Stina JelbringAssociate professor

I teach classes in Japanese grammar and text reading, as well as on Japanese society and culture.

My research interests are partly concentrated on a certain historical period in Japanese history, namely the Heian period (794–1185), partly of a theoretical kind: I have during several years devoted myself mainly to metaphor theory and translation theory. My dissertation from 2010 A Decontextual Stylistics Study of the Genji Monogatari treats the classical Japanese work the Genji Monogatari [The Tale of Genji] and in particular its fourth chapter, “Yûgao.” This study attempts to relate the “Yûgao” story more to theories which it traditionally has been unrelated and thereby formulate a descriptive stylistics in a decontextual perspective. 

The working title of my present project is Genji Monogatari: Metaphor and Translation and the idea is to both examine the metaphorical concept in classical treatises and to analyse metaphorical expressions in the Genji Monogatari, concentrating on four chapters in the beginning of the work. English translations of metaphor in the Genji Monogatari are also related to the study. In comparison to other research of a similar kind, my study is more explicitly comparative as it also includes comparisons with classical and modern concepts of metaphor both in Japan and elsewhere. Metaphor theory in relation to translation theory is a theme which deepens and further elaborates some parts of my dissertation, but while my dissertation is mostly decontextual, the present project is contextual. 

Other parts of my research includes studies on the poetry of and nô-plays about Ono no Komachi, a female poet of the Heian period.