Greetings!

 

On behalf of the International Japanese Studies Group at Kanagawa University's Minatomirai Campus, in Yokohama, Japan, I am pleased to announce the following lecture:

 

Monstrous Obsessions: The Undercurrents of Desire in the Aesthetics of Izumi Kyōka

 

Alejandro Morales Rama 

Assistant Professor

Department of Spanish, Kanagawa University

 

Wednesday, 22 October 2025 (hybrid)
15:30-17:00
Room 6019
Kanagawa University, Minatomirai Campus
Yokohama

 

Abstract

Izumi Kyōka (1873-1939) was a writer of novels, novellas, and plays that developed a unique Romantic style opposed to the rise of naturalism in the literature of Meiji Japan. His oeuvre was largely popular among women, due in part to his depiction of suffering yet beautiful and brave women. On the other hand, he is known as one of the foremost representatives of the fantastic genre in the Meiji Japan. Kyōka's awareness of injustice and discrimination is mostly encapsulated in the female characters that inhabit his stories, who, oftentimes, are linked to uncanny events and monstrous figures which the male protagonist encounter.

 

This talk discusses three of his later works: "Magic" (Yōjutsu, 1911), "The Story of Three Who Were Blind" (Sannin no mekura no hanashi, 1912), and "A Silent Obsession" (Mayukakushi no rei, 1924); and focuses on Kyōka's concept of twilight, which he proposed on his 1908's essay "The Taste of Twilight" (Tasogare no aji). This talk proposes that this concept is the key to understanding the inner workings of his novellas belonging to the fantastic genre, since it sets the basis for a different way of knowing which opposes the epistemology of Civilization and Enlightenment of the Meiji period by creating liminal spaces where fixed identities are threatened.

 

In this ongoing project, the analysis of different works by this author, this paper utilizes the theories of post-structuralists Deleuze and Guattari, who experimented with new ways of understanding "being." First, by using their concept of assemblage it will analyze Kyōka's concept of twilight as a combination of setting, characters, and ideologies that allow for movements of deterritorialization, meaning a multiplication and indetermination of identities. Secondly, through their concept of becoming monster, this talk analyzes the flows of desire within the stories: voyeuristic male desires left unfulfilled in "Magic," lustful desires that give way to jealousy and tragedy within the love triangle of "A Tale of Three That Were Blind," and finally the obsessive desire to become the perfect wife that transcends even death in "A Silent Obsession." Like the obake that Kyōka so fervently loved, the characters we encounter through the eyes of the main protagonist seemingly shapeshift, and they bring about changes in the way the male protagonists think, a change that Kyōka probably wanted to extend to his readers.

 

To Attend Online (Zoom):

Access the Zoom Meeting via the following Meeting ID and Passcode. Preregistration is NOT required to attend via Zoom.

Zoomでのご参加は事前登録不要です。当日は下記のZoomミーティングIDとパスコードでログインしてください。

 

Meeting ID: 952 9921 4976 Passcode: KUMMC

To Attend in Person

 

Preregistration via the link below at least a day in advance for those coming from outside the KU community is greatly appreciated. If you are coming from off campus, please also register as a Guest at the Information counter near the entrance before coming up to the room.

 

ご来場の⽅： 神奈川⼤学関係者は事前登録不要です。学外の⽅は前⽇までに下記のリンクにて事前登録をお願いします。当⽇は1FのInformationカウンターでGuest登録を済ませてから、部屋までお越しください。Zoom でのご参加は事前登録不要です。

 

https://forms.gle/1CYwHRozTsA7xtw7A

 

Inquiries・お問い合わせ

 

James Welker jrwelker@kanagawa-u.ac.jp

 

Future Lectures

The International Japanese Studies Group at Kanagawa University also plans the following future lecture the remainder of the Japanese academic year. All lectures will be from 3:30 to 5:00 pm at our Minatomirai Campus. Please mark your calendars. 

 

For details, please also refer to the flier here: http://human.kanagawa-u.ac.jp/kenkyu/symposium/pdf/autmun_2025.pdf

 

Wednesday, 19 November 2025 (hybrid)
P.A. George, Kanagawa University
Difficulties of Translating Japanese Literature into Foreign Languages: With Special Reference to Malayalam Translation of Ishikawa Takuboku's Ichiaku no suna (A handful of sand)

 

Wednesday, 17 December 2025 (hybrid)
Elise Voyau, Kanagawa University
Japan in Tension After 1968: The Workshop School of Photography in Focus

 

Wednesday, 21 January 2026 (in person only)
Quintana Scherer, Kanagawa University
Bodies of Proof: Little People, Yokohama-e, and the Imagined Foreigner

 

Details on upcoming lectures will be announced one to two weeks in advance. If you would like to be on our direct email list to be sure you do not miss an announcement, please contact James Welker (jrwelker@kanagawa-u.ac.jp). 

 

Best regards,

 

James Welker

Kanagawa University

===================================================================
|| James Welker  |  ジェームズ・ウェルカー  (he/him)
|| Professor  |  教授 

|| Department of Cross-Cultural Studies, Faculty of Cross-Cultural & Japanese Studies

|| Kanagawa University--Minatomirai Campus

|| 神奈川大学 みなとみらいキャンパス 国際日本学部 国際文化交流学科

|| jrwelker@kanagawa-u.ac.jp  |  jrwelker@me.com

|| Linktree (Professional profiles & social media)

===================================================================

Co-editor of the Global Queer Asias book series (University of Michigan Press)

Kanagawa University International Japanese Studies Talk Series, Autumn-Winter 2025-2026

Selected Publications:

--James Welker, Transfiguring Women in Late Twentieth Century Japan: Feminists, Lesbians, and Girls' Comics Artists and Fans (University of Hawai'i Press, 2024)
--James Welker, ed. Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia (University of Hawai'i Press, 2022)
--James Welker, ed. "Queer(ing)," special issue of Mechademia: Second Arc 13, no. 1 (2020)
--ジェームズ・ウェルカー 編著『BLが開く扉　変容するアジアのセクシュアリティとジェンダー』(青土社  2019)  [James Welker, ed., BL Opening Doors: Transfiguring Sexuality and Gender in Asia (Seidosha, 2019)]