JPT3120.html

Modern Japanese Literature

(in Translation)

JPT3120 Course Syllabus

Instructor: Joseph Murphy, Grinter Hall 427

Office Hours: Th 10:30 - 1:00 and by appointment

Office Phone: 392-9107

Class Meets: MWF Per 8 (3:00-3:50) Little Hall 205

Set: "I'd say the institutionalization of theory, whether it be deconstruction or whatever, is virtually complete. That's why its important to go back to the starting point, and further, I think the Japanese context is an extremely auspicious place to do it. When I wrote The Origins of Modern Japanese Literature that's what I had in mind. When people say "origins" they are usually pointing to the West, and even there to the distant past. However in a certain
stretch of time in Japan's Meiji period, a number of things that, because they occurred over the course of several centuries in the West have rather been rendered invisible, appear in a highly condensed form. By taking a close look at these isn't it possible to call into question things that have become self-evident in the West."

-- Karatani Kojin, What is "Criticism"?

Overview: We take as our object in this course something called "modern Japanese literature." Since we already know what modern means, we'll need to pare away the modern aspects and get right down to the "Japanese" part, right? It seems self-evident. But really, there is nothing in the experience of the USA that can correllate with the way Japan experienced modernity. That is to say, in fast forward, under pressure. In the 70 years between 1860 and World War II Japan instituted in the most wrenching way the whole modern thing, from schools, railroads and constitutional government, to hygiene, colonialism and symbolist poetry. And so, oddly, it's often in the reaction to what seems the most natural and self-evident in modern life, rather than in the exotic differences, that the unsettling quality of our object lies.

We are going to survey primary source material in translation by some of Japan's most famous and articulate observers, including novels, short stories, essays, diaries, and film. We will approach these materials as texts that call forth our interpretation, that is to say as literature. Close attention to the way these texts mediate our cross-cultural encounter will give us an opportunity to reflect on the way we draw connections between a "foreign" tradition like Japan's and our own time and place.

All course material will be in English. No Prerequisites, Non-majors welcome.

Texts

The following texts are required and will be available in University Book and Supply (UBS, 12th and University Ave., across from the Holiday Inn).

1. Shimazaki Toson, The Broken Commandment, (New York, Columbia UP, 1977)

2. Natsume Soseki, The Tower of London, (Weatherhill, 1997)

3. Tanizaki Junichiro, Some Prefer Nettles, (NY, Knopf, 1955)

4. Yoshikawa, Eiji, Musashi #1: The Way of the Samurai (NY, Mass Market Books, 1991)

5. Kato Shuichi, A History of Japanese Literature: Volume 3, (NY, Kodansha, 1978)

6. Lentricchia, Frank, ed., Critical Terms for Literary Study, 2nd Ed. (University of Chicago Press, 1995)

NOTE: A Required Course Reader with articles and primary source material is also at UBS, and a supplemental Reader (also required) will be available in September.

Kato's History of Japanese Lit: the Modern Years is an easy-to-read paperback by a writer who is very popular in Japan. Weekly readings in Kato of about 25 pp. gives a reliable account with all the background, the names and dates, etc. Be sure to keep up with these as they provide an excellent frame in which to place your reading. Your papers will be expected to reflect a good understanding of the context they provide.

Requirements

This class will combine lectures, discussions, writing and group presentations. Therefore, attendance and active participation in all class meetings are essential to the success of the course and to your grade. Grades will be assigned as follows:

Paper #1 % 20

Presentations 15

Participation 15

Take Home Midterm 25

Paper #2 25

This course falls under the Gordon rule for writing requirements. These will be satisfied with a combination of a short papers (4-5 pp.) and a take-home midterm.

Due Dates

All assignments are to be handed in at my office by 4:00 pm on the day in which they are due. No extensions, so plan ahead accordingly. Mark these dates on your calendars now, assemble your materials and begin thinking. Consult the "Guide to Thesis-Writing" on my www site <http://www.ufl.edu/users/jmurphy> for detailed advice.

29 Sep: Paper #1

16 Oct: Pick up Take-home Midterm

20 Oct: Hand in Take-home Midterm

10 Dec: Paper #2 due

Syllabus

Introduction: Encounters Conceptual and Otherwise

24 Aug: Course Introduction

26 Aug: Course Reader #1: Schleiermacher, from On the Different Methods of Translation

28 Aug: Reader #2: Otis Cary, "Waiting Before Closed Gates".

Deane, "Imperialism/ Nationalism", from Critical Terms for Literary Study (hereafter CT)

A History of Japanese Literature, v. 3, Chapter 1 (hereafter Kato)

Week 2-3: Juxtapositions: Multiple Spaces in Early Meiji (1860-1890)

31 Aug: Reader #3"The Independence of the United States of North America" in Meiroku Zasshi: Journal of the Japanese Enlightenment .

Reader#4: "I Join the First Mission to America" from The Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi.

2 Sep: Reader#5: "Meiji Literature and the Transformation of Sensibilities," Kamei Hideo

Reader#6: "Sitting Around the Stew Pan" by Kanagaki Robun.

4 Sep: Reader #7: "Civilization-Savagery-Barbarism" by Narita Ryuichi

Reader #8: The Painted Bird, by Izumi, Kyoka

>>>>>> Kato, Chapter 1 (cont.)

7 Sep: Labor Day, No labor

9 Sep: Reader #9: "Child's Play", by Higuchi, Ichiyo

11 Sep: Reader #10: from On How I Became a Christian, by Uchimura Kanzo

>>>>>> Kato, Chapter 1 (cont.)

Week 4-8: Self-Consciousness of the Meiji Elite--(1890-1912)

14 Sep: Reader#11: "The Position of Literature in Meiji Culture," by Okazaki Yoshie

16 Sep: Reader #12: "Maihime" by Mori Ogai

Reader #13: Imperial Rescript on Education

An Encouragement of Learning, Preface, by Fukuzawa Yukichi.

>>>>>Film: The Story of Last Chrysanthemums (Mizoguchi, 1939, Screening TBA)

18 Sep: Discussion of Film, Kato, Chapter 1

>>>>>> Kato, Chapter 2

21 Sep: Natsume Soseki, London Tower

23 Sep: " "

25 Sep: Reader #14: "The Introduction of Western Philosophy";

"Fine Arts: The Drama";

"Literature of the Meiji Era"

from Fifty Years of New Japan, ed. Okuma, Shigenobu, (1909)

>>>>>> Kato, Chapter 2 (cont.)

28 Sep: Shimazaki Toson, The Broken Commandment

30 Sep: " " "

2 Oct: " " "

>>>>>> Kato, Chapter 2 (cont.)

5 Oct: Reader# 15: The Quilt, by Tayama Katai

7 Oct: " "

9 Oct: Natsume Soseki, Mon (Supplemental Reader)

>>>>>> Kato, Chapter 2 (cont.)

12 Oct: Mon " "

14 Oct: Mori Ogai, "Delusions"

16 Oct: Reader #16: "The Civilization of Modern-day Japan" by Sôseki

>>>>>> Kato, Chapter 2 (cont.)

Week 9-11: Difference Within--The Emergence of Mass Culture/ Colonial Peripheries (1913-1925)

19 Oct: TAKE HOME MIDTERM

21 Oct: Film: Osaka Elegy (Mizoguchi, 1936) (To be screened in class)

23 Oct: Discuss film, Kato Chapter 2

>>>>>> Kato, Chapter 3

26 Oct: Reader #17: Fragments of a Past, by Yoshikawa Eiji

28 Oct: Musashi: The Way of Life and Death by Yoshikawa Eiji

Reader #18: "Constructing the Japanese Ethnography of Modernity." by Silverberg, Miriam

30 Oct: Musashi (cont.) " " "