Lingling Ma received her BA in Japanese Literature and Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her MA in Humanities from the University of Chicago. She was also a research student at the University of Tokyo. Her research centers on modern Japanese literature, especially in its connection with the history of Psychoanalysis and Psychiatry. Lately, she has been focusing on the transnational flow of Vitalism in late 19th and early 20th century, and on how it shapes the cultural spheres of art and literature in Japan and China.