Sarah Campbell Ketchikan High School Ketchikan Alaska Essential Question In what ways did the events of modern Japan influence writers of that period What perspectives on modernization are reflected in literature produced during the Meiji and Taisho period ID: 343961
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Slide1
Voices of Modern Japan
Sarah Campbell
Ketchikan High School
Ketchikan, AlaskaSlide2
Essential Question:
In what ways did the events of modern Japan influence writers of that period? What perspectives on modernization are reflected in literature produced during the Meiji and Taisho period?The student will…Describe the characteristics of modern Japanese literature and identify those characteristics in selected Meiji and Taisho poetry and short stories. Identify and compare multiple perspectives on modernization as reflected in Meiji-Taisho literature. Slide3
What does Modern Japan Look Like?Slide4
Modern Japan ~ Magazine CoversSlide5
Modern Japan ~ PostersSlide6
Women of Modern JapanSlide7
Can you date each photo?1920’s
1920’sSlide8
An Evocative Look at Modern JapanSlide9
The Oyster’s Shell
~Kambara Ariake~An oyster in his shellLives in a boundless sea,
Alone, precarious, limited,
How miserable his thoughts . . .
Unseeing and unhelped,
He sleeps behind a sheltering rock .Slide10
The Oyster’s Shell
An oyster in his shellLives in a boundless sea,Alone, precarious, limited,How miserable his thoughts . . .
Unseeing
and unhelped
,
He
sleeps behind a sheltering rock
.
Actively Reading the poem line-by-line…
What does the oyster represent? What about the shell?
What does the poet mean by word “boundless”?
What type of words are used in line 3 of the poem?
Why use an ellipse to
close stanza 1?
Why is the oyster not visible?
What is the tone in the last stanza of the poem?Slide11
Juxtaposing Modern Japansese Art & Literature
“The Oyster’s Shell is an allegory that depicts the oyster (individual) as being unhappily imprisoned in its shell (society), unable to appreciate the beauty and grandeur of the surrounding world, and powerless to achieve its ideals.” ~Donald KeeneSlide12
What characteristics do the images and poem share?
The Oyster’s ShellAn oyster in his shellLives in a boundless sea,Alone, precarious, limited,How miserable his thoughts . .
.
Unseeing
and
unhelped
,
He
sleeps behind a sheltering rock.Slide13
Characteristics of Modern Japanese Literature
Marked by a strong and intentional break with tradition and the nation-centered and group orientation values. This break includes a strong reaction against established religious, political, and social views. Feminism, individualism, internationalism, liberalism, and proletarianism emerge during this period. Belief that the world is created in the act of perceiving it; that is, the world is what we say it is.There is no such thing as absolute truth. All things are relative
.
C
onnection
with history or
institutions is conflicted
.
Their experience is that of alienation, loss, and despair.
Championship of the individual and celebration of inner strength
.
Life is
unordered & incomplete
.
Concerned with the sub-
conscious
.
New
literary forms and styles; for example, the I-Novel (1
st
person point of view) autobiographical confessional type of narration emerges in 1906.