Asiatische Studien - Études Asiatiques.

Special Issue: Author, Narrator, and Character in Japanese Literature to 1900 – Autor, Erzähler und Figur in der Literatur Japans bis 1900; Edited by Sebastian Balmes

The journal Asiatische Studien - Études Asiatiques provides a forum for the publication of research articles dedicated to past and present cultures and societies of Asia and the Orient. The quarterly journal presents, in a fixed schedule, regional issues on China, the Islamic World, Japan, South or Central Asia as well as general and special issues. All articles are peer-reviewed. The languages of publication are German, English and French.
This special issue explores the historical configurations of author, narrator, and character in Japanese literature up to 1900, challenging modern, rigid distinctions between these categories. Focusing on genres such as court tales (monogatari) and women’s diary literature (nikki bungaku), it examines how notions of authorship and narrative voice evolved from the Heian to the Edo period within the context of premodern manuscript culture. The contributions highlight the roles of scribes and readers, the shifting authority of the text, and the fluid relationships between textual agents. Rather than clearly separated entities, author, narrator, and character emerge as interconnected positions within a continuum, reflecting historically contingent literary practices and conceptions of subjectivity.