Lecture in Kyoto: Bouvier's Writings and Photographs on Japan

(Courtesy of H-Japan...)

KYOTO LECTURES 2007

Thursday, November 1,　2007, 6:00 PM

Giorgio Amitrano will speak on:

Instants voles: Nicolas Bouvier's Writings and Photographs on Japan

Nicolas Bouvier (1929-1998), Swiss writer and photographer, traveled extensively throughout Japan, taking portraits of people, observing and writing. Chroniques japonaises is one of his most celebrated books, and works like L'usage du monde and Le poisson-scorpion turned him into an icon of free, adventurous, risky, small-budget travel. In Bouvier's literary production, images and texts are intimately connected and yet they are independent. There was no theory behind his work: he rather seemed to follow his instinct and sense of adventure. But looking at it from a distance, and with the aid of some important posthumous writings, including a collection of Carnets du Japon, one can detect a greater degree of awareness than expected, as if beyond Bouvier's seemingly spontaneous approach he were developing a method of observation that was both deep and meditative. This lecture will address (or, will attempt an explanation of) why Japan was important for the development of such a method and in what way this country became significant for the building of Bouvier's unique, idiosyncratic humanism.

Giorgio Amitrano is Professor of Japanese Language and Literature at the Universite degli Studi di Napoli L'Orientale. He is the author of The New Japanese Novel: Popular Culture and Literary Tradition in the Works of Murakami Haruki and Yoshimoto Banana (Kyoto: ISEAS, 1996), Yama no oto: kowareyuku kazoku (Tokyo: Misuzu shobo, 2007), and Il mondo di Banana Yoshimoto (Milano: Feltrinelli, 2007). Amitrano has also edited the Italian edition of Kawabata's collected works, and has translated into Italian works by Kawabata Yasunari, Nakajima Atsushi, Kajii Motojiro, Miyazawa Kenji, Inoue Yasushi, Murakami Haruki, and Yoshimoto Banana.

For more information, contact:

Italian School of East Asian Studies (ISEAS)
Phone: 075-751-8132
Fax: 075-751-8221
e-mail: iseas@iseas-kyoto.org

Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient (EFEO)
Phone: 075-761-3946
e-mail: efeohb@mbox.kyoto-inet.or.jp