by Jacqueline Berndt, Stockholm University, MSH Visiting Professor

Touching the War-time Past: « In this Corner of the World”, Kouno Fumiyo’s Manga and its Anime Adaptation

Kouno Fumiyo’s graphic narrative “In this Corner of the World/Dans un recoin de ce monde” (serialized in Japanese 2007-2009, and adapted to an animated movie by Katabuchi Sunao 2015) approaches Japan’s war-time past and the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima from an angle that has not been at the center of historical discourse, neither the official nor the popular-cultural one: Hiroshima’s neighboring town of Kure, and the everyday life of a humble young woman. Furthermore, the narrative appears as an attempt at “touching” the past (as distinct from “reading” or “watching” it), and this is accomplished in a highly media-specific way. This talk aims to demonstrate the importance of a manga-related media-studies perspective for the analysis of historical representation in popular narratives from contemporary Japan

Wednesday 21st of November, 17:00-19:00

Université libre de Bruxelles Solbosch Campus Building H - Level 1 - Room H.1.302 Avenue Paul Héger n°2 B-1050 Bruxelles

Free entrance - registration prefered at: east@ulb.ac.be