{"id":20785,"date":"2025-11-24T15:25:58","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T06:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/wias\/?p=20785"},"modified":"2025-11-24T15:27:51","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T06:27:51","slug":"%e3%80%90%e9%96%8b%e5%82%ac%e5%a0%b1%e5%91%8a%e3%80%91%e9%ab%98%e7%ad%89%e7%a0%94%e7%a9%b6%e6%89%80%e3%80%8c%e4%ba%ba%e6%96%b0%e4%b8%96%e3%81%a8%e4%ba%ba%e6%96%87%e5%ad%a6%e3%80%8d%e3%82%bb%e3%83%9f-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/wias\/news-en\/2025\/11\/24\/20785\/","title":{"rendered":"Event Report: Top runners\u2019 lecture collections:\u3010Lecture by Emmanuel Bouju\u3011In the Age of Epimodernism. A Princip Principle for Literature Today<\/em><\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Top runners\u2019 lecture collections:\u3010Lecture by Emmanuel Bouju\u3011
\nIn the Age of Epimodernism. A Princip Principle for Literature Today<\/em><\/h3>\n

On 11 October 2025, a lecture was delivered under the title In the Age of Epimodernism<\/em> as part of the WIAS Top runners\u2019 lecture collections. The speaker was Professor Emmanuel Bouju<\/a>, who is Director of CERC (Centre d’\u00c9tudes et de Recherches Comparatistes) at Sorbonne Nouvelle University. The Japanese-French consecutive interpretation was provided by Professor Emeritus Nobutaka Miura<\/a> of Chuo University. The role of the moderator was undertaken by Assistant Professor Risa Matsuo<\/a> (WIAS – Waseda Institute for Advanced Study).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Emmanuel Bouju, a distinguished scholar specialising in the field of comparative literature in contemporary France, was a Visiting Researcher at WIAS from 26 September to 26 October 2025. During this period he dedicated himself to his research, collaborating with various researchers at Waseda University. He also presented a total of three lectures hosted by institutes within Waseda University. The lecture, which was organised by Risa Matsuo, focused on Epimodernism ([fr.] \u00c9pimodernisme)<\/strong>, a theoretical possibility for literature after postmodernism recently proposed by Bouju. The monograph on this subject, which was originally published in French online in 2020, was subsequently released in English by Palgrave Macmillan in 2023 (see related links for both). In the initial segment of the lecture, Bouju presented the six foundational values in modern literature (derivative of the six meanings of the Greek prefix \u201cepi\u201d and reinterpreted from the six memos left by Italo Calvino (1923-85) from his Harvard lectures), as delineated in his book. In the latter half of the lecture, the speaker shared his latest analysis and insights based on these values: Princip Principle ([fr.] Principe Principe)<\/strong>. Despite the fact that this term appears to be a French wordplay involving the repetition of the same word, it is, in actuality, a \u201cserious joke\u201d<\/strong> \u2013 a wordplay on the name of Gavrilo Princip, the assassin who shot the Archduke of Austria and his wife during the 1914 Sarajevo incident that led to the commencement of World War I. Since that point in history, spanning from the Yugoslav Wars to the invasion of Ukraine in 2025, instability in Central and Eastern Europe has endured perpetually, as if representing Princip\u2019s \u201cphantom pain\u201d – the phenomenon where limbs lost in accidents continue to cause pain as if they were still present. Utilising examples from the novels of authors such as Velibor \u010coli\u0107 (1964- ), J\u00e9r\u00f4me Ferrari (1968- ) and David Albahari (1948-2023), Bouju posits that works pertaining to Princip continue to be produced incessantly to the present day, akin to a thought experiment serving as a \u201cmirror box\u201d (a therapeutic technique that employs the use of a mirror to visualise lost limbs, thereby alleviating pain).<\/p>\n\n\t\t