Graduate School of International Culture and Communication StudiesWaseda University

Faculty

PINNINGTON, Adrian

* Scheduled to retire in April 2026

  • TitleProfessor
  • DegreeDoctor of Philosophy in English Literature (University of Sussex)
  • Directed ResearchThe Literature and Intellectual History of Japan
  • Research FieldChanging Conceptions of Japanese Culture

Biography

Although I originally studied English literature, after coming to Japan in 1980 I shifted my research interests to Japanese literature and intellectual history. I am mainly interested in two fields. The first is the reception of Japanese literature and thought in the world outside Japan, and especially the complex interplay between this reception and Japanese understanding of their own culture. The other area is the survival and transformation traditional Japanese literary genres, and traditional Japanese culture more broadly, in the modern period. In particular, I am interested in the history of modern haiku. At first sight, haiku seems a quintessentially traditional and Japanese form of literature, yet at the same time it has proved to be exceptionally popular not only in modern Japan but also abroad. When we look more closely at the form, however, we find that it has survived partly by reinventing itself a number of times. One of those reinventions occurred in the Meiji period with Masaoka Shiki’s ‘modernisation’ of haiku, which led to the flourishing and proliferation of many different kinds of haiku. Behind this lay not only the revision and reinterpretation of the history of the form, but also a cross fertilization with poetry in other genres, including the influential translation of new forms of poetry developing in Europe. A similar process of reinvention and hybridization can be seen not only in many other literary forms but also in other areas of Japanese tradition. I have published essays and articles on the history of haiku, the modern reception of the Genji monogatari and of the No drama, as well as on such novelists as Tanizaki Jun’ichiro and Endo Shusaku.

Major Works / Publications Awards

https://w-rdb.waseda.jp/html/100000276_en.html

Directed Research

Visions and Revisions of Japanese Literature – Translation, Reception, Dissemination. Following the Meiji Restoration, many Japanese doubted the relevance of traditional Japanese literary genres to the new era of modernity into which they were entering. In fact, however, traditional texts and genres have proved to have a surprising vitality, influencing literature outside Japan as well as within. In this seminar, we will look at the complex relationship between the translation and dissemination of Japanese literature abroad and the changing ways in which it has been understood and enjoyed inside Japan. Using ideas drawn from critical theory and translation studies, we will look at the translation and interpretation of particular texts drawn from various genres, such as the Genji Monogatari, waka and haiku, the No and Kabuki, as well as more modern texts, and the relationship between how these texts have been understood outside Japan and within modern Japanese culture.

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