Erik R. Lofgren

Erik R. Lofgren teaches Japanese language, literature, and film at Bucknell University and has been writing reviews for WLT for two decades. His research interests are in representations of sexual desire in film, and his most recent publication in this area is “Adapting Female Agency: Rape in The Outrage and Rashōmon” (Adaptation). He has also published translations of poetry by Natsume Sōseki and is currently working on a larger related project.

Aliens Are Us: Sayaka Murata’s Earthlings

April 19, 2022 | Erik R. Lofgren

Photo by Daniel on Unsplash Readers will naturally and, perhaps, unfortunately, wish to make connections between Sayaka Murata’s (b. 1979) newest novel, Earthlings, translated by Ginn...
In Murata Sayaka’s Convenience Store, a Microcosm of Japanese Society

January 31, 2019 | Erik R. Lofgren

Photo by Martin Lewison / Flickr When Convenience Store Woman came out in 2016, Murata Sayaka (b. 1979) won the Akutagawa Prize, usually the imprimatur of potential for a new writer....