源氏物語』の場合 <br> SUGAWARA NO MICHIZANE'S POEMS AS HYPOTEXT: THE ... more イポテクストとしての菅原道真の詩 『和漢朗詠集』と『源氏物語』の場合 <br> SUGAWARA NO MICHIZANE'S POEMS AS HYPOTEXT: THE CASE OF WAKANRŌEISHŪ AND GENJI MONOGATARI Abstract Objective of this paper is to demonstrate and analyze the transtextual relations that lay between Sugawara no Michizane's poems collections Kanke bunsō and Kanke kōshū, and two important Heian period works, namely Fujiwara no Kintō's Wakanrōeishū and Murasaki Shikibu's Genji Monogatari. I apply the theory of hypertextuality proposed by Gérard Genette to these works, focusing on the problem of hypertextuality, and demonstrating that some of the terminol- ogy created by Genette about European literature can be adopted to effectively analyze ancient Japanese works. This results in a deeper understanding of the works themselves and the authors' peculiarities and abilities. 要旨 本論文は平安文学に見られる超テクスト性、つまりテクストとテクス トの間における関係を分析するものである。分析対象は『和漢朗詠 集』及び『源氏物語』、そして両作品における菅原道真の詩の引用 と、道真に関係づけられる箇所である。分析方法は、フランス文学理 論家ジェラール・ジュネットによるイペルテクスト性につ...
What could be the common points between the Literature produced at the imperial court of 9th-10th... more What could be the common points between the Literature produced at the imperial court of 9th-10th century in Japan with the one composed in Italy under the rule of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen? Why the Kokinwakashū in Japan and the Sicilian School of Poetry in Italy have been acknowledged as canons for later literary traditions? How did the political power influence the production of court poetry and the role of poets in the court environment? Why two particular poetic forms like the sonnet in Europe and the waka in Japan succeeded to survive until modern times?
"Defining “Textual Heritage”. Multidisciplinary approaches to the heritagization of texts, with a... more "Defining “Textual Heritage”. Multidisciplinary approaches to the heritagization of texts, with a focus on Japan"
Introduction video to the curated session of the virtual conference of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies, 26-30 August 2020. Chair: Edoardo Gerlini (Ca' Foscari Uni.).
Video presentation for the ACHS 2020 curated session "Defining “Textual Heritage”. Multidiscipli... more Video presentation for the ACHS 2020 curated session "Defining “Textual Heritage”. Multidisciplinary approaches to the heritagization of texts, with a focus on Japan".
The Awareness of Past and Present in Heian-Period bunjin:
Kanshishū Prefaces as Discourse on Text... more The Awareness of Past and Present in Heian-Period bunjin: Kanshishū Prefaces as Discourse on Textual Heritage
GERLINI Edoardo
The word “Classics ( koten ) ”, invented in the modern period, is often used to indicate the “culture of the past” in contrast with the concept of “modernity”. This use of the word koten reinforces the wrong idea that “things of the past”, being substantially unrelated with the present, are in practice useless to the understanding of issues affecting modern societies. This misunderstanding is probably the main reason leading to the so - called “crisis of the classics” in the last decades.
On the other hand, social processes like the use, re - creation and valorization of the culture of the past in the present have led to the birth and thriving growth of the new academic field of “heritage studies” ( Laurajane Smith 2006 ) . Drawing on this new approach, which considers the “things of the past” as a tool to tie past cultures to present identities, I argue that rethinking “classical literature” as a form of “textual heritage” can offer new insights into the debate about the “crisis of classics” today.
To negotiate present identities through dialogue with the past is not necessarily a modern conception, but it is something that always happened in every age ( David Harvey 2001, 2008 ) . In the case of Japanese Classical Literature of the Heian period, authors always produced texts ― of which literary works were but a subset ― through the reading and quoting of past masterpieces, in both direct and indirect manners. But how was the idea of the past shaped in the writing of Heian poets who inherited and reused style and contents from Man’yōshū or the Wenxuan, and how did this intertextuality lead to the creation of a present identity in contrast or continuity with the past ? In today’s presentation I will draw on the idea of “textual reenactment” Wiebke ( Denecke 2004 ) to identify into the text of kanshi and waka collections’ prefaces of Nara and early Heian a specific discursive construction about the past, similar to processes of “heritagization” theorized by scholars of heritage. This paper is also intended as a mid - term result of the three years’ fellowship I briefly anticipated during the 42 nd International Conference on Japanese Literature in 2018.
Table of Contents
IntroductionXI
Part I
Frederick II, Saga and Uda1
Law reforms with Fr... more Table of Contents
IntroductionXI
Part I
Frederick II, Saga and Uda1
Law reforms with Frederick II and Saga6
The state academy 9
The private relationship between ruler and officials, and the shōden system in Japan15
The monjō hakase and the poetic banquets17
Frederick II’s individualistic administration20
Conclusions22
PART II
Court and Culture23
Emperors as centers of the court, courts as centers of culture23
Latin and Chinese as languages of culture and bureaucracy 27
The prestige of high language30
Imperial power and Literature: the theory33
Some preliminary conclusions41
Imperial power and Literature: the texts44
The role of literature in pre-modern courts54
Utility of poetry: the problem57
Utility of poetry: a possible solution 60
Conclusions63
PART III
Court and Vernacular67
The Kokinwakashū and the Sicilian School of poetry: similarities and differences67
The path to the Kokinshū 69
The shaping of the Sicilian School72
The composition of the poetic community75
The birth of the vernacular canon88
PART IV
Formalization, translation, exclusion133
Formalization in the Sicilian School136
Formalization in the Kokinshū 146
Rhetoric as self-determination of the poetic community159
Conclusions164
Appendix - The exclusion of politics166
Part V
A new concept of love179
The love poetry of the troubadours185
Love and marriage at the Heian court 189
Attempting a comparison from the social point of view 191
Love in the Kokinshū and in the Sicilian School of poetry196
From the troubadours to the Sicilians197
From the Man’yōshū to the Kokinshū 206
The Kokinshū and the Sicilians, a direct comparison216
This paper compares the court poetry of the early Heian period, in particular that of Kokinshū, w... more This paper compares the court poetry of the early Heian period, in particular that of Kokinshū, with the court poetry of the so-called “Sicil- ian School”, a literary movement active at the Italian court of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen in the 13th century. Starting with an explanation of the methodology used in the research, the author demonstrates how re- cent theories of World Literatures studies can be applied to early Italian poetry and Heian poetry through a direct comparison of such issues as the consolidation of vernacular canon, court poetry and the formaliza- tion of poetical language. The aim of this paper is to pique interest in the eld of the Classical World Literatures.
“Like Water Foam”: the Introduction of Buddhist Expressions in Heian Literature With a comparativ... more “Like Water Foam”: the Introduction of Buddhist Expressions in Heian Literature With a comparative approach between kanshi and waka, I intend to address the problem of the import of Buddhist terms and expressions in Japanese poetry. Through the study of the image “water foam” (Minawa or mizu no awa), often used as a metaphor of the short life of man, I want to demonstrate the impor- tance of a conception of literature that transcends the division into genres. We will follow the development of this expression starting from the sutras, and analyzing Man’yōshū, Kūkai, Sugawara no Michizane, Bai Juyi and Ōe no Chisato, and finally the Kokinshū. 「水の泡」- 平安文学における仏教的表現の導入について 本発表は、比較文学論的に平安時代の歌と詩における仏教的表現の導 入を論じるものである。一つの例として、「水の泡」という表現を取 り上げ、その源泉と発展を分析したい。ジャンルの区別に限ることな く、平安文学を包括的な見解から考える必要を肯定する。対象テクス トについては、教典、万葉集、空海、菅原道真、白居易、大江千里か らの事例をあげ、「水泡」という表現の変容を考えたい。
A Bridge between Chinese and Japanese Poetry Sugawara no Michizane's kanshi 和歌と漢詩の架け橋:菅原道真の詩歌... more A Bridge between Chinese and Japanese Poetry Sugawara no Michizane's kanshi 和歌と漢詩の架け橋:菅原道真の詩歌 エドアルド・ジェルリーニ 和漢比較文学の研究はここ五十年間、著しく発達してきた。だが、 このような研究が平安朝文学のどの研究においても大きなメリット があるという観点は、まだ日本文学研究者の間に十分に普及してい るとは言えない。菅原道真の詩と『古今和歌集』の和歌における表 現の共通点は、和歌と漢詩が別々の世界のものではなく、同じ文化 環境に位置し、緊密な関係を維持する双子のような文学であること を表している。この小論では、インターテキストと表現典拠の視点 から詩歌を分析し、このような比較文学研究の必要性を強調したい。
イポテクストとしての菅原道真の詩 『和漢朗詠集』と『源氏物語』の場合 <br> SUGAWARA NO MICHIZANE'S POEMS AS HYPOTEXT: THE ... more イポテクストとしての菅原道真の詩 『和漢朗詠集』と『源氏物語』の場合 <br> SUGAWARA NO MICHIZANE'S POEMS AS HYPOTEXT: THE CASE OF WAKANRŌEISHŪ AND GENJI MONOGATARI Abstract Objective of this paper is to demonstrate and analyze the transtextual relations that lay between Sugawara no Michizane's poems collections Kanke bunsō and Kanke kōshū, and two important Heian period works, namely Fujiwara no Kintō's Wakanrōeishū and Murasaki Shikibu's Genji Monogatari. I apply the theory of hypertextuality proposed by Gérard Genette to these works, focusing on the problem of hypertextuality, and demonstrating that some of the terminol- ogy created by Genette about European literature can be adopted to effectively analyze ancient Japanese works. This results in a deeper understanding of the works themselves and the authors' peculiarities and abilities. 要旨 本論文は平安文学に見られる超テクスト性、つまりテクストとテクス トの間における関係を分析するものである。分析対象は『和漢朗詠 集』及び『源氏物語』、そして両作品における菅原道真の詩の引用 と、道真に関係づけられる箇所である。分析方法は、フランス文学理 論家ジェラール・ジュネットによるイペルテクスト性につ...
What could be the common points between the Literature produced at the imperial court of 9th-10th... more What could be the common points between the Literature produced at the imperial court of 9th-10th century in Japan with the one composed in Italy under the rule of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen? Why the Kokinwakashū in Japan and the Sicilian School of Poetry in Italy have been acknowledged as canons for later literary traditions? How did the political power influence the production of court poetry and the role of poets in the court environment? Why two particular poetic forms like the sonnet in Europe and the waka in Japan succeeded to survive until modern times?
This paper compares the court poetry of the early Heian period, in particular that of Kokinshū, w... more This paper compares the court poetry of the early Heian period, in particular that of Kokinshū, with the court poetry of the so-called “Sicil- ian School”, a literary movement active at the Italian court of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen in the 13th century. Starting with an explanation of the methodology used in the research, the author demonstrates how re- cent theories of World Literatures studies can be applied to early Italian poetry and Heian poetry through a direct comparison of such issues as the consolidation of vernacular canon, court poetry and the formaliza- tion of poetical language. The aim of this paper is to pique interest in the eld of the Classical World Literatures.
Objective of this paper is to demonstrate and analyze the transtextual relations that lay between... more Objective of this paper is to demonstrate and analyze the transtextual relations that lay between Sugawara no Michizane’s poems collections Kanke bunsō and Kanke kōshū, and two important Heian period works, namely Fujiwara no Kintō’s Wakanrōeishū and Murasaki Shikibu’s Genji Monogatari. I apply the theory of hypertextuality proposed by Gérard Genette to these works, focusing on the problem of hypertextuality, and demonstrating that some of the terminology created by Genette about European literature can be adopted to effectively analyze ancient Japanese works. This results in a deeper understanding of the works themselves and the authors’ peculiarities and abilities.
Powerpoint of my short presentation at the National Institute of Japanese Literature during the J... more Powerpoint of my short presentation at the National Institute of Japanese Literature during the Japan Studies Symposium 2018 (Short Session) 日本文学研究集会. I explain the interdisciplinary approach to the problem of Classical Literature and Heritage.
È possibile applicare l’analisi letteraria occidentale a testi di letteratura classica giapponese... more È possibile applicare l’analisi letteraria occidentale a testi di letteratura classica giapponese? Nel presente intervento presenterò un tentativo di applicazione una teoria letteraria abbastanza nota - il concetto di transtexualité elaborato dal critico francese Gérard Genette - a un testo poetico in sino-giapponese del IX sec., il Kanke Bunsō - Kanke kōshū di Sugawara no Michizane. In particolare l’intervento si soffermerà sulle modalità in cui il testo poetico originale di Michizane sia stato in seguito rivisitato, rielaborato e manipolato da due autori posteriori, Fujiwara no Kintō nel Wakanrōeishū e Murasahi Shikibu nel Genji monogatari. Spero di stimolare con questo intervento la riflessione non solo sulle teorie di intertestualità e sulla loro applicazione nei testi giapponesi, ma soprattutto sul valore che una tale operazione ha nell’affermazione, negazione o rinegoziazione di queste stesse teorie di origine eurocentrica.
International symposium
NIPPON/JAPAN AS OBJECT, NIPPON/JAPAN AS METHOD
October 30th 2015, 12.20-... more International symposium NIPPON/JAPAN AS OBJECT, NIPPON/JAPAN AS METHOD October 30th 2015, 12.20-12.45
What is the role of Japan both as an object of study and as a method, finalized to help internationalization and cooperation between academies? From the point of view of the Humanities, and of Literature in particular, the question is indeed interesting and extremely actual because the discourse about the “utility” and “profitability” of academic knowledge in the new century became in the last year a political matter of survival for many departments and faculty. Both in European and Japanese universities, the big part of the curricula of Literature is often intended as the study of an monolithic body of texts, together with the exegeses about those texts, both identified first of all according to the language they use, following the fallacious and essentialist notion of “one nation = one language”: for example Japanese texts in Japan, Italian texts in Italy. The subdivision of the same disciplines – literature, history, art, philosophy – in “areas” matching the borders of modern national states has been increasingly criticized by many academicians during the last two decades. World Philology, a collection of essays by various philologists edited by Sheldon Pollock and published this year is probably the most recent tentative to break out from the borders of the so called Area Studies in order to achieve a wider, horizontal and worldwide awareness about similar disciplines. Pollock states three minimal requirements that will be needed by the scholars of the next age: 1) historical self-awareness, that means a more flexible and self critical view of our own discipline and its genealogy; 2) nonprovinciality, because these disciplines cannot continue to be just local, but have to seek «global, and by preference globally comparative, knowledge»; 3) methodological and conceptual pluralism. Actually, these issues are not totally new, indeed they probably correspond to the cornerstones on which the discourse about World Literature studies – both in practice and theory – are discussed since the times of Erich Auerbach, that in 1952 noticed how «foreign, nonphilological or scientific methods and concepts begin to be felt in philology: sociology, psychology, certain kinds of philosophy, and contemporary literary criticism» (“Philology and Weltliteratur”, 1969, p. 8) and stated that «our philological home is the earth: it can no longer be the nation» (ibid. p. 17). In the field of World Literature, the most groundbreaking work recently published is probably Wiebke Denecke’s Classical World Literatures, in which the author compares the relation between ancient Greece and Rome, with the one between premodern Japan and China. Following the idea of weltliteratur of Auerbach, Denecke’s work is remarkable for two reasons. Firstly because it is the first to deal with classical literature in such a systematical way, opening the way for further researches on “classical world literatures”; secondly because its declared major motivation: «a desire to reflect more methodically on the processes of Sino-Japanese reception, taking inspiration from the far more developed and mature studies of reception in the Greco-Roman context» (2014:294) is indeed a practical response to Pollock’s requirements, especially the third: “methodological and conceptual pluralism”. What Denecke did is to learn from the achievements of one of the oldest academic discipline – Greek and Roman classical studies – and apply that knowledge to the field of Japan studies (or in this case of wa-kan or sino-japanese comparison). This is probably what Remo Ceserani had in mind when declared, some fifteen years ago that the advantage of World Literature’s paradigm was «to get indirectly in touch with foreign critical methodologies and problem solving proposed by those researchers [of a different study area and country]» (1999:319). Actually, Remo Ceserani’s word inspired also my recent work, that indeed looks somehow similar to Denecke’s one, at least in the aims. I took as object of comparison the Japanese poetry of Heian court (8-9th centuries) and early Italian poetry of the Sicilian court of emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (13th century). Both these two courts, that of course have no historical contact or mutual influences, are fundamental turning points in the history of the respective literatures, in particular for what concerns the establishment of poetic canons. Focusing on the relationship between court and literature, and the role of poetry as a tool for consolidation of monarch’s power, I will show how a mutual reading of results by specialist researches from both fields (Japanese literature and Italian literature) can enrich the discourse about some shared issues in the respective literary contexts, giving each other new elements and points of view to verify, confute, or deepen every hypothesis and its conclusions. Through examples from texts like Japanese kanshi (poetry in sino-japanese) and quote from Italian poets of the so called Sicilian School, I will try to give an outline of my research underlining the utility of such a border-crossing method. The suggestion I wish to give is that maybe the question “what the world can learn from Japan?” should be reformulated into the question “what the world and Japan can learn from each other?”. I think indeed that Japan cannot succeed to become an efficient center of attraction for international attention if not through inserting Japan itself into a wider frame of international exchange and cooperation. To put finally aside the essentialist position “we Japanese” and recognize that many features of Japanese culture and history have so much to share with other countries – both close and far, like China and Europe – is maybe the only way Japan have to escape the self-orientalist belief and some dangerous nationalistic orientation of modern times.
This presentation summarizes the results of a two years comparative research about Heian court li... more This presentation summarizes the results of a two years comparative research about Heian court literature and Italian medieval Literature, with a particular focus on poetry produced at the courts of Emperor Saga (786-842), Emperor Uda (867-931) and Emperor Daigo (885-930) in Japan, and at the Sicilian court of Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (1194-1250) in Italy. The reigns of these emperors coincides with important turning points for the History of Literature of the respective countries: the compilation of the first imperial ordered poetic collections (Chokusen sanshū) at Saga’s court, the revenue and consolidation of waka tradition culminated with the compilation of the Kokinshū during Uda’s and Daigo’s reigns; the birth of Italian vernacular literature with the Sicilian School of poetry at Frederick II’s court. The final aim of this study was to insert Japanese classical poetry into the wider frame of (classical) world literatures, starting from some universal categorizations, like that of “court literature” or “vernacular language”. I tried to analyzing how and why a very particular social environment – the court – and similar cultural politics give birth to analogous literary attitudes in different countries, i.e. the formalization of poetical language, similar aesthetic tastes etc. The research also managed issues like: the active role of rulers as promoter of cultural activity (translations, utaawase, shien) and its political application; the support accorded both to a consolidated language of culture (Chinese/Latin) and to a new canon of vernacular literature (Japanese/Italian); the birth of a new figure of intellectual (bunjin/notary) able to write in both high language and vernacular language (Sugawara no Michizane/Pier della Vigna); the elaboration of new rhetorical structures and devices (sonetto, engo) the tie between love poems, vernacular language and courtly ideal.
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Introduction video to the curated session of the virtual conference of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies, 26-30 August 2020. Chair: Edoardo Gerlini (Ca' Foscari Uni.).
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Kanshishū Prefaces as Discourse on Textual Heritage
GERLINI Edoardo
The word “Classics ( koten ) ”, invented in the modern period, is often used to indicate the “culture of the past” in contrast with the concept of “modernity”. This use of the word koten reinforces the wrong idea that “things of the past”, being substantially unrelated with the present, are in practice useless to the understanding of issues affecting modern societies. This misunderstanding is probably the main reason leading to the so - called “crisis of the classics” in the last decades.
On the other hand, social processes like the use, re - creation and valorization of the culture of the past in the present have led to the birth and thriving growth of the new academic field of “heritage studies” ( Laurajane Smith 2006 ) . Drawing on this new approach, which considers the “things of the past” as a tool to tie past cultures to present identities, I argue that rethinking “classical literature” as a form of “textual heritage” can offer new insights into the debate about the “crisis of classics” today.
To negotiate present identities through dialogue with the past is not necessarily a modern conception, but it is something that always happened in every age ( David Harvey 2001, 2008 ) . In the case of Japanese Classical Literature of the Heian period, authors always produced texts ― of which literary works were but a subset ― through the reading and quoting of past masterpieces, in both direct and indirect manners. But how was the idea of the past shaped in the writing of Heian poets who inherited and reused style and contents from Man’yōshū or the Wenxuan, and how did this intertextuality lead to the creation of a present identity in contrast or continuity with the past ?
In today’s presentation I will draw on the idea of “textual reenactment” Wiebke ( Denecke 2004 ) to identify into the text of kanshi and waka collections’ prefaces of Nara and early Heian a specific discursive construction about the past, similar to processes of “heritagization” theorized by scholars of heritage. This paper is also intended as a mid - term result of the three years’ fellowship I briefly anticipated during the 42 nd International Conference on Japanese Literature in 2018.
IntroductionXI
Part I
Frederick II, Saga and Uda1
Law reforms with Frederick II and Saga6
The state academy 9
The private relationship between ruler and officials, and the shōden system in Japan15
The monjō hakase and the poetic banquets17
Frederick II’s individualistic administration20
Conclusions22
PART II
Court and Culture23
Emperors as centers of the court, courts as centers of culture23
Latin and Chinese as languages of culture and bureaucracy 27
The prestige of high language30
Imperial power and Literature: the theory33
Some preliminary conclusions41
Imperial power and Literature: the texts44
The role of literature in pre-modern courts54
Utility of poetry: the problem57
Utility of poetry: a possible solution 60
Conclusions63
PART III
Court and Vernacular67
The Kokinwakashū and the Sicilian School of poetry: similarities and differences67
The path to the Kokinshū 69
The shaping of the Sicilian School72
The composition of the poetic community75
The birth of the vernacular canon88
PART IV
Formalization, translation, exclusion133
Formalization in the Sicilian School136
Formalization in the Kokinshū 146
Rhetoric as self-determination of the poetic community159
Conclusions164
Appendix - The exclusion of politics166
Part V
A new concept of love179
The love poetry of the troubadours185
Love and marriage at the Heian court 189
Attempting a comparison from the social point of view 191
Love in the Kokinshū and in the Sicilian School of poetry196
From the troubadours to the Sicilians197
From the Man’yōshū to the Kokinshū 206
The Kokinshū and the Sicilians, a direct comparison216
Conclusions241
References 247
Index257
Papers
Introduction video to the curated session of the virtual conference of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies, 26-30 August 2020. Chair: Edoardo Gerlini (Ca' Foscari Uni.).
Kanshishū Prefaces as Discourse on Textual Heritage
GERLINI Edoardo
The word “Classics ( koten ) ”, invented in the modern period, is often used to indicate the “culture of the past” in contrast with the concept of “modernity”. This use of the word koten reinforces the wrong idea that “things of the past”, being substantially unrelated with the present, are in practice useless to the understanding of issues affecting modern societies. This misunderstanding is probably the main reason leading to the so - called “crisis of the classics” in the last decades.
On the other hand, social processes like the use, re - creation and valorization of the culture of the past in the present have led to the birth and thriving growth of the new academic field of “heritage studies” ( Laurajane Smith 2006 ) . Drawing on this new approach, which considers the “things of the past” as a tool to tie past cultures to present identities, I argue that rethinking “classical literature” as a form of “textual heritage” can offer new insights into the debate about the “crisis of classics” today.
To negotiate present identities through dialogue with the past is not necessarily a modern conception, but it is something that always happened in every age ( David Harvey 2001, 2008 ) . In the case of Japanese Classical Literature of the Heian period, authors always produced texts ― of which literary works were but a subset ― through the reading and quoting of past masterpieces, in both direct and indirect manners. But how was the idea of the past shaped in the writing of Heian poets who inherited and reused style and contents from Man’yōshū or the Wenxuan, and how did this intertextuality lead to the creation of a present identity in contrast or continuity with the past ?
In today’s presentation I will draw on the idea of “textual reenactment” Wiebke ( Denecke 2004 ) to identify into the text of kanshi and waka collections’ prefaces of Nara and early Heian a specific discursive construction about the past, similar to processes of “heritagization” theorized by scholars of heritage. This paper is also intended as a mid - term result of the three years’ fellowship I briefly anticipated during the 42 nd International Conference on Japanese Literature in 2018.
IntroductionXI
Part I
Frederick II, Saga and Uda1
Law reforms with Frederick II and Saga6
The state academy 9
The private relationship between ruler and officials, and the shōden system in Japan15
The monjō hakase and the poetic banquets17
Frederick II’s individualistic administration20
Conclusions22
PART II
Court and Culture23
Emperors as centers of the court, courts as centers of culture23
Latin and Chinese as languages of culture and bureaucracy 27
The prestige of high language30
Imperial power and Literature: the theory33
Some preliminary conclusions41
Imperial power and Literature: the texts44
The role of literature in pre-modern courts54
Utility of poetry: the problem57
Utility of poetry: a possible solution 60
Conclusions63
PART III
Court and Vernacular67
The Kokinwakashū and the Sicilian School of poetry: similarities and differences67
The path to the Kokinshū 69
The shaping of the Sicilian School72
The composition of the poetic community75
The birth of the vernacular canon88
PART IV
Formalization, translation, exclusion133
Formalization in the Sicilian School136
Formalization in the Kokinshū 146
Rhetoric as self-determination of the poetic community159
Conclusions164
Appendix - The exclusion of politics166
Part V
A new concept of love179
The love poetry of the troubadours185
Love and marriage at the Heian court 189
Attempting a comparison from the social point of view 191
Love in the Kokinshū and in the Sicilian School of poetry196
From the troubadours to the Sicilians197
From the Man’yōshū to the Kokinshū 206
The Kokinshū and the Sicilians, a direct comparison216
Conclusions241
References 247
Index257
本論文は平安文学に見られる超テクスト性、つまりテクストとテクストの間における関係を分析するものである。分析対象は『和漢朗詠集』及び『源氏物語』、そして両作品における菅原道真の詩の引用と、道真に関係づけられる箇所である。分析方法は、フランス文学理論家ジェラール・ジュネットによるイペルテクスト性についての理論及び用語を用いる。欧州文学を中心とするジュネットの理論は、平安時代の文学にも適用でき、対象作品に新しい光を与えられることを検証する。ジュネットに定義されたいくつかのイポテクスト的変形は『和漢朗詠集』と『源氏物語』にも見いだすことができる。しかし、藤原公任と紫式部が果たした変形実践は、異なった様相を見せており、作者それぞれの目的にも相違があることを確認する。
Nel presente intervento presenterò un tentativo di applicazione una teoria letteraria abbastanza nota - il concetto di transtexualité elaborato dal critico francese Gérard Genette - a un testo poetico in sino-giapponese del IX sec., il Kanke Bunsō - Kanke kōshū di Sugawara no Michizane. In particolare l’intervento si soffermerà sulle modalità in cui il testo poetico originale di Michizane sia stato in seguito rivisitato, rielaborato e manipolato da due autori posteriori, Fujiwara no Kintō nel Wakanrōeishū e Murasahi Shikibu nel Genji monogatari.
Spero di stimolare con questo intervento la riflessione non solo sulle teorie di intertestualità e sulla loro applicazione nei testi giapponesi, ma soprattutto sul valore che una tale operazione ha nell’affermazione, negazione o rinegoziazione di queste stesse teorie di origine eurocentrica.
NIPPON/JAPAN AS OBJECT, NIPPON/JAPAN AS METHOD
October 30th 2015, 12.20-12.45
What is the role of Japan both as an object of study and as a method, finalized to help internationalization and cooperation between academies? From the point of view of the Humanities, and of Literature in particular, the question is indeed interesting and extremely actual because the discourse about the “utility” and “profitability” of academic knowledge in the new century became in the last year a political matter of survival for many departments and faculty. Both in European and Japanese universities, the big part of the curricula of Literature is often intended as the study of an monolithic body of texts, together with the exegeses about those texts, both identified first of all according to the language they use, following the fallacious and essentialist notion of “one nation = one language”: for example Japanese texts in Japan, Italian texts in Italy.
The subdivision of the same disciplines – literature, history, art, philosophy – in “areas” matching the borders of modern national states has been increasingly criticized by many academicians during the last two decades. World Philology, a collection of essays by various philologists edited by Sheldon Pollock and published this year is probably the most recent tentative to break out from the borders of the so called Area Studies in order to achieve a wider, horizontal and worldwide awareness about similar disciplines. Pollock states three minimal requirements that will be needed by the scholars of the next age: 1) historical self-awareness, that means a more flexible and self critical view of our own discipline and its genealogy; 2) nonprovinciality, because these disciplines cannot continue to be just local, but have to seek «global, and by preference globally comparative, knowledge»; 3) methodological and conceptual pluralism. Actually, these issues are not totally new, indeed they probably correspond to the cornerstones on which the discourse about World Literature studies – both in practice and theory – are discussed since the times of Erich Auerbach, that in 1952 noticed how «foreign, nonphilological or scientific methods and concepts begin to be felt in philology: sociology, psychology, certain kinds of philosophy, and contemporary literary criticism» (“Philology and Weltliteratur”, 1969, p. 8) and stated that «our philological home is the earth: it can no longer be the nation» (ibid. p. 17).
In the field of World Literature, the most groundbreaking work recently published is probably Wiebke Denecke’s Classical World Literatures, in which the author compares the relation between ancient Greece and Rome, with the one between premodern Japan and China. Following the idea of weltliteratur of Auerbach, Denecke’s work is remarkable for two reasons. Firstly because it is the first to deal with classical literature in such a systematical way, opening the way for further researches on “classical world literatures”; secondly because its declared major motivation: «a desire to reflect more methodically on the processes of Sino-Japanese reception, taking inspiration from the far more developed and mature studies of reception in the Greco-Roman context» (2014:294) is indeed a practical response to Pollock’s requirements, especially the third: “methodological and conceptual pluralism”. What Denecke did is to learn from the achievements of one of the oldest academic discipline – Greek and Roman classical studies – and apply that knowledge to the field of Japan studies (or in this case of wa-kan or sino-japanese comparison).
This is probably what Remo Ceserani had in mind when declared, some fifteen years ago that the advantage of World Literature’s paradigm was «to get indirectly in touch with foreign critical methodologies and problem solving proposed by those researchers [of a different study area and country]» (1999:319).
Actually, Remo Ceserani’s word inspired also my recent work, that indeed looks somehow similar to Denecke’s one, at least in the aims. I took as object of comparison the Japanese poetry of Heian court (8-9th centuries) and early Italian poetry of the Sicilian court of emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (13th century). Both these two courts, that of course have no historical contact or mutual influences, are fundamental turning points in the history of the respective literatures, in particular for what concerns the establishment of poetic canons.
Focusing on the relationship between court and literature, and the role of poetry as a tool for consolidation of monarch’s power, I will show how a mutual reading of results by specialist researches from both fields (Japanese literature and Italian literature) can enrich the discourse about some shared issues in the respective literary contexts, giving each other new elements and points of view to verify, confute, or deepen every hypothesis and its conclusions. Through examples from texts like Japanese kanshi (poetry in sino-japanese) and quote from Italian poets of the so called Sicilian School, I will try to give an outline of my research underlining the utility of such a border-crossing method.
The suggestion I wish to give is that maybe the question “what the world can learn from Japan?” should be reformulated into the question “what the world and Japan can learn from each other?”. I think indeed that Japan cannot succeed to become an efficient center of attraction for international attention if not through inserting Japan itself into a wider frame of international exchange and cooperation. To put finally aside the essentialist position “we Japanese” and recognize that many features of Japanese culture and history have so much to share with other countries – both close and far, like China and Europe – is maybe the only way Japan have to escape the self-orientalist belief and some dangerous nationalistic orientation of modern times.
The final aim of this study was to insert Japanese classical poetry into the wider frame of (classical) world literatures, starting from some universal categorizations, like that of “court literature” or “vernacular language”. I tried to analyzing how and why a very particular social environment – the court – and similar cultural politics give birth to analogous literary attitudes in different countries, i.e. the formalization of poetical language, similar aesthetic tastes etc. The research also managed issues like: the active role of rulers as promoter of cultural activity (translations, utaawase, shien) and its political application; the support accorded both to a consolidated language of culture (Chinese/Latin) and to a new canon of vernacular literature (Japanese/Italian); the birth of a new figure of intellectual (bunjin/notary) able to write in both high language and vernacular language (Sugawara no Michizane/Pier della Vigna); the elaboration of new rhetorical structures and devices (sonetto, engo) the tie between love poems, vernacular language and courtly ideal.