7th
Totally Scary Class of the Day
I love literature classes that focus on one topic, like monsters:
Sarah Lawrence College: Ghosts, Monsters, and the Supernatural in Japanese Fiction
Semester: Spring
In this course, we will read translations of Japanese stories ranging from the ninth century to the present that feature ghosts, monsters, and other supernatural elements. We will explore various ways of examining Japanese fiction of the supernatural. For example, how do Edo period (1600-1867) tales of the strange and mysterious (kaidan) link urban centers with the countryside? What is the relationship between orally transmitted tales and written texts? We will consider both literary and psychoanalytical theories to help us analyze the boundaries between life and death, human and nonhuman, female and male, and the limits of time and space in these narratives. Readings include works by Ueda Akinari, Izumi Kyo_ka, Lafcadio Hearn, Akutagawa Ryu_nosuke, Edogawa Rampo, Enchi Fumiko, Abe Kobo, Murakami Haruki, among others. Several Japanese films will complement our reading of these texts.
