LANG 3750 / HNRS 4200:

Japanese Literature in
English Translation

"Women and Modern
Japanese Literature"

Dr. Jeffrey Angles

Spring 2007

TR 9:30-10:45

Room: 3214 Dunbar

CRN 13089 (LANG 3750)

CRN 13663 (HNRS 4200)

Office Hours: TR 11:00 am-12:00 pm

Office: 518 Sprau Tower

TEL: 269-387-3044

jeffrey.angles@wmich.edu

INTRODUCTION

This course is about the ways that Japanese authors of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have depicted the experience of women.  Readings include the work of both female and male authors and include a broad array of texts ranging from folkloric tales of feminine heroism to surreal stories from contemporary Japan.

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.   

GOALS OF THE CLASS

· To gain an understanding of the ways that major Japanese writers have depicted the experience of women in modern Japanese literature.

· To gain an understanding of major trends in Japanese literature from the advent of Japanese modernization with the Meiji Restoration (1868) 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 feminism, postmodernism, and so on.

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

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

TEXTBOOKS:

(Required)

· Rebecca L. COPELAND and Melek ORTABASI, The Modern Murasaki: Writing by Women of Meiji Japan (NY: Columbia University Press, 2006).

· ARIYOSHI Sawako, The River Ki, trans. Mildred Tahara (NY: Kodansha International, 2004).

· SHIRAISHI Kazuko, Seasons of Sacred Lust, trans. Kenneth Rexroth et al (NY: New Directions, 1978). 

(Recommended)

· NAGAI Kafū, American Stories, trans. Mitsuko Iriye (NY: Columbia University Press, 2000).

Other stories listed in the course schedule in pale blue are available on electronic reserve by clicking here under the course name LANG 3750.  CLICK HERE to access those readings: http://www.docutek.library.wmich.edu/eres/coursepass.aspx?cid=328.  You will receive the password in class.   

GRADING:

· 5% Map quiz on Japanese geography

· 15% Two short-response papers

· 20% Midterm exam

· 20% Final exam

· 30% Final project
(5% = Outline, 25% = 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 (preferably by the same author), 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 (no more than 2-3 pages)

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

· Discussion of major themes and recurring symbols

· Interpretation

· 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 and the work’s historical significance

· 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)

COURSE READINGS & SCHEDULE (Subject to change): 

You should complete the readings BEFORE class and come to class ready to discuss them. 

Blue readings can be accessed on electronic reserve by clicking on the following link (http://www.docutek.library.wmich.edu/eres/coursepass.aspx?cid=328) and using the password given in class.  Readings in grey are available in the bookstore.

WEEK 1 (Jan 9) Introduction to the course

WEEK 1 (Jan 11) Women and Meiji Literature

· Edwin A. CRANSTON, “Carmine-Purple: A Translation of ‘Enji-Murasaki,’ The First Ninety-Eight Poems of Yosano Akiko’s Midaregami,” Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese 25.1 (April 1991): 91-110. 

· Janine BEICHMAN, "Chapter 10: The Variety of Tangled Hair," Embracing the Firebird: Yosano Akiko and the Birth of the Female Voice in Modern Japanese Poetry (Honolulu: Univ. of Hawaii Press, 2002) 199-226. 

· Begin searching in the library for a work that you are going to write your term paper about.

WEEK 2 (Jan 16)

· Quiz over Japanese geography.  For the map the quiz will be over, click here.

· Mitsuko IRIYE, Introduction, American Stories by NAGAI Kafū (NY: Columbia University Press, 2000) vii-xxvii.

· NAGAI Kafū, "Atop the Hill," American Stories, trans. Mitsuko Iriye (NY: Columbia University Press, 2000) 18-33.  

· NAGAI Kafū, "Spring and Autumn," American Stories, trans. Mitsuko Iriye, (NY: Columbia University Press, 2000) 55-66.

WEEK 2 (Jan 18)

· NAGAI Kafū, “Lodging on a Snowy Night,” American Stories, trans. Mitsuko Iriye (NY: Columbia University Press, 2000) 67-73.

· NAGAI Kafū, “In the Woods,” American Stories, trans. Mitsuko Iriye (NY: Columbia University Press, 2000) 74-80.

· NAGAI Kafū, “The Sea in Summer,” American Stories, trans. Mitsuko Iriye (NY: Columbia University Press, 2000) 171-81.

· NAGAI Kafū, “Chronicle of Chinatown,” American Stories, trans. Mitsuko Iriye (NY: Columbia University Press, 2000) 195-202.

WEEK 3 (Jan 23)

· Guest speaker Rachael Hutchinson will talk about NAGAI Kafū and American Stories.

· NAGAI Kafū, “Long Hair,” American Stories, trans. Mitsuko Iriye (NY: Columbia University Press, 2000) 45-53. 

· NAGAI Kafū, “June Night’s Dream,” American Stories, trans. Mitsuko Iriye (NY: Columbia University Press, 2000) 210-27.

WEEK 3 (Jan 25)

· Rebecca L. COPELAND, “Miyake Kaho,” The Modern Murasaki: Writing by Women of Meiji Japan, ed. Rebecca Copeland and Melek Ortabashi (NY: Columbia University Press, 2006) 73-79.

· MIYAKE Kaho, “Warbler in the Grove,” trans. Rebecca L. Copeland, The Modern Murasaki: Writing by Women of Meiji Japan, ed. Rebecca Copeland and Melek Ortabashi (NY: Columbia University Press, 2006) 80-125.

WEEK 4 (Jan 30)

· Kyōko ŌMORI, “Higuchi Ichiyō,” The Modern Murasaki:Writing by Women of Meiji Japan, ed. Rebecca Copeland and Melek Ortabashi (NY: Columbia University Press, 2006) 127-35.

· HIGUCHI Ichiyō, “Higuchi Ichiyō’s Journal Entries,” trans. Kyōko Ōmori, The Modern Murasaki:Writing by Women of Meiji Japan, ed. Rebecca Copeland and Melek Ortabashi (NY: Columbia University Press, 2006) 136-50. 

· HIGUCHI Ichiyō, “The Thirteenth Night,” In the Shade of Spring Leaves, trans. and ed. Robert Lyons Danly (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1981) 241-53.

WEEK 4 (Feb 1)

· William JOHNSTON, “Chapter 3: Maidens or Harlots Only” and “Chapter 4: Geisha and Prostitute,” Geisha, Harlot, Strangler, Star: A Woman, Sex, and Morality in Modern Japan (NY: Columbia University Press, 2005) 28-42. 

· HIGUCHI Ichiyō, “Troubled Waters,” In the Shade of Spring Leaves, trans. and ed. Robert Lyons Danly (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1981) 218-40.

WEEK 5 (Feb 6)

· In class, watch film Sansho the Bailiff directed by MIZOGUCHI Kenji, based on MORI Ōgai’s short story “Sanshō the Steward.”

· MORI Ōgai, “Sansho the Steward,” trans. J. Thomas Rimer, The Historical Fiction of Mori Ogai, ed. David Dilworth and J. Thomas Rimer (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1991) 153-78.

WEEK 5 (Feb 8)

· In class, finishing watching the film Sansho the Bailiff directed by MIZOGUCHI Kenji, based on MORI Ōgai’s short story “Sanshō the Steward.”

· Discussion of the film as time permits.

WEEK 6 (Feb 13)

· MORI Ōgai, “Maihime (The Dancing Girl),” trans. Richard Bowring, Monumenta Nipponica 30.2 (1975):151-76.  

WEEK 6 (Feb 15)

· Short response paper no. 1 on “Sansho the Steward” and film adaptation due in class.

WEEK 7 (Feb 20)

· IZUMI Kyōka, “The Holy Man of Mount Kōya,” Japanese Gothic Tales, trans. Charles Shirō Inouye (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1996) 21-73.  [This text is available on the net by following these instructions.]

· Go to www.wmich.edu/library and search for the title "Japanese Gothic Tales."

· 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 "The Holy Man of Mount Koya" 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.)

WEEK 7 (Feb 22)

· TAYAMA Katai, “The Quilt,” The Quilt and Other Stories, trans. Kenneth E. Kenshall (Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1981).

WEEK 8 (Feb 27)

· TAYAMA Katai, “The Quilt,” The Quilt and Other Stories, trans. Kenneth E. Kenshall (Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1981).

· Review for midterm exam

WEEK 8 (Mar 1)

· Midterm exam in class

WEEK 9 (Mar 6) SPRING BREAK — No class!

WEEK 9 (Mar 8) SPRING BREAK — No class!

WEEK 10 (Mar 13)

· ARIYOSHI Sawako, The River Ki, trans. Mildred Tahara (NY: Kodansha International, 2004), pp. 1-76.

WEEK 10 (Mar 15)

· ARIYOSHI Sawako, The River Ki, trans. Mildred Tahara (NY: Kodansha International, 2004), pp. 76-190.

WEEK 11 (Mar 20)

·