East Asian Lang & Literature 246 - MODERN JAPANESE POETRY

After Japan?s semi-seclusion ended in the mid-nineteenth century, the country witnessed an extraordinary blossoming of experimentation and enrichment in poetic forms, diction, subject matter, and purpose. This course will begin with a brief introduction to the venerated poetic traditions of pre-modern Japan, pick up with the major poetic reforms of the Meiji period (1868-1912), and then follow the remarkable course of Japanese poetry?in its momentous historical context?up to the present. Topics covered will include modernization, gender, class, translation, linguistic nationalism, and literary theory. All readings are in English. (E)