research overview
- Dr. Kleeman is a scholar of Japanese literature and culture, specializing in modern and contemporary writers. Early research focused on the literature of Japan's ethnic minorities and female writers. More recently, she has looked at the literature of the Japanese empire, particularly Japanophone literature written by colonial subjects and expatriates. Her current research project looks at cultural flows and interchanges among the cosmopolitan urban centers of East Asia during the first half of the twentieth century. Other research interests include the commodification and consumption of contemporary Japanese authors like Murakami Haruki in East Asia, the Chinese writer Lu Xun's impact in Japan, comparative study on Lu Xun and Natsume Soseki, and literary history in East Asia.