JAPN498Z

This course fulfills the literature elective requirement for the JAPN major and minor. In this course we will read works of fiction by Korean authors writing in Japanese and interrogate how they represent the experience of Japan's Korean minority. Through these works we will discuss issues of national and personal identity, colonial memory (and the legacy of colonialism), media discourse, Korean diaspora, and the reaction of Japanese society to otherness. We will also consider whether literary works by zainichi Koreans can properly be called Japanese literature (or Korean literature ), what motivated these authors to write in Japanese, and what influences Korean authors took from (and contributed to) Japanese literature. Taught in English.