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GHOSTS AND GOBLINS IN MODERN JAPANESE LITERATURE
| Subtitle | Ghosts and Goblins in Modern Japanese Literature |
|---|---|
| Lecturer(s) | BERNARD, PETER |
| Credit(s) | 2 |
| Academic Year/Semester | 2023 Spring (2nd Half) |
| Day/Period | Mon.3/Wed.3 |
| Campus | Mita |
| Class Format | Face-to-face classes (conducted mainly in-person) |
| Registration Number | 12342 |
| Faculty/Graduate School | INTERNATIONAL CENTER |
| Year Level | 2, 3, 4 |
| Course Description | A course to aim to learn introductory modern Japanese literature through ghost stories to fairy tales to the literary equivalent of the splatter film. |
| K-Number | CIN-CO-00113-212-02 |
| Course Administrator | Faculty/Graduate School | CIN | INTERNATIONAL CENTER |
|---|---|---|---|
| Department/Major | CO | ||
| Main Course Number | Level | 0 | Faculty-wide |
| Major Classification | 0 | Other Course | |
| Minor Classification | 11 | International Center Course (Humanities) - Languages and Literature | |
| Subject Type | 3 | Elective subject | |
| Supplemental Course Information | Class Classification | 2 | Lecture |
| Class Format | 1 | Face-to-face classes (conducted mainly in-person) | |
| Language of Instruction | 2 | English | |
| Academic Discipline | 02 | Literature, linguistics, and related fields | |
Course Contents/Objectives/Teaching Method/Intended Learning Outcome
Modern Japanese literature is filled with ghosts and goblins—if only you know where to look. This course surveys some of the strangest, scariest, and wildest fiction in modern Japan. It is designed as an introductory survey to the material, meaning that no prior knowledge of Japanese literature or Japanese history is required. We will begin at the “beginning” of modern Japanese literature in the late nineteenth century and work our way up through more contemporary works, and the stories we will encounter range from ghost stories to fairy tales to the literary equivalent of the splatter film.
Along the way, we will ask ourselves a set of interlinking questions. How did the broad genre of what is today known in Japanese as gensō bungaku, roughly corresponding to supernatural, horror, and fantasy genres, emerge and develop as a set of assumptions about the nature of modern life in Japan? How do these assumptions challenge our way of interacting with the world, with other people, and ultimately with our own sense of self? What kind of new understandings of various boundaries—between the real and the unreal, the present and the past, the foreign and the native, the living and the dead—might these stories suggest? And how are these texts part of a larger global network of weird fiction—what, in other words, does it mean to call a Japanese text “Gothic”?
(Please note that this class will be taught in English, and all distributed readings will be in English translation.)
You will need to complete a reading assignment as homework each week. This class requires a significant amount of reading outside of class, so please budget your time wisely with the weekly reading assignments.
Along the way, we will ask ourselves a set of interlinking questions. How did the broad genre of what is today known in Japanese as gensō bungaku, roughly corresponding to supernatural, horror, and fantasy genres, emerge and develop as a set of assumptions about the nature of modern life in Japan? How do these assumptions challenge our way of interacting with the world, with other people, and ultimately with our own sense of self? What kind of new understandings of various boundaries—between the real and the unreal, the present and the past, the foreign and the native, the living and the dead—might these stories suggest? And how are these texts part of a larger global network of weird fiction—what, in other words, does it mean to call a Japanese text “Gothic”?
(Please note that this class will be taught in English, and all distributed readings will be in English translation.)
You will need to complete a reading assignment as homework each week. This class requires a significant amount of reading outside of class, so please budget your time wisely with the weekly reading assignments.
Course Plan
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Method of Evaluation
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Textbooks
You will need to purchase the following books for this class:
1) Orikuchi Shinobu. The Book of the Dead. Translated by Jeffrey Angles. University of Minnesota Press, 2016.
2) Matsuda Aoko. Where the Wild Ladies Are. Translated by Polly Barton. Tilted Axis Press, 2020.
3) Torishima Dempow. Sisyphean. Translated by Daniel Huddleston. Haikasoru, 2018.
1) Orikuchi Shinobu. The Book of the Dead. Translated by Jeffrey Angles. University of Minnesota Press, 2016.
2) Matsuda Aoko. Where the Wild Ladies Are. Translated by Polly Barton. Tilted Axis Press, 2020.
3) Torishima Dempow. Sisyphean. Translated by Daniel Huddleston. Haikasoru, 2018.
Reference Books
Students are welcome to consult with the instructor for suggestions if they are interested in reading more about modern Japanese literature.
Lecturer's Comments to Students
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Question/Comments
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