Autumn

Games are everywhere, so pervasive that we tend to take for granted what games are and how the notion of play is associated with specific cultural and historical contexts. In this class, we will defamiliarize our understandings of games and play by exploring their active interactions with literature mainly in pre-modern China and Japan. From Tang dynasty riddle tales to Edo period puppet theater, from the fantastic pilgrimage in the novel Journey to the West to the virtual journey on the Sugoroku game board—all these materials we will cover in class center on the ways in which playing, storytelling, and reading go hand in hand with one another. Stories are turned into literary games, and sometimes, games start to tell stories. By engaging theories in game studies, media studies, and narratology with a close reading and discussion of selected tales, novels, and plays, we will consider: What aspects of games and play, as well as their related cultural values can we discover in these literary works? How do games and play as a perspective enable us to consider such issues as fictional world, objecthood, adaptation, and memory in literature and beyond? How do certain narrative and stylistic devices in different media (e.g. textual, visual, and material) function in our examination of games and stories? All readings will be provided in English.

In this class, we will explore a variety of environments and ecological systems portrayed in Chinese short stories in the 20th and 21st centuries, ranging from forests to media ecology. What do fictional tales tell us about the relationship between human beings and nature and the interaction between people inhabiting different types of environment (e.g. the urban versus the rural)? How is ecocriticism entangled with literary criticism? How can we gain a new perspective on the genre of short fiction by considering techniques for storytelling in ecological terms? We will read stories written by famous Chinese writers including Lu Xun, Yu Hua, and Mo Yan (the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2012) in conjunction with a selection of theoretical texts. This class welcomes EALC majors and minors, MAPH students, and other students who are interested in this topic. No prior knowledge of Chinese is needed.

This course studies a selection of popular Korean song lyrics, treating them under the rubric of poetry. Its prerequisite is Korean proficiency of the 4th-year level and above and the student should have the Instructor’s approval in advance.

The first in a series of three consecutive courses focuses on improving speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills to high-advanced level. Through intensive readings and discussions, students will build extensive vocabulary and complex grammatical structures as well as developing sophisticated speaking skills and academic writing skills. The materials introduced in this class include newspaper articles dealing with current social, cultural, or economic issues in Korea, literary works such as poems and novels, and authentic media such as TV documentaries or movies.

This course introduces readings from a wide selection of written styles including journalistic pieces, college-level textbooks and literary prose. The class focuses on exercises in reading comprehension and discussions on various topics/issues related to contemporary Korea. Some audio and videotapes (e.g., televised news programs, movies, and dramas) will be used in order to improve the students' capacity in advanced Korean. Classes are conducted in Korean and meet for eighty-minute periods two times a week.

Must be taken for a letter grade. As a continuation of Beginning Korean, this course is to help students increase their communication skills (both oral and written) in the Korean language. Through an integrated framework of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, this course aims to increase fluency and accuracy in Korean. Videotapes and additional reading materials will be used in a supplementary fashion and approximately 100 Chinese characters will be introduced for the achievement of basic literacy. Classes are conducted mostly in Korean and meet for fifty-minute periods five times a week.

KORE10100 is the first course of the three Introductory Korean sequences which is designed to build students’ solid foundation in modern Korean language and culture. Students will learn how to read and write in Hangeul (the Korean alphabet) and how to communicate on a variety of daily topics such as self, family, location, food, and daily activities. In order to provide sufficient practice and opportunity to use what has been learned in real life situations, there will be small group practice sessions. In addition, students will be introduced to Korean culture through media, music, and other cultural activities.

This course is intended to improve Japanese reading, speaking, writing, and listening ability to the advanced low level as measured by the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Proficiency Guidelines. Weekly assignments require students to tackle modern Japanese texts of varying length and difficulty. Organized around a range of thought-provoking themes, reading assignments include academic theses, literary texts, and popular journalism. After each reading, students are encouraged to discuss the topic in class and are required to write their own thoughts on each reading along with a summary. The class meets for two eighty-minute sessions each week. All courses in this sequence must be taken for a quality grade.

The goal is to help students learn to understand authentic written and spoken materials with reasonable ease and to solidify the grammar, vocabulary and kanji foundation built during the students’ study at Elementary and Intermediate Modern Japanese levels. Students will expand their four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) as well as the socio-cultural knowledge they need for communication, thereby easing their transition into Advanced Japanese. The class meets for three eighty-minute sessions each week. All courses in this sequence must be taken for a quality grade. No auditors permitted.

JAPN 20100 continues to work on building a solid foundation for basic Japanese language skills while preparing students to progress to an Intermediate level. The emphasis on the spoken language gradually shifts toward reading and writing in JAPN 20200 and 20300, but spoken Japanese continues to be enriched throughout the sequence. Students at this level will be able to handle successfully a variety of uncomplicated communicative tasks in straightforward social situations. The class meets for five fifty-minute sessions each week, conducted mostly in Japanese. All courses in this sequence must be taken for a quality grade. No auditors permitted.