February 10, 2025/ 1:00 PM

Colloquium with Phuong Ngo, Bard University

In waka (classical Japanese poetry) studies, the genre has often been prized for its role as a form of elevated dialogue, with zōtōka (exchanged poetry) receiving the bulk of scholarly attention when the specific mode of composition is called into question. Indeed, waka’s ubiquitousness as a means of communication among the Heian nobility during the early and mid-Heian period speaks to its versatility and universality that transcends the notion of poetry or literature, and it was not until the late Heian and early medieval period that waka came to be formalized as a literary pursuit with the poetic treatises of Fujiwara no Shunzei and Teika, among others. On the other hand, dokueika (solitary composition) has often been relegated to the sideline and defined not by what it is but rather by what it is not (i.e. not zōtōka) or by what it lacks (namely the presence of a specific addressee). In this talk, I propose a revision of dokueika, highlighting its inherent dialogicality and potential for generating further dialogues. I also examine the performativity of dokueika, noting its conscious self-fashioning and awareness of its positionality. Ultimately, I argue for the necessity to consider dokueika as its own category, independent of other modes of composition and warranting further scrutiny.

Phuong Ngo is an assistant professor of Japanese at Bard College, where she teaches Japanese language and literature classes on a variety of topics such as The Tale of Genji, supernatural tales of Japan and Asia, and girlhood/womanhood in Japan. Her primary area of research interest is premodern Japanese literature, specifically waka and its dialogic nature, female poets, and the development of genres during the early to mid-Heian period. She received her PhD degree in Japanese Literature from Columbia University and is currently working on a book manuscript on the poetry of Lady Ise (c. 875 - c. 938), a notable female poet of the Heian period.

Sponsor(s): Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies