Buddhsm 220

220. Seminar in Buddhism and Buddhist Texts: “Form and Function at the Mogao (Dunhuang) Buddhist Caves.” The Mogao cave complex, carved into a cliff facing the Daquan River in Gansu Province, China, comprises some seven hundred caves, over four hundred of which are lavishly decorated on the interior with wall paintings and polychrome sculptures. The site is approximately 25 kilometers from the town of Dunhuang, once an important economic and military center on the ancient Silk Road. Modern scholarship has made considerable headway in unraveling the artistic and iconographic program of the caves, as well as in deciphering the cache of manuscripts discovered in the now-famous Cave 17 library. In contrast, relatively little is known about why the caves were built and how were they used. This course will focus on the function of the caves, and on how specific theories concerning their use affect the way we understand their pictorial and sculptural decoration. We will begin with a comparative analysis of other ancient Buddhist cave sites, notably Ajanta, Kizil, Toyok, Yungang, and Longmen. We will then examine various hypotheses concerning the function of the Mogao caves that foreground the role of patronage, proselytization, monastic practice, meditation, mortuary ritual, and so on. Along the way we will look at methodological issues bearing on the relationship between form and function in religious art.

The course is designed for graduate students with an interest in Asian art history, archaeology, or Buddhism. Facility in modern or literary Chinese is not necessary but will be helpful. Requirements include seminar presentations and a term paper.s. Prerequisites: Graduate standing and consent of instructor.

Chinese Language and Literature Courses

Chinese 1B

1B. Elementary Chinese. A continuation of Chinese 1A, Chinese 1B provides elementary training in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Modern Standard Chinese. It is designed to help you learn enough Chinese to enable you to handle your needs adequately in Chinese-speaking places or communities. Building upon Chinese 1A, Chinese 1B will further introduce a core vocabulary and fundamental structures. You will be able to describe person/thing/event/place/time/feeling, describe and comment on food, provide and obtain information about borrowing/renting and returning, ask for and give directions, accept and reject invitations, describe health problems and give advice, and compare different places, sports, and prices. You will learn how to understand Chinese well enough to carry out routine tasks and engage in simple conversations. In addition to further mastering the Pinyin Romanization system, you will learn how to read and write 320 new Chinese characters and compounds derived from combining these characters, as well as read and write short messages, postcards, simple notes, and short descriptions. You will also learn about some aspects of Chinese culture. Prerequisites: Chinese 1A; or consent of instructor.

Please note: Chinese 1B is not open to native speakers of Mandarin

Chinese 1BX

1BX. Elementary Chinese for Mandarin Speakers. Second semester of Elementary Chinese for heritage students. The course teaches both pinyin and traditional characters, introduces functional vocabulary, and provides a systematic review of grammar. The class meets three times a week, one hour a day. If you have not taken Chinese 1AX, to enroll in this class you must first take the online Chinese Language Placement Test. Find the online test at ealc.berkeley.edu. Students are responsible for enrolling in the appropriate level. They must also accurately inform instructors about their language proficiency level. Any student who enrolls in a class below his/her level will be dropped from the class. Prerequisites: Chinese 1AX; or consent of instructor.

Chinese 2B

2B. Introduction to Classical Chinese. Continuation of Chinese 2A. Reading and analysis of a variety of classical Chinese prose texts, highlighting basic grammatical and rhetorical features of the language. On completing this course, students should have mastered all essential grammatical and syntactic features of the classical language, core vocabulary, as well as basic skills in the use of the relevant reference tools, and be fully prepared for upper-division classical literature courses. Prerequisites: Satisfactory completion of Chinese 2A.

Chinese 7B NEW! (replaces Chinese 181B)

7B. Introduction to Chinese Literature and Culture - Modern. Chinese 7B is the second semester in a year long sequence introducing students to the literatures and cultures of China. We will read many of the major authors, works, and literary genres from the Yuan Dynasty to modern times, and place these writings in their historical, cultural, and material contexts. This course does not assume or require any previous exposure to or coursework in Chinese literature, history, or language.

This semester we will pay particular attention to the emergence of vibrant new urban and vernacular cultures in the late imperial period and their relation with classical traditions and literati culture, as well the revolutionary cultural transformations of the late 19th and 20th centuries. The course will both survey the literary and cultural topography that every serious student of China ought to know, while at the same time developing the critical reading and writing skills necessary to traverse and imaginatively engage with that historical terrain. All readings are in English translation. Students who are conversant in Chinese are encouraged to read original texts whenever possible. Prerequisites: None. Recommended: Chinese 7A.

Chinese 10B

10B. Intermediate Chinese. Five one-hour meetings in class, two one-hour periods in the language or computer lab per week. The course, a continuation of Chinese 10A, is designed to develop the student's reading, writing, listening, and speaking abilities in Chinese, and teaches both simplified and traditional characters. Prerequisites: Chinese 10A; or consent of instructor.

Chinese 10BX

10BX. Intermediate Chinese for Mandarin Speakers. Continuation of Chinese 10AX, an intermediate-level course for Mandarin speakers. The course teaches both pinyin and traditional characters, develops a functional vocabulary, and provides a systematic review of grammar. Three one-hour meetings in class and two one-hour periods in the language or computer lab per week. Prerequisites: Chinese 10AX; or consent of instructor.

Chinese 24

24. Freshman Seminar: “Early Chinese Thought.” This seminar will explore the early history of Chinese philosophy during its classic period: the late Spring and Autumn and Warring States eras (7th century to 3rd century B.C.E.). We will concentrate on the classic books that represent the major schools of thought. These will include: the Analects of Confucius, the utilitarian and pragmatic Mozi, the Daoist Zhuangzi, the Legalist Hanfeizi, and the syncretic Lüshi chunqiu. Each of our two-hour meetings will be devoted to one of these seminal works. We will draw from this and other material in our discussions of the early Chinese conceptions of ethics, sexuality, politics, self-cultivation, desire, and aesthetics. Each student will choose a topic of special interest for the research paper. All readings will be English translations. This seminar will meet for the first eight weeks of the semester, beginning January 21, 2004 and ending March 10, 2004. Prerequisites: None.

Chinese 100B

100B. Advanced Chinese. The goal of the course is to introduce modern Chinese culture while developing competence in reading, speaking and writing standard modern Chinese. The readings include stories, essays, and plays, mostly by leading writers of recent decades. Students prepare in advance, then read and discuss in Chinese in class. Literary aspects are discussed in addition to problems of vocabulary and syntax. Prerequisites: Chinese 100A; or consent of instructor.

Chinese 100BX

100BX. Advanced Chinese for Mandarin Speakers. Continuation of Chinese 100AX, an advanced-level course for Mandarin speakers with intermediate-level knowledge of reading and writing in Chinese. The goal of the course is to introduce modern Chinese society through reading materials and discussion. The reading materials include stories, essays, and plays, mostly by leading writers of recent decades. Three one-hour meetings in class and two one-hour periods in the language or computer lab per week. Prerequisites: Chinese 100AX; or consent of instructor.

Chinese 102

102. Readings in Modern Chinese: Social Sciences and History. The emphasis of this course is on Chinese social, political, and journalistic readings. The readings are further supplemented by newspaper articles. Students are required to turn in essays written in journalistic style in Chinese. Prerequisites: Chinese 100B; or consent of instructor.

Chinese 122

122. Ancient Chinese Poetry. This class presents a survey of poetry of the pre-Han and Han periods. We read texts written in literary Chinese, interpret and discuss them, and attempt to translate them into English. Selections (reproduced in a course reader) include parts of the canonical Shijing (The Book of Songs) and the Chuci (The Lyrics of Chu), as well as examples of Han dynasty fu (“rhapsodies”), including a recently excavated piece. Emphasis throughout is on close and careful reading of the poetical texts. The pieces chosen are those that shed light not only on ancient poetical techniques and styles but also on early attitudes toward gender, love, eroticism, and moral cultivation. Prerequisites: Chinese 2B and one additional upper division course in Chinese literature; or consent of instructor.

Chinese 155

155. Readings in Vernacular Chinese Literature. This course provides an introduction to the textual culture of the late Ming and Qing periods with readings of excerpts from novels and short fiction. Close attention to historical and literary historical context; skills in translation and literary analysis will also be developed. Topics for discussion include the seventeenth-century fascination with markets, money and exchange; the examination system and the dissolution of a traditionally constituted elite; the discourse on connoisseurship and collecting; gender and the Confucian bonds of human relation; the representation of homoeroticism. Prerequisites: Chinese 100B or equivalent.

Chinese 188

188. Popular Culture in 20th-Century China. This course is an introduction to media culture in twentieth-century China, with an emphasis on photography, cinema and popular music. The course places these productions in historical and cultural context, examining the complex intertwinement of culture, technology, and politics in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan from the turn of the last century to the beginning of the twenty-first. We will consider the changing meanings of media culture through colonialism, revolution, and globalization. Students will also be introduced to a number of approaches to thinking about and analyzing popular cultural phenomena. Prerequisites: None.

Chinese 220

220. Seminar in Philological Analysis of Ancient Chinese Texts: “Mozi.” The spring 2004 topic of my seminar on the philological analysis of early Chinese texts is the Mozi. Stated in brief here, our work will include a review of the problems surrounding Mo Di’s biography, the numerous issues that complicate a clear understanding of the composition and transmission of the text, and a discussion of the basic ideas represented in the text, primarily as they are found in the so-called “core chapters.” Our review of Mo Di’s biography will involve: a study of references to the master in the “Analects” chapters of the Mozi and in other pre-Han (e.g., Zhuangzi and Mengzi), as well as of his extremely brief biographical notice in Sima Qian’s Records. Foremost among the textual issues we will examine are: those that relate to the authorship of the “core chapters” and the relationship among their versions, the disappearance of some “core chapters” and, supposedly, of others, the dating of all the chapters, but especially the problematic Book 1 and “Analects” chapters, and finally the relationship of the military and logic (i.e., Mohist “Canon”) chapters to the remainder. A discussion of the foregoing topics, based in part on reading secondary scholarship as well as on our examination of primary materials, will occupy the first four weeks of the semester. A discussion of the basic ideas found in the Mozi will be based on a selection of key passages compiled by the instructor and will occupy the next eight weeks of the semester. The final three weeks will be devoted to the presentation of research papers prepared by the seminar’s participants. Prerequisites: Graduate standing.

Chinese 230

230. Seminar in Chinese Literary History: “Readings in Traditional Chinese Literary Theory and Criticism.” In this seminar we will read and discuss sources in traditional literary theory and criticism, from the Southern Dynasties through late-imperial China, in a range of genres including systematic theoretical treatises, popular composition manuals, and a range of forms of practical criticism such as prefaces, marginal notes, and critical commentaries. Topics to be discussed include theories of adequacy or inadequacy of literary expression, genre theory, problems in periodization, and views on the relation between literary composition and Traditionalist scripture (jing). Prerequisites: Graduate standing and a good reading knowledge of classical Chinese.

Chinese 238

238. Seminar in Texts on Chinese Drama and Dramatic Criticism: “Fighting Between the Lines. Ming Commentaries on the Xixiang ji.” This course will attempt to delineate the commentarial battlelines drawn by the notable drama critics Wang Jide, Xu Wei, Mao Qiling, and Jin Shengtan who carried out their arguments between the lines and over the eyebrows of the Yuan play, Story of the Western Wing. The class will both examine the commentaries as readings of the play, but also as ploys to establish the critics' authority in a burgeoning commercial print culture. Prerequisites: Graduate standing and a good background in classical and classical vernacular Chinese.

Chinese 242B

242B. Genre and Method in Traditional Chinese Texts. A continuation of 242A, with an emphasis on the generic forms of Chinese literature through the Qing. Prerequisites: Chinese 242A or consent of instructor.

Chinese 280

280. Modern Chinese Cultural Studies: “The Year 1934: Literature, History, Montage, and the (After)lives of Images.” This interdisciplinary course explores the work texts and images do in their historical moment, and how different visual cultures and genres of writing co-exist synchronically, by reading from the perspective of modernity's margins the global print media of a single year: 1934. That year saw heightened struggles between fascist and leftist cultural politics, while the world itself seemed transformed by the media's capture, fragmentation, circulation, and recomposition of images across global space. Montage and collage practices, from illustrated magazines to various visual and verbal modernisms, were used to engage with this world and relocate identities amidst modern image cultures and the remainders of the past.

We will consider several recurring themes that cut across print media and canonical literature, including: the nature of space, place, and landscape; modernity and the "primitive"; the New Life movement, authenticity and the uses of cultural heritage; the work of montage; and themes suggested by student research. Focusing on a single year will enable a wide exploration of the archive of texts and images: illustrated magazines, photo albums, paintings, cartoons, advertisements, films, political statements, popular anthropology, essays, poetry, and fiction. We will follow our chosen themes through this archive, across various visual and verbal mediums, across disciplines, and across geographical space and historical time, in order and to bring texts and images, archival materials, and theoretical reflection into mutual critical conversation.

Throughout, we will reflect on the theoretical stakes involved in thinking about texts and images and their inter-relations historically, by examining a variety of current materialist critical practices ranging from new historicism and cultural studies to new iconology - all of which arguably produce histories through the arts of fragmentation and juxtaposition.

We will examine texts and images by Shi Zhecun, Liu Na'ou, Mu Shiying, Lu Xun, Lao She, Shen Congwen, Xu Chi, Fu Lei, Ni Yide, Feng Zikai, Lang Jingshan, Chiang Kai-shek, Ernst Bloch, Walter Benjamin, Max Ernst, and a cast of thousands. Publications we will examine include Xiandai, Wenyi fengjing, Liangyou, Dongfang zazhi, Wanxiang, Yishu, Yifeng, Zhibian, Vanity Fair, National Geographic, etc. We will also read Bill Brown (The Material Unconscious), Susan Buck-Morss (The Dialectics of Seeing), James Chandler (England in 1819), Catherine Gallagher and Stephen Greenblatt (Practicing New Historicism), Michael Ann Holly (Past Looking: Historical Imagination and the Rhetoric of the Image), WJT Mitchell (Picture Theory), Michael North (Reading 1922). Prerequisites: Reading knowledge of modern Chinese. Open to graduate students from across the humanities and social sciences.

Japanese Language and Literature Courses

Japan 1B

1B. Elementary Japanese. Continuation of Elementary Japanese 1A using the same general format (written and oral/aural quizzes every Friday) and textbook. Emphasis is on spoken, reading, and written Japanese. Grades will be determined on the basis of attendance, quiz scores, homework, in-class final examination, and class participation. Prerequisites: Japanese 1A or equivalent; or consent of instructor.

Japan 1BS

1BS. Supplementary Work in Kanji. A course designed to be taken concurrently with 1B to help students improve overall kanji performance. The course will make the kanji learning process easier by providing exercises and background information about the relationships between characters and how they function.

Japan 7B NEW! (replaces Japan 182B)

7B. Introduction to Japanese Literature and Culture — Modern. An introduction to Japanese literature in translation. This course provides a survey of important works of 19th- and 20th-century Japanese fiction, poetry, and cultural criticism. The course will explore the manner in which writers responded to the challenges of industrialization, internationalization, and war. Topics include the shifting notions of tradition and modernity, the impact of Westernization on the constructions of the self and gender, writers and the wartime state, literature of the atomic bomb, and postmodern fantasies and aesthetics. All readings are in English translation. Techniques of critical reading and writing will be introduced as an integral part of the course. Prerequisites: None

Japan 10B

10B. Intermediate Japanese. In this course, students will learn how to integrate the basic structures and vocabulary which they learned in Japanese 1A/B and Japanese 10A in order to express a wider range of ideas, and will study the new structures and vocabulary necessary to express such ideas in a manner appropriate for many social situations. Students are expected to participate fully in classroom activities and discussions. Prerequisites: Japanese 10A or equivalent; or consent of instructor.

Japan 10BS

10BS. Supplementary Work in Kanji - Intermediate. For students who are concurrently enrolled in 10B to acquire a better understanding of kanji writing system and to improve overall kanji performance.

Japan 100B

100B. Advanced Japanese. Continuation of J100A. This course aims to develop further communicative skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in a manner appropriate to the context. It concentrates on enabling students to use acquired grammar and vocabulary with more confidence in order to express functional meanings, while increasing linguistic competence. Course materials include the textbook, supplemented by newspaper and magazine articles and short stories to provide insight into Japanese culture and society. Active student participation is not only encouraged but required. Prerequisites: Japanese 100A or equivalent; or consent of instructor.

Japan 100S

100S. Japanese for Sinologists. Students will be trained to read, analyze, and translate modern Japanese scholarship on Chinese subjects. A major purpose of the course is to prepare students to take reading examinations in Japanese. The areas of scholarship to be covered are: politics, popular culture and religion, sociology and history, as well as areas suggested by students who are actively engaged in research projects. Two readings in each area will be assigned: one by the instructor and the second by a student participant. Prerequisites: Graduate standing; Chinese 100B or equivalent.

Japan 102

102. Fourth-Year Japanese A. This course is designed for students who have studied Japanese for three years or more at college level to improve their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. It aims to develop further the vocabulary and knowledge of kanji and Japanese grammar needed to read books written for Japanese college students and the general public on various topics and to engage in discussions on what has been read. Althoug much class time will be spent on reading-related activities, students will also listen to mini-lections given by guest speakers and are expected to participate in discussions. Prerequisites: Japanese 100B or equivalent; or consent of instructor.

Japan 112

112. Fifth-Year Japanese B. This course provides focused, high-level language training for those students who possess advanced ability in the modern Japanese language. Students will improve their skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening in their areas of specialty and in fields of particular interest to them. The course has a dual-track approach, requiring the completion of both class-wide and individually designed projects. The balance of the course focuses on perfecting reading and writing skills. With the instructor’s assistance, students pursue their own projects based on extensive reading of materials in their areas of specialization. These projects will be presented orally to the class. Further, when possible, visiting scholars from Japan are invited to the classroom to speak, their topics discussed afterwards. This provides a valuable opportunity for students to practice listening and speaking high-level, educated Japanese. Committed study at home is expected, and essential for success in this course. Prerequisites: Japanese 111 or equivalent.

Japan 130

130. Classical Japanese Poetry. Students will learn approaches to reading, in the original language, traditional Japanese poems (waka) by discussing nature poems from two imperial anthologies (Kokinshu, ca. 905 and Shin-Kokinshu, ca. 1205) and poetry exchanges contained in one woman’s memoir (Izumi Shikibu nikki, ca. 1007). Emphasis is on basic waka poetics and the function of waka in romantic dialogue. Prerequisites: 120 or equivalent.

Japan 155

155. Modern Japanese Literature. This course introduces students to the various aspects of modern Japanese literature with particular emphasis on the increasingly evident sense of geographical and psychological dislocation represented in prose fiction, popular narratives, and criticism. We will consider the modernist works of Natsume Sôseki and Akutagawa Ryûnosuke, the crime stories of Edogawa Rampo, and the hardboiled postmodern writings of Murakami Haruki. Selected passages in Japanese will be assigned for close reading, analysis and discussion. Prerequisites: 100B or equivalent.

Japan 161 NEW!

161. Introduction to Japanese Linguistics: Usage. This course deals with issues of the usage of the Japanese language and how they have been treated in the field of linguistics. It concentrates on pragmatics, speech varieties (politeness, gender, written vs. spoken), topic management, historical changes, and genetic origins. Students are required to have advanced knowledge of Japanese. No previous linguistics training is required. Prerequisites: 100B or equivalent, may be taken concurrently.

Japan 163

163. Translation: Theory and Practice. This course provides an overview of the considerations that the translator must take into account when approaching a text. Special attention is paid to the structural differences between Japanese and English, cross-cultural differences in stylistics, writing with clarity, reference work, etc. Texts to be considered are drawn from both expository and literary writings in Japanese. By means of translating selected texts into English, students will acquire abilities to recognize common translation problems, apply methods for finding solutions, and evaluate accuracy and communicative effectiveness of translation. In consultation with the instructor, each student chooses an appropriate text to be translated during the course of the semester. Prerequisites: 100B or equivalent.

Japan 180

180. Ghosts and the Modern Literary Imagination. The course examines the complex meanings of the ghost in modern Japanese literature and culture. Tracing the representations of the supernatural in drama, fiction, ethnography, and the visual arts, we explore how ghosts provide the basis for remarkable flights of imaginative speculation and literary experimentation. Topics include: storytelling and the loss of cultural identity, horror and its conversion into aesthetic pleasure, fantasy, and the transformation of the commonplace. We will consider historical, visual, anthropological, and literary approaches to the supernatural and raise cultural and philosophical questions crucial to an understanding of the figure and its role in the greater transformation of modern Japan (18th century to the present). Prerequisites: None.

Japan 185

185. Introduction to Japanese Cinema. Living in Berkeley, we have one of the best resources in the United States for exploring the world of Japanese film (the Pacific Film Archive). But rarely do we get a chance to think in context about the development of Japanese film and film language. In this course we will begin with the early days of Japanese silent movies, examining their relationship with Hollywood and European avant-gardes. Then we will view some films by famous directors (Ozu, Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, Ichikawa) that confront elements of traditional Japanese culture, the world of the Kabuki theater and onna-gata (men who play female roles). We will discuss the experimental and avant-garde works of the New Wave directors of the 1960s (Ichikawa, Shinoda, Oshima). And finally, we'll explore contemporary popular films and anime by Miyazaki Hayao. Prerequisites: None.

Japan 230

230. Seminar in Classical Japanese Poetry: “Japanese Linked Verse.” Linked verse (renga) was the most popular poetic form in Japan during the four centuries of the medieval period (ca. 13th to 17th c.). It was renga that developed into the haikai linked verse of Bashô and later into modern haiku. This course will introduce the history and practice of linked-verse, then read an orthodox hundred-verse sequence (hyakuin) by two of the foremost medieval renga practitioners and then a haikai sequence by Bashô and a number of his disciples. We will concentrate in particular on the renga conventions, intertextuality, and the relationships between oral and written media and between predetermined form and individual creativity. Prerequisites: Japanese 120.

Japan 259

259. Seminar in Postwar Japanese Literature. Reading and critical evaluation of selected texts in postwar (1940-present) Japanese fiction, drama, or poetry. Prerequisites: Graduate standing and permission of instructor.

Korean language and Literature Courses

Korean 1B

1B. Elementary Korean. Continuation of Elementary Korean 1A using similar methods and format to 1A. Five one-hour meetings plus one hour of language laboratory per week are required. Emphasis is on speaking, reading, and writing. Prerequisites: No background or very minimal background in Korean language or consent of instructor.

Korean 7B NEW! (replaces Korean 187B)

7B. Introduction to Modern Korean Literature and Culture. This course explores the various aspects of modern Korean literature and culture in the twentieth century. We will examine a broad range of literary works as well as art and film, in the broader contexts of the early twentieth century development of nationalism, the Korean War and the national division, and the various issues that emerged in the process of modernization. Through critical analyses of the works of fiction, poetry, and visual media, we will consider the following set of matters: 1) how the issues of national identity, gender, and socio-economic class are articulated in a diverse array of texts; 2) what these texts can tell us about modern views on urban and rural space represented within; 3) how the major events in modern Korean history (war, urban unrest, political violence, dislocation and relocation) have been represented and remembered in literary texts and in popular culture; and 4) what our close and thoughtful readings might inform us about the complex relations between colonialism and a rise of modernist thinking of the national culture, and between cultural production and formation of identity. Prerequisites: None.

Korean 10B

10B. Intermediate Korean. Korean 10B is a continuation of Korean 10A and will continue to use the materials and methods used in 10A. The aim of the course is to help the students develop the language skills necessary to pursue the study of Korean at a more advanced level. The course will introduce vocabulary and idioms beyond basic level, complex grammatical patterns, and varieties of speech styles. Prerequisites: Korean 10A or consent of instructor.

Korean 100B

100B. Advanced Korean. Continuation of Advanced Korean 100A using similar methods and format to 100A. Readings in modern Korean selected as appropriate for the advanced Korean course, i.e., presupposing two and one-half years of college-level Korean. A variety of texts from textbooks, essays, journals, and newspapers will be introduced. About 100 Sino-Korean characters will be systematically introduced. Prerequisites: Korean 100A or consent of instructor.

Korean 102

102. Fourth-Year Readings – Social Science and History. An advanced course in the reading and analysis of texts in modern Korean drawn from history, sociology, economics, etc. Advanced conversation, writing skills, and practice in the use of standard reference tools will also be emphasized, with the goal of preparing students to do independent research in Korean. Prerequisites: Korean 100B or consent of instructor.

Korean 150

150. Modern Korean Poetry: “Lyric and Dissent in Modern Korean Poetry.” In the summer of 2000, South Korea’s foremost lyric poet, Midang (Sô Chông-ju) passed away. Following his death saw the emergence of a number of criticisms, condemning, on the one hand, Midang’s stance as a collaborationist with the Japanese imperial power during the colonial era and, on the other hand, his lack of engagement in the socio-political issues throughout the politically volatile postcolonial era. Soon a host of debates ensued in journals and newspapers, some critics joining in the condemnation of the lyric poet and others defending the late poet on the grounds of his literary achievements. The debates not only aroused the rhetoric of national literature; they also revived the rift between “pure literature” and the literature of social engagement, which was generated in the literary discourse during the first two decades of the colonial era. More fundamentally, however, this debate implied suspicion and anxiety about lyric poetry inherent in the history of modern Korean literature.

This course will take these contemporary debates as a discursive point of departure to revisit, reread, and rethink modern Korean poetry from the formational period of the 1920s through the end of the Japanese colonial rule in 1945. We will be closely examining the works of major poets of the period: Kim Sowôl, Han Yong-un, Yun Tong-ju, Yi Sang, Chông Chi-yong, and Midang (Sô Chông-ju). Through our readings, we will be particularly concerned with the formation of lyric poetry, the ways in which texts generate the identity of a poet, and the status of a personal statement in the colonial context.

In the later part of the course, we will read several works of modern and contemporary literary criticism as a way of returning to the recent debates surrounding Midang. Through this set of readings, we will explore the operational category of “lyric poet” in modern literary discourse and the public image of a poet in contemporary South Korea, where poetry ultimately does matter. Prerequisites: Korean 100B or equivalent.