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                             Semester Schedule
                             JAPANESE LITERATURE--Through the eyes of a mad, old man
 

Classes  Discussion Topics & Readings Student Contributions
Sept. 8 Introduction to course themes, readings and requirements.

Discussion of two of Japan's oldest and most famous works, focusing on their ideas about taste, class, and proper and improper ways to have a love affair.

Readings:  Excerpts from The Pillow Book of Sei Shônagon and Tale of Genji: Pawlonia Court and Evening Faces(on electronic reserve)

 
Buy the Tanizaki novels for the course

Do the three reserve readings, noting your own reactions and questions in the margins of your print-out

 
 

 
Sept. 15 Topic:  Authenticating Art

Discussion: Our stories tonight blur the lines between art and reality, and make us question what we desire from a work of art and how we experience it.

Readings: :  "The Tattooer," "Autumn Mountain," "Hell Screen" (on electronic reserve)

 
Read the short stories for tonight.

Bring in your own creative rendition of a
contemporary Pillow Book

 
Sept. 22 Topic:  How to Design a Hut

Discussion: Tonight's essays are from different centuries.  The hut is a medieval one full of Buddhist promise, Tanizaki's house is a modern one that tries to capture a Japanese past.

Readings: Tanizaki essay (book form): In Praise of Shadows and the short essay: "Account of My Hut" (on electronic reserve)

 
Read both essays for tonight 

Bring in your designs for both kinds of shelter described in these essays. You can sketch these, make a collage of images or cut & paste images from the net.  Be able to explain the ideas behind your design.
Sept. 29 Topic: Women Writing in the 1920s

Discussion: Women's magazines flourished in the 1920s, increasing the demand for women writers.  Aware of the great works by Sei Shônagon and Murasaki Shikibu, modern women writers made their own comments on taste, class, and love.

Readings: "The Female Bell-Cricket"; "The Floral Pageant"; "A Genius of Imitation" (Short stories on electronics reserve)

 
Read all the stories. Think about the reading questions

Write a two-page magazine report in which you adopt the voice of a reporter sent to Japan to cover the flower exhibit mentioned at the end of "The Floral Pageant."  You also see characters from the other two stories at the exhibit and give your reader an idea of what they and the exhibit creator were like.
(500 words)

 
Oct. 6 Topic:  Modern Boy Meets Modern Girl

Discussion: Tonight we discuss a Tanizaki best-seller from 1924.  We talk about how Naomi compares to the characters in last week's fiction, what Jôji wants from her, and what kind of power plays operate in their relationship.

Reading:Tanizaki novel:  Naomi

 
Read the novel & discussion questions 

Write two diary entries.  Choose an event in the novel and imagine how Naomi would write about it in her diary.  Imagine Jôji writing about it in his.  Adopt their voices and write the entries.  (250 words for each entry).
Oct. 13 Topic:  Divorce

Discussion: Tonight we discuss the characters' problems with their marriage, their sense of longing for another life, and new identities.  How does being Japanese, and being Japanese at this time in world and domestic politics affect the characters sense of themselves?

Reading:Tanizaki novel: Some Prefer Nettles

Tonight you will choose which group presentation topic you'd like
Read the novel

Write two personal ads.  Imagine Misako and
Kaname could pour their hearts out in a personal ad.  What does each seek in a mate? What are their dissatisfactions with each other and their present life? (250 words for each ad)

 
Oct. 20 Topic: Remembering Times Past 
Reading:  The Makioka Sisters
(first half)

Fall Break October 23 & 24
 
The Makioka Sisters is the longest novel assigned in this class.  Plan time to read it, think about it and write your midterm essay.
Oct. 27 Topic: Remembering Times Past 
Reading:  The Makioka Sisters
(second half)

 
No essay due tonight

 
Nov. 3 Topic:  Japanese Warriors

Discussion: Tonight we compare different portraits of the warrior in modern Japanese literature.  What does it mean to die as a warrior?

Readings: Short stories: "One Soldier"; "Patriotism" (On electronic reserve)

 
Read the stories on reserve

Assume you are a friend or relative of one of the dead soldiers in either story. You determine the age, sex, and position of the speaker.  What does your character think of the soldier and his death?  How should he be remembered? Write the eulogy. (500 words)

 
Nov. 10 Topic:  Hiroshima and What Came After:
Writing in Japanese and English

Readings: Read "Fireflies" by Yoko Ota and "The Fire" in Hiroshima by John Hersey, both on reserve.

Tonight, Jan Bardsley will give a presentation on some of the controversies surrounding war memory in Japan
Write a one-page comparison of how these two authors' approach describing in personal terms a tragedy of immense proportions.(250 words)
Nov. 17 Topic: Mambo Girls, Postwar Sexual Mores and Marriage

Reading:Tanizaki novel: The Key
 
Student Group Presentation tonight

Imagine that you are a family therapist who has just completed a first meeting with the husband, wife, daughter and son-in-law in The Key.  Write a one-page report describing the family dynamics. What's going on with these four? How are they connected? What do they want, and why have they consulted you? (250 words)
Nov. 24 Topic:  Violence and the Fantastic
Student Group Presentations

Readings: Short stories on e-reerve:"The Witch Mask" & "Woman with a Flying Head," both by Kurahashi Yumiko. Also, an excerpt from American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.

Thanksgiving Break
November 26 after 1pm through November 30
 
Student Group Presentations on stories that weave violence into tales of lust, love, and the very strange.

Write a one-page recommendation letter. Which of these readings would you recommend for a future class in modern Japanese literature?   (250 words)
Dec. 1 Topic: Still having fun...

Readings: Tanizaki novel: Diary of a Mad Old Man, 
No paper due tonight

 
Dec. 8 Student Group Presentations

(On contemporary Japanese writers and on themes in anime related to Tanizaki)
 

 
No short paper due tonight.  Good time to write up your Asia events, make sure all the short essays have been written, and work on your longer paper, if you chose that option.
Dec. 15-19 Final Oral Examinations:schedule

Final Exam Questions
The final oral examination will be held during the final exam period.  Students meet with Jan Bardsley in groups of three or four to take the exam.  The 90 minute exam covers all aspects of the course. Review questions will be posted one week in advance.  It's a good idea to take this exam with the students with whom you've worked on the group project. Students may bring their notes to the exam.