JAPANESE LITERATURE - Lightfoot

As one who never studied Japanese literature in school, the only way I could start teaching it was to make it so the students and I could instruct ourselves as the weeks unfolded. So we begin with and occasionally return to the question, "What is Western about Western literature?" -- at first by recalling material and ideas from their survey of American writers the preceding year. A main goal of the course is to respond to the same question about Japanese literature, while granting the provisional nature of any conclusions we draw.
Structure: We start with essays on Zen and look at parable, painting, and haiku, then read Ibuse's "Kuchisuke's Valley" as a 20th-century instance of fiction influenced by Zen aesthetics. Then we read Botchan, partly as a contrast with Zen art, partly for what it mentions about history (Meiji era & Western influences, etc.), and partly for what it offers in the way of information about ordinary Japanese people. Then a short summary overview of Japanese history. Our major work of fiction is Ibuse's Black Rain, followed by an anthology of short stories in which a small number of writers such as Shiga Naoya, Yasunari Kawabata, and Kobo Abe are each represented by several pieces so students can get a little of the flavor of each writer; we recall Zen parables now. Finally, 2-3 weeks on poetry, harking back to haiku. Students give researched presentations on aspects of Japanese and Japanese-American culture and other backgrounds during the term, and they visit the S.A.M. Japanese collection of Asian art. Students also keep an ongoing journal, which (they don't know this yet) they will read through, add to, and comment on at end of term.

Goals of this course:

• to understand how Japanese literature and culture are influenced
• by conceptions of self and group that are different from Western conceptions, -- by a heritage of philosophical monism (vs. the dualisms of the West),
• by an aesthetic of austerity and spontaneity,
• by a non-Western or at least different sense of literary character, plot, subject.
• to become more alert to problems of interpretation when reading any literature, especially across cultures.

• to get everyone to contribute; to build interpretations and analyses from the group's ideas; to notice that all our views are necessary for each person to understand;
• to get students to risk expressing their own responses, interpretations, ideas when reading lit. but also follow up their spontaneous responses with support, logical reasoning, etc.;
• to explore literary techniques: point of view, style, character, theme, tone;
• to help students improve their writing: focus, voice, logic, depth, independence of mind, thoroughness, correctness.