EAJ410

READINGS IN MODERN JAPANESE LITERATURE

秋 '08, 火・木, 2:45 - 4:05

Business Administration 224

教授: Susanna Fessler, Associate Professor 研究室: Humanities 243

オッフィス・アワー: 火・木 1:30-2:30 電話: 442-4119

授業(じゅぎょう)の内容(ないよう):

This is an advanced Japanese language course in which students will read and parse selected passages from major works of modern Japanese literature, including works by Natsume Sōseki 夏目漱石, Tanizaki Jun’ichirō 谷崎潤一郎, Kawabata Yasunari 川端康成, and Mishima Yukio 三島由紀夫. Emphasis will be placed on improving both students' linguistic capabilities and their understanding of modern Japanese fiction. Class will be conducted primarily in Japanese. All readings will be in Japanese. Questions may be asked in English or Japanese at any time, but you are encouraged to try to use Japanese first, and English only as a last resort.

One of the main goals of this course is to help students become independent of structured textbooks and teach them how to launch out into the world of Japanese on their own. This means that emphasis will be placed on learning how to look up kanji, becoming familiar with important reference texts, and "doping out" difficult constructions. This is the last chance students will have to work on these skills in a structured environment--higher education does not offer "5th year Japanese." With this in mind, it is the instructor's goal to provide students with the Japanese survival skills they need before leaving SUNY.

In the course of the semester we will be reading works written in “complex” kanji (not simplified) and the old orthography of Japan, plus, if we have time, some unconventional texts to keep your mind limber. We will not be learning classical Japanese grammar, or kanbun 漢文.

Prerequisites: Students should have taken EAJ302 or have similar linguistic experience (study abroad in Japan, etc.) before taking this course.

必要(ひつよう)な教科書(きょうかしょ):

· You will need a GOOD dictionary, not Kanji and Kana or anything else designed for beginners. I don’t care which one you use, but choose one with which you feel comfortable. If you have taken EAS205, then you know what I mean. If you have not taken EAS205, please see http://www.albany.edu/eas/205/japanese%20dictionaries.pdf

· The text we will use is part of Roy Andrew Miller’s A Japanese Reader, which comes in and out of print. I have provided the lessons on the ERes site for this course, and I also encourage you, if you like, to find a cheaper copy of A Japanese Reader on the internet (through Amazon.com or Ebay). Whichever source you choose, it is required that you bring the lesson for each day to class.

· Vocabulary lists, that is, lists of vocabulary for which are you responsible on each quiz, are also available on ERes.

Testing & Grading:

· Attendance will be taken regularly; students are expected to attend class unless extenuating circumstances prevent it. Students are also expected to be active participants in this class, and to come to class prepared. Attendance is calculated by assigning a value of 1 to each day a student attends (or has an excused absence) and a value of 0 to each day a student is absent. There are no allowed absences before a penalty is applied. At the end of the semester, the student’s sum is divided by the number of days that class met.

· Quizzes will be on the vocabulary and grammar covered in the recent lesson. The instructor will provide a sample quiz before the first quiz so that students can see the format, length, etc.

· The examinations will cover translation of passages from the readings, plus vocabulary sections that ask for the reading of kanji and or the kanji themselves (in context).

This course is A-E graded. Undergraduate regulations prohibit taking an upper-level course as an S/U graded course.

Attendance	20%
Quizzes	25%
Mid-term	25%
Final	30%

This syllabus is a contract. The instructor agrees to teach the topics listed below, and to grade you on the criteria listed above. The instructor considers a grade of "Incomplete" to be for emergencies (death in the family, extreme illness, etc.), not for students who fail to plan ahead. The instructor does not curve grades or give extra credit assignments. The grading scale is as follows: 93-100%=A; 90-92%=A-; 87-89%=B+; 83-86%=B; 80-82%=B-; 77-79%=C+; 73-76%=C; 70-72%=C-; 67-69%=D+; 63-66%=D; 60-62%=D-; 0-59%=E.

If you want to check on your performance at any point in the semester, feel free to come to office hours and we'll run through the numbers. If there are extenuating circumstances that you anticipate will unduly affect your grade, it is your responsibility to speak with the instructor IN ADVANCE.

Schedule

Because the speed at which we work through the text is dependent on the students’ abilities, it is extremely difficult to predict. For each day, I ask that you prepare the appropriate lesson, which means reading the material, looking up unfamiliar terms and readings, and preparing any questions you have about the grammar. We will have a short quiz at the end of every lesson (Note: there are about ten lessons this semester). In the event that the lesson is finished without enough time to take the quiz, then we’ll do the quiz at the beginning of the next class.

Because I cannot predict exactly what material will be covered each specific day, it is very important that you contact me or a classmate about what you’ve missed and what you should prepare if you are absent on any given day.

We will read Miller’s Lesson 38, then proceed to Lessons 48-59. If there is time at the end of the semester, we will read further lessons chosen by the instructor. The midterm exam will be given on October . The final exam will be on December 15, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., in accordance with university scheduling (see below).

FALL 2008 FINAL EXAMINATION SCHEDULE

FALL 2008 Final Examinations begin on Wednesday, December 10^th and end on Wednesday, December 17^th . Eight Week Two (8W2) and semester course examination day and time assignments may be found in the charts below. Examinations are scheduled in the same room the class meets in except for departmental examinations and special assignments requested by the instructor of the class, (assignments to be announced in class). Classes meeting four or five days a week must use examination schedule for MWF class meetings. Classes meeting Monday and Wednesday only or Wednesday and Friday only use the examination schedule for MWF meetings, unless otherwise designated. Final Examinations for courses meeting "off campus" should be held during the last class meeting.

DEPARTMENTAL EXAMINATIONS (Examination days, times and rooms to be announced in November)
	Wed, Dec 10	8:00am-10:00am	Thur, Dec 11	1:00pm-3:00pm	Mon, Dec 15	8:00am-10:00am
	Wed, Dec 10	1:00pm-3:00pm	Fri, Dec 12	8:00am-10:00am	Mon, Dec 15	1:00pm-3:00pm
	Thur, Dec 11	8:00am-10:00am	Fri, Dec 12	1:00pm-3:00pm

Morning Classes			Afternoon Classes
If your	Beginning at	Your Exam	If your	Beginning at	Your exam
Class	one of these	Time and	class	one of these	Time and
Meets	hours	Date is	meets	hours	Date is
MWF	8:15am	Thursday, Dec 11 3:30pm-5:30pm	MWF	12:35pm	Tuesday, Dec 16 3:30pm-5:30pm
TTH	8:45am	Wednesday, Dec 17 10:30am – 12:30pm	TTH	1:15pm	Friday, Dec 12 10:30am – 12:30pm
MWF	9:20am	Tuesday, Dec 16 8:00am-10:00am	MWF	1:40pm	Wednesday, Dec 10 10:30am-12:30pm
TTH	10:15am	Wednesday, Dec 17 8:00am – 10:00am	TTH	2:45pm	Monday, Dec 15 10:30am – 12:30pm
MWF	10:25am	Tuesday, Dec 16 10:30am-12:30pm	MW	2:45pm	Wednesday, Dec 10 3:30pm-5:30pm
TTH	11:45am	Tuesday, Dec 16 1:00pm-3:00pm	TTH	4:15pm	Wednesday, Dec 17 1:00pm – 3:00pm
MWF	11:30am	Friday, Dec 12 3:30pm – 5:30pm	MW	4:15pm	Thursday, Dec 11 10:30am-12:30pm