Course syllabus

Week 1: Course Introduction

Week 2: Female Desire as Depicted in Early Modern Popular Fiction and Prints

Ivan Morris, “Introduction” (pdf)
Ihara Saikaku, The Life of an Amorous Woman (pdf)
Kaibara Ekiken, Instruction for Women (pdf)
Woodblock prints (class blog)

Week 3: Male-Male Love, Samurai, and Bon Vivants

Paul Schalow, “Introduction” (pdf)
Ihara Saikaku, The Great Mirror of Male Love, selections (pdf)

Week 4: Love Suicide, Puppet Theater, and Popular Buddhism

Donald Shively, “Introduction” to Love Suicide at Amijima (CR)
Chikamatsu Monzaemon, Love Suicide at Amijima (CR)
Chikamatsu Monzaemon, The Road to Tenjin Shrine (DVD)

Week 5: Female Desire, Feminism, and Japanese Modernism

William Gardner, “Mongrel Modernism: Hayashi Fumiko’s Hôrôki and Mass Culture” (pdf))
Hayashi Fumiko, Diary of a Vagabond (pdf)

Week 6: Female-Female Sexuality, the Takarazuka Revue, and Fan Culture

Makiko Yamanashi, “The Taishô Modern in the Female Domain of Girls’ Culture” (CR)
Dream Girls (DVD)
Yoshiya Nobuko, “Forget-Me-Not” (pdf)
Takarazuka performance clips (class blog)

Week 7: Love Suicide, Marriage, and Sexual Mania

Tanizaki Jun’ichirô, The Key
Ken Ito, “Writing as Power” (CR)

Week 8: The Gay Boom, Marriage, and Longing for Family

Michele Aaron, “New Queer Cinema” (CR)
Jonathan Hall, “Japan’s Progressive Sex” (CR)
Hashiguchi Ryôsuke, Hush! (DVD)

Week 9: Straight Women, Boys’ Love, and Shôjo Aesthetics

Cathy Camper, “Yaoi 101: Girls Love Boys’ Love” (pdf)
James Welker, “Beautiful, Borrowed, and Bent: Boys’ Love as Girls’ Love in Shôjo Manga” (pdf)
Murakami Maki, Gravitation
Anime clips (class blog)
Links to yaoi fan websites (class blog)

Week 10: Love Suicide, Politics, and Anarchy in Contemporary Japan

Adrienne Hurley, “Introduction”
Hoshino Tomoyuki, Lonely Hearts Killer

December 12: Final papers due