This is a course on Japanese women's self-representation and male major authors' representations of women — in Japanese culture. It begins by a feminist reading of one of the world's oldest (9th-11th c.) traditions of women's writing: the memoirs, poetry, and fiction of the Heian court ladies who produced the country's first canonical literature and permanently marked its cultural self-image. It moves on to examine the semiotics of the feminine in Japanese culture using the popular image of women (including the portrayal of Heian women authors and their works) in medieval Buddhist and gothic tales; in the narrative painting scrolls; in the Nô and Kabuki stage, where male actors performed the "quintessentially feminine" to admiring audiences; in wood-block prints of "beauties" (courtesans or geisha) and stories of "amorous women" in the thriving new merchant culture. The third section focuses on modern women's writing, the history of the Japanese feminist movement, and gender in pop culture. Along with primary sources in literature and the visual arts, secondary sources will include theoretical readings in the psychology of sex, love, and death by Freud, Kristeva, Lacan, and Bataille, and in feminist theories of reading in the Anglo-American academy. Student input on pop culture study materials are welcome. To be offered in the fall semester alternately with ASIAN 300.

Course Requirements:

Short essays, midterm paper, and a final exam.

Intended Audience:

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Class Format:

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