The Iris Murdoch Society of Japan
Conferences
The 23rd Conference
Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, 4 November, 2023
General Meeting：13:00 ~ 13:30
Paper Presentations: 13:30 ~ 16:10
1. Reading ‘Agamemnon Class 1939’
MC: Yasushi Nakakubo (Orofessor at Kyoto Bunkyo University)
Presenter: Koshi Okano (Professor Emeritus at Heisei International University)
2. Mishima’s Dog Blocking the Waterfall: Nuns and Soldiers and The Sea of Fertility
MC: Koshi Okano (Professor Emeritus at Heisei International University)
Presenter: Fiona Tomkinson (Associate Professor at Nagoya University)
3. Murdochian Engagements with Some Japanese Thought as Experienced in ‘Motorist and Dead Bird’
MC: Chiho Omichi (Professor at Aoyama Gakuin University)
Presenter: Paul Hullah (Associate Professor at Meiji Gakuin University)
4. Colours in Literature: Iris Murdoch’s The Sea, The Sea and Anita Brookner’s Hotel du Lac (Online presentation by Zoom in English)
MC: Hiroko Ishimoto (Part-time Lecturer at Kumamoto Prefectural University)
Presenter: Yukiko Kitamura (Part-time Lecturer at Kindai University)
Special Lecture (16:30 ~ 18:00)
— Keynote Presentation —
What John Learnt from Iris, What Iris Learnt from John
MC: Paul Hullah（President of the Iris Murdoch Society of Japan）
Lecturer: Dr Miles Leeson
(Reader in English Literature, and Director of the Iris Murdoch Research Centre, at the University of Chichester, Editor of the Iris Murdoch Review, Co-editor of the Palgrave MacMillan Series ‘Iris Murdoch Today’, Host of the Iris Murdoch Podcast)
The 22nd Conference
Online 6 November 2022
General Meeting 12:00 ~ 12:30
Research Paper Presentations (12:30 ~ 16:10)
1. D. H. Lawrence in the Age of Pandemic—Reading Lady Chatterlay’s Lover Led by Iris Murdoch’s Words
MC: Yasushi Nakakubo (Professor at Kyoto Bunkyo University)
Presenter: Yuriko Noguchi
2. Who is Daisy? --- An Inquiry on Nuns and Soldiers
MC: Koshi Okano (Professor Emeritus at Heisei International University)
Presenter: Michiyo Naito
3. Identification and Isolation: The Literary Relationship Between Iris Murdoch and Virginia Woolf
MC: Wendy Nakanishi (Professor Emeritus at Shikoku Gakuin University)
Presenter: Duan Daoyu (Nanjing Agricultural University)
4. Filming The Italian Girl
MC: Paul Hullah (Associate Professor at Meiji Gakuin University)
Presenter: Tatevik Ayvazyan (Literary Producer, Rebel Republic Films)
5. The Kafka Factor in Iris Murdoch’s Fiction
MC: Fiona Tomkinson (Associate Professor at Nagoya University)
Presenter: Maria Peacock (Iris Murdoch Research Centre, Chichester University）
Keynote Presentation (16:30 ~ 18:00)
How Japan and Iris Murdoch Shaped an Englishwoman's Life
MC: Paul Hullah（Associate Professor at Meiji Gakuin University）
Chiho Omichi (Professor at Aoyama Gakuin University)
Special Lecturer: Dr Frances White
Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Chichester,
Deputy Director of the Iris Murdoch Research Centre,
Editor of the Iris Murdoch Review, Author of Becoming Iris Murdoch,
Writer in Residence at Kingston University Writing School)
The 21st Conference
Meiji Gakuin University,Tokyo, 26 October, 2019
Presented Papers:
- Hiroko Ishimoto “Intertwining love in A Severed Head”
- Yukari Oda “The Brontë Sisters' Essence in Iris Murdoch's Novels”
- Fiona Tomkinson “Murdoch and the classics: a reading of An Accidental Man”
- Kim JinHyok “Seeing the Beauty of the Divine: A Murdochian Approach to Religious Art with Special Attention to Iconography”
Special Lecture:
- Anne Rowe ”Archives and Afterlife: Iris Murdoch in the Twenty-First Century”
The 20th Conference
Kyoto Bunkyo University in Kyoto, 27th October, 2018
Presented Papers:
- Dr Fiona Tomkinson "Between symbolism and realism: death, rebirth and Intertextuality in The Book and the Brotherhood"
- Koshi Okano "‘Something Special’ Revisited"
- Wendy Jones Nakanishi "Iris Murdoch’s Letters in the English Epistolary Tradition"
- Paul Hullah "‘Usually The Better Ones’: Into Crystalline with Murdoch and Kuan Yin"
Special Lecture:
- Dr Gillian Dooley "Iris Murdoch and Australia: her life, her novels and her reputation"
The 19th Conference
Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, 18th November, 2017
Presented Papers:
- Hiroko Ishimoto “Hilary’s Moral View and Murdoch’s Moral View in A Word Child”
- Fiona Tomkinson “Iris Murdoch and The Tale of Genji”
- Kayoko Saito “A Point of Contact Between The Golden Notebook and Kukai-jodo (苦海浄土)”
- Wendy Jones Nakanishi “Any Day is a Kissing Day”: Iris Murdoch’s Letters as Expressions of Intimacy”
Special Lecture:
- Yasumasa Okamoto “Iris Murdoch and Shakespeare”
The 18th Conference
Shikoku Gakuin University in Kagawa 22nd October, 2016
Presented Papers:
- Yasushi Nakakubo “Re-reading ‘melodramatically’ The Sacred and Profane Love Machine”
- Keiko Tawa “Japanese Philosophy and Iris Murdoch: Characterization of Dora Greenfield in The Bell and Kitaro Nishida’s Good”
- Fiona Tomkinson “Bruno’s Dream: Murdoch’s Intertextual Web”
- Junko Ono “Power of Love in The Black Prince”
- Paul Hullah “Kestrels and Storks: A Defence of Murdoch’s ‘Self-Deluding’ Faith in the Sovereignty of Good”
Special Lecture:
- Kenzo Hamano “What Makes the Canary Sing When She Has Forgotten How to Sing: Iris Murdoch’s Moralistic Realism and Literature”
The 17th Conference
Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, 21 November, 2015.
Presented Papers:
- Wendy Nakanishi “The Insider Outsider in Iris Murdoch’s Bruno’s Dream and Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day”
- Hiroko Arima “Perturbation and Liberation in Jackson’s Dilemma as a Diaspora”
- Sumiko Inoue “On the continuity in Murdoch's The Book and the Brotherhood”
- Ester Monteleone “Iris Murdoch and the Women Philosophers of Oxford”
- Fiona Tomkinson “Are Iris Murdoch’s foxes Japanese? Kitsunē myth and Zen Buddhism in he Philosopher’s Pupil and The Message to the Planet”
Special Lecture:
- Ryo Nonaka “The Impact of Iris Murdoch”
The 16th Conference
Kyoto Bunkyo University in Uji, Kyoto, 25th October, 2014
Presented Papers:
- Yasushi Nakakubo “A Comparative Study of BT Tower in The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch and Saturday by Ian McEwan”
- Michiyo Naito “Exercise of Power in The Nice and the Good”
- Tsutomu Shioda “The Shadow of Post-Colonialism in The Sea, The Sea”
- Kyoko Hirai “The River Thames and Iris Murdoch”
Special Lecture:
- Ryoichi Shiga “Gentlemen Prefer Femme-Fatales: Three Symbolic Figures in European History”
The 15th Conference
Meiji Gakuin University Shirogane Camps, Tokyo, 19th October, 2013
Presented Papers:
- Hiroko Ishimoto “Analysis of Anne Cavidge in Nuns and Soldiers”
- Chiho Omichi “A Vampire in Love—Lesbianism in The Unicorn”
- Paul Hullah “Also the Problem of Truth: Murdochian Murmurs of Browning”
- Mariko Enomoto “Kukai-jodo（苦海浄土）as World Literature---Michiko Ishimure and Virginia Woolf”
Special Project:
- Dialogue: Yushiro Inouchi and Kyoko Hirai on Iris Murdoch
Special Lecture:
- Suguru Fukasawa “ A Fictional Reflection on Post-war British Novels”
The 14th Conference
Keio University Mita Campus 13th October, 2012
Presented Papers:
- Wendy Nakanishi “All the World’s a Stage”: Iris Murdoch’s The Green Knight as Theatre
- Kayoko Saito “The Narrative Strategy in Between the Acts by Virginia Woolf”
- Noriko Sasaki “On Kazuo Ishiguro’s Nocturnes”
- Chiaki Sugiura “Moral Awakening in Female Characters in The Mill on the Floss and The Bell”
- Yasushi Nakakubo “A Comparative Study of Jewish Protagonists Depicted by Iris Murdoch in The Message to the Planet and A Fairly Honourable Defeat”
Special Lecture:
- Keiko Izubuchi “ Virginia Woof and the War”
The 13th Conference
Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare | 27th October 2011
Presented Papers:
- Hiroko Ishimoto “On Enchanting Denis in The Unicorn”
- Wendy Nakanishi “The Duel Nature of the World in The Bell”
- Yozo Muroya “Kenji Miyazawa and Iris Murdoch”
Special Lecture:
- Kojin Kondo “Samuel Beckett and Iris Murdoch----Water and Language”
The 12th Conference
Mita Campus Keio University | 16th October 2010
Presented Papers:
- Hideaki Nakajima “Accidental Time in Under the Net”
- Kazuko Murai “’Attention’ in The Book and the Brotherhood”
- Paul Hullah “Purity and the Paradox: Haiku and Iris Murdoch”
Special Lecture:
- Kyoko Miyata “James Joyce and Music”
The 11th Conference
Meiji Gakuin University | 21st November 2009
Presented Papers:
- Michiyo Naito “Eros in Plato’s The Symposium and The Bell”
- Wendy Nakanishi “A Severed Head and Restoration Comedy and Freudian Drama”
- Paul Hullah “A Matrix We Can Fathom: Reading Iris Murdoch’s Poetry”
Special Lecture:
- Takeshi Onodera “Iris Murdoch, 20th Century, Kate Atkinson”
The 10th Conference
Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare | 18th October 2008
Presented Papers:
- Hiroko Ishimoto “The Parrot in The Book and the Brotherhood”
- Yasushi Nakakubo “Characters at the Mercy of Contingency in An Accidental Man”
- Paul Hullah “Byronic Iris? Some Unlikely Influences on Murdoch’s Poetry”
Special Lecture:
- Taro Iwamura “Connection between Murdochian Philosophy and Theology of Paul Johannes Tillich”
The 9th Conference
Hosei University | 6th October 2007
Presented Papers:
- Michiyo Naito “Eros in Plato’s The Symposium and The Bell”
- Reiko Komazawa “Beyond The Sandcastle”
- Miharu Otsuki “The Sea, The Sea: Charles’ Narration and Mystery
Special Lecture:
- Hirukawa Hisayasu “Random Thoughts on Iris Murdoch: Bicycle and Unicorn”
The 8th Conference
Keisen University | 14th October 2006
Presented Papers:
- Chiho Omichi “Things Japanese in Early Works of Iris Murdoch”
- Wendy Nakanishi “Money, Marriage and Literary Allusions in Iris Murdoch’s Nuns and Soldiers”
- Yuriko Nonaka “Fatih, Salvation, Moral in The Bell”
- Aki Katayama “The Problem of Abortion in Iris Murdoch”
Special Lecture:
- Ryo Nonaka “Narration of Iris Murdoch”
The 7th Conference
The Okayama Prefectural Library | 5th November 2005
Presented Papers:
- Wendy Nakanishi “Shakespeare and Buddhism in Bruno’s Dream”
- Reiko Sakugawa “On Joanna Joanna”
- Pau Hullah “’Calling All into Doubt’: Art, Life, and Identity in Murdoch’s ‘Not Highly Regarded’ The Italian Girl”
Special Lecture:
- Kyoko Hirai “Iris Murdoch and Samuel Beckett”
The 6th Conference
Hongo Campus, Tokyo University | 9th October 2004
Presented Papers:
- Wendy Nakanishi “Characters and Characterization in Iris Murdoch’s The Good Apprentice”
- Reiko Nakagami “Truthful Lies and Fantasy Realism: Iris Murdoch’s Under the Net and Murriel Spark’s The Comforters”
- Paul Hullah “The Riderless Horse Moves on: Equine Symbolism in Iris Murdoch’s Jackson’s Dilemma”
Special Lectures:
- Tsutomu Shioda “Iris Murdoch, the Comintern, Plato and Zen”
- George Hughes “’I discovered words and words were my salvation’: Iris Murdoch and the Problem of Language”
The 5th Conference
Showa Women’s University | 18th October 2003
Presented Papers:
- Yukari Tamasaki “The World of Water and the Act of Swimming in Iris Murdoch’s Works with Special Regard to Philosopher’s Pupil”
- Junko Ono “Reading : The Red and the Green: People in the Time of the Easter Rising and Its Historical Significance”
- Michiyo Naito “The Problem of ‘attention’ in The Bell“
- Mariko Enomoto “Reading The Message to the Planet”
Special Lecture:
- Yushiro Inouchi “Iris Murdoch and Raymond Queneau”
The 4th Conference
Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare | 5th October 2002
Presented Papers:
- Hinako Otsu “Iris Murdoch as a New Philosophical Novelist: Harmonizing Literature and Philosophy”
- Kumiko Ishii “Realism and Moralistic Mysticism: from Platonic Perspective”
- Shigehiro Seino “Agamemnon Class 1939”
- Chiho Ito “Toward an Ideal Novel: The Them of Losing the Center and De-deification in The Philosopher’s Pupil”
- Reiko Komazawa “The Bottom of the Rose Garden: Re-reading An Unofficial Rose”
Special Lecture:
- Yozo Muroya “Iris Murdoch and The Tale of Genji”
The 3rd Conference
Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare | 6th October 2001
Presented Papers:
- Fumiko Seino “Another and More Secret God: The Black Prince”
- Itomi Okamoto “Accidents in The Book and Brotherhood”
- Kyoko Hirai “Translating Jackson’s Dilemma and what I saw”
Special Lecture:
- Wendy Nakanishi “The French and the Irish Connections: A Comparison of Themes and Technics in Under the Net and The Red and the Green”
The 2nd Conference
Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare | 7th October 2000
Presented Papers:
- Ayako Kodashima “Philosophical Resemblance of Iris Murdoch and Simone Weil in The Sea, the Sea and its Novelistic Development”
- Hisano Sasaoka “Fire and the Sun: The Sea, the Sea and the Metaphor of the Cave”
- Choichi Yamamoto “The Unicorn: Its Cursed Part”
- Mariko Enomoto “Another Swan Song: The Green Knight”
Special Lecture:
- Paul Hullah “Modes of Desire in Iris Murdoch’s Poetry”
The 1st Conference
Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare | 25th September 1999
Presented Papers:
- Nobuko Hahismoto “Jackson’s Dilemma is Murdoch’s Tempest“
- Kenji Kono “In Search of Murdoch’s Irishness—Re-reading Red and Green”
- Kyoko Hirai “The Dilemma of Jackson’s Dilemma”
Special Lecture:
- Neil McEwan “Iris Murdoch and Plato”