Session 17—Tu, March 13: Enchi Fumiko's Masks (1958) Session 1

Topics for this session

❖ Enchi Fumiko—Masks (1958), including Lady Rokujō for The Tale of Genji, and noh masks

Thoughts*

Enchi is known for her interest in depicting female characters with strong emotion who are not necessarily passive. She is particularly interested in jealousy, anger and related emotions based on the difficult position of intelligent, thinking woman living in the social conditions of her time. Expect darkness from Masks. The Japanese title of this book is more informative as to the themes and content of it: Onnamen / lit. "Woman-mask", 女面 — which refers to a category of masks used in noh drama, namely, masks set aside for females roles.

Required—to be completed for today's session

✓ Read "Ryō no onna" in Masks.

Texts, multimedia notes, links*

❖ Enchi Masks [bSpace, PPT]

Other*

nothing yet ...

*THOUGHTS: Reading before class probably helps follow session content, reading afterwards might help consolidate notes, revisiting for tests is recommended. Content might be added before class or anytime up until about 24 hours ahead of a midterm.

*TEXTS, MULTIMEDIA NOTES, LINKS: If I have read from something, shown something or presented audio, I usually include that information here. If I consider it testable material, it will definitely be listed here. Miscellaneous material that I show may or may not be listed. I often add material at the last minute and hope to have time later to note it, but often cannot.

*OTHER: When possible I note here names, places, and other details that I have mentioned in a lecture that would otherwise not be accessible in the assigned materials or easily located on your own. As with "TEXTS ..." this is usually sometime after class and, again, I might not be able to get around to doing it.