Towards the Dialogue: Ethical Literary Criticism and Japanese Literature Studies

Proposed by Chinese scholar Nie Zhenzhao in 2004, ethical literary criticism has rapidly developed into a theory of literary criticism that has been recognised and widely used by Chinese and international academics. In order to further promote the dissemination and development of ethical literary criticism in East Asia, the author was invited to organise this column, focusing on the key concepts of ethical literary criticism such as ethical identity, ethical choice, and ethical environment, and exploring how ethical literary criticism provides theoretical support for the study of literature in East Asia, including Japan and South Korea, from the perspectives of theoretical construction and critical practice. The paper also reviews the process of the author's study of ethical literary criticism since 2017, and re-examines the connection between ethical literary criticism and Japanese literary studies, with the hope of creating a new space for dialogue between the two. In Japan, there is a new trend of analysing literary works from an ethical perspective through the use of concepts such as "negative capability" and the ethics of care. In order to explore the relationship between ethical literary criticism and the above concepts, the author examines Kobo Abe's novel The Face of Another as an example of a textual study.