JAPANESE CULTURE AND LITERATURE 2

Knowledge and understanding: Students will acquire knowledge and understanding of methods and ideas of literary criticism. Through the analysis of Japanese literary texts in translation, they will obtain a thorough overview of the historical, cultural and literary context of modern and contemporary Japan.

Applying knowledge and understanding: Students will be able to understand historical and cultural events of Japanese modern and contemporary civilization, as well as the main literary phenomena related to the above mentioned events. They will be able to analyze and interpret literary texts and cultural phenomena, also through the methods of literary criticism explained and examined during the course.

Making judgement: Students will be able to analyze the main historical, literary and cultural events related to modern and contemporary Japan. They will be able to formulate critical judgements on literary sources based on the methodology acquired during the classes and through the careful study of the bibliographical references.

Communication skills: Students will be able to convey in an articulated way the concepts acquired during the course and through the bibliographical references. They will be able to formulate correct interpretations based on the knowledge of Japanese cultural and literary context obtained during the course. They will also be able to criticize essentialist and stereotypical discourses on Japanese culture.

Learning skills: Students will be able to analyze literary texts in translation in an independent way and they will be able to study and integrate critically a variety of bibliographical references. They will improve their ability to approach critical references in English and they will be introduced to simple literary texts in Japanese language.

Lectures by the instructor. Students' participation in class discussion is very much encouraged.

Students will acquire an advanced knowledge of Japanese historical, cultural and literary context of the 19th, 20th and 21st Centuries.

The course presents the development of modern and contemporary Japanese literature. Its aim is to introduce authors, literary genres and movements in a diachronic perspective, from Meiji period to present days. The classes will focus primarily on the development of different forms of Japanese fiction (novel, short story…).

For the final exam, students are required to know the fundamental lines of development of Japanese literary history, from Meiji era to present days.

Refrence texts:

• L. Bienati (edited by), Letteratura giapponese. Dalla fine dell'Ottocento all'inizio del terzo millennio, Torino, Einaudi, 2005 (The Introduction and the following entries: Letteratura di massa, Letteratura e mass media, Letteratura femminile, Letteratura pura, Naturalismo, Romanticismo, Scuola del dopoguerra, Shinkankakuha)
• L. Bienati, P. Scrolavezza, La narrativa giapponese moderna e contemporanea, Venezia, Marsilio, 2009
• A reader prepared by the instructor and available online on Studium (http://studium.unict.it/dokeos/2020/go_course.php?cidReq=16428).

Students are also required to read six works from at least five different authors, to be chosen freely from the list below (all available in Italian translation):

• Tayama Katai, Futon
• Mori Ōgai, The dancing girl (Maihime)
• Mori Ōgai, The wild geese (Gan)
• Izumi Kyōka, The holy man of mount Koya (Kōya Hijiri)
• Higuchi Ichiyō, Troubled waters (Nigorie)
• Hayashi Fumiko, Lightnings (Inazuma)
• Kaji Motojirō, Lemon and other stories (Remon)
• Natsume Sōseki, Kokoro
• Natsume Sōseki, I am a cat (Wagahai wa neko de aru)
• Nagai Kafu, The Sumida river (Sumidagawa)
• Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, Rashōmon and other stories (Rashōmon)
• Edogawa Ranpo, Beast in the shadows (Injū)
• Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, The bridge of dreams (Yume no ukihashi)
• Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, In praise of shadows (In’ei raisan)
• Tanizaki Jun'ichirō, The strange case of Tomoda and Matsunaga (Tomoda to Matsunaga no hanashi)
• Kawabata Yasunari, The scarlet gang of Asakusa (Asakusa kurenaidan)
• Kawabata Yasunari, Snow country (Yukiguni)
• Dazai Osamu, The setting sun (Shayō)
• Dazai Osamu, No longer human (Ningen shikkaku)
• Sakaguchi Ango, In the forest, under cherries in full bloom (Sakura no mori no mankai no shita)
• Mishima Yukio, Confessions of a mask (Kamen no kokuhaku)
• Mishima Yukio, The temple of the golden pavillion (Kinkakuji)
• Endō Shūsaku, Silence (Chinmoku)
• Abe Kobo, The ark sakura (Hakobune sakura maru)
• Abe Kobo, The woman in the dunes (Sunna no onna)
• Enchi Fumiko, Masks (Onnamen)
• Enchi Fumiko, A tale of false fortunes (Namamiko monogatari)
• Enchi Fumiko, The waiting years (Onnazaka)
• Ōe Kenzaburō, A personal matter (Kojintekina taiken)
• Ōe Kenzaburō, Hiroshima notes (Hiroshima nōto)
• Murakami Haruki, The end of the world and the hard boiled wonderland (Sekai no owari to Hādo-boirudo Wandārando)
• Murakami Haruki, Kafka on the shore (Umibe no Kafuka)
• Yoshimoto Banana, Kitchen (Kicchin)
• Tawada Yōko, Persona (Perusona)
• Tawada Yōko, Memoirs of a polar bear (Yuki no renshūsei)

Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.

For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).