Call for Papers: The Fourth Saikaku-Bakin Symposium (April, 2027)

[wfle...@gmail.com]

Call for Papers: The Fourth Saikaku-Bakin Symposium

Venue and dates: University of California, Santa Barbara, April 9th & 10th, 2027
Theme: Fiction and the Theater in the Edo Period

Deadline for paper proposals: September 30th, 2026

The organizing committee for the 2027 Saikaku-Bakin Symposium is pleased to issue a call for paper proposals on the theme "Fiction and the Theater in the Edo Period." The symposium will be held on April 9th and 10th, 2027, at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The aim of the Saikaku-Bakin Symposium, of which this will be the fourth iteration, has been to foster conversation among scholars working on Japanese narrative across the entirety of the Edo period (not just those specializing on Ihara Saikaku or Kyokutei Bakin). The first symposium was held at Rutgers University in 2019, followed by the University of California, Davis, in 2023 and Paris Cité University in 2025. The 2025 symposium featured presentations by 16 scholars from Europe, North America, China, and Japan.

For the 2027 symposium, we seek presentations that explore different aspects of the rich interrelationship between fiction and the theater in the Edo period. This mutually productive relationship manifests itself in myriad ways. Fictional narratives were routinely adapted for the kabuki and jōruri stage, and plays were likewise adapted into fiction, sometimes in complex feedback loops. Pictorial fiction regularly echoes the stage in its visual framing and mise-en-scène, or in its use of visual dramatis personae--features that at times combine to produce the effect, intentional or otherwise, of simulated performance. The use of actors' likenesses allowed the realization of imagined performances with fantasy casts of real-life actors, and could also be deployed for parodic or satirical effect. One observes other forms of mimicry, as well: for example, in works that sought to replicate the orality and aurality of the stage and its distinctive sonic landscape of individual actors, their voices, stage music, and sound effects. There is also the use of fictional narratives in theater criticism, or the popularity of narratives set in the world of the theater, whether professional or amateur, and often as concerned with the drama unfolding offstage as with that on stage.

We invite proposals examining these or other aspects of the relationship between Edo fiction and the theater, or that consider drama and the theater from the perspective of narrative. Proposals should be approximately 300-400 words/characters in English or Japanese and should be uploaded using the following form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd6v5hTFIOqMCC1NrTfMlGWVVfY2QTT5oznn6QYLFRG9vThUw/viewform?usp=header. Presentations will be in person and may be delivered in English and/or Japanese. (There may be limited possibilities for remote participation, but in-person participation will be prioritized.) Submissions received by September 30th, 2026, will be reviewed by the organizing committee, and notifications will be sent out by mid-October. We hope to be able to provide some travel support to graduate students and junior scholars to facilitate their participation.

Please address any questions to Professor William Fleming (wfle...@ucsb.edu).