JAPNLIT 281: Medieval Japanese Literature and Culture
W 3pm-5:45pm, Location TBA
This course offers students a comprehensive introduction to the literature of Japan’s medieval
centuries (broadly conceived as the 12th through 16th centuries, or the last decades of the Heian
period to the end of the Muromachi period), together with an overview of critical approaches to
its study. The specific content of the course can be adjusted to suit the needs and interests of the
students enrolled in a given term, but will draw from a comprehensive mix of medieval poetry
and poetic theory (waka, renga, kanshi, early haikai, and medieval karon), drama and dramatic
theory (nō and nōgakuron, kyōgen, sekkyō bushi, kowakamai), and high and low prose genres
(late court monogatari, setsuwa, otogizōshi, zuihitsu, and nikki).