Fred Schodt, author and expert on Japanese popular culture, comes to Cornell Wednesday, April 21, for his presentation "Mangamania: Comics and Their Fans in Japan and America." The event will take place at 4:30 p.m. in Kaufmann Auditorium of Goldwin Smith Hall.
The phenomenon of manga (comics) and the grip it has on Japanese culture astounds Westerners at first glance. Indeed, Japan is awash in manga. Consider: virtually 40 percent of all books sold in Japan are manga. Manga influences or mirrors practically every genre of art and literature. It is at the core of an entertainment and commodity market that spews out countless manga-based book series, TV dramas, CDs, video games, toys, live-action features, even opera. Reference to manga is everywhere in schools, business, politics and academia. Thousands of web sites are devoted to manga of every imaginable persuasion.
"It's a way of life there," said Fred Kotas, Japanese bibliographer at Cornell's Kroch Library. "Everywhere you go, on the buses, the subways, everyone is reading manga. Most intellectuals in Japan are familiar with the leading manga artists. And the lines are blurring more and more. Manga artists are writing literary works and vice versa. Really, some of these people are almost like gods."
Schodt's slide-illustrated program will provide a close look at manga, its imagery, its artists and icons and its impact. He'll focus especially on the manga of Henry Kiyama, a Japanese immigrant in California, who created "The Four Immigrants Manga" in 1927. Published in 1931, Kiyama's work is believed to be one of the first actual comic books published in the United States. Schodt's translation of Kiyama, The Four Immigrants Manga: a Japanese Experience in San Francisco, 1904-1924 is the latest of his books on manga and popular culture.
Cornell Library's Wason Collection, as part of a consortium of northeastern libraries funded by the Japan Foundation, has been charged with collection development in Japanese popular culture materials.
"It's such a huge field, we can barely do it justice," said Kotas. "But we have acquired over 500 volumes of manga including some complete series, as well as scholarly works on the subject. I relied on Schodt's book, Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga, while making the selections."
A reception just outside Kaufman Auditorium will follow Schodt's lecture. Sponsors include the East Asia Program, the National Association of Japan-America Societies, the Japan America Society Ithaca Area, the Tokyo Club and the Yoshida International Foundation.
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