Title: Strange Marriages, Painted Skins, and Ghost Writers: Japanese Responses to Pu Songling from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century

Speaker: William Fleming, UC Santa Barbara

Abstract: Through an examination of Japanese translations, adaptations, and imitations of Pu Songling from four distinct historical eras spanning three centuries, this talk traces shifting attitudes not only toward this major author and his work, but toward fiction and translation more broadly.

Speaker's Bio: William Fleming specializes in early modern Japanese literature. His primary research interests include eighteenth- and nineteenth-century fiction, popular theater, book history, and literary and cultural exchange with China and the West; his recent monograph examines aspects of the importation, circulation, reading, and adaptation of Chinese fiction in early modern Japan. He completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Harvard University and has spent time as a visiting researcher at Kyoto University, Waseda University, and the National Institute of Japanese Literature in Tokyo. Before joining the faculty at UCSB, he taught in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures and the Theater Studies Program at Yale University.

About East Asia Program

As Cornell’s hub for research, teaching, and engagement with East Asia, the East Asia Program (EAP) serves as a forum for the interdisciplinary study of historical and contemporary East Asia. The program draws its membership of over 45 core faculty and numerous affiliated faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students from eight of Cornell’s 12 schools and colleges.