Japn 314W	Japanese Literature in Translation: From Murasaki to Murakami	Fall 2023
R. Loftus
email rloftus	Tuesday-Thursday 1:10-2:40 pm Smullin Hall 117

Course Objectives:

To introduce students to select texts in modern Japanese literature by authors who are considered to be among the major writers of their day. We will be reading stories--narratives written by Japanese men and women writers--and discussing them in class and then writing papers on some of them.  SO, if you do not enjoy reading fiction and reflecting on what meaning you may find there, then perhaps this class is not the ideal one for you.  For transparency purposes, let me say that I love reading, discussing, and thinking about fiction.  It helps me learn more about myself and the world in which we live.  Reading, writing, critical thinking aren’t these at the core of an education grounded in the Arts and Sciences?   Consider this: Clear, direct, humane writing, and the reading on which it is based are the very root of the humanities, a set of disciplines that is ultimately an attempt to examine and comprehend the cultural, social and historical activity of our species through the medium of language....   Verlyn Klinkenborg   That pretty much tells it like it is! We are all part of a College of Arts and Sciences. Even if you consider yourself more of a STEM student, you are enrolled in an institution that is dedicated to the serious examination of the nature of the experience of being human from all possible angles. And if you are a student of language, then aren't these tasks of engaging in "clear, direct, humane writing," and "examining and trying to comprehend the cultural, social and historical activity of our species through the medium of language" all the more relevant? What we will be doing in this course, then, is examining how the acts of reading and writing have occurred in the context of modern Japanese culture. Several of these novels evoke older literary and cultural practices by referring to or directly quoting lines from classical texts, a practice known as INTERTEXTUALITY or the idea that texts in Japan are usually read in the context of literary works. While the emphasis will be on prose fiction, classical poetry and theatre will also be considered at the outset in an effort to ground us as readers in these traditions. To restate, this course is grounded in an examination how the acts of reading and writing have occurred in the context of modern Japanese culture. To this end, one novella and five modern Japanese novels have been selected for us to read. Three of the selections are by contemporary authors and three are from writers who were active earlier in the pre-WWII period or the early postwar years. Two of the authors are male, four are female. While the emphasis will be on prose fiction, classical poetry and theatre will also be considered at the outset so we can more fully appreciate the nuanced intertextual references. SLOs Student Learning Outcomes: 1. Understand the significance of form and the dynamic relationship between author, reader and text; 2. Understand the challenges involved in textual interpretation and strategies to address them; 3. Understand how texts embody cultural values and are products of particular times and places. Also, this is what I hope that students will experience in this class: 1. You will read works of fiction that at times will challenge your thinking. 2. Our educational system does not always encourage us to talk about what we “notice” when we are reading, but I hope you will feel free to do so. This will help you appreciate what a powerful tool literature can be.  3. Since this is a course dealing with JAPANESE Literature in TRANSLATION, I hope you will be mindful of how central language is in all of this.  In language classes, we learn to speak and read in the target language by being exposed to patterns and models of how language is used in everyday life.  The more we see of these models, and the more we repeat them, the more the deeper structures of that language become imprinted on our minds. So that when we need to produce language, we have this "data-base" of models of speech and of sentence structures imprinted onto our cerebral cortexes and synapses, and therefore we have something to draw upon when we need to produce language ourselves. Something similar happens when we write: we draw upon a grammar, a syntax that we have internalized from reading and talking all our lives. 4. When we write, we need to create good, clear sentences in order to make ourselves understood. In some form or another, we are going to be influenced by sentences we have encountered somewhere else. Consider this important statement: "[S]entences originate and take their endless variety from within you, from your reading, your tactile memory for rhythms, your sense of the playfulness at the heart of language, your perception of the world." (Verlyn Klinkenborg)   Emphasis in this course will be on in-class discussion (there will be little, if any, formal lecturing) and "writing-to-learn exercises" Remember what the late Essayist Joan Didion had to say about writing: "I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means." Joan Didion, from "Why I Write" Thinking, Looking, Seeing and Finding Meaning--this reinforces the idea that writing is and always should be a process of discovery, something rooted in the notion that we write in order to figure out what we think and what we believe.

Plagiarism and cheating are offenses against the integrity of the courses in which they occur and against the college community as a whole. Plagiarism usually consists of representing ideas that are not your own as your own so the simple solution is to attribute, i.e., provide clear indications of where you obtained your ideas or information.

 Note: I will respect any accommodations authorized by the Office of Disabilities Services. Please tell me about these accommodations as soon as possible. Sometimes sudents feel overwhelmed and stressed when it comes to preparing and writing their papers. This is OK; it is normal. Writing is not necessarily easy. it is not supposed to be. But it won't kill you and stress will not help you write more freely ormore effectively. Quite the opposite.So, if you are feeling this way, please come and talk to me.

You need to be able to Speak, Write and Discuss in class, so, sadly, I can't have you bringing in a box of takeout food to eat during the class...A light snack may be okay but I need your undivided attention during classtime.

So, who is your Instructor and what am I all about?

I recently retired from Willamette University where I have taught for 35 years. Before that, I taught briefly at U.C. Santa Cruz, and then for six years at Western Washington University. I came to Willamette because I wanted to be in the small, independent college environment.

Due to my father's occupation, I grew up in various locations around the world, namely India, France, Italy and Thailand. I attended either international schools or local public schools. When I graduated from high-school in Bangkok and returned to the U.S. for college at George Washington University, I had been living outside the US for 12 of my first 17 years. America was my home, yet I was not that fully conversant with it, So I know something about what it means to grow up in another culture, surrounded by different languages, and what it feels like to be the "other."

I became interested in Japanese language and history in graduate school at Johns Hopkins SAIS, and pursued my Ph.D. in modern Japanese history at Claremont Graduate School. I lived in Japan for about five years after deciding to specialize in Japanese history; then, after I began my teaching career, I took frequent summer trips back to Japan for research. I have published three major books over my career. Two focus on women's Autobiographical (or Self-) Writing" Telling Lives dealing with prewar women, and Changing Lives dealing with postwar writers. My third book is about the experience of becoming modern seen through the eyes of a single literary and social critic, Taoka Reiun. It is called The Turn Against the Modern (2017).

Since I trained as a Historian, rather than a literature professor, I attended an NEH Summer Institute at Princeton University early in my career (1979) focusing on varieties of literary criticism such as close reading, deconstruction, poststructuralism, etc., and also how to more effectively teach Japanese literature. The Institute focused on the variety of ways that we may read and respond to texts, and much of what I learned there continues to inform my approach as a reader, a teacher, and a scholar.

Due dates for three formal papers:

Something that will be useful to remember:

"There is no perfect teacher...The point is to make a sincere effort to become a perfect student of an imperfect teacher."

Fujita Issho, Zen Teacher

Major Texts:

Higuchi Ichiyo, Takekurabe or "Child's Play" PDF on Wise (68 pp)	Higuchi Ichiyo
KOKORO (248 pp)	by Natsume Sôseki
MASKS (141 pages)	by ENCHI Fumiko
SPUTNIK SWEETHEART (210 pages)	by MURAKAMI Haruki
KITCHEN (150 pages)	by Yoshimoto Banana
KAFKA ON THE SHORE (467 pages)	by MURAKAMI Haruki

So that's a total of around 1,284 pages which, if we divide by 15 weeks, is well under 90 pages per week--and we are talking FICTION here, material that is engaging if not entertaining! So, it's fair to say that the reading load for Japn 314 is moderate. Of course, there are also some supplemental readings in PDF form, and various online reviews and webpages to consult, so the real total for the semester is probably closer to 100-110 pages per week. But still, this is not an inordinate amount of reading for a college level course. The assumption here is that there will be 3 hours of study required for each hour spent in class, so you should expect to devote 9 hours of time outside of class to your reading and writing. I think this is very manageable; however, you will need to budget your time accordingly.

NOTE: Some of these texts have explicit language, graphic scenes and "adult" themes or situations. If you are not comfortable reading this kind of material, you should speak to me and perhaps consider taking a different course.

Weekly Reading and Discussion Schedule

Aug. 29	Introductions and Course Overview Expectations for the Course   What Do You Think is literature ?   Considering Epics like Homer's The Iliad and the Odyssey   What was Japan's Experience like?   (Overview of the History of Japanese Literature)
Aug. 31	Read and Discuss Two things:   1.Noel Burch, TO THE DISTANT OBSERVER, PDF Read pp, 36-54. See notes on Burch Ch. 2, 3 Questions found in the link Burch     2.  Higuchi Ichiyo's short-story, “Takekurabe”(Child’s Play)   The First 15 pages only, pp. 254-269 of PDF on WISE   This frail, diminutive writer, who outwardly appeared dauntingly proper and conservative, whose demeanor suggested both wounded pride and a certain stodginess, and who was so soft-spoken before strangers as to be nearly inaudible, found a harder, more critical persona in her fiction, and used it to represent and give voice to marginal figures who might otherwise be socially invisible. Timothy Van Compornole   Discussion Questions and Comments  See this link on the Yoshiwara.  See a Japanese version of Takekurabe   Thoughts on Reading and Interpreting Japanese Literature.  Author, Text, and Reader: How do we construct Meaning in Literature?   For Next Class:   Prepare the rest of Higuchi PDF, "Takekurabe" on WISE
Sept. 5	1. Read and Discuss the Rest of Higuchi Ichiyo's short story, “Takekurabe” (Child’s Play) PDF on WISE, pp. 270-331    See some helpful Discussion points.        2. Introduce the next author, Natsume Soseki as Time Permits Soseki's likeness on the 1,000-yen note:   For next class, Prepare Kokoro Part One pp. 1-80     Here is an interesting piece from The Japan Times     See also a useful pdf here. More on KOKORO
	For the Next class, Read Kokoro Part One pp. 1-80
	Stuff on Becoming Modern
Sept. 7	KOKORO Part One, pp. 1-80   Interesting Language Use in Kokoro I   (See Japanese Language version of KOKORO Kokoro Review See notes on Kokoro
Sept. 12	KOKORO Part Two, pp. 81-124     Kokoro Language Part II

 

LOOKING AHEAD: After finishing Kokoro, we will look back to Heian Period in order to appreciate the traditions on which Jaopanese authors rely: Poetry and especially, the Tale of Genji   We all Read the Prologue together in class.   Sign up for one of these three chapters from the Abridged Genji (all PDFs): Royall Tyler Translation, please:   --Ch. 1 Kiritsubo --Ch. 4 Yugao   -- Ch. 9 Aoi

 

Sept. 14	KOKORO Part Three, pp. 125-248 Discuss this Bio of Soseki by Marvin Marcus on WISE, Japn 314 Soseki.pdf  See photos from Funeral of Emperor Meiji  --See Notes on the final section of Kokoro --My latest thoughts!   --Read and Discuss in class brief comments by Reiko Auestad (Summary) "Rereading Soseki" (See 2 pp. PDF) --Notes on Role of Funeral Procession in Kokoro   See photos of some gingko trees; also, Zoshigaya Cemetary    Question for Paper #1 on Kokoro Due Oct. 17 When you read Kokoro, there is a palpable tension that is sustained throughout – from the first pages to the last. It is a riveting read, a novel that grips you on an almost visceral level; it draws you in and refuses to let you go, even at the end of the narrative....[O[ne of the key motifs of the novel [is] the question of legacy – of things being handed down from one generation to the next. Sensei passes on his secrets to the student, and we, as readers of the novel, also become purveyors of that knowledge. As the novel demonstrates, knowledge is never without its costs. (Linda Flores)   Brainstorming paper Ideas Student Conferences for Paper #1              -Repeat of Some of My latest thoughts!	Have these PDFs availablew in class: Manyoshu.pdf Poetry.pdf Ki-Poetics.pdf
Sept.19	Introduction to Early Japanese Poetics and Literary Aesthetics Overview of the History of Japanese Literature Video on Waka   Classical Literature and the Tale of Genji: Manyoshu (758); Fujiwara Regency Kokinshu (905)   Poems from the Kokinshu; The Poet, Ono-no-Komachi     Intro to the Genji; Video Discussion, Tale of Genji Prologue and Ch. 1           Discussion, Tale of Genji Prologue and Ch. 1 Prepare and Discuss Three Chapters from the Genji   --Ch. 1 "Paulownia Pavillion"(Kiritsubo) - we will read/discuss together   Prepare one of the following two chapters for next class session: --Ch. 4 "The Twilight Beauty"(Yugao) --Ch. 9 "Heart-to-Heart" (Aoi)   See Penguin Website on Genji; and commenbtsa by writer Jane Smiley Two prominent Scenes from the Genji   General Comment on the Genji as Prose Narrative and Picture Scroll: The Tale of Genji has often been taken, understandably, for a sort of documentary on court life in the author's time, but its hero is a plainly fictional character....What really betrays the tale as fiction, however, is simply that it is more beautiful than life. Not every moment or action in it is pleasing, and many are of course painful in one way or another. Rather, the narration gives grace and harmony to things that might otherwise be too tedious or distressing to sustain the reader's interest. It is as though the author had painted an immensely long and accomplished picture scroll. The scroll accurately conveys countless details of daily life, depicts troubling scenes, and generally hints at humanity's more or less deplorable failings. However, it selects and composes these things into engaging sequences. At the close of some upsetting passages the narrator actually observes that one would have wished to paint the scene....Life's cruelties show clearly enough through the grace of color and form—the form of manners, words, and feelings as well as of things. The author saw life very clearly. All this helps to make the tale more real than history. Its most celebrated characters live more vividly in the imagination than anyone known from historical documents, and their lives—their sufferings, their disappointments, their failings, and their grace—have remained a major legacy to the centuries that have passed since they were first conceived. Although invented, they are also immortal. http://us.penguingroup.com/static/packages/us/taleofgenji/introduction12.html Â
Sept. 21	In-class Reflections of Meaning and Style in the Genji The Tale of Genji proceeds at a dreamlike, deliberate pace, rather like a long scroll depicting a journey. The author is adept at description and dialogue, and at reporting the inner workings of the minds of the main characters. The novel is always indescribably exotic, because of what the characters do and the world they live in, but it seems familiarbecause the details of their relationships - jealousy, frustration, desire, gossip, anxiety, rivalry, intimacy, good fellowship - are utterly understandable. (Jane Smiley)   Student-led Discussion on Genji Chapters 4, 9 i.e., Students Prepare and Present one of the other two Genji Chapters, 4 or 9 Some notes on the Genji   Broad View or  Interpretations of the Genji (Use in Class)           For Next Class: Masks, Part One, Ryo´no onna, pp. 3-59	Students select and Present one of the other two Genji Chapters 4 or 9

 

Additional Useful Materials on Genji/Heian   On the Manyoshu andthe Kokinshu; Video of Waka Poetry "Mono no Aware"; Some more on poetry On Kokinshu and Tosa Diary author Ki no Tsurayuki On the Kokinshu, Tosa Nikki, The Tale of Genji The Genji monogatari Useful Links:   Brief summary of the YUGAO (Evening Faces) chapter Another Yugao site Brief summary of the AOI (Heartvine) chapter Important Thoughts on the Genji Genji website See more websites on the Genji   Â

 

Sept. 26	1. Recap: Those Two  Scenes from the Genji   2. Some background on Noh (or Nô ) Theatre - Videos and Definitions     Role of Noh in Masks?  Also, See some: Noh:DEFINITIONS, VIDEO, TEXTS;  Video on Noh here and Here See video of “The Lady Aoi” at Black Swan Theater (Perth) Here   Begin Discussion Questions on MASKS by ENCHI Fumiko, First part, "Ryo no onna," pp. 3-59          Excellent Noh Website with Play and Mask databases, etc.  IMPORTANT BASICS ON Noh;    Some Basic Info on Noh Masks and Illusion   Optional: Read the Noh Play: Aoi no Uye PDF Version of Aoi no Uye is also available
Sept. 28	Masks, Part II ("Masugami") – pp. 60-112  "Hotaru" Party and the "Fireflies" Chapter (25) of the Genji More Notes on Masks See reference to KKS poem on p. 111       Another website on Noh and its Masks      Notes on the "Hotaru" or "Fireflies" Chapter of the Genji	See a website on Nonomiya or The Shrine of the Fields

 

 

Oct. 3	Finish  MASKS--Part III "Fukai" pp. 113-141   See a website on Nonomiya or The Shrine of the Fields     Thoughts on Mieko   See, Article on Masks, "Enchi Fumiko and the Hidden Energy of the Supernatural" by Wayne Pounds See also Doris Bargen article, "Twin Blossoms on a Single Branch," in Wise Resources Folder: J 230 Bargen MN Article.pdf.  You can also scroll down on this page and find some comments summarizing some Bargen's arguments. From Nina Cornyetz, Dangerous Women, Deadly Words:  In Enchi's Masks, blood functions as an index of female identity and as a marker of female pollution and divinity. Blood further forms the basis upon which a community of women, exclusive of men, is constructed.....An essay written by the character Mieko, and embedded within the primary narrative of Masks, proclaims: "Sin is inseparable from a woman's being. It is a stream of blood flowing on and on, unbroken, from generation to generation" (57). Yet, as I argue in this study, blood's seepage and formlessness incorporates the capacity to defraud or contaminate the phallocentric systems that it, as a marker of female otherness, ostensibly substantiates. (115-116)    A Masks Question -- Discuss Paper Ideas  Note: Paper Due Date is Oct. 17   Introduce Murakami and Sputnik Sweetheart (time permitting)	A Masks Question   Begin reading Sputnik Sweetheart, pp. 1-97
Oct. 5	Final Discussion, Questions about Masks   Introduce MURAKAMI Haruki   See Omote Sando (ref. on p. 34)

November 2

Recap Continue with  KAFKA ON THE SHORE, pp. 105-205 "Our responsibility begins with the power to imagine. It's just like Yeats said: In dreams begin responsibilities." (Kafka: 132)     The Striding Man All Dressed Up and Somewhere to Go Johnnie Walker Scotch Whisky Johnnie Walker’s first foray into print advertising left something to be desired: the 1883 illustration featured a broken-hearted Scot boo-hooing over a bottle of whisky smashed at his feet. The exercise-obsessed dandy who would lead Johnnie Walker to the pinnacle of scotch supremacy didn’t hit the ground walking until 1909. Modeled after the company’s founder, John “Johnnie” Walker, the character was drawn by famed illustrator Tom Browne under the direction of George Walker, John’s grandson. Initially called “The Regency Buck,” the icon’s moniker was later toned down to the more descriptive (if less dashing) “The Striding Man.” The family name had more than a little to do with the logo’s ambulatory nature.   Clichés, the ephemera of pop culture, characters who proclaim their thematic function -- these sound like the gambits of postmodernism, tricks meant to distance the reader from the artificiality of narrative and the sort of tactic that gets a novel labeled 'cerebral.' But Kafka on the Shore...doesn't feel distant or artificial.  Murakami is like a magician who explains what he's doing as he performs the trick and still makes you believe he has supernatural powers. So great is the force of the author's imagination, and of his conviction in the archaic power of the story he is telling, that all this junk is made genuine. (Bookmarks Reviews) Natsume Soseki, The Miner: The Miner...has been described as a precursor to Beckett and Joyce including sections which incorporate a stream of conscious style...[with] some of these reflections [being] concern[ed with] his evolving consciousness of his place in society, or more broadly the nature and follies of man...[as well as] the concluding observation that there is nothing more unreliable than man. (Adapted from https://nihondistractions.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-miner-natsume-soseki.html)   Song and the Painting I   For next class, Nov. 7, prepare the next section of Kafka, pp. 206-300      "Our responsibility begins with the power to imagine. It's just like Yeats said: In dreams begin responsibilities." (Kafka: 132)   Another Review

In this new novel, characters may occasionally discuss The Tale of Genji and the novels of Natsume Soseki, but the presiding influences are Plato, Sophocles and, as the title indicates, Franz Kafka.  Steven Moore http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43071-2005Jan27.html     For next class, prepare Kafka, pp. 301-381

 

November 21	Begin Work on Final Paper/Brainstorm
November 23	Thanksgiving Break NO Class

 

November 28	Final Paper Preps Conferences
November 30	Final Paper Preps Conferences
Dec. 5	LAST DAY OF CLASSES

 

 

Students Writing their Papers!

The following are useful sources which can be found in the Reference section of the library. You will be able to find background information on the authors and some analysis of their writings.

Ref. DS 805 .K633	KODANSHA ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JAPAN 8 vols.
Ref. C.52 and C.53	CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS (100+ Volumes)
Ref. PL 717. R55 1	A READER'S GUIDE TO JAPANESE LITERATURE	by Thomas Rimer
Ref PL 747.55. L48	MODERN JAPANESE NOVELISTS: A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY	by John Lewell
Ref. PN 771 .C59	CONTEMPORARY LITERARY CRITICISM
Ref. PN 771 .55	ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD LITERATURE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY	1981

Brief article : "Trends in Present Day Japanese Literature"
For a site with MP3 files of Japanese Literary Texts click here

 

Print by Clifton Karhu 

 

See a photo of Nishi Honganji Temple.