Kojin Karatani
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese
philosopher and literary critic.
where he took a BA degree
in economics
and an MA
in English literature
. The Gunzō Literary Prize, which he received at the age of 27 for an essay on Natsume Sōseki
, was the first critical acclaim as a literary critic. While teaching at Hosei University
, Tokyo, he wrote extensively about modernity and postmodernity with a particular focus on language, number, and money, concepts which form the subtitle of one of his central books: Architecture as Metaphor.
In 1975, he was invited to Yale University
to teach Japanese literature
as a Visiting Professor, where he met Paul de Man
and Fredric Jameson
and began to work on formalism
. Starting from a study of Natsume Sōseki, the variety of the subjects examined by Karatani became so wide that he earned the nickname The Thinking Machine.
Karatani collaborated with novelist Kenji Nakagami
to whom he introduced the works of Faulkner
. With Nakagami, he published Kobayashi Hideo o koete (Overcoming Kobayashi Hideo). The title is an ironic reference to “Kindai no chokoku” (Overcoming Modernity), a symposium held in the summer of 1942 at Kyoto Imperial University (now Kyoto University
) at which Hideo Kobayashi
(whom Karatani and Nakagami did not hold in great esteem) was a participant.
He was also a regular member of ANY, the international architects' conference which was held annually for the last decade of the 20th century and which also published an architectural/philosophical series with Rizzoli under the general heading of Anyone.
Since 1990, Karatani has been regularly teaching at Columbia University
as a Visiting Professor.
Karatani founded the New Associationist Movement (NAM) in Japan in the summer of 2000. NAM was conceived as a counter–capitalist/nation-state association, inspired by the experiment of LETS (Local Exchange Trading Systems
, based on non-marketed currency).
He was also the co-editor, with Akira Asada, of the Japanese quarterly journal, Hihyōkūkan (Critical Space), until it ended in 2002.
In 2006, Karatani retired from the chair of the International Center for Human Sciences at Kinki University
, Osaka
, where he had been teaching.
through Marx and vice-versa. Writing about Transcritique in the New Left Review of Jan-Feb. 2004, Slavoj Žižek
brought Karatani's work to greater critical attention. Žižek borrowed the concept of "parallax view" (which is also the title of his review) for the title of his own book.
Karatani has interrogated the possibility of a (de Manian) deconstruction and engaged in a dialogue with Jacques Derrida
at the Second International Conference on Humanistic Discourse, organized by the Université de Montréal
. Derrida commented on Karatani's paper, 'Nationalism and Ecriture' with an emphasis on the interpretation of his own concept of écriture.
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
philosopher and literary critic.
Biography
Karatani was educated at University of TokyoUniversity of Tokyo
, abbreviated as , is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university...
where he took a BA degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
and an MA
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
. The Gunzō Literary Prize, which he received at the age of 27 for an essay on Natsume Sōseki
Natsume Soseki
, born ', is widely considered to be the foremost Japanese novelist of the Meiji period . He is best known for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. He was also a scholar of British literature and composer of haiku, Chinese-style poetry, and fairy tales...
, was the first critical acclaim as a literary critic. While teaching at Hosei University
Hosei University
is a private university based in Tokyo, Japan.The university originated in a school of law, Tōkyō Hōgakusha , established in 1880, and the following year renamed Tōkyō Hōgakkō . This was from 1883 headed by Dr. Gustave Emile Boissonade, and was heavily influenced by the French legal tradition...
, Tokyo, he wrote extensively about modernity and postmodernity with a particular focus on language, number, and money, concepts which form the subtitle of one of his central books: Architecture as Metaphor.
In 1975, he was invited to Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
to teach Japanese literature
Japanese literature
Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an influence through the diffusion of Buddhism in Japan...
as a Visiting Professor, where he met Paul de Man
Paul de Man
Paul de Man was a Belgian-born deconstructionist literary critic and theorist.He began teaching at Bard College. Later, he completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University in the late 1950s...
and Fredric Jameson
Fredric Jameson
Fredric Jameson is an American literary critic and Marxist political theorist. He is best known for his analysis of contemporary cultural trends—he once described postmodernism as the spatialization of culture under the pressure of organized capitalism...
and began to work on formalism
Formalism (literature)
Formalism is a school of literary criticism and literary theory having mainly to do with structural purposes of a particular text.In literary theory, formalism refers to critical approaches that analyze, interpret, or evaluate the inherent features of a text. These features include not only grammar...
. Starting from a study of Natsume Sōseki, the variety of the subjects examined by Karatani became so wide that he earned the nickname The Thinking Machine.
Karatani collaborated with novelist Kenji Nakagami
Kenji Nakagami
Kenji Nakagami was a noted Japanese writer, critic, and poet of buraku ancestry. Nakagami died from kidney cancer in 1992 at the age of 46.- Life :...
to whom he introduced the works of Faulkner
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
. With Nakagami, he published Kobayashi Hideo o koete (Overcoming Kobayashi Hideo). The title is an ironic reference to “Kindai no chokoku” (Overcoming Modernity), a symposium held in the summer of 1942 at Kyoto Imperial University (now Kyoto University
Kyoto University
, or is a national university located in Kyoto, Japan. It is the second oldest Japanese university, and formerly one of Japan's Imperial Universities.- History :...
) at which Hideo Kobayashi
Hideo Kobayashi
was a Japanese author, who established literary criticism as an independent art form in Japan.-Early life:Kobayashi was born in the Kanda district of Tokyo. He studied French literature at Tokyo Imperial University and graduated in 1927...
(whom Karatani and Nakagami did not hold in great esteem) was a participant.
He was also a regular member of ANY, the international architects' conference which was held annually for the last decade of the 20th century and which also published an architectural/philosophical series with Rizzoli under the general heading of Anyone.
Since 1990, Karatani has been regularly teaching at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
as a Visiting Professor.
Karatani founded the New Associationist Movement (NAM) in Japan in the summer of 2000. NAM was conceived as a counter–capitalist/nation-state association, inspired by the experiment of LETS (Local Exchange Trading Systems
Local Exchange Trading Systems
Local exchange trading systems , also known as LETSystems, are locally initiated, democratically organised, not-for-profit community enterprises that provide a community information service and record transactions of members exchanging goods and services by using the currency of locally created...
, based on non-marketed currency).
He was also the co-editor, with Akira Asada, of the Japanese quarterly journal, Hihyōkūkan (Critical Space), until it ended in 2002.
In 2006, Karatani retired from the chair of the International Center for Human Sciences at Kinki University
Kinki University
, or , is a private non-sectarian and coeducational university based in Higashiosaka, Osaka, Japan with campuses in five other locations: Nara, Nara; Ōsakasayama, Osaka; Uchita, Wakayama; Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima; and Iizuka, Fukuoka....
, Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, where he had been teaching.
Philosophy
Karatani has produced a number of philosophical concepts such as "the will to architecture", but the best-known of them is probably that of "Transcritique", which he proposed in his book Transcritique, where he reads KantKANT
KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in global function fields, and in local fields. KASH is the associated command line interface...
through Marx and vice-versa. Writing about Transcritique in the New Left Review of Jan-Feb. 2004, Slavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher, critical theorist working in the traditions of Hegelianism, Marxism and Lacanian psychoanalysis. He has made contributions to political theory, film theory, and theoretical psychoanalysis....
brought Karatani's work to greater critical attention. Žižek borrowed the concept of "parallax view" (which is also the title of his review) for the title of his own book.
Karatani has interrogated the possibility of a (de Manian) deconstruction and engaged in a dialogue with Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida was a French philosopher, born in French Algeria. He developed the critical theory known as deconstruction and his work has been labeled as post-structuralism and associated with postmodern philosophy...
at the Second International Conference on Humanistic Discourse, organized by the Université de Montréal
Université de Montréal
The Université de Montréal is a public francophone research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It comprises thirteen faculties, more than sixty departments and two affiliated schools: the École Polytechnique and HEC Montréal...
. Derrida commented on Karatani's paper, 'Nationalism and Ecriture' with an emphasis on the interpretation of his own concept of écriture.
External links
- Official website
- "Japan as Museum" by Karatani about Okakura KakuzoOkakura Kakuzowas a Japanese scholar who contributed to the development of arts in Japan. Outside of Japan, he is chiefly remembered today as the author of The Book of Tea.-Biography:...
.
See also
- Fredric JamesonFredric JamesonFredric Jameson is an American literary critic and Marxist political theorist. He is best known for his analysis of contemporary cultural trends—he once described postmodernism as the spatialization of culture under the pressure of organized capitalism...
- ArchitectureArchitectureArchitecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
- Arata IsozakiArata IsozakiArata Isozaki is a Japanese architect from Ōita. He graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1954. Isozaki worked under Kenzo Tange before establishing his own firm in 1963. He was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 1986.In 2005, Arata Isozaki founded the Italian branch of his office: Arata Isozaki &...
- List of deconstructionists