Western classical culture, and Greek culture in particular, has been a formidable source of reflection and imagination for twentieth-century Japanese artists and intellectuals. After tracing the milestones of this encounter, we will examine the nature of the link thus created between modern Japan and ancient Greece. At a time when the West is stumbling over the paradoxes of universalism, a reterritorialization of Greece seems more necessary than ever.

Michael Lucken is Professor of Japanese Contemporary History at Inalco (Paris), where he is teaching and studying intellectual history and visual culture. His main books are L’Art du Japon au vingtième siècle (Twentieth-Century Japanese Art; Hermann, 2001); Imitation and Creativity in Japanese Arts from Kishida Ryūsei to Miyazaki Hayao (Columbia University Press, 2016); The Japanese and the War: Expectation, Perception, and the Shaping of Memory (Columbia University Press, 2017); Nakai Masakazu. Naissance de la théorie critique au Japon (Nakai Masakazu: The Birth of Critical Theory in Japan; Presses du réel, 2015); and Le Japon grec. Culture et possession (Greek Japan: Culture and Possession; Gallimard, 2019).

This hybrid lecture will be held on site (email required in advance) and via Zoom (meeting ID: 863 0847 2410).

The meeting link will remain posted on the ISEAS website top page from April 15.