Harvard's Rubin to speak on Murakami, Akutagawa

Western Washington University’s Center for East Asian Studies is sponsoring a pair of lectures by Harvard’s Jay Rubin that are free and open to the public on Oct. 4 and 5.

At 4 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 4, in SMATE 150, Rubin, a Harvard University professor emeritus, will deliver a lecture on internationally acclaimed author Haruki Murakami titled “Haruki Murakami and Seiji Ozawa Talk about Music."

Rubin has published widely in the field of modern Japanese literature. He has translated several of Murakami's novels and is also the author of “Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words.” This is a unique opportunity for faculty, students and all members of the community who are interested in Murakami's works.

This lecture is sponsored by the Center for East Asian Studies, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, the English Department and the Liberal Studies Department.

Rubin will then deliver the keynote address for the Seventh Annual Conference of the International Society for Akutagawa Ryūnosuke Studies at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 5 in the Viking Union Multipurpose Room. The presentation, titled “A Translator’s View,” will be presented in English while the remainder of the conference will be in Japanese.

Known as the “Father of the Japanese short story,” Akutagawa is one of the most intriguing and celebrated authors of early twentieth century Japan. His works “In a Grove” and “Rashōmon” inspired Akira Akurosawa’s classic movie from 1950.

For information, please contact Massimiliano Tomasi, director, Western Washington University Center for East Asian Studies at (360) 650-3339 or Massimiliano.Tomasi@wwu.edu or go online.