JAPANESE LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 61 - Topics in 20th Century Japanese Literature and Culture

Institution:

Dartmouth College

Subject:

Description:

09W: 1210S: 10A Classes offered under this rubric deal with major figures, themes, or issues of twentieth-century Japanese literature, popular culture, and intellectual history. Techniques of critical reading and interpretation are studied as an integral part of these courses, which reflect the interests and expertise of the teaching staff. Since each offering is based on a particular theme or period students may take this course more than once. Courses listed under Japanese 61 are open to students of all classes. In 09W, Godzilla's Revenge: Anime, Manga, J-Pop and Cultural Identities in Modern Japan (Identical to Comparative Literature 49 in 09W). A vague suspicion that Japan's ultimately disastrous war effort had been fueled by both the culture of the elite meant that popular culture took on a new significance after WW II. This course will explore the evolution of this popular culture through the changing technologies of representation, from the manga (comic books), film, pulp fiction and popular music of the early postwar years through the animation, TV programming, and video games of present times. Topics to be addressed include the dynamics between high- and low-brow genres; the delineation of race, gender, and national identity in popular culture; the nature of culture in post-industrial consumer capitalism.No knowledge of the Japanese language required. Dist: LIT; WCult: NW. Dorsey. In 10S, Tokyo as an Idea: Race, Empire, and the Modern Metropolis. The dramatic rise of Edo, the shogun's capital, and its later transformation into the imperial capital called Tokyo mirrors the extraordinary history of modern Japan as a whole. We will examine the place that Edo/Tokyo has held in the cultural imagination of Japanese writers, artists, and intellectuals, and the role the metropolis plays as a major center of global culture We will look at various sources and materials -- prints, photographs, and maps; literary works; historical and architectural writings; advertisements, film, and television -- to trace the development of Tokyo as an idea within a comparative framework that considers other major urban centers such as Paris, New York, and Shanghai. Dist: LIT or INT; WCult: NW. Washburn.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.dartmouth.edu

Phone Number:

(603) 646-1110

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Quarter

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