In March, The Japan Foundation, Sydney will present a three-part talk series titled 'Read Japan: A Booklover’s Guide to Japanese Literature in Translation, 1960 – Now'. The talks introduce novels published in Japan over three consecutive 20-year periods (the 1960s-70s, 1980s-90s, and 2000 to present) focusing on works that have been translated into English. Each talk offers a window into the social and political context of the time, as well as important writers and movements, and comes with a shortlist of recommended books to create a roadmap for exploring Japanese literature. Discount vouchers and giveaways available from Books Kinokuniya Sydney. 

NEW HUMANS, NEW NOVELS: JAPANESE LITERATURE OF THE 1980S AND 1990S

Hedonism. Boredom. Emptiness. Hope.

In the 1980s, Japanese society began to experience some of the downsides of rapid economic growth and prosperity. To describe the new social relations and identities that emerged during this period, the media of the time coined the term ‘shin-jinrui’ (‘new humans’). This referred to a new generation that, having grown up in a time of economic affluence, had no experience of the hardship of wartime and the early postwar years. These young people were portrayed as uninterested in the value of hard work and spirit of sacrifice that had inspired postwar reconstruction, and as result they were seen as individualistic, superficial, and lacking political consciousness.

In the realm of literature, a new generation of authors, from Ryū Murakami and Haruki Murakami to Banana Yoshimoto and Amy Yamada, emerged to give voice to the distinctive combination of disillusionment and hope that characterised this generation. They introduced to Japanese literature not only new topics and themes, but also new stylistic and communicative forms, giving rise to what Giorgio Amitrano has described as the “New Japanese Novel.”

This talk examines a range of literary works of the 1980s and 1990s and the ways in which they reflected and affected the social transformations of their time.

SPEAKER: Rebecca Suter
Associate Professor in Japanese Studies, The University of Sydney

This is the first of three events in the talk series, Read Japan: A Booklover’s Guide to Japanese Literature in Translation, 1960-Now.