| Schedule of Readings, Assignments,
and Exams Weekly essay questions will be handed out in class the week before they are due. Please note important due dates below on your calendar:
Weekly essay questions will be handed out in class the week before they are due. Aug. 23 View Godzilla, King of the Monsters in class tonight; buy the books for this class this week. Aug. 30 Read "Panic Sites: The Japanese Imagination of Disaster from Godzilla to Akira" by Susan J. Napier in Journal of Japanese Studies vo. 19; No. 2 (summer 1993): 327-351. This is available in its entirety on JSTOR, which you can access through the David Library homepage; click on "article databases;" then, on JSTOR, and then type in the title. Also, read chapters 1-2 of Millennial Monsters Writing assignment due: Interview two friends about toys from their childhood. How did they obtain the toys, what kind of play, what was fun about the toys, did they provide solitary or social play or both? Write this in interview form; see example below. You might have to prompt to get long answers: Interviewer: Hula hoops? When was this? Responder: About 1960, I guess. In the summer that year all the kids on my street got cheap, bright plastic hula hoops. Maybe they were about 99 cents. We twirled all over the street in them, seeing who could go the fastest. The fad didn't last very long, but it was all over the place--at the park, on the street. The parents liked it because for a change we weren't throwing balls that were likely to hit windows in cars or houses. All the girls and boys were playing together, little kids and their older siblings, too. Sometimes the parents tried, which made all the kids laugh. that was the most fun, the fact that all of us were playing with the same toy. Sept. 6 Read all short stories in the collection Lizard by Yoshimoto Banana. Writing assignment due: Write a three-page (750 words) essay (double-spaced, 12 point font). Make sure to include your name, insert page numbers, and staple or paperclip the pages together. Do not fold over your pages, make origami of the pages, or glue the pages or devise any "fantastic" way of putting these three pages together. Write your essay about any one story in the collection
titled Lizard by Yoshimoto Banana. Decide on three
elements in the story that you find most compelling, and explain how
they lead you to interpret this story. Feel free to be creative
and adventurous in your interpretations. Just be sure to be able to
support your ideas with evidence from the story. Since all quotes
will come this story, you only need to note the page number when citing
passages. Make sure that your introductory
paragraph functions as a summary of the whole essay. The essay
should then develop the argument you set out in the Introduction.In the
past, I have found the best papers to be ones that were most observant
of the details in the story. This led to the most creative
interpretations and ideas about the story. Read chapters 3 - 5 of Millennial Monsters Writing assignment due: For this week's writing assignment, choose one chapter (3, 4, or 5) in Millennial Monsters to summarize. Write a two-page (500 words) summary by presenting the main argument of the chapter; citing passages from the chapter that expand on the basic argument; and conclude by giving your evaluation of the chapter--what were the strengths of the argument, what was most interesting, would you critique or expand on the argument in some way? Sept. 20 Read "The Holy Man of Mt. Koya" and "Osen and Sōkichi" in Japanese Gothic Tales Writing assignment due: This week's writing assignment calls for you to write a short (three pages or 750 words) movie treatment based on the 1900 story, "The Holy Man of Mt. Koya." Imagine you are a starving but ambitious screenwriter in Hollywood. Lots of Japanese movies (Ring; The Grudge) have worked remade in Hollywood, so why not this Koya story? Your treatment is a short document that you can show to sell your idea for the movie. Include these sections: Title; Concept (in a couple lines, what is this movie about and what is its appeal); Plot (in one catchy paragraph, give the plot, emphasizing sequence of major action scenes); Themes (another paragraph describes the main attention-getting themes); Special Effects (One paragraph on what some of these would be) Potential Actors? Note: You can change the setting from Japan and the past or leave these as they are in the original. As usual, type and staple your papers and hand them in class. Sept. 27 Read "One Day in Spring" in Izumi Kyōka collection First Take-home Midterm Essay Due: This is a 4-page (1,000 word) essay much like the one you wrote on Banana's stories. Interpret this story, too, by choosing and discussing three fantastic elements. What do you think the story is about? As before, cite quotes from the text to support your arguments. Concentrate on reading the short story carefully, looking for the details of the setting, character, plot, and the dreamy sequences. The ending is rather mysterious and students often disagree about what exactly happens at the end. There isn't any one right answer here! Oct. 4 No writing or reading assignment due tonight. Jan Bardsley's presentation tonight will provide you an introduction to classical Japanese literature, showing how fantastic elements have always been present. I will also give you some ideas about novels you can choose for your term paper. Oct. 11 Read chapters 6-8 plus Epilogue of Millennial Monsters Writing assignment due: For this week's writing assignment, choose one chapter (6, 7, or 8) in Millennial Monsters to summarize. Write a three-page (750 words) summary by presenting the main argument of the chapter; citing passages from the chapter that expand on the basic argument; and conclude by giving your evaluation of the chapter--what were the strengths of the argument, what was most interesting, how would you critique or expand on the argument in some way? Note: This time the summary assignment is worth 12 points; the last one was worth 8 points. Strive to work in details, not only broad themes in the chapter. Make sure to save time to revise your first draft. For this essay, avoid a conversational style. If you have any questions about your writing style, feel free to send me a paragraph by email a couple days before the assignment is due and I'll send you back comments. Choose the novel by Murakami or another Japanese "fantastic" writer that you'd like to use for your term paper by today. That way you can enjoy reading it over Fall Break. Oct. 18 FALL BREAK Oct. 25 Read "The Witch's Mask," "The Trade," "The Woman with the Flying Head' in the e-book available through Davis Library, Kurahashi Yumiko's collection of short stories, The Woman with the Flying Head. Writing assignment due: For this week's writing assignment, we take a different approach! Write two pages (500 words) in the voice of a newspaper reporter who is investigating the scene of the crime from a rational, detective-like point of view. What evidence does the reporter find? How do you make sense of what's happened? Choose just one of the Flying Head stories for this assignment but read all three for our discussion. In this assignment, we work against the fantastic's attempts to defamiliarize us, trying to bring our real-world thinking to bear. Nov. 1 Read and discuss In the Miso Soup by Murakami Ryū Second Take-Home Midterm Essay Due This is a 4-page (1,000 word) essay much like the one you wrote on Banana's and Kyōka's stories. Interpret this novel, too, by choosing and discussing three fantastic elements. What do you think the novel is about? As before, cite quotes from the text to support your arguments. Concentrate on reading the novel carefully, looking for the details of the setting, character, plot, and the violent sequences. Nov. 8 Read Jan Bardsley's presentation tonight will be on contemporary Japanese short stories on young men--their involvement with video games, exam hell, part-time jobs, and hopes for romance. Stories will be posted on Blackboard. No writing assignment due so you have time to finish your term paper. Nov. 15 Japanese horror film is the topic of tonight's class. Presentation and film clips will give you an idea of some themes in recent movies and what critics are saying about them. I will return In the Miso Soup papers to you tonight. Term Paper : due in paper copy only by Monday, November 20th at 5pm at the Asian Studies office. Nov. 22 Thanksgiving Nov. 29 "Rashomon" and other short stories [ "In a Bamboo Grove;" "The Nose; " Dragon: The Old Potter's Tale" and "The Spider Thread"] assigned from Akutagawa collection. I am sure you will also enjoy reading the Introduction by Murakami Haruki. Writing assignment due: This week's writing assignment calls for you to write a short (three pages or 750 words) movie treatment based on any one story --other than "Rashomon"--in the Akutagawa collection. Include these sections: Title; Concept (in a couple lines, what is this movie about and what is its appeal); Plot (in one catchy paragraph, give the plot, emphasizing sequence of major action scenes); Themes (another paragraph describes the main attention-getting themes); Special Effects (One paragraph on what some of these would be) Potential Actors? Note: You can change the setting from Japan and the past or leave these as they are in the original; but make sure your new plot stays very close to the original short story. As usual, type and staple your papers and hand them in class. Dec. 6 Read "Hell Screen" and the other short stories in the sections "Under the Sword" and "Modern Tragicomedy" in the Akutagawa collection No writing assignment due tonight. FINAL EXAM: THURSDAY, Dec. 14, 6:00-8:00pm. Take-home essay and short in-classroom multiple choice exam; both exams test mainly on the Akutagawa stories |