Presentation by Yuko Yamamoto

Nobel laureate William Faulkner made several state-sponsored trips to Latin America, Asia, and Europe between 1954 and 1961. In 1955, from August to October, he toured Japan, the Philippines, Italy, Germany, France, England, and Iceland. This talk will detail his activities in Japan and contextualize his participation in the annual Nagano Seminar on American Literature, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy. It will also highlight the timeliness of Faulkner’s visit and its lasting impact on American literary studies in Japan. Archival materials reveal that Faulkner, who does not seem to make a good Cold War warrior, played the successful role of a goodwill ambassador for the State Department and the United States Information Agency.

Yuko YAMAMOTO is a Fulbright visiting scholar at the University of Mississippi and professor of American literature at Chiba University, Japan. She is the author of Faulkner’s Late Style: Its Development and Metamorphosis (Shoraisha, 2023; in Japanese). Her articles have appeared in Japanese and in English in a number of journals and books, including Studies in English Literature, Studies in American Literature, the Faulkner Journal of Japan, the Journal of Modern Periodical Studies, Faulkner and Hemingway (Southeast Missouri State UP, 2018), and Faulkner’s Families (UP of Mississippi, 2023). Her primary research interest lies in the relations of literary modernism and popular culture, with particular emphasis on periodicals and photography.

For assistance related to a disability, contact Greg Johnson at gj1@olemiss.edu.