Affective World Literature: The Continuity of Consciousness in the Literary Theory and Novels of Japanese Writer Natsume Sõseki

TY - BOOK

T1 - Affective World Literature

T2 - The Continuity of Consciousness in the Literary Theory and Novels of Japanese Writer Natsume Sõseki

AU - Vilslev, Annette Thorsen

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - The PhD dissertation compares the literary theory and novels of modern Japanese writer Natsume Sōseki. It reads Sōseki’s Theory of Literature (2009, Bungakuron, 1907) as an inherently comparative and interdisciplinary approach to theorizing feelings in world literature. More broadly, the dissertation investigates the critical negotiation of the novel as a travelling genre in Japan in the beginning of the 20th century, and, more specifically, Sōseki’s work in relation to world literature and affect theory. Sōseki’s work is highly influential in Japan and East Asia, and his novels widely circulated beyond Japan. Using Sōseki’s theory as an example, and by comparing it to other theories, the dissertation argues that comparative literature needs to include not only more non-Western literature but also more non-Western literary theories in the ongoing debate of world literature. Close-reading his novels, it analyzes how his particular style of writing, relates to his theory of a continuity of consciousness (ishiki no renzoku) as well as to a particular moment-by-moment everyday aesthetics that is inspired by the Japanese sketching style (shaseibun).

AB - The PhD dissertation compares the literary theory and novels of modern Japanese writer Natsume Sōseki. It reads Sōseki’s Theory of Literature (2009, Bungakuron, 1907) as an inherently comparative and interdisciplinary approach to theorizing feelings in world literature. More broadly, the dissertation investigates the critical negotiation of the novel as a travelling genre in Japan in the beginning of the 20th century, and, more specifically, Sōseki’s work in relation to world literature and affect theory. Sōseki’s work is highly influential in Japan and East Asia, and his novels widely circulated beyond Japan. Using Sōseki’s theory as an example, and by comparing it to other theories, the dissertation argues that comparative literature needs to include not only more non-Western literature but also more non-Western literary theories in the ongoing debate of world literature. Close-reading his novels, it analyzes how his particular style of writing, relates to his theory of a continuity of consciousness (ishiki no renzoku) as well as to a particular moment-by-moment everyday aesthetics that is inspired by the Japanese sketching style (shaseibun).

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - Consciousness

KW - Literary Theory

KW - Natsume Sõseki

M3 - Ph.D. thesis

BT - Affective World Literature

PB - Det Humanistiske Fakultet, Københavns Universitet

ER -