31335 - Japanese Literature 3

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students will have acquired a profound knowledge of problems and trends in the history of Japanese literature. They can read and discuss literary works in original language and will be able to evaluate literary quality, themes and style of the works that have been studied, analyzing the texts according to specific critical methodologies and reading them in historical and cultural context.

Course contents

Changing Trends in Japanese Women’s Cultural Productions

The course focuses on female cultural and artistic production in Japan, with a specific focus on  modern and contemporary context. The aim is to trace and analyse the evolution of the relationship between women and society from the end of 19th century to the present day through a selection of different materials - critical readings, documentaries, films, literary texts, manga.

The course is articulated into two modules, organised in diachronic perspective. The first module focuses on the emergence of literature and culture by and for women in the Meiji period and its complex relationship with the great masterpieces written by women during the Heian period, and then explores its development up to the 1970s. The proposed texts will provide the cue for a critical reading of the dynamics through which patriarchy - political and intellectual - attempts to define on the one hand the role of women within society and on the other the position of female artistic production within the cultural system of Japan, as well as the strategies of resistance and resilience that women adopt as authors and subjects who in the creative process find a way to give form and substance to a chorus of voices that have been silenced for too long.

The second module, focusing on the analysis of artistic-cultural production from the 1980s to the present day, will concentrate on the concept of female identity, where the plural defines the different ways and performances through which femininity today expresses itself in hegemonic and counter-hegemonic terms. In the analysis of the proposed texts, particular attention will be given to the changing paradigms compared to the past and the challenges women have faced and are facing today in Japan.

Topics covered throughout the course will include the concept of gender role hegemony, the role of Japanese women with the world of work, female homosexuality, transgenderism and transsexuality, motherhood and the role of women within the family, beauty standards and public discourse on the body, abuse, mobbing and harassment.

Students are required to  participate in extracurricular activities - seminars, conferences and initiatives organised alongside the course.


Students unable to attend must contact the teachers at the beginning of the courses.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Bibliography:

Students are expected to show a basic knowledge of the history of Japanese literature from 1868 to present days. Our reference texts are:

L. Bienati, P. Scrolavezza, La narrativa giapponese moderna e contemporanea, Collana "Elementi", Marsilio, Venezia 2009

M.R. Novielli, P. Scrolavezza, Lo schermo scritto. Letteratura e cinema in Giappone, Cafoscarina Editrice, Venezia 2012

Critical sources:

Koyama, Shizuko, Ryōsai Kenbo. The Educational Ideal of 'Good Wife, Wise Mother' in Modern Japan, Leiden – Boston, Brill, 2013 (una selezione di passi sarà disponibile fra i materiali didattici online all'inizio del corso).

Scrolavezza, Paola, Interni giapponesi: nuove narrative per scenari famigliari in trasformazione, in La famiglia nelle culture e nelle società dell'Asia, a cura di Maria Angelillo, Bulzoni Editore, Roma 2013, pp. 147-160 (disponibile fra i materiali didattici online all'inizio del corso).

Scrolavezza, Paola, Paradisi perduti: disillusione e perdita dell'innocenza nell'ultima produzione di Hayashi Fumiko, in I dieci colori dell'eleganza. Saggi in onore di Maria Teresa Orsi, a cura di Matilde Mastrangelo e Andrea Maurizi, Aracne Editore 2013, pp. 511-525 (disponibile fra i materiali didattici online all'inizio del corso).

Hansen, Gitte Marianne, Femininity, Self-harm and Eating Disorders in Japan: Navigating contradiction in narrative and visual culture, Routledge, 2015.

Kinsella, Sharon, Cuties in japan, in Women, media and consumption in Japan, Routledge, 2013, pp. 230-264.

Kinsella, Sophie, Schoolgirls, money and rebellion in Japan, Routledge, 2013 (Estratti disponibili online all'inizio del corso)

Miller, Laura & Bardsley, Jan, Bad girls of Japan, Springer, 2005 (Estratti disponibili online all'inizio del corso)

Welker, James, From Women’s Liberation to Lesbian Feminism in Japan: Rezubian Feminizumu within and beyond the Ūman Ribu Movement in the 1970s and 1980s, in Rethinking Japanese Feminisms, University of Hawaii Press, 2018, pp. 50-67

Welker, James, Telling her story: Narrating a Japanese lesbian community, Journal of Lesbian Studies, 14(4), 2010, pp. 359-380

Giustini, Deborah, ‘I thought I could get away from gender discrimination’: linguistic instrumentalism and self-actualisation of female interpreters in temporary employment in Japan, Japan Forum, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 522-552

 

Primary sources:

Higuchi Ichiyō, La tredicesima notte, in Narratori giapponesi moderni I, Mondadori, Milano 1986, pp. 55-72(disponibile online fra i materiali didattici all'inizio del corso)

Yoshiya Nobuko, Storie di fiori, trad. di Paola Scrolavezza, Atmosphere, 2020

Hayashi Fumiko, Lampi, trad. di Paola Scrolavezza, Marsilio, 2011

Miyamoto Yuriko, Fiori tra le macerie, Pagus, Treviso 1990 (disponibile fra i materiali didattici all'inizio del corso)

Tsushima Yuko, Il figlio della fortuna, trad. di Maria Teresa Orsi, Safarà Editore, 2021

Oba Minako, Yamauba no bisho, (il racconto, nella traduzione inglese dal titolo The Smile of a Mountain Witch, sarà disponibile fra i materiali didattici all'inizio del corso)

Enchi Fumiko, Namamiko. L'inganno delle sciamane, trad. di Paola Scrolavezza, Safarà Editore, 2019

Matsuda Aoko, Nel Paese delle donne selvagge, trad. di Gianluca Coci, Edizioni E/O, 2022

Matsuura Rieko, Le nostre adorate ragazze, trad. di Anna Specchio, Atmosphere libri, 2022

Nagira Yuu, Luna Errante, trad. di Marta Fanasca, Atmosphere libri, 2022

Mori Yoko, Fiabe di letto, trad. di Greta Annese, Giuliana Carli, Daniela Travaglini, Lindau, 2021

Hayashi Mariko, L’ultimo volo per Tokyo, trad. di Anna Specchio, Atmosphere libri, 2020

Yu Miri, Il paese dei suicidi, trad. di Laura Solimando, Atmosphere libri, 2020

Battan, Run away with me girl (3 volumi), trad. di Marta Fanasca, Star Comics, 2022

Waka Hirako, My Broken Mariko (volume unico), trad. di Silvia Ricci, JPop - Edizioni BD, 2021

Ikeda Riyoko, Caro Fratello (volume unico), trad. di Valentina Vignola,JPOP - Edizioni BD, 2022

Other materials will be provided by the teacher during the lessons.

In addition to class lectures, a series of seminars held by national as well as international scholars will be organized, whose active involvement is part of the final exam.

Teaching methods

Lectures, where concepts and contexts will be presented and explored, will be accompanied with guided working groups, online and on specific topics and/or texts. Details on the content and organisation of the working groups,will be defined at the beginning of the course.

Assessment methods

The exam consists of two parts:
1) oral exam:  requires an in-depth study of a subject from among those covered during the course. The exam will test the student's ability to elaborate on the topics exposed in class, to show the knowledge acquired thorugh the study of the proposed bibliography, and their capability for critical thinking. A critical knowledge of the topics will be evaluated as excellent, while an excessive dependence on texts and manuals without any interpretative support will be evaluated with a positive but low score. The proven and repeated difficulty in creating logical and descriptive connections between cultural phenomena and literary contents will result in an insufficient evaluation.

2) written exam:  group work via the Virtuale platform (Collaborative Wiki). For details, please refer to the course's Virtuale platform, where the modalities for each module are specified.

Teaching tools

Slides, video, multi-media supports. A series of films related to the texts in this syllabus will be shown and discussed during classes. The list will be published by the beginning of the lessons.
In addition to class lectures, a series of seminars held by national as well as international scholars will be organized, whose active involvement is part of the final exam.

The materials used during the course will be made available to students on the course website (Virtuale).

Office hours

See the website of Paola Scrolavezza

See the website of Marta Fanasca