Off the Beaten Path: The Diversity of Modern Japanese Literature

An introduction to major and minor works of Japanese literature produced during the Japanese Empire and in post-WWII Japan. Canonical writers include Tanizaki Junichiro, Higuchi Ichiyo and Kawabata Yasunari, as well as contemporary novelists Ogawa Yoko, Murata Sayaka and others, including women, queers, revolutionaries and Japan-resident Koreans. Close reading skills will be emphasized, as well as an understanding of how literature has generated knowledge about race, ethnicity, gender, class and their intersections.