LANG 3750 / HNRS 4200:

Japanese Literature in
English Translation

"Contemporary Japanese
Literature and Film"

Dr. Jeffrey Angles

Summer 1 2006

TR 1:00-3:30

2207 Dunbar Hall

CRN 22173 (LANG 3750)

CRN 22221 (HNRS 4200)

Office Hours: TR 3:30-4:30 pm

Office: 518 Sprau Tower

TEL: 269-387-3044

jeffrey.angles@wmich.edu

GOALS OF THE CLASS

· To gain an understanding of major trends in Japanese literature from World War II to the present.

· To introduce students to a range of Japanese writers associated with both literary and popular fiction. 

· To use Japanese literary sources to understand some of the ways in which the Japanese have reflected upon and represented the national experience.

· To examine the complicated process of cultural change and adaptation that has taken place in Japan over the last several decades.

· To encourage students to become critical consumers of popular culture.  

· To introduce students to a number of critical terms and concepts, such as postmodernism,

· To encourage the development of students' critical and empathic capacities.

· To encourage the development of students' research and writing skills

Because this course was designed as a Gen-Ed baccalaureate writing course, there will be a significant amount of writing involved.  Students should spend time on their writing to make sure that it fully represents their critical and linguistic abilities.  Students will write two short-response, take-home papers (4-5 pages each) analyzing various works.  In addition, students will write one extended study of a particular work of literature (8-10 pages).  Students will submit a rough draft of this paper about two-thirds of the way through the semester.  (This draft will be worth a significant portion of the total grade for the semester.)  The professor will provide comments on this draft and return it as quickly as possible so students can make revisions and further improvements before resubmitting the final project at the end of the semester. 

REQUIRED TEXTS:

· Howard HIBBETT (ed.), Contemporary Japanese Literature: An Anthology of Fiction, Film, and Other Writing Since 1945 (NY: Knopf, 1977; Boston: Cheng & Tsui, 2005).

· Jeffrey ANGLES and J. Thomas RIMER (eds.), Japan: A Traveler’s Literary Companion (Berkeley, Whereabouts Press, 2006).

· MURAKAMI Haruki, The Elephant Vanishes (NY: Vintage International, 1994). 

· YU Miri, Gold Rush, trans. Stephen Snyder (NY: Welcome Rain Publishers, 1998).

· SUZUKI Koji, trans. Glynne Walley (NY: Vertical, 2004).

Additional sources not listed above will on closed reserve at the reserve desk at Waldo library under the course name LANG 3750.  (No password required.)

GRADING:

· 5% Map quiz on Japanese geography

· 15% Three small quizzes over reading

· 15% Two short-response papers

· 30% Final exam

· 25% Final project
(5% = Outline, 20% = Final product)

· 10% Class participation

GRADING SCALE:

· A: 93-100%

· AB: 90-93%

· B: 83-90%

· BC: 80-83%

· C: 73-80%

· CD: 70-73%

· D: 63%-70%

· E: Below 63%

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

The course counts towards....

· Area 2 (Humanities) general education requirement

· Baccalaureate-writing general education requirement

· Japanese minor

When reading Japanese literature, it is a good idea to make notes on the roles of characters and to read for detail.  Characterization is often found in detail, setting, and social roles.

The instructor has designed the course on the assumption that students do not read Japanese.

TERM PAPER: 

Students will write an extended review of a work (or multiple works) of modern Japanese literature (post-Restoration literature) of their own choosing.   Students can choose to write about a novel, a novella, or at least two short stories, or any combination thereof.  Students should consult with the professor in person or by e-mail before selecting the work.

See the following webpage for more information on how to find a work to read:

http://homepages.wmich.edu/~jangles/findingawork  

The term paper should include the following, not necessarily in this order.

· Brief summary of the plot (2-3 pages only)

· Commentary about the work (Can be interspersed with summary)

· Discussion of major themes

· Interpretation

· Recurring symbols

· Historical significance of the work

· Basic information about the author, including birth date, death date, names of other major works

· Comments about the place of the reviewed work in author's oeuvre

· Bibliography of cited sources, both in print and on the internet  (When citing internet sources, be sure to include URLs to the cited pages.)

See the following webpage for more information about how to cite sources in MLA style:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html

Useful resources everyone should examine: 

· Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, 9 vols. (NY: Kodansha International, 1983).

· Donald KEENE, Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature of the Modern Era, 2 vols. (NY: Columbia University Press, 1998).

· Donald RICHIE, Japanese Literature Reviewed (NY: ICG Muse, 2003).

· Jay RUBIN (ed.), Modern Japanese Writers (NY: Scribner’s Sons, 2001).

· Joshua MOSTOW (ed.), The Colombia Companion to Modern East Asian Literature (NY: Colombia University Press, 2003).

· The Bibliography of Asian Studies (Online resource that has searchable index of articles)

· MLA (Modern Language Association) Bibliography (Online resource that has searchable index of articles)

MAKE-UPS / LATE WORK:

If you cannot help missing a quiz or test, please contact the professor ahead of time to make other arrangements.

If you miss a test because of illness, calamities in the family, and so on, you will need to provide documentation.  You must make up the test within a calendar week.  

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: 

The professor may use http://www.turnitin.com to have students submit papers.  This website automatically checks papers against all known internet sources; therefore, students are advised that THEY SHOULD NOT COPY TEXT FROM THE INTERNET WITHOUT CITING THE SOURCE.  You are welcome to refer to internet sites if you cite the source and you treat the contents of the website critically. 

You are responsible for making yourself aware of and understanding the policies and procedures in the [Undergraduate Catalog (pp. 268-269)/Graduate Catalog (pp. 26-27)] that pertain to academic integrity. These policies include cheating, fabrication, falsification and forgery, multiple submission, plagiarism, complicity and computer misuse. If there is reason to believe you have been involved in academic dishonesty, you will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. You will be given the opportunity to review the charge(s). If you believe you are not responsible, you will have the opportunity for a hearing. You should consult with me if you are uncertain about an issue of academic honesty prior to the submission of an assignment or test.

COURSE READINGS & SCHEDULE (Subject to change): 

Changes announced in class will also be posted in this portion on the web so if you have questions, look at the syllabus on the website.

DATE

Topics Covered (Come to class having already finished the reading for that day)

WEEK 1

May 9 (T)

Introduction to the course

· Week 1-2: Historical background, some modern writers

· Weeks 3-7: Contemporary writers & reactions to previous ages

Introduction to modern Japanese history

Issues of translation 

May 11 (R)

Quiz No. 1over “Mars’ Song” at the beginning of class

Militarism and the Experience of Total War

· ISHIKAWA Jun, “Mars’ Song,” In The Legend of Gold and Other Stories, trans. William Tyler (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998), pp. 3-37.  Available electronically on the internet by following the following steps.

· Go the Waldo Library webpage (http://www.wmich.edu/library).

· Search for the title "Legend of Gold."

· Click on the response that says "Electronic Resource."

· Click on "An electronic book accessible through the World Wide Web; click to view."

· If you are accessing from off campus, you will need to put in your WMU user name & password (same one that you use to get your e-mail).

· Click on "Mars’ Song" to go to the page in the book where the story starts.

· Use the arrows over the text to move from page to page.  (You must be connected to the net as you read the work.)

Begin exploring the library for a work of modern literature you want to write about.  (See tips about how to find a work.)

WEEK 2

May 16 (T)

Map quiz over names of various places in Japan  (Refer to handout in class.)

Life in the Immediate Postwar Period

· KUROSAWA Akita (director), Ikiru, trans. Donald Richie , In Contemporary Japanese Literature: An Anthology of Fiction, Film, and Other Writing Since 1945, ed. Howard Hibbett (Boston: Cheng & Tsui Company, 2005), pp. 145-88.  

· Film showing and discussion (as time permits) of Ikiru in class.

May 18 (R)

Kawabata Yasunari (Japan’s First Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968)

· KAWABATA Yasunari, “Seven Very Short Stories,” trans. Edward Seidensticker, In Contemporary Japanese Literature: An Anthology of Fiction, Film, and Other Writing Since 1945, ed. Howard Hibbett (Boston: Cheng & Tsui Company, 2005), pp. 292-309.

· KAWABATA Yasunari, “Yumiura,” trans. Michael Emmerich, In Japan: A Traveler’s Literary Companion, ed. Jeffrey Angles and J. Thomas Rimer (Berkeley: Whereabouts Press, 2006), pp. 179-89.

· KAWABATA Yasunari, “Japan, The Beautiful, and Myself” [Nobel Prize acceptance speech], http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1968/kawabata-lecture.html.

WEEK 3

May 23 (T)

Short response no. 1 about Ikiru due.

Eroticism and Return to the Past

· TANIZAKI Jun’ichirō, “The Bridge of Dreams,” trans. Howard Hibbett,  In Contemporary Japanese Literature: An Anthology of Fiction, Film, and Other Writing Since 1945, ed. Howard Hibbett (Boston: Cheng & Tsui Company, 2005), pp. 354-88.

May 25 (R)

Ideology in the Postwar Period

· MISHIMA Yukio, “The Boy Who Wrote Poetry,” trans. Ian H. Levy, In Contemporary Japanese Literature: An Anthology of Fiction, Film, and Other Writing Since 1945, ed. Howard Hibbett (Boston: Cheng & Tsui Company, 2005), pp. 282-91.

· MISHIMA Yukio, “Patriotism,” trans. Geoffrey Sargeant (NY: New Directions, 1995).  [Professor will make available to students.]

WEEK 4

May 30 (T)

Quiz no. 2 over ŌE Kenzaburō readings at the beginning of class

ŌE Kenzaburō (Japan’s Second Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994) /

Memories of World War II in Contemporary Literature (I)

· ŌE Kenzaburō, “Prize Stock,” trans. John Nathan, in The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories, ed. Theodore Goosen (NY: Oxford University Press, 1997), pp. 351-90.  [Professor will make available to students.]

· ŌE Kenzaburō, “Japan, The Ambiguous and Myself” [Nobel Prize acceptance speech], http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1994/oe-lecture.html.

Jun 1 (R)

Daily Life Is The Pits (I)

· Film showing of The Woman in the Dunes (Novel and screenplay by ABE Kōbō).

· Discussion of film as time permits.

WEEK 5

Jun 6 (T)

Short response no. 2 about The Woman in the  Dunes due. 

Memories of World War II in Contemporary Literature (II)

· TAKAHASHI Mutsuo, “The Snow of Memory,” trans. Jeffrey Angles, In Japan: A Traveler’s Literary Companion, ed. Jeffrey Angles and J. Thomas Rimer (Berkeley: Whereabouts Press, 2006), pp. 190-203.

· SHIMA Tsuyoshi, “Bones,” trans. William J. Tyler, In Japan: A Traveler’s Literary Companion, ed. Jeffrey Angles and J. Thomas Rimer (Berkeley: Whereabouts Press, 2006), pp.204-23.

Jun 8 (R)

Outline and list of sources for final paper due.

Problems and Mysteries of Modern Life

· Discussion of the film The Woman in the Dunes.

· HINO Keizō, “Jacob’s Tokyo Ladder,” trans. Lawrence Rogers, In Japan: A Traveler’s Literary Companion, ed. Jeffrey Angles and J. Thomas Rimer (Berkeley: Whereabouts Press, 2006), pp.1-15.

· MURAKAMI Haruki, "TV People," trans. Alfred Birnbaum, In The Elephant Vanishes (NY: Vintage, 1993), pp. 196-216.

· MURAKAMI Haruki, "The Second Bakery Attack," trans. Jay Rubin, In The Elephant Vanishes (NY: Vintage, 1993), pp. 36-49.

WEEK 6

Jun 13 (T)

The Underside of Postmodern Life (I)

· YU Miri, Gold Rush, trans. Stephen Snyder (NY: Welcome Rain Publishers, 1998), first half.

Jun 15 (R)

Quiz no. 3 over the entire novel Gold Rush at the beginning of class.

The Underside of Postmodern Life (II)

· YU Miri, Gold Rush, trans. Stephen Snyder (NY: Welcome Rain Publishers, 1998), second half.

WEEK 7

Jun 20 (T)

Horror In the Age of Mechanical (Televisual) Reproduction (II)

· SUZUKI Kōji, Ring, trans. Glynne Walley (NY: Vertical, 2004).  Read entire novel for class.

Jun 22 (R)