Modern Japanese Short Stories

Who is this course for?

Anyone who enjoys reading and discussing short stories, or with an interest in Japanese history and culture.

On this course you will learn:

• The development of the short story as a literary form in Japan • Why the short story is such a successful form in Japanese literature • The impact of famous Japanese short story writers both past and present.

This literature course examines the history of the short story in Japan. Whilst mainly focusing upon more modern works, we’ll also look at some of the earliest forms of the genre to help gain an understanding of why the short story has remained a popular literary form in Japan.

Rashomon may be familiar to many as the classic 1950 film by Akira Kurosawa, which combines several of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s short stories into one narrative, and we’ll explore what makes Akutagawa an enduring master of this form. We’ll consider the disturbing masculine vision of Yukio Mishima in his passionate story of suicide, ‘Patriotism’, along with the ways in which short stories allow for more diverse voices in literature through the work of some of Japan’s most popular female writers, such as Fumiko Enchi, Aoko Matsuda and Yūko Tsushima.

By the end of this course you should be able to:

• Understand the history of the short story in Japan as a literary form • Have an in-depth understanding of the key texts • Discuss common themes in the texts featured on this course.