Audio–visual adaptation of some pieces of fiction chosen from the contemporary Japanese literature

            In the frame of this project our aim was to rework and represent some of the most inspiring lines from the writings of Ryunosuke Akutagawa. The research part of our endeavour includes reception of the literary heritage of this author in Bulgaria. The popularization of fine literature in the contemporary global and highly technologized world is not an easy issue. The combination of tools from various humanitarian disciplines and activities with certain artistic approaches gives us the opportunity to bestow a sense of vitality to long forgotten but sensitive short stories, enables the fresh, up-to-date interpretation of them and refines our ways to perceive the world via the looking glass of the classics. We have in mind the pairing of Akutagawa`s written heritage with the modern audio-visual arts.

Our wish to combine these two levels of perception through interaction of different creative skills gave us the idea to launch a relevant project Audio-visual adaptation of some pieces of fiction chosen from the contemporary Japanese literature. Within the framework of the project, the PhD student from our Japanese Studies Department Maria Simeonova gained the opportunity to work both independently and in team with Bachelors and Masters, studying at our Department. The translation of the short story “Dolls” which was chosen for putting Akutagawa`s work on screen, was conducted by Martin Petrov. As an accomplished result, a scenario has been created and Bachelor students from our Department performed in a short movie directed by Maria Simeonova.