Tokaido Road. A Journey after Hiroshige
- Submitting institution
-
The University of Kent
- Unit of assessment
- 27 - English Language and Literature
- Output identifier
- 8536
- Type
- A - Authored book
- DOI
-
-
- Publisher
- Shearsman
- ISBN
- 9781848613782
- Open access status
- -
- Month of publication
- June
- Year of publication
- 2014
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
0
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- Yes
- Additional information
- Tokaido Road: A Journey after Hiroshige is a libretto to the chamber opera by composer Nicola LeFanu. It builds on the Aldeburgh Prize winning book of poems published in 2011, Tokaido Road, and on extensive research by the author into the forms of ekphrasis, including mimesis, supplementation, association, interpretation, recontextualization, and playful response. It investigates how modes of lyric writing become dramatic, reaching new audiences through its combination of Japanese and Western cultures and mix of art forms. It also contributes to new thinking and paradigms about collaborative work.
Among the lasting effects of the work are the links which have been established with other universities and educational institutions in the UK, Japan and elsewhere. From the start, the project was a collaborative venture with the University of Kent (School of English), the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the University of York. Moreover, contact has been made with substantial numbers of the public through seven performances in 2014-15 in several UK cities including London, Canterbury, Cheltenham, York, plus a private preview at the British Museum.
Outreach was a significant aspect, with educational experiences for young people in the Canterbury area, photographic exhibitions, art exhibitions, walks and talks, such as one given for the Institute of Musical Research at Senate House, University of London. Audience response was captured through a method called Critical Response Process and post-performance questionnaires. The Tokyo Academy of Instrumental Heritage Music described Tokaido Road as ‘a flagship work for all we are trying to achieve’, and the work was taken up as a case study in cross-cultural opera at the University of Bangor’s undergraduate opera course.
In 2019, the Tokaido Road poems were translated and published in Japan, with each poem illustrated by a colour Hiroshige print, including essays by literary scholars and art historians.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -