The Story of the Stone and The Tale of Genji in Modern China and Japan: Issues in Media, Gender, and Cultural Identity

November 19th-20th, 2010 403 Kent Hall, Columbia University

This symposium explores the remarkable histories of the reception of the Stone and the Genji in the early modern and modern world. By exploring the parallels between the Stone and the Genji phenomena in China and Japan, particularly with regard to media, gender, and cultural identity, this symposium will bring together specialists of various fields and aims to generate interdisciplinary and comparative research that crosses temporal, cultural, and national boundaries.

Sponsored by Weatherhead East Asian Institute, The Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for Scholarly Exchange, and The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University

Organized by Shang Wei, Haruo Shirane, and I-Hsien Wu

Friday, November 19

9:30 am-11am Issues in Reception and Adaptation

Haruo Shirane, Columbia University
The Tale of Genji Reception in Comparative Perspective

Shang Wei, Columbia University
The Stone Phenomenon and its Transformation

Chair and Discussant: Joshua Mostow, University of British Columbia

11:15 am-12:45 pm Global Reception

Tomi Suzuki, Columbia University
The Tale of Genji in relationship to Chinese vernacular fiction and the Western novel

Michael Emmerich, University of California, Santa Barbara
Genji Goes Global: History, Materiality, Mass Media

Chair and Discussant: Patrick Caddeau, Princeton University

12:45 pm-2 pm: Lunch

1:15 pm-1:45 pm: Lunch Talk

Charo D'Etcheverry, University of Wisconsin - Madison Stone-Genji Syllabi

2 pm-3:30 pm Gender, Cultural Identity and Education I

Satoko Naito, University of Maryland
The Tale of Genji as retsujoden (biographies of exemplary women): Images of Murasaki Shikibu in 18th Century Instructional Texts for Women

Ellen Widmer, Wellesley College
How Well Did Lin Daiyu Know Honglou meng?--Some Perspectives From Japan

Chair and Discussant: Lewis Cook, Queens College

4 pm-5:30 pm Gender, Cultural Identity and Education II

Christina Laffin, University of British Columbia
Prequels, Sequels, and Self-Narratives: The Tale of Genji in Women’s Memoirs

Keith McMahon, University of Kansas
Two Jia Baoyus and Perversion

Chair and Discussant: Lydia Liu, Columbia University

Saturday, November 20

9:30 am-11am From Theater to Film I

Satoko Shimazaki, University of Colorado, Boulder
Strange Encounters: Performing Genji on the Kabuki Stage

Ling Hon Lam, Vanderbilt University
Stone’s New Clothes: Re-visioning the Origins in Modern-Costume “Red Chamber” Films and Photoplay Novels

Chair and Discussant: Martin Woesler, Harvard University

11:15 am-12:45 pm From Theater to Film II

Judith Zeitlin, University of Chicago
The Death of Lin Daiyu in Opera, Spoken Drama, and Film from Late Qing to the Cultural Revolution

Sophie Volpp, University of California, Berkeley
Mind Wandering: Honglou meng's Dramatic Sequels

Chair and Discussant: Weihong Bao, Columbia University

12:45 pm-2 pm: Lunch

2 pm-3:30 pm Visual Culture: Pre-modern to Modern I

Kimberly Besio, Colby College Baochai Chasing Butterflies: Reception of Honglou meng in Visual Culture

Sarah Thompson, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Poetry, Incense, Card Games, and Pictorial Narrative Coding in Early Modern Genji Pictures

Chair and Discussant: Joshua Mostow, University of British Columbia

4 pm-5:30 pm Visual Culture: Pre-modern to Modern II

Melissa McCormick, Harvard University
Reading Pictures: Genji Pictures in the Age of Illustrated Fiction

I-Hsien Wu, The City College of New York
Portraits of a Lady: Lin Daiyu’s Makeover in Honglou meng Pictures

Chair and Discussant: Jonathan Hay, New York University