08 Aug Learning from Shōgun today (a cultural studies workshop)

Coordinated by: Radu Leca (Heidelberg University) and yours truly

on September 3 (10:00~12:00) at my alma mater, ‘Dimitrie Cantemir’ Christian University, Bucharest

***

Thirty years after the first translation of James Clavell’s Shōgun into Romanian, it seems timely to assess the novel’s cultural and historical significance in Romania as well as in the broader European space. Starting from a few key topics introduced by Henry Smith and his collaborators in Learning from Shōgun – Japanese History and Western Fantasy (1980), we invite our fellow translators (as well as other colleagues interested in our project) to join us for a discussion on the perceptions and modalities of the novel shaping Japan’s image in communist Romania/Europe and its subsequent transfigurations.

Workshop structure:

Part 1. The coordinators will summarise the critical framework proposed by Henry Smith and his collaborators in the 1980 scholarly companion to Clavell’s novel and discuss its relevance and future possibilities for interpretation in the context of our project – the translation of Smith’s companion into Romanian, accompanied by short contextualising introductions.

Part 2. The participants will work in pairs or groups of three and discuss each chapter of the companion, together with possible directions for interpretation relevant to the Romanian cultural space. Some possible guidelines for discussion include, but are not limited to, Shōgun’s perception and function in communist Romania/ Europe, as well as its later transfigurations, following the advent of the digital age (e.g. have digital formats radically transformed the Shōgun-inherited Romanian image of Japan, or have certain tropes endured into the present day?).

Registration and inquiries: learningfromshogun@gmail.com