EA105 Spring 2013
Course Schedule / Outline
JAN 15 2013—NOTE: The Web pages from this class are far from complete at this time. However, I'm releasing the draft so you can get a sense for the course. The assignments, tests and dates for these won't change from what is presented here.
This outline gives the course's structure on a single page. It also provides direct links to each class session. Topics, assignments, and notes are on individual pages. Individual pages undergo revision during the term so they should not be downloaded. This page is less likely to change; however, you should not bookmark it. Rather, you should bookmark the Announcements Page and navigate here from there, to insure that you are informed of important class information.
*Meets Tues & Thurs 9:30-11 AM
Important Dates
*All deadlines HERE, when available
- Jan 22 (Tu) — First class, completion of paperwork done in-class
- Feb 3 (Sun) — Team memberships announced
- Feb 7, Feb 14, Feb 21 — These are the dates that you must have completed a careful and thorough reading of the three premodern texts from Korea, then Japan, then China. Some will find that the one week for each is enough time, others will need to begin earlier. Skimming or fast reading of these texts will not be enough. They will be carefully explored and tested.
- Feb 28 (Th) — Midterm 01, interpretation of premodern texts
- Mar 7 (Th) — TCP: Initial Presentation due at 9:40 AM, given in class
- Apr 4 (Th) — TCP: Progress Report 01 (NDT) due at 9:30 AM (NOT 9:40), given in class
- Apr 8 (M) — TCP: NDT revision due at 2 AM (that's MONDAY early morning, not Tuesday) if you plan to submit
- Apr 15 (Mon) — TCP: Progress Report 02 (IE) PowerPoint slides due at 4 PM (this is everyone's deadline, regardless of which day I decide you will present)
- Apr 16 (Tu) — TCP: Progress Report 02 (IE) In-class presenation
- Apr 18 (Th) — TCP: Progress Report 02 (IE) (for those who did not present on Apr 16)
- Apr 30 (Tu) — Midterm 02, interpretation of modern cinema
- May 2 (Th) — Last class
- May 7 (Tu 9:30-11, Dw 127) & May 9 (Th 9:30-11, Dw 127) — (RRR week) Room available for team work, team consultation with Wallace, individual consultation with Wallace
- May 13 (Mon) — Individual essay due at 2 AM (that's MONDAY early morning, not Tuesday morning)
- May 16 (Thu 9:30-11, Dw 127) — Room available for team work, team consultation with Wallace
May 15 (Wed)NEW: May 16 (Thu)— Team projects due at 5 PM NOTE: You are NOT finished with this class until you receive an accepted from me. Please watch for that email. Students sometimes err on this submission and if I cannot contact you for a resubmit, I will have to give you an "F" for the step.- This class has no final exam. May 16 is the last due date for this course.
*In addition to the above deadlines, this class might have quizzes added to the schedule. Details given on the first day of the course.
Course Outline / Schedule
Orientation
Session 01: Course Orientation
◊ Orientation
◊ Completion of paperwork
◊ In-class exercise
Worldviews, values and other contexts relevant to East Asian love stories
Reminder that the Korean reading must be completed by Session 06, the Japanese reading by Session 08, and the Chinese reading by Session 10.
❖ Defining "worldview" "values"
❖ "Low love / high love"
❖ Layering & blending
❖ Greek positions: Plato's allegory of the chariot, Aristotle's four types of love
❖ Some Western European ideals relevant to our class: love as extension of God's love, high valuation of object of love (troubadours), high value placed on passion, romanticism / revolution / individual freedom / Magna CartaSession 03: Worldviews, values and other contexts—Early Asian worldviews: Animism, Shamanism, Daoism
◊ Brief note on animism and shamanism
❖ Ancient Chinese cosmology / Daoism: yin-yang (陰陽) and the five elements (五行, wuxing: wood 木, fire 火, earth 土, metal 金, water 水) — gender, balance (blending), correspondences (layering)
❖ Daoist sexual alchemy as described in the Ishinpo (醫心方・医心方, late 10th c. Chinese medical text)—an example of an alternate way to think of sexual intercourseSession 04: Worldviews, values and other contexts—Confucianism
❖ Status of "[romantic] love" within Confucian ideals and practices
❖ Status of "[romantic] love" when framed by Buddhist principles (emphasis on dukkha, karma, transience and illusion/dreams)
❖ Method & Analysis comments: some geometric ways to think about love (circles & triangles)
Love stories in three East Asian premodern prose narratives
*The full Nine Cloud Dream must be read by the beginning of this class. We do not summarize in class. Details on text access are on the syllabus. This work is about 300 pages long, but simple in its plot. Of course it would help enormously in terms of establishing a context if you read an introduction in a translation, or about it elsewhere. As will all the premodern texts, we read the real deal, not summaries of events since how something is said is as important to us as what happened in terms of plot. That never shows up in summaries.
Session 06: Premodern prose narratives—Korea: Nine Cloud Dream
❖ Premodern prose narratives—Korea: Nine Cloud Dream (Kim Man-jung, late 17th c.)
Session 07: Premodern prose narratives—Korea: Nine Cloud Dream
❖ Premodern prose narratives—Korea: Nine Cloud Dream (Kim Man-jung, late 17th c.)
Session 08: Premodern prose narratives—Japan: Tale of Genji
*There is a document on bSpace, inside the Premodern texts > Japan folder, titled GenjiReadingAssignment [bSpace, PDF] that indicates what parts of the book to read. Text access is noted on the syllabus. In addition to that reading which is probably about 200 pages, consider reading the last chapters of the work (51 through 54 or, better, 50 through 54). These chapters cover the story of Ukifune, one of the most famous love stories to come out of that novel and one that can be useful for modern comparisons.
❖ Premodern prose narratives—Japan: Tale of Genji (Murasaki Shikibu, early 11th c.)
Session 09: Premodern prose narratives—Japan: Tale of Genji
❖ Premodern prose narratives—Japan: Tale of Genji (Murasaki Shikibu, early 11th c.)
Session 10: Premodern prose narratives—China: Story of the Stone, vol 1
❖ Chinese premodern texts: Story of the Stone • Dream of the Red Chamber (Shitouji 石頭記 • Honglou Meng 紅樓夢) by the once-wealthy scholar Cao Xueqin (曹雪芹, 1715?–63), first of two sessions
Session 11: Premodern prose narratives—China: Story of the Stone, vol 1
❖ Chinese premodern texts: Story of the Stone • Dream of the Red Chamber (Shitouji 石頭記 • Honglou Meng 紅樓夢) by the once-wealthy scholar Cao Xueqin (曹雪芹, 1715?–63), second of two sessions
Session 12: Premodern texts—Midterm 01
◊ Midterm 01 (full session)
Reminder that all teams present on Session 14. You should be fashioning your projects at this time.
Love stories in East Asian modern cinema & team project progress reports
Session 13: Recent cinema from China (Beijing): House of Flying Daggers
Overall, persistent topics for this film:
❖ Deception's role in romantic narratives
❖ (Confucian) loyalty (zhong) / faithfulness (xin) vs. individual desire (Confucian ren? modern liberties?)Session 14: TCP Session — Initial Presentation
❖ All groups present provisional NDT
Session 15: Recent cinema from China (Hong Kong): 2046 — first of three sessions
◊ Spring 2013: Return of exams. I might also field a few questions regarding the TCP, at the beginning of the hour
❖ Recent cinema from China (Hong Kong): 2046
Overall, persistent topics for this film:
- Characteristics, qualities, methods, completedness and reliability of communication between lovers
- Layering: role of memories in romance
- Layering: blending of boundaries of individuals (status of individual)
- Layering: Non-linearity (narrative structure, experience of the presence as tied to the past and future, especially the past—memories)
- Comparisons: Dreams in 2046 and Genji
- Comparisons: Money in 2046 and Story of the Stone
Possible topics for this session:
- Sound as context
- Comparisons: longing in Genji, 2046 and Flying Daggers
Session 16: Recent cinema from China (Hong Kong): 2046 — second of three sessions
❖ Recent cinema from China (Hong Kong): 2046
Oveall persistent topics for this film: see above
Possible topics for this session:
- Layering: role of memories in romance
- Role in the romantic narrative of gift and money exchange.
- Context: camera angles / peeking
- The role of secrets in romantic narratives.
- Communication between lovers.
- Who loves whom? (Non-linearity, layering, and comparisons to Genji.)
Session 17: Recent cinema from China (Hong Kong): 2046 — third of three sessions
❖ Recent cinema from China (Hong Kong): 2046
Oveall persistent topics for this film: see above
Possible topics for this session:
- Layering: Timelines and whether there is such a thing as an "Asian" timeline.
- Comparison: Flying Daggers and 2046 in terms of deception.
- Comparison: Layering of individuals in Flying Daggers and 2046
- Open topics
Session 18: Modern cinema, China (Taipei)—"Three Times"
❖ not yet stated
Session 19: Modern cinema, China (Taipei)—"Three Times"
❖ not yet stated
Session 20: TCP Session — Progress Report 01
❖ All teams present their NDT
Session 21: Modern cinema, Japan—"Norwegian Wood" specific scenes discussions
❖ There is no module set for Norwegian Wood—this is the first time I have used it in class. Just watch the film, please, track the three main characters, bring ideas on what seems like a rich area to explore for this particular film, and bring ideas on what seems different about this film and some or all of the others (that is, can compare with one, several or all).
Session 22: Modern cinema, Japan—"Norwegian Wood" general discussion
❖ not yet stated
Session 23: TCP Session — Progress Report 02, First session of two
❖ All team members from four of the teams, randomly selected, present on their IE
Session 24: TCP Session — Progress Report 02, Second session of two
❖ All team members from the remaining four teams present on their IE
Session 25: Modern cinema, Korea—"3-Iron"
❖ not yet stated
Session 26: Modern cinema, Korea—"3-Iron"
❖ not yet stated
Session 27: Midterm 02
❖ not yet stated
Last day
Session 28: Last day
❖ not yet stated
RRR
Session RRR: Student presentations on individual essays
◊ Orientation
❖ topicshereSession RRR: Student presentations on individual essays
◊ Orientation
❖ topicshere
*UNDER CONSTRUCTION: If this has not been erased it means something on this page is incomplete. Perhaps I want to recheck information or perhaps I haven't converted the page from the version of the previous class. It is available but should be taken dubiously.
*THOUGHTS: My hope is that you look at this portion BEFORE a session. If there is content here it might help you focus on the main points of the day. However, I add various things here at various times. When I feel I haven't succeeded in class stating something clearly, I might restate it here. Of if it is a difficult concept in might be given in written form here. I will assume that you have read and rechecked for changes this session in preparation for any midterm or other quiz or test.