MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE LITERATURE

This is one of the characterising courses within the "Japan" curriculum of the Corso di Laurea Magistrale in "Lingue e Civiltà dell'Asia e dell'Africa Mediterranea".
The course contributes to the attainment of the teaching goals of the Corso di Laurea in the area of the humanities-related skills.
In particular, this course helps students to acquire
- A high level of critical knowledge and understanding of various socio-cultural phenomena;
- The ability to use sources and research tools related to the chosen field with competence and confidence;
- a deeper knowledge of the social realities, ways of thinking and textual cultures of the chosen field;
- The ability to produce oral and written texts related to the field of literary studies;
- The ability to apply their knowledge to the field of literary studies.

Knowledge and Understanding:
- Basic knowledge of theoretical and methodological tools related to the study of contemporary global literature;
- In-depth knowledge of Japanese historical and literary phenomena that can be understood through such theories and methods;

Applying of knowledge and understanding:
- Ability to apply the theoretical and methodological tools acquired in the first part of the course to individual phenomena in the field of modern Japanese literature;
- Ability to recognize the application of such tools in previous scholarship;
- Ability to read and analyze literary texts written in Japan from the end of WWII to the present.

Communication:
- Summarize and communicate the gist of scholarly texts in a formally correct and effective manner, either orally or in writing.

Making judgments:
- To be able to examine available sources and identify their arguments and assumptions;

- A basic knowledge of the history of modern Japanese literature. Students who wish to deepen their knowledge are invited to contact the teacher for further reading;
- Willingness to read materials in advance and to participate in seminar classes;
- Ability to read primary and secondary sources in apanese.

Course topic: the space of the contemporary in Japan (post-World War II to the present)

The aim of the course will be to attempt to define-through a selection of literary texts produced primarily in Japan in the last forty years-the "contemporary" through an analysis of the spaces and (non)places that form the background or are the subject of the proposed narratives.
Space as a physical place will be considered (through narratives that focus on workplaces such as the factory, the office, or the "konbini"; "eccentric" places such as Okinawa, or "other" places because they are outside national borders; Fukushima and Minamata as places of contamination; Tokyo's central neighborhoods, etc.), but more importantly as a place where social practices of the "contemporary" (asymmetrical gender hierarchies, environmental issues, postwar collective memory construction, "culture clash," etc.) are made concrete.
Special emphasis will be placed on historical and textual aspects. Students will acquire solid and focused cultural-historical skills, and will grapple with the analysis and commentary of a variety of texts written in Japan from post-World War II to the present. Japanese primary sources and texts in translation will be used.

The course will include a series of lectures by invited scholars specializing in the filed.

The complete list will be made avaiaible in the moodle space.

Essay writing on a text related to the course topic and oral interview to present the paper.
The exam will evaluate the acquisition of all the teaching goals of the course.

Lectures and seminars. In-class participation is encouraged.

Italian

This exam (with this syllabus) will be available only for the 4 "appelli" of the 2024-25 academic year. Starting from 2025-26, a new syllabus will be in use.

oral