CLASSIC JAPANESE LITERATURE

This is one of the characterizing subjects within the "Japan" curriculum of the graduate course in "Lingue e Culture dell'Asia e dell'Africa Mediterranea".
The course contributes to the attainment of the teaching goals of the graduate course in the area of language skills and includes also the more specific goals of the cultural and humanities areas.
The main objectives of the course are: 1) to understand the characteristics of women's literature produced in the Heian period (794-1185) in relation to the historical and social context; 2) to acquire useful tools to conduct bibliographic research and work independently on different topics of Japanese premodern literature ; 3) to develop the judgement faculty and the skills to produce and communicate, both in oral and in written form, the critical and interpretative discourses on the topics of the course; 4) to learn how to write an academic essay effectively.

Knowledge and understanding:
- to know and understand the main authors and works of women's literature in the Heian period
- to know and understand concepts and tools from the fields of literary criticism and historiography
- to deepen the knowledge and understanding of historical contexts through the analysis of literary texts
- to know useful tools to conduct independently bibliographic research

Applying knowledge and understanding:
- to analyze and interpret literary texts by using concepts and tools from the fields of literary criticism and historiography
- to critically apply concepts from literary historiography to the historical period studied in the course
- to use bibliographic references in different languages (included Japanese)
- to conduct new and interdisciplinary researches

Making judgements:
- to produce critical judgments on the textual and historical-literary phenomena that are part of the program
- to subject various types of sources (academic and creative texts) to critical examination
- to develop original and innovative theories on the topics introduced during the lessons

Communication:
- to express one's opinion in an effective way
- to re-elaborate and express in an effective way the opinions of other people
- to write independently an academic essays on Japanese literature
- to analyze and translate texts written in Classical Japanese

Lifelong learning skills:
- to know how to conduct bibliographic research
- to know how to critically integrate the study of different materials (notes, slides, manuals, creative texts, academic articles)
- to be able to read and re-elaborate in a synthetic way materials written in different languages
- to refine one's ability to use the online teaching platform
- to know how to write an academic essay in an effective way

A solid knowledge of Japanese political and social history from the X to XII century. Good command of Classical and Modern Japanese.

Literary texts produced in the Heian period frequently had the role of developing, embodying, and transmitting sociality. Sociality is marked by the ability to be mutually responsive, to read the minds of others, and to be able to understand such notions as politeness and rudeness. One of the best example of this type of text is Makura no sōshi (The Pillow Book, XI century) of Sei Shōnagon, which is concerned with sociality at the highest levels of aristocratic society. Actually, much of the Makura no sōshi is concerned with aesthetics, not as some objective standard of beauty, but as part of sociality, as the fine appreciation of the nuances of social response and interaction.
The course through a close reading of Makura no sōshi aims to cast light on the meaning of sociality as it was conceived in the Heian period. At the same time it explores also the central role of ladies in waiting in embodying and transmitting an ideal image of woman to fit the social demands of a particular political agenda.
Students will be expected to develop translation skills (expecially from Modern and Classical Japanese) and sharpen their ability to apply philological and critical arguments to the literary works produced in the Heian period. They will also learn how to conduct bibliographic research and how to write a brief academic essay on the topics discussed during the lessons. For this purpose the teacher will explain how to use several databases and websites of national and international libraries. Teacher will also guide students to the gradual process of writing academic essays and to the correct use of editorial rules.

Fukumori, Naomi (1997). "Sei Shonagon's Makura no soshi. A Re-Visionary History". The Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese. 31 (1), 1-44.
Henitiuk, Valerie (2012). Wordling Sei Shonagon. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press (Introduction).
Ivanova, Gergana (2018). Unbinding the Pillow Book. The Many Lives of a Japanese Classic. New York: Columbia University Press (chapters 1-5).
Kawamura, Yuko (2005). Koten no naka no joseitachi. Ocho seikatsu no kiso chishiki. Tokyo: Kadokawa. Kadokawa sensho 372 (chapters 2-4)
Midorikawa, Machiko (2008). "Reading a Heian Blog: A New Translation of Makura no soshi". Monumenta Nipponica 63 (1), 143-60.
Mostow Joshua (2001). "Mother Tongue and Father Script. The Relationship of Sei Shonagon and Murasaki Shikibu to their Fathers and Chinese Letters". Copeland, Rebecca; L. Esperanza, Ramirez -Christensen (eds). Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 115-42.
Negri, Carolina (2014).“La ricerca della bellezza nel Murasaki Shikibu nikki”. Maurizi, Andrea Ruperti; Bonaventura (eds), Variazioni su temi di Fosco Maraini. Roma: Aracne, 65-77.
Sarra, Edith (1999). Fiction of Femininity. Literary Invention of Gender in Japanese Court Women's Memoirs. Stanford: Stanford University Press (capitolo 6).

A selection of texts in classical Japanese will be available for download from the learning platform (moodle) of this course.

The achievement of the objectives of the course will be verified as follows:
1) Evaluation of a short essay (max 3000 words, 50% of the final mark) focusing on the analysis of one of the topics discussed during the lessons. The essay will be submitted one week before the oral exam and will follow the editorial roles explained by the teacher.
2) Evaluation of an interview (50% of the final mark) which aims to verify students' knowledge of the textual references and critical scholarship of the field included in the section "referral texts" of the syllabus. Students will be also expected to prove their ability to read and translate a selection of pieces from literary works in Classical Japanese.

Frontal Lessons and video conferences with Power Point presentations and videos available for download from the learning platform (moodle) of this course.

Italian

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development