MODERN JAPANESE LITERATURE

Course Description: This course will introduce students to modern Japanese literature, starting from the emergence of the shōsetsu and discourses surrounding it through the postwar era. We will look at changes in the conception of literary texts and readership, and their relationship to changes in Japanese society and the construction of the image of “Japan” during this period. Readings will cover canonical authors from the late Meiji Period through the 1960s such as Mori Ōgai, Natsume Sōseki, Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, Kawabata Yasunari, Hayashi Fumiko, Mishima Yukio, and Ōe Kenzaburō; they will also include key works of Gothic literature, proletarian literature, and colonial literature.

Course Objectives: Students will learn close textual analysis in a specific cultural and historical context. They will also learn how to think about the politics of canonization and the role of literature in constructing the idea of nationhood in modern Japan.

Required Books: The following required books are available for purchase at the campus bookstore:

• Natsume Soseki—Kokoro (Trans. by Edwin McClellan)

• Junichirō Tanizaki—Naomi (Trans. by Anthony H. Chambers)

• Yasunari Kawabata—Snow Country (Trans. by Edward G. Seidensticker)

• Fumiko Hayashi—Floating Clouds (Trans. by Lane Dunlop)

• Mishima Yukio—Confessions of a Mask (Trans. by Meredith Wethersby)

• Kenzaburō Ōe—Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids (Trans. by Paul St. John Mackintosh and Maki Sugiyama)

• Kōjin Karatani—The Origins of Modern Japanese Literature (Trans. by Brett de Bary) (required for graduate students, optional for undergraduate students)

All other readings will be available on the Canvas site.

Complete syllabus and teaching evaluations available upon request.