Dr Hideyuki Doi (University of Tokyo)
“Pasolini and Mizoguchi”
This lecture is part of a rich series of events, Pasolini and the Classics, organised by our colleague Emanuela Patti for Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 100th anniversary. See the full programme here).
When: Tuesday, 20thSeptember 2022, 4.30-6.00pm
Where: 50 George Square, 329
A surprising aspect of the relationship between Pasolini and Japan is the immediacy with which Japanese youth in the 1960s acknowledged the controversial poet and director and, perhaps more unusually, the reciprocity of the exchange. For example, Pasolini mentioned several times the name of Kenji Mizoguchi, often together with that of Kon Ichikawa: since the mid-50s the Japanese director Mizoguchi is in fact particularly dear to the European public. Furthermore, the direct references between the setting ofOedipus Rexand Japanese historical films are evident: to name one example, one could think of how the “barbaric” face of Franco Citti evokes the world of samurai depicted by director Akira Kurosawa, as well as the use of lights. As Pasolini himself pointed out however, Japanese criticism has hardly ever focused on certain affinities. So this time our presentation aims to underline the shared ambivalent mythic eye inherent in both Pasolini and Japanese writers and filmmakers.
Hideyuki Doi obtained a Ph.D. in Italian Literature at the University of Bologna and is currently teaching Modern and Contemporary Italian Literature at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Tokyo. In recent years his research has developed around the various expressions of the Italian and Japanese avant-gardes of the early 20th century. Among his works: Interlinee: studi comparati e oltre(Cesati, 2021);Guide to Modern and Contemporary Italian History (co-curator, Minerva, 2017, in Japanese); Esperienze friulane di Pasolini: cinque studi (Cesati, 2011).
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