Advanced Topics in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Literature and Culture (322-0-20)
Topic
The Japanese 'Economic Novel'
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 2-425: Tues, Thurs 3:30PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
AY24 The economic novel is one of the most popular literary genres in postwar Japan. Since their inception in the late 1950s, economic novels have sold as well as, if not better, than mysteries and twice as well as the more high-brow form of "pure literature" (jun bungaku). Centering on the economic realities of life under capitalism, Japanese economic novels portray the workings of financial corruption, the mechanics of production and distribution, and the experience of laboring within one of the largest consumer economies in the world. This course traces this genre from its origins in 1957 to the contemporary moment. Reading works by early practitioners of the form to its more recent inflections in the literature of writers like Oyamada Hiroko (The Factory), Tsumuro Kikuko (There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job), and Murata Sayaka (Convenience Store Woman), we will examine the relationship between literature and the transformations in Japan's capitalist economy. We will consider, among other topics, how this genre depicts changes in the workplace and forms of labor, systemic modes of economic exploitation, the psychological and emotional experience of debt in a financialized economy, and the gendering of particular types of work. Guiding our inquiry will be an overarching question: what are the connections between literary and economic form. The syllabus is subject to change.
Teaching Method
Lecture and Discussion
Evaluation Method
Class Participation, Short in-class presentations, Midterm Paper, Final Paper
Class Materials (Required)
The instructor will try to make all class materials available as PDFS but student may need to purchase the following books: Azuchi Satoshi, Supermarket (trans. Paul Warham, ISBN 0312382944) Miyabe Miyuki, All She Was Worth (trans. Alfred Birnbaum, ISBN 0395966582) Kirino Natsuo, Out (trans. Stephen Snyder, ISBN 1400078377) Oyamada Hiroko, The Factory (trans David Boyd, ISBN 0811228851) Tsumura Kikuko, There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job (trans Polly Barton, ISBN 1635576911) Murata Sayaka, Convenient Store Woman (trans. Ginny Tapley Takemori, ISBN 0802128254)
Class Attributes
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area