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Shigehiko Hasumi

はすみ しげひこ

Hasumi Shigehiko

Aliases: 蓮實重彥 / Shiguéhiko Hasumi / Hasumi Shigehiko

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1936-04-29 （Roppongi, Azabu (now Minato, Tokyo), Japan）
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese, French
Residence History
Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan → Paris, France (study/sojourn)

Career

Occupations
literary critic, film critic, scholar of French literature, novelist, university professor, translator, editor
Active Years
1956-
Affiliations
University of Tokyo (Professor, College of Arts and Sciences), University of Tokyo (26th President), Rikkyo University (part-time lecturer), Université Paris 7 (Japanese instructor / resident)
Influenced By
Natsume Sōseki, Kenzaburō Ōe, Gustave Flaubert, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze
Influenced
Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Shinji Aoyama, Masayuki Suo, Kunitoshi Manda, Akihiko Shiota, Hideo Nakata, Keisuke Toyoshima, Kazushige Abe, Atsushi Sasaki

Education

Gakushuin (elementary, middle and high school)
Period: 1943-1955
Country: Japan
Attended Gakushuin during childhood and adolescence
University of Tokyo, Faculty of Letters (Department of French Literature)
Faculty of Letters / Department of French Literature
Degree: 学士
Period: 1956-1960
Year of Graduation: 1960
Country: Japan
Majored in French literature
University of Paris (Sorbonne)
Graduate school / Literary studies
Degree: 博士（Ph.D.）
Period: 1962-1965
Year of Graduation: 1965
Country: France
Earned a doctorate with research on Gustave Flaubert

Awards

Yomiuri Literature Prize (Criticism/Biography)
1978
Work: Anti-Japanese-Language Theory
Category: 評論・伝記
Organization: Yomiuri Shimbun
Result: 受賞
Arts Encouragement Prize (Minister of Education Award)
1989
Work: Portrait of a Mediocre Artist
Organization: Agency for Cultural Affairs / Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Result: 受賞
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Commandeur)
1999
Organization: French Ministry of Culture
Result: Commandeur (受章)
Kawakita Award
2007
Organization: Kawakita Memorial Film Culture Foundation
Result: 受賞
Mishima Yukio Prize
2016
Work: The Countess
Category: 小説
Organization: Mishima Yukio Prize Committee
Result: 受賞
Honorary doctorate (Université Paris VIII)
1997
Organization: Université Paris 8
Result: 授与

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Anti-Japanese-Language Theory

1977 Critical essays

A collection of essays reflecting on the acquisition of Japanese and French language through his son's language development, examining Japanese language and culture. Winner of the Yomiuri Literature Prize (criticism).

language acquisitionJapanese languagefamily and communication

Portrait of a Mediocre Artist: On Maxim du Camp

1988 Scholarly study / criticism

An academic work stemming from his research on Flaubert, addressing 19th-century French literature and art. Recipient of the Arts Encouragement Prize (Minister of Education Award).

Flaubert studies19th-century French literatureliterary history

Sinkhole Zone

1986 Novel

One of Hasumi's novels, dealing with contemporary society and questions of individual consciousness.

individual and societyruptures of consciousnessurban landscapes

Directed by Yasujiro Ozu

1983 Film criticism

A detailed critical study of Yasujiro Ozu's films, contributing to an international reevaluation of Japanese cinema through film theory and analysis.

history of Japanese cinemaYasujiro Ozurepresentation and culture
Translations
  • Translated into French and Korean

The Countess

2016 Novel

A later-career novel by Hasumi which won the 29th Mishima Yukio Prize.

formal experimentation in fictionmemory and the bodyliterature and class

Bibliography

  • Critique or the Festival of Suspended Animation (1974)
  • Anti-Japanese-Language Theory (1977)
  • Foucault, Deleuze, Derrida (1978)
  • On Natsume Sōseki (1978)
  • Mythology of Film (1979)
  • Poetics of the Image (1979)
  • Directed by Yasujiro Ozu (1983)
  • Sinkhole Zone (1986)
  • Portrait of a Mediocre Artist (1988)
  • Lectures on Hollywood Film History (1993)
  • Absolute Literary Criticism Declaration (1994)
  • 'Movie Maniac' series (2000–2004)
  • An Unfaithful Invitation to Cinema (2004)
  • The Temptation of 'Red': An Introduction to Fiction Theory (2007)
  • Godard, Manet, Foucault: Fragmentary Considerations on Thought and Sensibility (2008)
  • On the Eve of Cinema's Collapse (2008)
  • On 'Madame Bovary' (2014)
  • The Countess (2016)
  • Where Do Words Come From? (2020)
  • What Is a Shot? (2022)

Adaptations

  • Documentary 'Kurosawa's A.K.' (narration, 1985)

Translations by Author

  • Translation of Gilles Deleuze's 'Masochism and Sadism' (1973)
  • Translations and compilations of Jean-Luc Godard's writings (1970s)
  • Co-translation of Roland Barthes' 'Rhetoric of the Image' (1980)

Translations of Works

  • Directed by Yasujiro Ozu — translated into French and Korean

Style & Themes

Literary Style
theoretically driven critical proseintroduction and translation of contemporary French thoughtwriting that traverses film and literature
Recurring Motifs
representation and culturememory and the imagelanguage and subjectivityre-evaluation of film history

Legacy

A leading introducer of contemporary French thought in Japan and a critic who bridged film and literature. He served as president of the University of Tokyo, influenced a generation of filmmakers and critics, and received numerous major awards.

Academic Societies

  • National Association of Universities (Chair, 18th)
  • Japan Society for Film Studies (influence)

Archives

  • National Diet Library (holds related materials)
  • University of Tokyo Library (holds books and materials)

In Popular Culture

  • His 2016 Mishima Prize acceptance press conference, notable for his terse remarks, was widely reported in the media

Quotes

  • I think it is a rather inconvenient matter. That an opportunity should arise to give such a prize to an 80-year-old is, I think, very lamentable for Japanese culture.
    Source: Mishima Yukio Prize award press conference (reported in Asahi Shimbun and other outlets) (2016)
  • Would you please stop asking stupid questions?
    Source: Mishima Yukio Prize award press conference (exchange with reporters) (2016)

Trivia

  • Height: 182 cm
  • Spouse: Chantal Hasumi
  • Children: Shigeomi Hasumi (son)
  • 26th President of the University of Tokyo (1997–2001)
  • Honorary doctorate from Université Paris 8 (1997)
  • Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Commandeur, 1999)
  • Recipient of the Yomiuri Literature Prize (1978)