On December 3, 2023 (Sunday), the Research Center for Textual Scholarship held an event in Room 007, Building 7 of Seijo University. A symposium by Japanese researchers and a lecture by Durs Grünbein, a leading contemporary German poet, were held on the subject of “Posthumous Manuscripts During the Author's Lifetime” (in German: Nachlass zu Lebzeiten), i.e., materials left behind by authors themselves after they had organized and donated them to the archive before their death. About 50 people attended the event on the day.

At the start of the event, Professor Kiyoko Myojo (Professor in Faculty of Arts and Literature, Seijo University, & Director of the Center) greeted the audience and explained the aims of the Center. She also stated the purpose of the event as follows: “Nachlass” is a term originally used to refer to what authors left behind after their death. In recent years, however, an increasing number of writers have tried to bequeath their manuscripts by donating them while they are still alive. Manuscripts that have been decided to be left behind in advance - what should this be called and how should it be thought of? In German-speaking countries, a new term, “Vorlass”, has begun to be used to distinguish it from “Nachlass”. This event was organized as an attempt to lay the groundwork for a discussion in Japan on this issue, which is also meaningful for contemporary writers. The event, which started from this awareness of the issue, was a discussion between researchers and an artist themselves on the issues surrounding the materials donated by the artists during their lives and their wishes regarding the donation of materials.

First, the symposium invited Professor Reiko Kitajima (Emeritus Professor at Sophia University and Special Visiting Researcher at the Center), Professor Yoshiki Tajiri (Professor at the University of Tokyo and Special Visiting Researcher at the Center) and Professor Kenichi Abe (Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo) to speak respectively about the “Posthumous Manuscripts during the author's Lifetime” left by Elias Canetti, Kazuo Ishiguro and Kenzaburo Oe. The three speakers spoke respectively about the “manuscripts left behind” by Elias Canetti, Kazuo Isigro and Kenzaburo Oe. Professor Kitajima spoke about the manuscripts that Canetti donated to the Central Library in Zurich before his death, focusing on his reflections, which are an important component of the manuscripts, and explained that underlying Canetti’s control over the manuscripts in the form of his living will was the desire for the works to survive. It was also related to the issue of survival in Canetti’s theory of power. Professor Tajiri then explained the catalogue of the drafts sold by Ishiguro to the Harry Ransom Center in Texas, USA, and his writing process, before discussing the themes of the work as revealed by reading the conceptual notes of “Never Let Me Go” in the Center’s collection. After confirming the background to the opening of The Kenzaburo Oe Library in September this year and Oe’s comments and thoughts on the archive, his complete works, and his individual works, citing Milan Kundera, to whom the writer himself was devoted, Professor Abe reported on Oe’s creative process, looking at the handwritten manuscripts in the library.

In each case, starting from the confirmation of the factual level of what was deposited and where, the professors presented the possibilities for a new understanding of the writers and their works opened up by the materials they had left behind.

In the following Q&A session, the participants discussed specific questions such as the existence of materials bequeathed by the authors before their death that seemingly have nothing to do with the text of the work and how to treat them in relation to the interpretation of the work, as well as the differences between the materials bequeathed by the writers before their death and those that were not, and how we should search for and read the materials left by the artist. The symposium also included a wide range of questions and discussions on the overall theme of the symposium, as well as issues relating to literary studies in general, such as who we are as readers and seekers of materials bequeathed by writers.

The Q&A session that followed covered a wide range of questions, from those concerning the nature of archives, such as how to think about the existence of archives in non-state hands, to questions related to the activities of writers in countries where fear of speech control and censorship is influencing their choice of where to entrust their materials. Mr Grünbein answered these questions based on his life experiences in his homeland East Germany and his interactions with writers from other countries.

The Research Center for Textual Scholarship will continue to host events related to textual scholarship regularly. Details of such events will be announced on our university’s website, so those interested are encouraged to participate.

During Mr Grünbein’s visit to Japan, the following events have been organized in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Tokyo and the West Japan Branch of Japanese Society for German Studies.

Friday 1 December 2023, Goethe-Institut Tokyo
“War over Europe – Reading and talks by the poet Durs Grünbein”

9 Dec 2023 (Sat) West Japan Branch of Japanese Society for German Studies (Fukuoka University, Nanakuma Campus)
Durs Grünbein’s Reading and Lecture “Jenseits der Literatur. Oxford Lectures” (“Beyond the Literature. Oxford Lectures”)