Machiko Nakagawa - Appointed in AY2016
Participant Profile
Machiko Nakagawa
20th-century French literature and thought2004: Graduated from the Faculty of Letters, Keio University 2005–2006: Studied abroad at Paris 3 - Sorbonne Nouvelle University (as an exchange student from Keio University) 2007: Completed the Master's program at the Graduate School of Letters, Keio University 2008–2010: Studied abroad at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris (as a French government scholarship student) 2009: Completed Master 2 in Modern Literature at Paris 3 - Sorbonne Nouvelle University 2012: Withdrew from the Ph.D. program at the Graduate School of Letters, Keio University, after completing all course requirements 2014: Completed the Ph.D. program in French Literature and Civilization at Paris 3 - Sorbonne Nouvelle University, earning her Ph.D. After serving as a part-time lecturer in English at Shibuya Junior High School (Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen), a part-time lecturer at the Faculty of Letters and the Faculty of Economics at Keio University, and a part-time lecturer at Bunka Gakuen University, she assumed her current position in 2016. *Profile and position are as of the time of the interview.
Machiko Nakagawa
20th-century French literature and thought2004: Graduated from the Faculty of Letters, Keio University 2005–2006: Studied abroad at Paris 3 - Sorbonne Nouvelle University (as an exchange student from Keio University) 2007: Completed the Master's program at the Graduate School of Letters, Keio University 2008–2010: Studied abroad at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris (as a French government scholarship student) 2009: Completed Master 2 in Modern Literature at Paris 3 - Sorbonne Nouvelle University 2012: Withdrew from the Ph.D. program at the Graduate School of Letters, Keio University, after completing all course requirements 2014: Completed the Ph.D. program in French Literature and Civilization at Paris 3 - Sorbonne Nouvelle University, earning her Ph.D. After serving as a part-time lecturer in English at Shibuya Junior High School (Shibuya Kyoiku Gakuen), a part-time lecturer at the Faculty of Letters and the Faculty of Economics at Keio University, and a part-time lecturer at Bunka Gakuen University, she assumed her current position in 2016. *Profile and position are as of the time of the interview.
Encounters with people, with academics, and with booksEverything from your student days will nourish you
My Research Theme and How I Encountered It
My research focuses on Georges Bataille, a French writer active from the interwar period to the postwar era. He is also a thinker to whom Japanese researchers have made significant contributions. While he seemed to tackle the enormous task of re-examining humanity in an age of catastrophe in a reckless manner, I believe he was actually a person who continued to write frankly and steadily. I first encountered him in a university class. The professors I admired were researching him, so I tried reading his work. Although I didn't understand much of it, I was captivated by fragments like "the solitude of light, the solitude of the desert." In my seminar, I was studying 18th-century texts, but I am grateful to the professor who allowed me to make the outlandish proposal of writing my graduation thesis on Bataille, a 20th-century thinker.
The Appeal and Fascination of My Research Theme
I would say it's the dialogue. The professor who supervised my master's thesis taught me that "a thesis is a dialogue." It's a dialogue with drafts and texts, a dialogue with preceding research, a dialogue with the intended reader, and a dialogue with professors and peers. Studying and research can sometimes be solitary work, but I believe it connects you with people on many different levels.
A Message for Students
In the language classes I teach, my goal is for all of you to acquire practical French skills. At the same time, I hope these classes will be an opportunity for you to become more conscious of language and notice things you hadn't before. Foreign languages can be tedious and frustrating, can't they? However, isn't it precisely the distance created there that becomes an important part of your ability to think? When I returned to Hiyoshi as a faculty member, one of my former professors told me, "A university is a place for meeting people." Now, I understand what that means very well. In this place of dialogue and encounters, I hope you will cherish all of your experiences.
(Interview conducted in January 2017)