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.

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.