Thursday, November 21, 2024 | 7:00-8:30 PM ET | 6:00-7:30 PM CT | REGISTER FOR ZOOM
The Afterlife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi: Historical Fiction and Popular Culture in Japan (Harvard University Asia Center Press, 2022)
Susan Westhafer Furukawa, Associate Professor of Japanese, Beloit College
Discussant: Rebecca Copeland, Professor of Japanese Language and Literature, Washington University in St. Louis
The Modern Japan History Association invites the wider community to a conversation with Susan Westhafer Furukawa (Beloit College). Professor Furukawa will be speaking about her recent book The Afterlife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi: Historical Fiction and Popular Culture in Japan (Harvard University Asia Center Press, 2022). By analyzing representations of the famous sixteenth-century samurai leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi in historical fiction, The Afterlife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi explores how and why Hideyoshi has had a continued and ever-changing presence in popular culture in twentieth- and twenty-first-century Japan. The multiple fictionalized histories of Hideyoshi published as serial novels and novellas before, during, and after World War II demonstrate how imaginative re-presentations of Japan’s past have been used by various actors throughout the modern era. Using close reading of several novels and short stories as well as the analysis of various other texts and paratextual materials, Professor Furukawa discovers a Hideyoshi who is always changing to meet the needs of the current era, and in the process expands our understanding of the powerful role that historical narratives play in Japan. Rebecca Copeland (Wash U) will serve as interlocutor.
The Modern Japan History Association is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit organization supported by member contributions.
