EAST 330 - Floating World: Early Modern Japanese Literature

FC ARHU CD

4 credits
The shogun’s capital of Edo (present-day Tokyo) was the background to extraordinary literary creations and cultural innovations between 1600 and 1868. This course examines these productions through the frame of ostensibly opposite yet intricately intertwined concepts: high/low, visual/textual, classical/contemporary, Chinese/Japanese, original/derivative. Such pairings complement, interact and fuse in the literary genres introduced in this course: poetry, kana diary, drama, comic fiction, and picture books. Through close readings of these works and their sociocultural specifics, this course explores Edo literary genres, visual cultures, and historical contexts.

Prerequisites: Previous coursework in Literature, East Asian Studies, or History.