Education:

B.A., Huazhong University of Science and Technology
M.A., Rikkyo University

Research interests:

Modern Japanese literature; Tanizaki Jun'ichirō; feminism; gender; queer; colonial discourse; popular culture

Self-introduction:

My name is Li Xueyan. I am originally from Wuhan, China and I got my MA degree in Japan where I developed a strong ability on close-reading of Japanese literature. My current research focuses on representations of foreign female figures in the works of Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, while my broader interests extend across literature, gender, culture, and the many ways they intersect.

Outside academia, I love sports and music. I enjoy indoor bouldering and climbing, swimming, hiking, and pretty much every ball sport I can get my hands on. Mahjong also counts as a sport for me. I love J-pop, K-pop, C-pop (both Mandarin and Cantonese), Jazz, Soul, House, Classical Music...and I'm a Karaoke Maniac.

Thesis Research Area:

My research explores the foreign female figures in the works of Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, one of Japan’s most famous modern writers. At first glance, these women may seem to be simply beautiful, mysterious, exotic or erotic characters. But they also reveal something bigger: Japan’s changing relationship with Asia and the West in the early twentieth century. Chinese women and Western women often occupy very important but different places in Tanizaki’s imagination. The former connected to a familiar yet increasingly distant Asia while the latter to the fascination and anxiety surrounding Western modernity. By bringing these figures together, I explore how gender, cultural difference, and Japan’s own sense of modern identity become intertwined in literature.