Anne Allison’s new book is a gorgeously written and thoughtfully argued ethnography of pain, struggle, and hope in modern Japan. It was an honor and a pleasure to talk with Anne about Precarious Japan, and you can listen to our conversation about it here. Continue reading Precarious Japan: An Interview
Chris Hanscom’s new book explores literary modernism in the work of three writers who were central to literary production in 1930s Korea.In addition to offering a fascinating window into modern Korean literature, he also uses the example of Korean modernism to open up the way we think of comparative literature and literary history more broadly. You can listen to our conversation about it here. Continue reading The Real Modern: An Interview
Andrea Bachner’s wonderfully interdisciplinary new book explores the many worlds and media through which the Chinese script has been imagined, represented, and transformed. It is an exceptionally thoughtful work, it was such a pleasure to talk with Andrea about it, and you can find our conversation here. Continue reading Beyond Sinology: An Interview
There are so many reasons why I enjoyed talking with Michael Wert about his new book on the construction of memory around the “losers” of the Meiji Restoration, individuals and groups whose reputations suffered most in the late nineteenth-century transition from Tokugawa to imperial rule. Here are two of those reasons: (1) the book involves buried treasure, and (2) it consequently gave me an excuse to talk … Continue reading Meiji Restoration Losers: An Interview
Tobie Meyer-Fong generously made time to talk with me at the recent Association for Asian Studies annual conference about her fantastic new book. The book is a gorgeously written and masterfully argued exploration of the remains (in many senses and registers, both literal and figurative) of the Taiping Civil War in nineteenth-century China. You can listen to our conversation about it here. Continue reading What Remains: An Interview
David Kaiser’s new book takes readers into the “hazy, bong-filled excesses of the 1970s New Age movement” in order to explain and reveal the origins of some of the most transformative breakthroughs in twentieth-century quantum physics. It is an exceptionally well-written history of science that is also tremendous fun to read, and you can find our conversation about it here. Continue reading How the Hippies Saved Physics: An Interview
Gabrielle Hecht and I recently spoke about her thoughtful new book on nuclearity in modern Africa. Hecht’s multi-sited study weaves together atomic history, African history, and the histories of mining, economies, and health. The book is extremely important for historians of the modern world, and you can find our conversation about it here. Continue reading Being Nuclear: An Interview
Ben Elman’s new book explores the civil examination process and the history of state exam curricula in late imperial China. Elman’s work is a careful, deeply researched, and elegantly written account of the Ming and Qing exam systems, it’s a great book to teach with, and you can listen to our conversation about it here. Continue reading Civil Examinations and Meritocracy in Late Imperial China: An Interview
Robert Richards and I recently spoke about his new collection of wonderfully engaging and provocative essays on Darwin, Darwinians, and much else. You can find our conversation about it here. Continue reading Was Hitler a Darwinian?: An Interview
By any measure, David Tod Roy’s five-volume translation The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P’ing Mei is a landmark achievement for East Asian Studies, translation studies, and world literature. It was an honor and a great pleasure to talk with David about his work on the occasion of the publication of the fifth and final volume of his translation, and you can listen to our conversation about it here. Continue reading The Plum in the Golden Vase: An Interview
Carla Nappi 