95011 - Japanese Literature and Culture (lm)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will have the theoretical and methodological instruments necessary for the analysis of the literary and cultural history of twentieth century Japan. A comparative approach will be favoured, taking also into account other forms of artistic expression (cinema , music, visual arts) in order to enhance understanding and critical reading of the cultural specificities of the country. Elaboration of complex analysis and formulation of autonomous reflections on specific research topics, proposed by the teacher, will also be stimulated.

Course contents

The course analyses modern and contemporary Japanese literature within the framework of World Literature, with particular attention to processes of rewriting, translingualism, adaptation, global reception, and transmedia circulation. The notion of “Japanese literature” will be discussed as a historically mobile category, traversed by languages, media, audiences, minorities, participatory practices, and transnational imaginaries.

The course will be structured around five thematic clusters:

1. Theoretical frameworks: World Literature, postcolonial studies, adaptation studies, and fan studies
The course will introduce the main theoretical tools for reading Japanese literature beyond the national framework: World Literature, Orientalism and postcolonial studies, the global/glocal, transnationality, translingualism, adaptation, media mix, fandom, and participatory cultures.

2. Japanese modernity, gender, and internal cultural translation
Through Tanizaki Jun’ichirō’s Chijin no ai and Yoshiya Nobuko’s Hana monogatari, the course will analyse the processes through which Japanese modernity was constructed, the Westernisation of desire, shōjo culture, the formation of communities of women readers, and the negotiation of gender, class, affectivity, and cultural models.

3. Rewriting tradition: folklore, ghosts, and female agency
Through Matsuda Aoko’s Where the Wild Ladies Are, the course will address the contemporary and feminist rewriting of Japanese folklore and ghost stories, examining how premodern or traditional materials are translated into a contemporary global imaginary.

4. Translingualism, diaspora, and postnational Japan
The central part of the course will be devoted to Kazuo Ishiguro, Li Kotomi, and Tawada Yōko. A Pale View of Hills will make it possible to discuss Japan as written from the outside, in English, through memory, migration, and postwar trauma. L’isola dei gigli rossi will be read as a case of translingual and postnational writing, in which a Taiwanese writer bilingual in Chinese and Japanese uses Japanese to interrogate language, identity, gender, and belonging. Scattered All Over the Earth will allow students to explore linguistic exile, the invention of languages, the crisis of the nation, and cultural survival after the imagined disappearance of Japan. Ishiguro is published in Italian by Einaudi; Li Kotomi by Mondadori; Tawada is available in English from New Directions, in Margaret Mitsutani’s translation.

5. Glocal Tokyo, AI, performance, and participatory cultures
The final part of the course will focus on Tokyo as a global, unequal, and linguistically stratified space. Yu Miri’s Tokyo. Stazione Ueno will be read in relation to marginality, zainichi identity, social invisibility, urban memory, and the Olympics; Qudan Rie’s Tokyo Sympathy Tower will make it possible to discuss public language, euphemism, justice, social architecture, and the use of generative AI in literary production. Finally, Lady Oscar in its Takarazuka version and Live Spectacle Naruto will be analysed as cases of performative adaptation, 2.5D theatre, gender performance, fan culture, and global transmediality.

Readings/Bibliography

Primary Bibliography:

- Tanizaki Junichiro, L'amore di uno sciocco, Milano: Bompiani, 2000.

- Yoshiya Nobuko, Storie di fiori, Roma: Atmosphere Libri, 2020.

- Matsuda Aoko, Where the Wild Ladies Are, Berkeley: Soft Skull Press, 2020.

- Ishiguro Kazuo, Un pallido orizzonte di colline, Torino: Einaudi, 2017.

- Li Kotomi, L’isola dei gigli rossi, Milano: Mondadori, 2023.

- Tawada Yōko, Scattered All Over the Earth, London: Granta Books, 2020.

- Yu Miri, Tokyo. Stazione Ueno, Soliera:21Lettere, 2021.

- Qudan Rie, Tokyo Sympathy Tower, Milano: L'Ippocampo, 2025.

- Selected audiovisual materials (Takarazuka Revue and Live Spectacle Naruto).

 

Essential critical bibliography:

- Apter, Emily, Against World Literature: On the Politics of Untranslatability, Verso, 2013.

- D’haen, Theo, David Damrosch, Djelal Kadir, eds., The Routledge Companion to World Literature, 2nd ed., Routledge, 2023.

- Loomba, Ania, Colonialism/Postcolonialism, 3rd ed., Routledge, 2015.

- Yildiz, Yasemin, Beyond the Mother Tongue: The Postmonolingual Condition, Fordham University Press, 2012.

- Fehrle, Johannes, and Werner Schäfke-Zell, eds., Adaptation in the Age of Media Convergence, Routledge, 2019.

- Booth, Paul, and Rebecca Williams, eds., A Fan Studies Primer: Method, Research, Ethics, University of Iowa Press, 2021.

- Iwabuchi, Koichi, Recentering Globalization: Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism, Duke University Press, 2002.

Teaching methods

The course includes lectures, seminar discussions, guided analysis of literary texts, audiovisual materials, and performative adaptations. The standard schedule consists of two meetings per week: one mainly lecture-based class and one class devoted to the discussion of the assigned work. The seminar activities aim to develop skills in close reading, comparative analysis, interpretation of translation and adaptation processes, critical use of bibliography, and the ability to connect texts, media, and cultural contexts.

Guided discussion activities will also focus on translations, rewritings, international reception, theatrical adaptations, and participatory practices, with particular attention to the construction of categories such as “Japan”, “Japanese literature”, “classical”, “modern”, “global”, “glocal”, and “transnational”.

Assessment methods

Assessment methods

The assessment aims to verify:

• knowledge of the primary works and of the main theoretical tools introduced during the course;
• the ability to analyse literary, audiovisual, and performative texts in relation to World Literature, translation, adaptation, and transnationality;
• the ability to develop an autonomous critical argument, making appropriate use of the bibliography;
• the ability to discuss the relationship between Japanese literature, media, language, gender, and global circulation.

Attending students

For attending students, the final grade will be based on three components:

1. Seminar presentation or short critical intervention on one of the works included in the course: 30%
   The presentation will take place during the weekly seminar class devoted to the assigned work and will serve as the opening of the collective discussion. It should not be a mere summary of the work, but a critical introduction to the seminar debate, raising interpretative questions, connecting the work to the bibliography, and proposing discussion points for the group.
2. Final written paper: 40%
   The paper, on a topic agreed upon with the instructor, must be submitted before the oral exam. It should demonstrate autonomous analytical skills, appropriate use of sources, argumentative clarity, and command of critical terminology.
3. Oral exam: 30%
   The oral exam will discuss the written paper, assess overall knowledge of the course programme, and verify the student’s ability to connect works, contexts, theoretical categories, and materials discussed during the course.

Non-attending students

For non-attending students, the final grade will be based on two components:

1. Final written paper, on a topic agreed upon with the instructor: 50%;
2. Oral exam on the primary works and the critical bibliography indicated for non-attending students: 50%.

The written paper should demonstrate autonomous analytical skills, appropriate use of sources, argumentative clarity, and command of critical terminology. The oral exam will assess knowledge of the works, their historical and cultural contexts, and the theoretical categories addressed in the course.

Assessment criteria

• 18-19: basic and partial knowledge of the topics, limited analytical ability, elementary use of critical terminology.
• 20-24: correct but not always in-depth knowledge of the topics, autonomous analytical ability on circumscribed issues, generally clear exposition.
• 25-29: broad knowledge of the topics, good ability to connect works, methods, and contexts, appropriate use of bibliography and specific terminology.
• 30-30L: thorough and critically developed knowledge of the topics, original analytical ability, autonomous connections between texts, theories, and media, full command of exposition and methodology.

Teaching tools

AI may be a useful tool to support individual study through further explanations, summaries, and self-assessment activities. As regards assessment, limited, declared, and non-substantial use of AI is allowed for support activities such as preliminary brainstorming, summarising, linguistic reformulation, or checking the clarity of expression. Substantial use of AI is not permitted for the production of original analyses, interpretations, arguments, or extended portions of the written paper. Any use of AI must be declared according to the instructions provided by the instructor.

Teaching materials, presentations, bibliographical indications, any excerpts, and links to audiovisual resources will be made available through the Virtuale platform, in compliance with copyright regulations. The platform will also be used for communications, the reading schedule, instructions regarding written assignments, and supplementary materials.

For audiovisual materials, resources with subtitles or accompanying materials will be prioritised whenever possible. Any changes or additions to the bibliography will be communicated in good time through Virtuale.

 

Students with SLDs or temporary or permanent disabilities:we suggest that you contact the relevant university office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en ) and your teacher immediately to work together to find the most effective strategies for attending classes and/or preparing for exams.
Any requests for exam accommodations must be made at least 15 days before the date of the exam, by sending an email to the teacher and copying (Cc) the email address disabilita@unibo.it (in case of disability) or dsa@unibo.it (for students with Specific Learning Difficulties).

Office hours

See the website of Samantha Audoly