The Japan Academy announced that it would award its 102nd Japan Academy Prize and Imperial Prize (2012) to Professor Kazuyoshi Yoshikawa from the Graduate School of Letters. The highest of its kind in Japanese academia, the Japan Academy Prize is awarded for outstanding research achievements in the area of scholarship, while the Imperial Prize is awarded to the most outstanding recipient of the Japan Academy Prize.
Professor Yoshikawa graduated from the University of Tokyo (French literature, Faculty of Letters) in May 1970 and enrolled in its master's program within the Graduate School of Humanities (French language and literature) in June of the same year, which he completed in March 1972. Later, he enrolled in the doctoral program (French language and literature) in April of the same year. While he was in the doctoral program, he entered Paris-Sorbonne University in October 1973 and was awarded a doctorate in January 1977. After returning to Japan in March of the same year, he withdrew from the doctoral program at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Humanities. In April, he was appointed assistant professor at the Faculty of Letters. In April 1978, he was appointed full-time lecturer at the College of Art and Sciences at Tokyo Woman's Christian University. There, he was appointed associate professor in April 1981, and resigned in March 1988 to become an associate professor at the Tokyo Metropolitan University's Faculty of Liberal Arts in April of the same year. In April 1993, he was promoted to professor. After the university changed its Japanese name in 2005 as a result of integration with three other institutes, he resigned from the position in March 2006 to become a professor emeritus of the Tokyo Metropolitan University and was appointed professor at Kyoto University's Graduate School of Letters in April of the same year, a position he currently holds.
Professor Yoshikawa has studied Marcel Proust, a French novelist known for In Search of Lost Time. His doctoral dissertation written in French, "Étude sur la genèse de La Prisonnière d'après des brouillons inédits" (Paris-Sorbonne University, 1977), sheds new light on the drafting process used by Proust. Furthermore, noticing that many European paintings appear in In Search of Lost Time and play key roles in the work's construction, he discerned those roles through a comprehensive investigation into both document and pictorial sources. Professor Yoshikawa identified many of the painters and paintings referred to or suggested in the story. Based on these findings, he proposed numerous creative insights into understanding the many different ways that paintings are presented in the novel and their relation to the novel's construction and its message; the relation between idolatrous attitudes toward art and truly artistic creations; and the role that Elstir, a fictitious painter, and his paintings play in the novel. His research opened up a new avenue of scholarly pursuit in the study of not only Proust, but also the interaction between literature and paintings. This research has borne fruit in works he has written such as Proust Bijutsukan ("Proust Museum") [Chikumashobo Ltd., 1998]; Proust to Kaiga ("Proust and Pictures") [Iwanami Shoten, Publishers, 2008]; and Proust et l'Art Pictural [Paris, H. Champion, 2010], the work which led to the award of this prize.
Professor Yoshikawa's accomplishments are now also highly appreciated in France as a monumental achievement in the research of French literature by a Japanese scholar. This doctoral dissertation has been cited by many critical editions and research works; and his piece of writing in French, Proust et l'Art Pictural, received high marks in book reviews published in Le Monde and other media. For these accomplishments, in May 2010 the French government designated him an officer of l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques, and in June of the same year l'Académie Française awarded him le Prix du Rayonnement de la Langue et de la Littérature Françaises. Le Cercle Littéraire Proustien de Cabourg-Balbec also awarded him la Madeleine d'Or for Proust et l'Art Pictural in November 2011.
While serving as the president of La Société Japonaise de Langue et Littérature Françaises (Japanese Society of French Language and Literature), Professor Yoshikawa has aimed to translate the complete volumes of In Search of Lost Time (Iwanami Shoten, Publishers; three volumes already published out of the planned fourteen volumes), thereby also making a tremendous contribution to the acceptance of Proust's works in Japan.
These research accomplishments have been highly valued by researchers both inside and outside Japan, which constitutes the reason for the award.
The award ceremony will be held in Tokyo in June 2012.