Conference | Symposium
International Symposium - Global Histories of Cold War Literature and Public Diplomacy in East Asia
- Date
- Saturday 25 July 2026
- Time
- Location
-
Anna van Buerenplein
Anna van Buerenplein 301
2595 DG The Hague - Room
- 3.16
About the event
This workshop explores the intersections of Cold War literature and public diplomacy across East Asia, examining how literature, translation, cultural exchange, and intellectual networks shaped political and cultural imaginaries from the interwar period through the late Cold War.
Bringing together scholars of Japanese, Korean, and comparative literature, the presentations investigate the role of writers, translators, literary magazines, and cultural institutions in mediating international relations, negotiating ideological divisions, and reimagining national and transnational identities.
Together, they highlight literature as both an instrument of public diplomacy and a space for contesting the cultural and political legacies of the Cold War.
Want to sign up?
Send an email to: m.vodopivec@luc.leidenuniv.nl. If you will attend the event a simple lunch will be provided.
Symposium programme
Panel 1
Yukari Yoshihara (吉原ゆかり, Tsukuba University)
Cultural Diplomacy that brought Laurence Van Der Post and William Plomer to Japan (1926) and Haruko Ichikawa to Stratford-upon-Avon (1931).
Hiromi Ochi (越智博美, Senshu University)
Cold War Modernism on the Philippines: New Criticism, Creative Writing, and Leonard Casper
Naoki Watanabe (渡辺直紀, Musashi University)
Ri Kaisei/Lee Hoesung(李恢成) and Zainichi Bungei: Minto (在日文芸民涛, November 1987–March 1990): The 1980s Movement for Democratization and Unification on the Korean Peninsula and the Position of Zainichi Korean Literature
Maja Vodopivec, Leiden University
Kato Shuichi’s Uzbekistan, Croatia, and Kerala Travelogue (1958) – Three Faces of Socialism
Panel 2
Chung-hee Ryu (柳忠熙, Fukuoka University)
An U-sik and Korean Peninsular Literature: Translation across the Cold War Divide
Youngran Ko (高榮蘭, Nihon University)
The Event “50 Years Since the Liberation of Korea and 50 Years Since Japan’s Defeat”: Reflections Based on Kenzaburo Oe’s Football in the First Year of Man’en (The Silent City)
Seo-yoon Choi (崔瑞允, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology)
In pursuit of poetic freedom against Post-war anti-communism: with a focus on Park Inhwan’s poetry
Moon-seok Jang(張紋碩, Kyung Hee University)
Leaves of Grass in North Korea: Walt Whitman in Korean Translation and the Literary Reconstruction of a New Nation