OSAKA UNIVERSITY SHORT-TERM STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM _

Contemporary Japanese Literature (Post-War)

Andrew MURAKAMI-SMITH (Graduate School of Language and Culture)

Objective
  The purpose of this course is to read a wide variety of short fiction from the end of World War II (1945) to the present day, to gain an understanding of these literary works in the context of post-war Japanese history and society.
  In addition to reading the assigned stories, students will be expected to try to answer discussion questions about each story, and to be prepared to discuss the stories and questions in class.
  Beginning in the middle part of the semester, students will make group presentations analyzing the stories and authors read, providing their own answers to the discussion questions, and stimulating class discussion.
  A paper, which may be based on the group presentation, will be due two weeks after your group presentation. Guidance on writing academic papers in English will be provided.

Textbooks
  Theodore W. Goossen, ed., Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories (Oxford UP)
  Copies of stories not in this anthology (marked with an asterisk * in the course schedule) will be provided to students in class. (This is the same textbook that was used in "Modern Japanese Literature (Pre-War)" in the Fall semester, 2008, for those who took this class.)

Evluation
  Evaluation will be based on the following:
  
  Attendance (20%)
  Preparation and participation in class (20%)
  Group Presentation (30%)
  Final Paper (30%)

Course Schedule
  Week 1:
  Explanation of course. Overview of historical background of pre-war period and the Pacific War (WWII).
  Week 2:
  Literature of "Scorched Earth" and Black Market.
  Oda Sakunosuke, "The State of the Times" (1946) and Hayashi Fumiko, "The Old Part of Town" (1949).
  Week 3:
  The "Decadents".
  Dazai Osamu, "Merry Christmas" (1946) and Sakaguchi Ango, "In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloomh (1947).
  Week 4:
  The "Third Wave" .
  Kojima Nobuo, "The American School"* (1954) and Yoshiyuki Junnosuke, "Three Policemen."
  Week 5:
  Canonical Writers.
  Mishima Yukio, "Onnagata" (1957) and "Patriotism"* (1960).
  Group Presentation
  Week 6:
  Canonical Writers.
  Kawabata Yasunari, "One Arm"* (1963) and "Japan, the Beautiful, and Myself"* (Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, 1968).
  Group Presentation
  Week 7:
  Canonical Writers.
  Abe Kobo, "The Bet" (1960) and "Friends"* (1967).
  Group Presentation
  Week 8:
  Canonical Writers.
  Oe Kenzaburo, "Prize Stock" (1957) and "Japan, the Ambiguous, and Myself"* (Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, 1994).
  Group Presentation
  Week 9:
  Women Writers.
  Tomioka Taeko, "Facing the Hills They Stand"* (1971) and Enchi Fumiko, "The Flower-Eating Crone" (1974).
  Group Presentation
  Week 10:
  Women Writers.
  Oba Minako, "The Smile of a Mountain Witch"* (1976) and Tsushima Yuko, "A Very Strange, Enchanted Boy" (1985).
  Group Presentation
  Week 11:
  The Kumano Region.
  Inoue Yasushi, "Passage to Fudaraku" (1961) and Nakagami Kenji, "The Immortal"* (1984).
  Group Presentation
  Week 12:
  The "Entertainers."
  Murakami Haruki, "The Elephant Vanishes" (1987) and Yoshimoto Banana, "Dreaming of Kimchee" (1992).
  Group Presentation
  Week 13:
  Writers of the New Century.
  Selections from "Tokyo Fragments: Short Stories of Modern Tokyo by Five of Japan's Leading Contemporary Authors"* (2004).
  Week 14:
  Women Writers of the New Century.
  Selections from "'Inside' and Other Short Fiction: Japanese Women by Japanese Women"* (2006).
  Week 15:
  Manga.
  Takano Fumiko, "Beautiful Town"* (1987), Matsumoto Taiyo, "The End of a Day in Which Nothing Began"* (1994-95), Aoki Yuji, "Yodogawa Embankment"* (1996), and Koda Mamora, "A Can of Coffee"* (2003).
  Group Presentation

OUSSEP _
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