World Literature in Translation Book Launch The Bankruptcy - 東京カレッジ

World Literature in Translation Book Launch The Bankruptcy

When:
2023.10.26 @ 19:00 – 21:00
2023-10-26T19:00:00+09:00
2023-10-26T21:00:00+09:00
World Literature in Translation Book Launch The Bankruptcy

Finished
Zoom Symposium
Date(s) Thursday, 26 October 2023, 19:00-21:00 JST (London: 11:00-13:00; Sao Paulo: 7:00-9:00am; New York: 6:00-8:00am)
Venue

Zoom Symposium (Register here)

Registration Pre-registration required
Language English (Japanese interpretation)
Abstract

The new award-winning translation of The Bankruptcy by Júlia Lopes de Almeida makes this novel available to Anglophone readers for the very first time. To celebrate its publication, this symposium will gather the translators and editor of the novel together with scholars in translation and literary studies to discuss the state of world literature today and the role played by translation in Brazil, Japan and beyond. 

 

Set in the early years of the Old Republic after the abolition of slavery, Júlia Lopes de Almeida’s The Bankruptcy depicts the rise and fall of a wealthy coffee exporter against a kaleidoscopic background of glamour, poverty, seduction, and financial speculation. The novel introduces readers to a turbulent period in Brazilian history seething with new ideas about democracy, women’s emancipation, and the role of religion in society. Originally published in 1901, its prescient critiques of financial capitalism and the patriarchal family remain relevant today.

 

In her lifetime, Júlia Lopes de Almeida was compared to Machado de Assis, said to be the most important Brazilian writer of the nineteenth century. She was also considered for the inaugural list of members of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, but was excluded because of her gender. In the decades after her death, her work was largely forgotten. This publication, a winner of the English PEN award, marks the first novel-length translation of Almeida’s writing into English, including an Introduction to the novel and a Translators’ Preface, and accompanies a general rediscovery of her extraordinary body of work in Brazil.

Program

Presentations:

1. Book Translators:

Cintia Kozonoi VEZZANI (Postdoctoral Fellow, Tokyo College, The University of Tokyo)

Jason Rhys PARRY (Senior Content R&D at Sapienship)

 

2. Book Editor: Ana Cláudia SURIANI DA SILVA (Associate Professor in Brazilian Studies, The University College London)

 

3. Maite CONDE (Professor in Brazilian Studies and Visual Culture, University of Cambridge)

 

4. Vitor SOSTER (PhD student in Literary Theory at the State University of Campinas, Brazil)

 

5. Samuel WEBER (Avalon Foundation Professor of Humanities, Northwestern University and co-director of Northwestern’s Paris Program in Critical Theory)

 

6. ABE Masahiko (Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology and Faculty of Letters, The University of Tokyo)

 

Discussion

 

Q&A

 

Moderator: Shannon WELCH (Project Researcher, Tokyo College, The University of Tokyo)

 

Time: Thursday, 26 October 2023, 19:00-21:00 JST (London: 11:00-13:00; Sao Paulo: 7:00-9:00am; New York: 6:00-8:00am)

Organized by Tokyo College, The University of Tokyo
Contact tokyo.college.event@tc.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Upcoming Events

What is the Hiroshima AI Process (HAIP) Reporting Framework? – Japan’s cutting-edge global AI governance initiative

イベント予定パネルディスカッション/Panel discussion講演会/Lecture

Monday, 28 July 2025, 14:00-15:30 JST

The Hiroshima AI Process (HAIP), launched at the G7 Hiroshima Summit, is a global framework promoting transparency in AI development and usage. Under the leadership of the OECD Secretariat, a reporting framework to advance transparency for trustworthy AI began in 2025.
This webinar introduces HAIP and explores its significance. Panelists from companies that have submitted reports to HAIP will discuss why they joined, best practices for transparency and disclosure, and expectations regarding Japan's new AI Promotion Act, which explicitly aligns with HAIP. As such, this session will be valuable not only for technical and legal teams at global companies working with foundation models, generative AI, or AI agents, but also for Japanese companies operating solely within Japan, including SMEs and startups.

Coffee, Sustainability and Climate Change (Lecture by Prof. Catherine TUCKER)

イベント予定講演会/Lecture

Wednesday, 30 July, 15:00–16:30 JST

Coffee is one of the world’s most popular beverages, associated with sociality, alertness, and productivity. Over time, coffee production has contributed to environmental degradation, rural poverty, and societal inequities. Currently, its production is threatened by climate change, market volatility and economic uncertainties. Drawing on longitudinal research with coffee producers in Central America, this talk will examine coffee producers’ efforts to improve their coffee quality, socioeconomic well-being, and environmental sustainability in contexts of extreme weather events and myriad insecurities. The discussion also will consider consumer roles, the impacts of certifications, and approaches for supporting climate resilient coffee production.

Macroeconomic Policy Prescriptions for the Japanese Economy (Lecture by Prof. KIYOTAKI Nobuhiro)

イベント予定講演会/Lecture

Wednesday, 27 August, 15:00–16:00 JST

Japan’s economy is currently facing a variety of challenges, including the impact of Trump-era tariffs, rising food prices, a rapidly aging and declining population, and growing concerns over fiscal and environmental sustainability. In this lecture, we are pleased to welcome Prof. Kiyotaki Nobuhiro, a world-renowned macroeconomist, and Ms. Nakazora Mana, an economist working at the forefront of global financial markets. Together with the audience, we will explore Japan’s current economic challenges and consider possible solutions from a macroeconomic policy perspective. This event is open to a wide audience, especially those with an interest in macroeconomics and policy design. We warmly welcome your participation and questions.

Previous Events

A Sensory Theory of Environmental Justice (Lecture by Prof. Mukul SHARMA)

イベント予定講演会/Lecture

Wednesday, 23 July, 15:00–16:30 JST

Human senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch—shape how we perceive and interact with the world, influencing environmental experiences and cultural practices. Yet sensory politics—the social organization of touch, smell, and taste—often reinforces hierarchies, marginalizing certain groups as environmental ‘others.’ This lecture examines the ‘environmentality’ of the senses, focusing on their role in perpetuating inequalities within discriminatory social structures. By interrogating how sensory norms sustain injustice, I argue for a new environmental justice vocabulary—one that integrates sensory and social dimensions to address the entangled relationships between environment, power, and lived experience in caste-based societies.

Envisioning the Japan–Korea Intellectual Community (Lecture by Prof. YANG Ilmo)

イベント予定講演会/Lecture

Wednesday, 16 July, 15:00–16:30 JST

Since the Edo period, intellectual exchange between Japan and Korea has continued in a sustained manner. Despite the colonial rule in the 20th century, intellectual interactions became even more active. This lecture revisits several cases of such exchange between Japanese and Korean intellectuals, such as Fujiwara Seika and Gang Hang, Yamazaki Ansai and Yi Hwang, the Kogaku school and Jeong Yakyong, and Fukuzawa Yukichi and Yu Giljun, to explore the potential for a future Japan-Korea intellectual community. While past attempts to make an East Asian community have often faced the “East Asian paradox”, namely, the reinforcement of nationalism, this lecture is also an attempt to seek clues for overcoming such challenges.

Ecosophy: Multiple Perspectives and Its Roles in Planetary Health (Lecture by Dato’ Seri Ir. Dr. Zaini Ujang)

イベント予定講演会/Lecture

Friday, 11 July, 10:30–12:00 JST

Achieving planetary health requires not only scientific solutions but also fundamental cultural and behavioral transformations. This lecture will present a comprehensive approach that addresses both individual values and social systems. Through examples from Japan and Scandinavia, it emphasizes the importance of integrating eco-sophy—ecological philosophy—into policy and societal frameworks. Furthermore, it highlights the crucial roles of non-state actors, including NGOs and academic institutions involved in the water and energy sectors, alongside governments, in addressing climate change challenges.

Discourses about Environment and Nature in the Hebrew Bible (Lecture by Prof. Thomas RÖMER)

イベント予定講演会/Lecture

Thursday, 22 May, 13:00–14:30 JST

This lecture will argue that the Hebrew Bible contains different views on nature and the environment, especially in relation to the destruction of the kingdom of Judah and its capital Jerusalem in 587 BCE. This event triggered different discourses of crisis management that will be analyzed with the help of a German sociologist Armin Steil who distinguishes three attitudes toward crisis also found in the Hebrew Bible: 1) The prophetic attitude: belief that crisis will lead to a new creation with harmony between humans, nature, and animals; 2) The mandarin attitude: view of disasters as divine punishment without much interest in the environment; and 3) The priestly attitude: construction of a mythic past that offers rituals for the present with interest in the place of humans in their environment. The last discourse offers an important reflection about a possible harmony between all beings.


TOP