Knowing the East: French and Western Modern Poets looking at Japan: course description
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At the turn of the 20th century, several major Western poets discovered Japanese traditional culture, including literature. If their understanding was not perfect, it could well be a sort of productive misunderstanding which gave birth to a further cultural exchange. For example, the research on Noh theater of Ernest Fenollosa, an American scholar who spent time in Japan, was completed by the American modernist poet Ezra Pound, who was also attracted by Chinese characters and put them into his own poetry. What did they think about Noh and Chinese (and Japanese) writing?
In France, it was starting with Paul Claudel that the reception of Japanese culture and poetry by major European poets became notable. How did Claudel, who lived in Japan as a diplomat and read some Japanese poetry, perceive Japanese culture – or rather, how should we understand his understanding? Like Fenollosa and Pound, Claudel took a great interest in Noh, Bunraku (puppet theatre), Kabuki (popular theatre) and other aspects of Japanese culture. And Japanese classical poetry, haiku, with its writing and calligraphy, fascinated Claudel to such an extent that he even tried haiku in French (“A hundred movements for a fan”, 1927). Was his attempt successful? The briefness of haiku aroused the interest of many Western poets in this period. What are the real characteristics of haiku? Do the translations of such brief poems give an accurate impression of the originals? Here we will look at the history of haiku and compare some translations of the haiku of Basho, often thought of as the originator of the genre.
Haiku also attracted the surrealists, who rejected academic approaches and sometimes integrated the perspective of haiku into their poetics, even if they reduced it to its satirical aspect. It is perhaps the post-surrealist generation of French (and Swiss) poets who most genuinely tried to appreciate Japanese poetry, becoming more aware of the difference between Western and Japanese culture. What is the meaning of this encounter? We will analyse the reception of Basho’s famous “Narrow Road to the Interior”. The reception of Japanese poetry and culture by these French poets proves a sort of mutual interest and therefore a mutual enrichment.
At the end of the course the students will be invited to translate into English and present some brief poems written in their native language.
