On July 20, the third and final session of this academic year's Faculty of Letters Public Lecture Series, "American Literature and the Frontier," was held at the North Building Hall on Mita Campus. Following an address by Yoshimitsu Matsuura, Dean of the Faculty of Letters, lectures were given by Professor Takayuki Tatsumi of the Major in English and American Literature, Faculty of Letters, and Professor Susumu Niijima of the Faculty of Economics, who is a graduate of the Major in French Literature at this faculty. Under the title "Creating New Frontiers," Professor Tatsumi revealed that the frontier—a wondrous space of coexisting fascination and fear—which was initially the American continent itself, was gradually found in Antarctica, the Earth's interior, the oceans, and even the sky and outer space, and by the latter half of the 20th century, in cyberspace as represented by the internet.
Meanwhile, under the theme "The Frontier and Jules Verne's 'Voyages extraordinaires'," Professor Niijima explained that Verne, considered the father of science fiction literature, emphasized relying on scientific knowledge acquired through reading when creating his science fiction novels, and proposed the idea that for such a writer, the frontier was the boundary between the known and the unknown.
During the Q&A session after the lectures, while many questions were posed from the floor, such as "Where is the next frontier after cyberspace?" and "Why did you specialize in French literature?", both professors offered passionate comments on the appeal and difficulties of studying foreign literature, and the event concluded in a lively atmosphere.
This year's public lecture series was also attended by a great many people. We sincerely thank you for your participation.