Japanese IV: Special Topics in Reading Japanese Literature in Japanese (310-0-20)

Topic

Yu Miri

Instructors

Patrick Noonan
847/467-0283
Kresge Hall - Office 4-550
Office Hours: Varies quarter to quarter, please check with instructor.

Meeting Info

University Hall 318: Tues, Thurs 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

AY 25-26 This is an advanced course in reading and translation of modern Japanese, focusing on the literature of Yu Miri. Known for her stark portrayals of memory and marginality, Yu Miri occupies a singular place in contemporary Japanese literature. A Zainichi Korean writer whose work spans fiction, memoir, theater, and radio, Yu challenges normative narratives of nation, family, and identity through formally inventive and emotionally resonant prose. In this course, students will engage directly with selected works by Yu to deepen their linguistic proficiency and develop a critical sensitivity to style, voice, and cultural context. Weekly sessions will emphasize close reading and translation practice, with attention to idiomatic nuance, affective tone, and the social-historical textures embedded in Yu's language.

In addition to literary texts, students will read critical essays on Yu's work and related theoretical writings on diaspora, memory, trauma, and language politics. We will explore how her prose resists easy assimilation into national or literary categories, and what it means to translate a voice marked by in-betweenness. 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 writing assignments, midterm exam, final project

Class Materials (Required)

materials will be made available in PDF form.

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.
Add Consent: Department Consent Required