E Asian 55 INTR JPN CLASSICS
Department: East Asian Studies
Post Date: April 12, 2016News Details
Meeting time for fall 2016:
TuTh, 2:00-3:20p
Course description:
An introduction to classical Japanese literature using translations of ten famous texts, from 10th century poetry collections to 18th century puppet plays. We study traditional seasonal beauty, marriage politics at the emperor's court, jealous hauntings, aesthetic competition, hermit priests, war epics, Buddhist ghosts, Zen journeys, and love suicides. Our main goal is to read deeply and passionately – to savor the texts for their literary, historical, religious and philosophical insights. Three main assignments push the reading experience in new directions. First is a manga translation, providing dialog in English for a modern Japanese graphic-novel version of a classic text. Second is an exercise in creative writing, emulating one of our classical genres (pillow book, travel diary, etc.). Third is a web-research team blog, creating a visual, hyperlinked essay to curate background information on key images from Japanese history and art history. Assignments also include weekly reading quizzes and a final exam.
Note: This course counts for the Japanese major premodern requirement