Iizuka Yutori in the History of the Discipline of Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature in Postwar Japan: An Interview with Professor Iizuka

Iizuka Yutori is a professor at Chuo University(Japan), a scholar and translator of contemporary Chinese literature, and was awarded the Chinese Book Special Contribution Award in 2011. Several interviews and studies on Iizuka Yutori in China mainly focus on his view of Chinese literature and translation strategies. This interview focuses on Iizuka in the context of the history of the discipline of contemporary Chinese literature in Japan. From the interview, it is clear that Iizuka's consistent academic interest is in discovering foreign literary influences in Chinese literature. His academic interest has been shaped by two main factors:Iizuka's family education background of extensive involvement in world literature and the liberal academic style of the Chinese Department of Tokyo Metropolitan University.Iizuka has participated in almost all major translation projects of contemporary Chinese literature in Japan. The "teacher-student workshop" pioneered by Takeuchi Yoshimi has provided Iizuka with methodological support for organizing these translation projects. In this way, this interview express Iizuka's contribution to the discipline of contemporary Chinese literature in Japan, providing knowledge for overseas sinology studies and for the exploration of the overseas dissemination of Chinese "New-Era Literature."