Papers by Gergana Ivanova
This special section of Japanese Language and Literature, “Heian Literature in Manga,” attempts t... more This special section of Japanese Language and Literature, “Heian Literature in Manga,” attempts to offer tools for understanding the multiple functions that manga appropriations of literary texts written over a millennium ago perform in present-day Japan. Focusing on manga adaptations of six Heian-period (794-1185) works, the contributors examine how and why these classical writings have been rewritten for readers in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. They present six international perspectives on the influence manga has had in popularizing Heian classics by exploring modern interpretations as well as which aspects of the ancient texts have been promoted for readers in Japan today.
Japanese Language and Literature
This paper examines three manga adaptations of The Pillow Book (Makura no sōshi, early 11th c.) p... more This paper examines three manga adaptations of The Pillow Book (Makura no sōshi, early 11th c.) published in the past thirty years to show how popular culture challenges Japanese school education and its approaches to teaching classical literature. It argues that manga rewritings of the Heian-period text aim to increase modern interest in this ancient work and help to rectify misconceptions of it generated by national literature (kokubungaku) scholarship and traditional methods of teaching classical literature in Japan. Prioritizing the content instead of its formal features, these rewritings offer a new approach to the eleventh-century work by presenting the material in an engaging and relevant way that resonates with modern readers.
Japanese Language and Literature, 2021
This paper examines three manga adaptations of The Pillow Book (Makura no sōshi, early 11th c.) p... more This paper examines three manga adaptations of The Pillow Book (Makura no sōshi, early 11th c.) published in the past thirty years to show how popular culture challenges Japanese school education and its approaches to teaching classical literature. It argues that manga rewritings of the Heian-period text aim to increase modern interest in this ancient work and help to rectify misconceptions of it generated by national literature (kokubungaku) scholarship and traditional methods of teaching classical literature in Japan. Prioritizing the content instead of its formal features, these rewritings offer a new approach to the eleventh-century work by presenting the material in an engaging and relevant way that resonates with modern readers.
Sound-symbolic words are an important aspect of the Japanese language which facilitates communica... more Sound-symbolic words are an important aspect of the Japanese language which facilitates communication and provides speakers with rich means of expression. To non-native speakers of the language, however, these words remain one of the most difficult word layers to master. In addition to the fact that mimetic words are culturally loaded and thus have unique nature, the process of learning them is also hindered by the shortage of efficient teaching materials and linguistic research. This study examines the close relation between same strings of sounds observed in words and their semantic properties, and introduces 37 phonaesthematic patterns. Moreover, contradictory to Saussure’s traditional theory of the unmotivated nature of the linguistic sign, it argues that in some mimetic words there exists a close relation between sound and meaning.
Unbinding The Pillow Book
宇都宮大学国際学部研究論集, Oct 1, 2002
Japanese Language and Literature, 2021
This special section of Japanese Language and Literature, “Heian Literature in Manga,” attempts t... more This special section of Japanese Language and Literature, “Heian Literature in Manga,” attempts to offer tools for understanding the multiple functions that manga appropriations of literary texts written over a millennium ago perform in present-day Japan. Focusing on manga adaptations of six Heian-period (794-1185) works, the contributors examine how and why these classical writings have been rewritten for readers in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. They present six international perspectives on the influence manga has had in popularizing Heian classics by exploring modern interpretations as well as which aspects of the ancient texts have been promoted for readers in Japan today.
Japanese Language and Literature, 2021
This paper examines three manga adaptations of The Pillow Book (Makura no sōshi, early 11th c.) p... more This paper examines three manga adaptations of The Pillow Book (Makura no sōshi, early 11th c.) published in the past thirty years to show how popular culture challenges Japanese school education and its approaches to teaching classical literature. It argues that manga rewritings of the Heian-period text aim to increase modern interest in this ancient work and help to rectify misconceptions of it generated by national literature (kokubungaku) scholarship and traditional methods of teaching classical literature in Japan. Prioritizing the content instead of its formal features, these rewritings offer a new approach to the eleventh-century work by presenting the material in an engaging and relevant way that resonates with modern readers.
Shonagon is Hot by Rivka Galchen, 2020
"Cultural power is not only a weapon to be used against the weak, it is also a consolation prize ... more "Cultural power is not only a weapon to be used against the weak, it is also a consolation prize offered by the strong."
Review of Unbinding the Pillow Book
Moonlit nights: the ongoing impact of Japanese classics, 2019
Columbia University Press, 2018
Columbia University Press Blog, 2019
Japanese Language and Literature , 2016
Talks by Gergana Ivanova
Columbia University Press Blog, 2019
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Papers by Gergana Ivanova
Talks by Gergana Ivanova