[Year of Japan] Lecture by Midori OGAWA
“Can Haiku Be Translated?”
A Brief History of the Genre and an Introduction to Translating It
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Le 07/10/2026
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15:30 - 17:00
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Conference
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Mont Houy Campus
Bâtiment Matisse
Lecture Hall 200
Abstract
Today, the haiku is known throughout the world and can be found in more than two hundred languages. As a poetic genre, it not only occupies an important place in Japanese literature (it predates theater and the novel), but it is also appreciated, studied, and practiced outside Japan by many 20th- and 21st-century artists, such as the American avant-garde poet Ezra Pound, the writer of the Beat Generation Jack Kerouac, the Mexican poet and Nobel Prize laureate Octavio Paz, and the American poet-composer John Cage. In this lecture, Midori Ogawa will briefly review the history of the haiku, then discuss the collaborative work she has undertaken with the French poet and essayist Christian Doumet (born in 1953) on a co-authored book dedicated to contemporary Japanese haiku (to be published by Fata Morgana in late 2026)
Biography of Midori Ogawa
Midori OGAWA is an Associate Professor of French Literature at the University of Tsukuba (Japan). Her research specializations include 20th and 21st century French literature (particularly the works of Michel Butor, Marguerite Duras, and Pascal Quignard) and literary translation. She has been a regular guest at several French universities for many years, giving courses, lectures, and participating in conferences. She is the author of, among other works: Voix, musique, altérité : Duras, Quignard, Butor (Harmattan, 2010); Music in the Literary Work of Marguerite Duras (Harmattan, 2022); Pascal Quignard—lesson of darkness, intentionality of light—- (Suisei-sha, 2026). She edited an anthology of contemporary Japanese poetry (the “Languages of the World” series, Place de la Sorbonne, SUP, No. 14, 2025) and published several translations, including works by Pierre Jean Jouve (*Aventures de Catherine Crachat*, co-translated with Yoko Iizuka, 2025), Michel Butor (Répertoire IV,co-translated in 2024 and Répertoire V in a co-translation, 2026). Finally, she is overseeing the systematic translation of Quignard’s work in Japan in “Pascal Quignard Collection" (Suisei-sha).