Global Literatures 225: Exploring Human-Nonhuman Dynamics in Japanese Literature

This course introduces representative works in Japanese literature that address human-nonhuman relationships. We will explore how each work presents a cosmology of its own, released from strict nature-culture and subject-object divisions. While paying attention to specific anthropogenic environmental changes that the writers are responding to, we will also consider how their perspectives and attunement to surrounding presences- including the dead- might enhance our capacity to imagine a life with others on an imperiled planet. In addition to literary texts, some films and anime will be included. May be elected as Japanese 425.