2013-2014 Academic Catalog

Apr 25, 2024

2013-2014 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

AS 180 - In the Shadow of World War II: Memory, Identity, and Nation in Japanese Fiction and Film

This seminar will explore Japanese literature and film from 1945 to the present as a response to dramatic and total defeat in World War Two. What is the legacy of WWII for Japanese cultural production? How has the memory of the war shaped the themes of novels, manga, film and other forms of artistic expression? How has post-war literature both reflected and transformed issues of national identity? What do these works reveal about modern, and post-modern, Japanese constructions of the self? From atomic dessert to economic powerhouse, we will consider the cultural context of post-war trauma and subjugation, of war guilt and its denial, of affluence and anomie: the long shadow cast by World War Two. Fulfills the Verbal Expression requirement. You must be placed at the Verbal Expression level to be admitted into this seminar.

Prerequisites: VE Placement

Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) Designation: VE

Anticipated Terms Offered: varies