Japanese IV: Special Topics in Reading Japanese Literature in Japanese (310-0-20)
Topic
Japanese Modernism
Instructors
Patrick James Noonan
847/467-0283
Kresge Hall - Office 4-550
Office Hours: Varies quarter to quarter, please check with instructor.
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-343: Tues, Thurs 2:00PM - 3:20PM
Overview of class
AY 22-23
This is an advanced course in reading and translation of modern Japanese, focusing on the literature of the Taisho and early Showa periods. We will examine a range of different genres, styles, and texts to consider what modernism was as an aesthetic, cultural, and intellectual movement within the literary arts. Through an examination of representative short stories, novels, poetry, and criticism the course will explore a series of questions including but not limited to: How can we define Japanese modernism? What are the aesthetic bases of modernist literature? How did writers and artists respond to contemporary political trends such as Marxism, feminism, imperialism, and nationalism? In what ways did modernist works reflect rapidly changing conceptions of space, time, and self in the early to mid-20th Century? Primary readings are in Japanese with discussion and theoretical readings in English.
Registration Requirements
Students must have completed JAPANESE 211-3 with C- or above, or must be placed into the class by the departmental placement test.
Learning Objectives
To develop understanding of Japanese vocabulary and grammatical structures appropriate to authentic, historical texts, and to gain familiarity with reference resources for self-learning and independent reading
To move from accurate linguistic parsing of the Japanese language to analysis of literary style and form (from what is written to how and why)
To develop strategies for context-sensitive translation, and begin to grasp conceptual problems surrounding the translation of cultural texts.
To understand the problems of representing urban experience in language and to survey the strategies used by Japanese writers to address those problems.
Teaching Method
Discussion, workshopping of translations, lecture
Evaluation Method
Attendance and participation, weekly translation assignments, midterm exam, final project
Class Materials (Required)
All materials will be available for download on Canvas
Class Attributes
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
Prerequisites apply, see description
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: Students must have passed Japanese 211-3 with at least a C- or be placed in according to placement test results.
Prerequisite: Students must have passed Japanese 211-3 with at least a C- or be placed in according to placement test results.