Faculty (alphabetical)

Takahashi Toru

Professor Master's (Literature)

Born in 1947. Bachelor's Degree from Aichi University of Education, School of Education (1970, Japanese); Master's Degree from the University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology (1973, Japanese Literature); Participation in the Doctoral Course at the University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology (1975, Japanese Literature); Instructor (1975), Assistant Professor (1980) and Professor (1990) at Nagoya University, School of Liberal Arts; Professor at Nagoya University, Graduate School of Human Informatics (1993); Professor at Nagoya University, Graduate School of Letters (1999).

Professor Takahashi approaches various issues of literature, placing an emphasis on the narrative literature in the Heian court, by adopting a method based on the representation theory. His primary research subjects are discussions of The Tale of Genji, discussions of the history of the early expression of narratives, storytelling and text theory, and art theory and literature. Based on a hypothetical theory of "mental perspective", he has been trying to find a common grammar between pictures and stories and he has also been working on a theory of culture with a mixture of Japanese and classical Chinese. Lately he has been particularly interested in the creation of kana letters, a view of language, and the theory of fiction concerning the expression of words and a theory of rhetoric. While continuing to take a traditional teaching approach to Japanese literature that is built on studying literary documents, Professor Takahashi tries to foster an ability to develop literary research with originality that suites each student's personality and qualifications based on the detailed reading of text.

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