Short Bibliography

       Suzuki Sadami is one of a handful of scholars who has set the agenda for research in Japanese literature in general. His work as a researcher of Japanese literature and editor of numerous collections of important archival series which have brought into the public domain many forgotten works of Japanese literature is outstanding. His editorship of the 16 volume set Taisho Bungaku Zenshu (Collection of Taisho Literature, 2001-3) has rewritten the scholarly perception of the Taisho era and stimulated numerous rereading and reevaluations of the works produced during this time. However, this is but one of many important series that he has edited.
        The many scholarly books he has written on Japanese literature, a number of which have been awarded major prizes, can be divided into two categories: studies of specific modern authors, especially Kajii Motojiro (1901-32), and studies in literary history. Suzuki's contribution to scholarship on Kajii, one of the most important 20th century Japanese writers, is monumental, with the third of his major books on Kajii -- Kajii Motojiro no Sekai (The World of Kajii Motojiro, 2001) forming the basis of the award of the degree of Doctor of Letters to Professor Suzuki by the Graduate University, the International Research Center for Japanese Studies.
         His numerous rewritings of modern Japanese literary history have taken various forms, but probably the most influential of his publications in recent years is his book Nihon no Bungaku Gainen (1998), now translated and published in English under the title The Concept of ‘Literature’ in Japan (2006). This book in its original Japanese format has already been the subject of much praise in Japan and is frequently cited in recent studies on Japanese literature. I have no doubt the same phenomenon will occur in the West, now that the translation (by Royall Tyler, the translator of the Tale of Genji) has become available. It should be noted that his latest book is a study of Japanese nationalism, thus indicating the broadening of his research over the last few years in the direction of an all encompassing approach to Japanese culture.
         In short, Professor Suzuki is an outstanding scholar who for many years to come will be one of the most influential people working in the field of Japanese literature and culture. To be able to bring him to Sydney for this most important conference of the Oriental Society of Australia (OSA) will complement perfectly the aims of the conference and will allow Australian researchers in the field of Japanese literature and culture, which I am reliably informed is undergoing something of a revival at present, to meet, hear and discuss their work with him, thus providing a major boost to Australian studies of Japan. The publicity generated by Professor Suzuki’s visit will prove a timely reminder to the Australian scholarly community, and the Australian community in general, of the present international significance of Japanese culture and literature, with a number of Japanese authors, like Haruki Murakami, achieving the status of world authors, with a world-wide readership for their works.

Keynote Address

'An Investigation of the View of Life in a Global Environment Focusing on the Reception of Evolutionary Theory: A Summary'

In this lecture, Professor Sadami Suzuki questions recent advances in the biological sciences, and considers their implications for the fate of humanity, especially issues associated with genetic manipulation and cloning. He investigates Darwin's theory of evolution, and its historical reception in such Asian societies as China and Japan. He also considers the role of religion in the formation of theories of life, and evolutionary theory generally, again with a special focus on Asian and Middle Eastern societies. He also investigates the cultural sphere, focusing on viewpoints which purport to take the Darwinian model as their inspiration for theories relating to the history and transmission of ideas. His purpose is to reevaluate the very concept of life itself, which has played the major role in shaping our view of society, culture and science. Finally, Professor Suzuki turns his attention to modern Japan and endeavours to explain why Japan has experienced modernity and science in a slightly different way from many of its Asian neighbours. He locates the origin of the modern acceptance of science by Japanese (not exactly the same as accepted by the West) in premodern views of life, and he also traces the distortions in the view of life created
by the bloodstained history of the 20th century.

Title and Abstract of Paper

'The recent trend of the ‘postwar-debate’ in Japan'

The Yasukuni shrine visits by the former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi have ?became an internationally predicament. Slipshod discussions are taking place as a ?result of the escalating deliberations surrounding the enshrinement of Class A war ?criminals at Yasukuni Shrine. The current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is using the ?catch phrase of ‘Beautiful Country’ and talks about a ‘parting from the postwar’. But this amounts to no more than the incitement of patriotism and we ?should examine these issues through the source of Japanese Nationalism.