Fall 2009

ANS 320 • Classical Japanese Literature in Translation I: Lyric and Short Narrative

Course Description

Premodern Japan's remarkable efflorescence of novel-style literary fiction and psychologically revealing memoir-writing was preceded and accompanied by an extensive literature of lyric poetry, short tales, and travel writing, drawing on both courtly and folk traditions. This course will survey the pathbreaking early works of lyric, short tale, and travel writing from the first appearance of Japanese literature, as well as the development of these genres until the late Edo period. The genres extensively borrow from each other and often blend together to form fascinatingly hybrid forms, making a delightfully entertaining and informative panoply of traditional culture, from the racy and humorous to the insightful and romantic.

Grading Policy

Two 5-7 pp. essays 20% each 3-5 Short Quizzes 20% 20-min. presentation 20% Term paper (10-15 pp.) 20%

Texts

Rodd, Laurel, trans. Kokinshû: A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern. Cheng & Tsui 1996. McCullough, Helen Craig, trans. & ed. Classical Japanese Prose. Stanford University Press, 1990. Skord, Virginia, trans. & ed. Tales of Tears and Laughter: Short Fiction of Medieval Japan. University of Hawai'i Press, 1993. Recommended Textbooks Miner, Earl, Hiroko Odagiri, and Robert E. Morrell eds. The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature. Princeton University Press, 1988. Carter, Steven trans. Traditional Japanese Poetry. Stanford University Press, 1991. Chambers, Anthony, trans. Ueda Akinari, Tales of Moonlight and Rain. Columbia University Press, 2006.

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