Japonism and Post-Japonism in Literature:

Main editors: Ina Hein and Christine Ivanovic, University of Vienna

The confrontation with Japanese art forms in the ‘West’ around 1900 has led to the emergence of pivotal concepts of modernism and, at the same time, resulted in a transnational stream of ‘Japonism’. A similar tendency can be observed a century later: Today, various cultural models from Japan, now mostly from the realm of popular culture, are taken up and adapted worldwide in connection with new media and digital technologies. Since this phenomenon often coincides with mechanisms of postmodernism we call it Postjaponism. In the projected volume, Japonism and Postjaponism will, respectively, be profiled as historical epochs and as currents whose formative significance for European writing around 1900 and around 2000 will be elaborated. Special emphasis will be placed on the expansion of classical narrative forms into newer genres such as of film, manga, anime, and video games, among others. The volume aims to highlight how Japan-inspired modes of writing today epitomize a contemporary culture that has left the national behind and, instead, is shaped by transcultural flows.