In japanese language louis program st

Discussions center on issues of modernity, gender, and literary self-representation. No knowledge of Japanese language required.

This survey of Japanese literature covers the 17th to the 19th century. Primary focus is on the Genroku era , which witnessed the growth of lively urban centers and the emergence of a robust literary voice. Emphasis on the ideological and cultural contexts for the development of a variety of new innovations in the genres of poetry haiku , theater kabuki and bunraku and prose kana zoshi.

Recommended for both Japanese and Chinese majors. Surveying the arts of Japan from prehistory to present, this course focuses especially on early modern, modern and contemporary art. Emphasizing painting, sculpture, architecture and print culture, the course also explores the tea ceremony, fashion, calligraphy, garden design and ceramics. Major course themes include collectors and collecting, relationships between artists and patrons, the role of political and military culture or art, contact with China, artistic responses to the West, and the effects of gender and social status on art.

Same as L01 Art-Arch In this course we explore the tantalizing, thrilling, and sometimes macabre genre of mystery fiction in Japan. Emerging in the late 19th century, largely in response to the disruptions of industrialization, the mystery genre offered writers a way to make sense of a chaotic, unfamiliar world.

The genre has also allowed a means of social critique and radical experimentation. All readings in English. No prior knowledge of Japanese required. How do artisans approach the task of making? If different cultures of making exist, what forms do they take and why? In this course, we will explore these and other questions concerning the central human activity that is the production of material objects.

From a Korean rice wine brewer to a Japanese clockmaker and to the Shanzhai cellphone manufacturers, makers in East Asia have distinguished themselves as skillful practitioners throughout history. The aim of this course is to understand their ways of production — and how these, in turn, evolved alongside broader changes in society and culture.

We begin by appreciating the challenges of studying making cultures and the importance of material, hands-on research, which involves, for instance, cooking with historical recipes.

We then investigate the history of artisanship in relation to social structures and statecraft and the many ways in which it unfolded in Korea, Japan, and China and across various artifacts, from kimchi and porcelain to steam engines and Van Gogh paintings.

For the term project, students have the option of reworking a historical recipe or artifact from East Asia before the modern era. During this process, their will learn by doing and explore the tacit knowledge involved in the creation and maintenance of craft practices. Other students may enroll with permission. No prior knowledge of East Asia is required. Emphasis on further development of speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. Credit 4 units for undergraduates, 3 units for graduate students.

Credit variable, maximum 4 units. Prerequisite: minimum grade of B- in Japan or placement by examination. In this course we will explore the role of women in the religious traditions of China, Japan and Korea, with a focus on Buddhism, Daoism, Shamanism, Shinto and the so-called "New Religions. We will then focus on what we know of the actual experience and practice of various types of religious women — nuns and abbesses, shamans and mediums, hermits and recluses, and ordinary laywomen — both historically and in more recent times.

Class materials will include literary and religious texts, historical and ethnological studies, biographies and memoirs, and occasional videos and films. Prerequisites: This class will be conducted as a seminar, with minimal lectures, substantial reading and writing, and lots of class discussion.

For this reason, students who are not either upper-level undergraduates or graduate students, or who have little or no background in East Asian religion or culture, will need to obtain the instructor's permission before enrolling.

Same as L23 Re St In , the major studio Shochiku promoted a new crop of directors as the "Japanese New Wave" in response to declining theater attendance, a booming youth culture, and the international success of the French Nouvelle Vague. This course provides an introduction to those iconoclastic filmmakers, who went on to break with major studios and revolutionize oppositional filmmaking in Japan.

We analyze the challenging politics and aesthetics of these confrontational films for what they tell us about Japan's modern history and cinema. The films provoke as well as entertain, providing trenchant sometimes absurd commentaries on postwar Japanese society and its transformations.

Themes include: the legacy of WWII and Japanese imperialism; the student movement; juvenile delinquency; sexual liberation; and Tokyo subcultures. No knowledge of Japanese necessary. Mandatory weekly screening: Tuesdays at 7 p. Excessive emotion, unreasonable sacrifice, hidden truth, untimely knowledge, and forbidden desire — the power of melodrama and its moving representations have fueled the popularity of hundreds, if not thousands, of books, plays and films.

Melodrama has variously been defined as a genre, a logic, an affect, and a mode, applied to diverse media, divergent cultural traditions, and different historical contexts. The course provides a survey of East Asian melodrama films — as well as films that challenge conventional definitions of melodrama — by pairing Japanese, Korean, and Chinese-language productions with key critical texts in melodrama studies.

We will examine melodrama's complex ties to modernity, tradition, and cultural transformation in East Asia; special emphasis will be placed on representations of the family, historical change, gender and sexuality.

In addition to historical background and film studies concepts, we will also consider a range of approaches for thinking about the aesthetics and politics of emotion. No prior knowledge of East Asian culture or language necessary. Mandatory weekly scheduled screening. Demonic goddesses, bird-women, sexy shamans, and snaky sorceresses have slipped and slithered their way through the pages of Japanese myth, history, and narrative from time immemorial.

Their presence in modern Japanese fiction has largely been treated as either suggestive of an author's nostalgia for a mythic past or an aberrant fantasy. In this writing-intensive course, we will examine the way the trope of the demonic woman has been used as a discrete literary strategy to either bolster or defy the modern national subject. All readings will be in English translation. Knowledge of Japanese language or literature is not required, although some familiarity will naturally prove helpful.

Prerequisites: Junior standing or above and some background in literature or Japanese studies. This is a topics course on modern Japanese literature. Prerequisites: Junior standing and 6 units of literature.

An investigation, using English materials, of the major developments and forms of the Japanese theater, from Noh and its antecedents to the rise of a modern drama. In this course we are less concerned with the performative aspects of theatrical arts though these will be introduced via videos than with the ways in which dramatic texts influenced and borrowed from the literary tradition.

Readings from major theatrical texts, secondary studies on Japanese theater, and literary sources. Prerequisite: junior standing or permission of instructor. A comprehensive survey of Japanese poetry from the eighth century to the present day.

Topics include the development of the great tradition of court poetry in the Heian period ca. All works are read in English translation, although knowledge of Japanese is useful. Graduate students and Japanese majors are expected to read original materials extensively. Prerequisites: junior standing and 6 units of literature course work.

Art : HUM. EALC explores the complexity and richness of human experience as expressed in the languages, histories, cultures, and literatures of China, Japan, and Korea. Not only are the civilizations of East Asia among the world's most ancient, these three cultural and linguistic areas have also come to play a vital role in today's global economy.

EALC offers a wide-ranging and diverse curriculum by means of which students may acquire knowledge and understanding of the literary, historical and cultural expressions of East Asia from ancient times up to the present. Our language programs also foster the ability to negotiate meaning in a culturally and contextually appropriate manner through the development of high levels of proficiency in speaking, listening, reading, and writing.

The emphasis in the East Asian Language and Culture programs with concentrations on Chinese, Japanese or Korean , is on achieving high competency in the relevant language and learning how to read texts from the target culture—literary, philosophical, cultural, historical, or even visual—with an informed appreciation of the contexts in which they were produced.

The goal of all of these studies -- language, textual and interdisciplinary -- is to acquire the cultural sensitivities needed to become sophisticated scholars and educated global citizens, as well as to provide a deeper appreciation of our common cultural experience and the intrinsic value of humanistic study.

Japanese majors will acquire a broad knowledge of Japanese society and culture and a solid foundation in the major landmarks of Japanese literature spanning fourteen centuries. And their education will be reinforced by various study-abroad opportunities-- most notably the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies KCJS , which affords an unparalleled access to Japan's great cultural mecca.

Japanese Nihongo is a fascinating and challenging language. Engaging with the intricacies of spoken and written Japanese will open you up to new dimensions of social and cultural experience.

The intensive, interactive classroom experience, with class size limited to 15 students, is aimed at fostering natural fluency and cultural competence from the very beginning stages of study. Majors will be able to pursue numerous career options that utilize their language skills. Some of our graduates have gone on to pursue academic careers in Japanese literature and culture. Others have pursued careers in law, diplomacy, international business, media, and trade. Still others have gone on to jobs in Japan in international relations or teaching.

In short, the opportunities are virtually limitless. Whichever path you choose, fluency in Japanese will serve as a valuable asset in the job market, in addition to being a significant achievement in its own right.