Alan Tansman will discuss the productive challenges and the dispiriting difficulties that arise in teaching a course comparing Japanese and Jewish responses to the atrocities of World War II, particularly the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the Nazi murder of the Jews. Is the comparison historically viable, ethically troubling, emotionally disturbing? How does the topic demand attention to the conflict between emotion and analysis in the classroom? What conclusions about comparative cultural study does it lead to?

Alan Tansman's research focuses on modern Japanese literature and culture. In addition he writes on Japanese cultural criticism, popular culture, film, Area Studies, Japanese and Jewish responses to atrocity, and the sublime in Japanese literature. He is the author of The Writings of Kôda Aya (Yale University Press, 1993) and the forthcoming The Culture of Japanese Fascism (Duke), and The Aesthetics of Japanese Fascism (California). He holds a Ph.D. in Japanese literature from Yale University.