Reiko Abe Auestad takes a capacious definition of cognition that includes thoughts, feelings, imagination, and memory. Through these, her book examines and analyses cognitive manifestations of a wide range of feeling from affect, emotion, to sensibility in a selection of modern Japanese novels. She also considers the readerly emotions that they produce to reflect on the ethical implications of reading literature.
In her talk, she will present the book's theoretical framework, and then move on to a discussion about the last chapter which revolves around The Sea of Sorrow trilogy by Ishimure Michiko.
The seminar will take place on 1 February, 2:00-3:30 pm. Read more about the event at the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies.