① Orientation; about this class: structure, syllabus, evaluation. Questionnaire. Tech details.
READING: Terry Eagleton, “What is literature?”
② Discuss Terry Eagleton, “What is literature?”. Author, text, reader, translator, etc. Intentional and affective fallacies. Very short introduction to “literary theory” (cf. “What is theory?”, “Literary schools and movements”, Jonathan Culler)
READING: Mori Ōgai, “The Dancing Girl” (1890).
③ Discuss Mori Ōgai, “The Dancing Girl;” nation and individual. “Modern self”? Literary Japanese(s) of the early modern period.
READING: Higuchi Ichiyō, “Growing Up” (1895-96).
④ Discuss Higuchi Ichiyō, “Growing Up”. Women, writing, and modernity. Family, femininity.
READING: Nagai Kafū, American Stories, selection (1904-1908).
⑤ Discuss Nagai Kafū, American Stories. Local and national identities; being “Japanese” abroad.
READING: Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, “The Ball” (1920).
⑥ Discuss Akutagawa Ryūnosuke’s “The Ball.” Revisiting modern Japan, 50 years after the Restoration. Translating, adapting, remembering.
READING: Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, Naomi (1924).
⑦ Discuss women, family, modernity, and the West in Tanizaki Jun’ichirō’s Naomi.
READING: Hayashi Fumiko, Diary of a Vagabond (1930).
⑧ Watch excerpts from Diary of a Vagabond (dir. Naruse Mikio, 1962). Discuss (movie) adaptation and translation, realism in cinema and literature.
READING: Nakajima Atsushi “The Woman from the House with Oleanders” (1942).
OTHER: come up with an idea/ plan for presentation& final essay.
⑨ Discuss Nakajima’s Micronesia. “Race” and Empire. Japan in Asia.
Discuss presentation& essay ideas.
OTHER: work on a plan for your presentation/ essay. Consider what (kind of) sources you will need, what critical approaches can be used, etc.
⑩ Presentation& essay research workshop @library. How to make an academic presentation/ write and academic (literary analysis) essay.
READING: Wang Changxiong, “The Torrent” (1943).
⑪ Discuss Wang Changxiong, “The Torrent”. Literature of the Empire. Identity, language, body, body politic.
⑫ Student presentations.
⑬ (Student presentations). Wrap-up.