Syllabus

The Literature of Murakami Haruki

LTEA 132 Spring 2010

Instructor: Juliana Cho

Email: jec008@ucsd.edu

Class meets: TTH 9:30a-10:50p at Warren Lecture Hall 2205

OH: TTH 11:00a-12:00p at LIT 344; also by appointment

Website: http://ltea132murakami.blogspot.com

Most closely associated with postmodern alienation, Murakami Haruki’s works have been described as absurdist and surreal, sentimentally nostalgic, consumable trash, or even slyly political. As we will see in this course, his phenomenal commercial success and mythologized celebrity status have fueled contradicting debates about the significance and value of Murakami’s texts and Murakami’s positioning as a global author. In this course, we will critically review a selection of Murakami’s novels and short stories and ask: what assumptions about “Japanese-ness” underlie his global reception? How do his works respond to anxieties in Japan regarding the politics of memory, the reverberations of war violence, and the ironies of capitalism? What meaning can we locate in his dreamscapes, ghostly doubles, uncanny spaces, or that world-dominating-evil-sheep?

Required Texts (4):

Books are available at the UCSD Bookstore. See http://bookstore.ucsd.edu

Course Reader is available at CalCopy (Holiday Ct and Villa La Jolla). See www.calcopy.net

All books will be on reserve at Geisel Library

A Wild Sheep Chase. Trans. Alfred Birnbaum.

Norwegian Wood. Trans. Jay Rubin.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Trans. Jay Rubin.

Course Reader.

Evaluation (3):

(1) Participation, Group Presentation, Attendance: 15%
Since this class will combine lecture and seminar-style discussion, your active participation is crucial. Please be prepared to discuss the material that was assigned for that day. Groups of students will also be responsible to lead class discussion at least once this quarter. Instructions for these discussions will be posted online. If you feel uncomfortable speaking in class, you can always reach me in OH. In general though, classroom discussion is open - don’t be afraid of “wrong” answers, etc.

(2) Weekly informal responses: 15%
To help prepare you for discussion and paper writing, you are required to submit 8 written responses to the assigned reading. Each response will be due on Thursdays and must correspond to that week’s assigned reading - meaning, you can’t “double up” and write multiple responses for the same week nor will late responses be accepted. You may use these to reflect on the questions posed for the week or provide insights/questions of your own choosing. These should be typed and short – 1 paragraph to 1 page maximum.

(3) 2 Formal Papers: Paper 1 = 30% Paper 2 = 40%
Paper prompts and requirements will be handed out in class. Late papers are not accepted unless special arrangements are made with me before the due date. Please make sure all papers are typed, on 8x11” paper, double-spaced, and stapled. Please follow standard MLA format with an appropriate heading and page numbers.
MLA documentation style: http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c08_o.html

Turnitin.com:
Students agree that by taking this course all required papers will be subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. In general, plagiarism is defined as failing to cite quotations and borrowed ideas, failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks, and failing to put summaries and paraphrases in your own words. When in doubt, ask me for clarification. No submission will result in an F for the course.

Course Schedule (subject to change):

Week 1. But, what kind of postmodernity does Murakami represent?
T March 30	Introduction to the course Optional: Miyoshi. “Epilogue.”
Th April 1	Murakami. “The Elephant Vanishes,” “New York Mining Disaster,” “The 2nd Bakery Attack.” Baudrillard. “Simulacra” Optional: “TV People,” Jameson’s “Postmodernism” and Ellis’s “Questioning.”
Week 2. The magical within the mundane: what is the landscape of Japan in A Wild Sheep Chase?
T April 6	A Wild Sheep Chase: Chapters 1-12 (pages 1-83)
Th April 8	A Wild Sheep Chase: Chapters 13-17 (pages 87-132)
Week 3. Can the postmodern be political?
T April 13	A Wild Sheep Chase: Chapters 18-26 (pages 132-210)
Th April 15	A Wild Sheep Chase: Chapters 27-30 (pages 211-262)
Week 4. Sentimental nostalgia and memory: how does Norwegian Wood reframe the 1960s?
T April 20	A Wild Sheep Chase: Chapters 31-end (pages 263-end) Paper 1 assigned
Th April 22	Norwegian Wood: Chapters 1-3 (pages 1-46) Optional: “On seeing the 100% perfect girl”
Week 5. The politics of nostalgia: what is problematic about the representation of power in Norwegian Wood?
T April 27	Norwegian Wood: Chapter 4-6 (pages 46-166)
Th April 29	Norwegian Wood: Chapter 7-8(pages 167 -218) Paper 1 due
Week 6. Later Murakami : what sort of critical positions do Murakami’s protagonists represent?
T May 4	Norwegian Wood: Chapter 9 – end (pages 219-end)
Th May 6	Freud. “The Uncanny.” Murakami. “Tony Takitani,” “Super Frog Saves Tokyo,” “Hanalei Bay”
Week 7. Memory and Trauma: How does Murakami interweave questions of historical trauma and personal memories?
T May 11	The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles. Book I chapter 1 – Book I chapter 8 (pages 1-100)
Th May 13	Wind-up Bird: Book I chapter 9 – Book I chapter 12 (pages 101-150)
Week 8.
T May 18	Wind-up Bird: Book I chapter 13 -Book II chapter 7 (pages 151-240)
Th May 20	Wind-up Bird: Book II chapter 8 – Book II chapter 13 (pages 240-302)
Week 9.
T May 25	Wind-up Bird: Book II chapter 14 – Book III chapter 8 (pages 303-395)
Th May 27	Wind-up Bird: Book III chapter 9 – Book III chapter 15 (pages 396-449) Paper 2 assigned
Week 10.
T June 1	Wind-up Bird: Book III chapter 16 – end (pages 450-end)
Th June 3	Final Thoughts
Paper 2 due June 8, 2010 (T) between 8:00a - 10:59a