Crimes of Passion: Gender & Sexuality in Classical Japanese Literature

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

What did it mean to be a man or a woman in Japan in the centuries before the modern era? How did conceptions of masculinity and femininity evolve under the influence of Buddhism and Confucianism, not to mention changes in the social order? Above all, how was gender performed when it came to matters of the heart? In this course, students will explore these issues, primarily through fiction and drama, but also through diaries, essays, and poetry. The course is divided into three units. Unit 1 surveys the literature of the Imperial court from the 8th through the 12th centuries. We will begin with selections of love poetry from the Man'yoshu, Tales of Ise, and Kokinshu as background for Murasaki Shikibu's epic of courtly love, The Tale of Genji (ca. 1000 A.D.). Unit 2 focuses on plays from the Noh theater, which typically dramatize the problem of desire from a Buddhist perspective. In Unit 3, we will explore the issues of gender and sexuality in Ihara Saikaku's Five Women Who Loved Love (1685) and plays by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, such as The Love-Suicides at Amijima (1721). All materials are in English and no special knowledge of Japan or Japanese is required. Students will also read essays by Western scholars to acquire a critical perspective on the issues of gender and sexuality in specific texts.