Michael F. Marra
Professor of Japanese Literature and Hermeneutics

Education - Employment - Courses - Publications - Conferences - Talks - Events

EALC - CENTER FOR JAPANESE STUDIES - EAST ASIAN LIBRARY

CURRICULUM VITAE

EDUCATION

Ph.D. (1988), Japanese Literature and Thought, UCLA, (1986-1988)

Ph.D. student, Japanese Literature, Princeton University (1985-86)

M.A. (1983), Japanese Literature, Washington University, (1981-1983)

Research student, Japanese Literature, Tsukuba University, Japan (1980-1981)

Research student, Japanese Literature, Osaka University of Foreign Studies, Japan (1979-1980)

Doctorate (1979), Japanese and Italian Literature, University of Turin, Italy, (1975-1979)

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

July 1999-present: Professor, Japanese Literature, University of California, Los Angeles.

September-December 2000: Visiting Professor, Aesthetics and Hermeneutics, The University of Kyoto, Japan.

July 1995-June 1999: Associate Professor, Japanese Literature, University of California, Los Angeles.

July 1996-June 1997: Visiting Associate Professor, Japanese Literature and Aesthetics, International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Kyoto, Japan.

May 1996: Visiting Associate Professor, University of Turin, Italy.

July 1993-June 1995: Assistant Professor, Japanese Literature, University of California, Los Angeles.

January 1990-August 1993: Assistant Professor, Japanese Literature, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

1988-1989: Visiting Professor, Italian and Comp. Lit., University of Tokyo, Japan.

1983-1985: Visiting Professor, Italian Language & Lit., Osaka Univ. of Foreign Studies, Japan.

COURSES 2003--2004

FALL 2003

Japanese 60--Images of Japan: Literature and Film. F. 2:00-5:50

Japanese 110--Introduction to Classical Japanese. WF 10:00-11:15

Japanese C195/C295--Introduction to Modern Japanese Aesthetics. WF 1:00-2:15

Office hours: WF 8:30-9:30 a.m., 264A Royce Hall.

WINTER 2004

Japanese C150/C250--Topics in Japanese Literature and Philosophy. WF 10:00-11:15

Japanese C180/C280--Readings in Japanese Literary Thought. WF 1:00-2:15

Office hours: WF 8:30-9:30a.m., 264 Royce Hall.

PUBLICATIONS

BOOKS

Japanese Hermeneutics: Current Debates on Aesthetics and Interpretation. Honolulu: The University of Hawaii Press, 2002.

A History of Modern Japanese Aesthetics. Honolulu: The University of Hawaii Press, 2001 (hardcover and paperback editions).

Modern Japanese Aesthetics: A Reader. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999 (paperback edition, 2002).

Seminando Semi di Comprensione (Italian Translation of Okamatsu Yoshihisa, Tane wo Maku). Kyoto: New Color Photographic Printing, 1997.

Representations of Power: The Literary Politics of Medieval Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993 (hardcover and paperback editions).

The Aesthetics of Discontent: Politics and Reclusion in Medieval Japanese Literature. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1991 (hardcover and paperback editions).

I Racconti di Ise (Introduction and Italian Translation of Ise Monogatari). Turin: Einaudi, 1985.

Ihara Saikaku: Storie di Mercanti (Introduction and Italian Translation of Saikaku's Nihon Eitaigura and Seken Munezan'yô). Turin: UTET, 1983.

ARTICLES and BOOK CHAPTERS

"The Aesthetics of Tradition: Making the Past Present," Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Congress of Aesthetics in Japan (forthcoming).

"Fields of Contention: Philology (Bunkengaku) and the Philosophy of Literature (Bungeigaku)," in International Symposium on Historical Consciousness in Japanese Texts (International Research Center for Japanese Studies, forthcoming).

"Bungaku ni okeru Ronsô," in Kambayashi Tsunemichi Kyôju Taikan Kinen Ronbunshû (forthcoming).

"Coincidentia Oppositorum: The Greek Genealogies of Japan," in Michael F. Marra, ed. Japanese Hermeneutics: Current Debates on Aesthetics and Interpretation. Honolulu: The University of Hawaii Press, 2002.

"Tairitsu Suru Mono no Itchi: Nihon no Girishateki Keifu" (in Japanese), Nihon no Bigaku 30 (2000), pp. 90-104.

"Nihon no Bigaku: Imi no Kôchiku" (in Japanese), Kambayashi Tsunemichi, ed., Nihon no Geijutsu Ron: Dentô to Kindai (Essays on the Japanese Arts: Modernity and Tradition). Kyoto: Minerva Shobô, 2000, pp. 3-26.

"Japan's Missing Alternative: Weak Thought and the Hermeneutics of Slimness," Versus, 83/84 (May 1999), pp. 215-241.

"The New as Violence and the Hermeneutics of Slimness," Proceedings of the Midwest Association for Japanese Literary Studies 4 (Summer 1998), pp. 83-102.

"Nativist Hermeneutics: The Interpretative Strategies of Motoori Norinaga and Fujitani Mitsue," Japan Review (October 1998), pp. 17-52.

"Yowaki Shii: Kaishakugaku no Mirai wo Minagara" ("Weak Thought: A Look at the Future of Hermeneutics") (in Japanese), 95th Nichibunken Forum (December 1997), pp. 1-39.

"Japanese Aesthetics: The Construction of Meaning," Philosophy East and West 45:3 (July 1995), pp. 367-386.

"The Buddhist Mythmaking of Defilement: Sacred Courtesans in Medieval Japan," The Journal of Asian Studies 52:1 (February 1993), pp. 49-65.

"Zeami and Nô: A Path Towards Enlightenment," Journal of Asian Culture, vol. XII, 1988, pp. 37-67.

"The Development of Mappô Thought in Japan (II)," Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, vol. 15, Number 4, December 1988, pp. 287-305.

"The Development of Mappô Thought in Japan (I)," Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, vol. 15, Number 1, March 1988, pp. 25-54.

"The Conquest of Mappô: Jien and Kitabatake Chikafusa," Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, vol. 12, Number 4, December 1985, pp. 319-341.

"Semi-Recluses (Tonseisha) and Impermanence (Mujô): Kamo no Chômei and Urabe Kenkô," Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, vol. 11, Number 4, December 1984, pp. 313-350.

"Major Japanese Theorists of Poetry: from Ki no Tsurayuki to Kamo no Chômei," Journal of Osaka University of Foreign Studies, Literature 67, 1984, pp. 27-35.

"Mumyôzôshi, Part 3," Monumenta Nipponica, vol. XXXIX, Number 4, Winter 1984, pp. 409-434.

"Mumyôzôshi, Part 2," Monumenta Nipponica, vol. XXXIX, Number 3, Autumn 1984, pp. 281-305.

"Mumyôzôshi: Introduction and Translation," Monumenta Nipponica, vol. XXXIX, Number 2, Summer 1984, pp. 115-145.

"The Michizane Legend as seen in the Nô Drama, Raiden," Journal of Osaka University of Foreign Studies, 64, 1984, pp. 437-446.

CONFERENCES ORGANIZED

November 21-23, 2003: Chair and Organizer of the Twelfth Annual Meeting of the Association for Japanese Literary Studies, University of California, Los Angeles.

January 29-30, 2001: Organizer of the UCLA-Nichibunken Workshop, sponsored by the International Research Center for Japanese Studies. University of California, Los Angeles.

February 11, 2000: Chair and organizer of the conference "Texts and Commentaries: Japan's Literary Hermeneutics," sponsored by the UCLA Center for Japanese Studies. University of California, Los Angeles.

December 13-15, 1998: Chair and organizer of the International Conference, "Japanese Hermeneutics: Current Debates on Aesthetics and Interpretation," sponsored by the Japan Foundation and the UCLA Center for Japanese Studies. University of California, Los Angeles.

TALKS

October 5, 2002: “Poetry and Poetics in Tension: Kuki Shuzo’s French and German Connections,” Eleventh Annual Meeting of AJTL, Purdue University.

July 2, 2002: "Representations of Power: Literary Politics in Medieval Japan,” NEH Seminar “Empowering Relationships in Japanese Intellectual and Institutional History,” East West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii.

July 2, 2002: “A New Field of Authority: Modern Japanese Aesthetics,” NEH Seminar “Empowering Relationships in Japanese Intellectual and Institutional History,” East West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii.

July 3, 2002: Roundtable and Discussion with Lucy Lower, James Brandon, and Thomas Kasulis, NEH Seminar “Empowering Relationships in Japanese Intellectual and Institutional History,” East West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii.

April 4, 2002: "A Reading of Kuki Shuzo's (1888-1941) Poetry," Center for East Asian Studies, University of Pennsylvania.

August 27, 2001: "The Aesthetics of Tradition: Making the Past Present," 15th International Congress of Aesthetics, Tokyo, Japan.

January 29, 2001: "Fields of Contention: Philology (Bunkengaku) and the Philosophy of Literature (Bungeigaku), UCLA-Nichibunken Workshop. University of California, Los Angeles.

May 11, 1998: "Soft Thought in Japan: The Philosophy of Sakabe Megumi," The University of Turin, Italy.

October 24, 1997: "The New as Violence and the Hermeneutics of Slimness," University of Michigan. Paper deliver at the 1997 Conference of the Midwest Association for Japanese Literary Studies on "The New Historicism and Japanese Literary Studies."

April 15, 1997: "Yowaki Shii: Kaishakugaku no Mirai wo Minagara" ("Weak Thought: A Look at the Future of Hermeneutics") (in Japanese), 95th Nichibunken Forum, Japan Foundation, Kyoto, Japan.

October 3, 1996: "The Field of Modern Japanese Aesthetics: A Few Hermeneutical Strategies," International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Kokusai Nihon Bunka Kenkyu Senta, Kyoto, Japan.

May 23, 1996: "From Philology to Philosophy: Motoori Norinaga's Definition of 'Poetry'", The University of Turin, Italy.

May 20, 1996: "Interpreting Interpretations: Why Japan and Why Literature," The University of Turin, Italy.

May 16, 1996: "The Impact of German Hermeneutics on Nineteenth-Century Japan," The University of Turin, Italy.

May 14, 1996: "The Formation of the Japanese Field of Aesthetics in the Meiji Period," The University of Turin, Italy.

February 6, 1995: "What is Poetry? Motoori Norinaga's Etymological Hermeneutics," The UCLA Center for Japanese Studies, Los Angeles.

March 5, 1993: "The Japanese Arts of Disguise: Hidden Transcripts and Textual Resistance," University of California, Berkeley.

October 19, 1992: "Western Definitions of the Japanese Literary Field," University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

October 6, 1992: "Takamura Kotaro and the Genealogy of Reclusion," University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

April 5, 1992: Chair and organizer of the panel Images of Power: Text and Authority in Medieval Japan, Meeting of the Association of Asian Studies, Washington, D.C.

April 5, 1992: "Representations of Power: No as a Source of Shogunal Authority," Meeting of the Association of Asian Studies, Washington D.C.

March 20, 1989: "Models of Appropriation: The Literature of Gekokujo," University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

May 25, 1989: "Aesthetic Politics in the Tales of Ise (Ise Monogatari)," Sophia University, Tokyo.

April 29, 1988: "Innocent Readings and Discontent: Poetry and Politics in the Tales of Ise (Ise Monogatari)," University of California, Santa Barbara.

March 24, 1988: "Ideological Conflicts in Kenko's Tsurezuregusa," Meeting of the Association of Teachers of Japanese, San Francisco.

February 4, 1985: "On the Japanese Buddhist View of History," part two, Osaka University of Foreign Studies, Osaka, Japan.

January 28, 1985: "On the Japanese Buddhist View of History," part one, Osaka University of Foreign Studies, Osaka, Japan.