INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM IN LEFKADA

A summary in English

International Symposium in Lefkada, to Commemorate Lafcadio Hearn

The Open Mind of Lafcadio Hearn: His Spirit from the West to the East

Friday, July 4 - Sunday, July 6, 2014

Organizer: 

The Planning Committee for the Memorial Events in Greece to Commemorate the 110th Anniversary of Lafcadio Hearn’s Death

Co-Organizer:

Lefkas Cultural Center, Municipality of Lefkada, Embassy of Japan in Greece

With The Support of The American College of Greece, Embassy of Greece in Japan, Embassy of Ireland in Athens

Hearn’s open mind, cultivated in European climates, especially in Greece and Ireland, was further developed and enriched into a more open spirit through his sojourns in the U.S., Martinique and Japan. It may be said that the basis of his open mind was formed from his childhood exposure to Hellenistic polytheism on his mother’s side and the Celtic spiritual world on his father’s side.

SYMPOSIUM

Venue: Ionian Blue Hotel, Lefkada, Greece

Admission free

Coordinator: Shingo Nagaoka (Japan) Professor, Shimane University

Chairperson: Alan Rosen (Japan/USA) Former Professor, Kumamoto University

Saturday, July 5, 10:00 - 13:50

Memorial Speech

Bon Koizumi (Japan/Ireland/Greece) 

Professor, University of Shimane; Great-grandson of Lafcadio Hearn

The Open Mind of Lafcadio Hearn: A Spiritual Odyssey from Greece to Japan

Session 1 

“Rediscoveries of the Open Mind”

1. Mari Christine (Japan/USA)

Inter-Cultural Interpreter; Hearn Library Researcher, Toyama University

Lafcadio Hearn’s Open Mind in the Classroom: Findings from Hearn’s Kumamoto Lectures

2. John Moran (Ireland) 

Journalist, the Irish Times 

Early Influences on Lafcadio Hearn

3. Sotiris Chalikias (Greece) 

Translator and Writer

Lafcadio Hearn’s Imagined Greece

4. Masayuki Ikeda (Japan) 

Professor, Waseda University

The Contribution of Hearn’s Literature to Present Times:Learning from the Retold Tales of the World of Kwaidan

Sunday, July 6, 10:00 - 13:00

Session 2 

“Developments of the Open Mind”

1. Hariclea Zengos (Greece) 

Professor, The American College of Greece 

At Home in the World: Transnational Hearn

2. Dimitrios Vassiliadis (Greece) 

Professor, University of Athens 

Lafcadio Hearn and Buddhism

3. Louis Solo Martinel (France/Martinique) 

Lecturer, University of Tokyo & Waseda University 

Exoticism and Cross-Culturality: On Lafcadio Hearn’s Fantastic Tales

4. Shingo Nagaoka (Japan) 

Professor, Shimane University 

Greek, Irish and/or British?: Hearn’s Immigration to America and his Cultural Identities

5. Paul Murray (Ireland) 

Hearn Biographer 

Gothic Horror: The Dublin Haunting of Lafcadio Hearn

Other events:

Friday, July 4, 19:30

Lefkas Cultural Center, Lefkada

Opening Ceremony of Lafcadio Hearn Historical Center

Reception

Saturday, July 5, 21:30

Open Theatre, Lefkas Cultural Center, Lefkada

Lafcadio Hearn Reading Performance by Shiro Sano and Kyoji Yamamoto

Sunday, July 6, 21:30

Open Theatre, Lefkas Cultural Center, Lefkada

Seiwa Bunraku (Japanese traditional puppet show) “Yuki-Onna”