Narrating Seduction: The Tale of Genji

Semester and Year	FA 2011
Course Number	IDSEM-UG1614
Section	001
Instructor	Nina Cornyetz
Days	Wed
Time	3:30 PM - 6:10 PM
Units	2.0
Level	U
Foundation Requirement	HUM, GLOBAL

Notes/Restrictions

Course meets during the first seven weeks only, September 6–October 23.

Description

Written in the eleventh century by a noble lady of the Japanese court, the Tale of Genji has been called the world’s first novel, and even the world’s first psychological novel. But can we really use the terms “novel” and “psychological” to describe the narrative? In this seven-week course we will read and compare two English translations of the text, by Seidensticker and Tyler. Each week we will supplement our readings with selected secondary sources to focus our attention on such topics as: narration, visuality, sexual politics, relation to reality, poetics, and aesthetics in the text.

Syllabus

IDSEM-UG1614

Course Type

Interdisciplinary Seminars (IDSEM-UG)