Australyaoi

Boys' Love / Yaoi, Ashen Wings

I’m headed Down Under from June 29 - July 8 for a conference on Japanese Transnational Fandoms at the University of Wollongong. I will, of course, be talking about yaoi — in this case, about how U.S. publishers are taking this originally Japanese genre and adapting it for the West.

I find the “translation” of boys’ love to the West interesting because it’s not just a matter of linguistic translation. That’s the least interesting part, I think. But the U.S. experience with (licensed) boys’ love is mediated by publishers, from the initial point in which they act as gatekeepers deciding what to license and what to ignore to the point of translation and adaptation — I got some interesting stories about changes publishers made or were asked to make to appease retailers. So perceptions of BL in the West are likely to be somewhat different from those in Japan because we don’t receive the full spectrum here. And then there’s Western boys’ love, which is combining Japanese boys’ love themes and styles with Western expectations about graphic novels and artistic styles to create a new hybrid genre. And let’s not get into gay male interest in BL here, which may be another difference between how it’s received in Japan versus the U.S. I’m really interested in seeing how BL develops over the next few years as it starts to find its own identity.

At any rate, I leave Sunday and haven’t packed yet, although I’ve been piling up “stuff to take” and hoping it’ll all fit into a carry-on. The problem with being an avid reader? I bought seven used paperbacks from the library thinking, “well, these’ll get me to Australia, but not through it and back again.” I read’n'discard as I go, which is why I buy used, even though it means I end up reading some pretty crappy fiction on airplanes. Then again, that’s probably the best place for fiction you don’t need to think too hard about.

The part I hate the most about traveling is how edgy I get about getting to the airport — do I have the date right? The time? Omigod, do I have my ticket? My passport? What if my electronic ETA registration didn’t work? Once I’m there a sort of placid resignation sets in that helps me cope with the inevitable hurry-up-and-waitness of flying, but before that, I’m all nerves. Like, y’know, now.

drupagliassotti @ June 28, 2008