AVVISO PER GLI STUDENTI
DEL CORSO DI LAUREA SPECIALISTICA LICAO 2
(giapponese)
Il prof. Thomas Harper terrà un Seminario di studio su:
源氏物語
The Tale of Genji and the Heian world
Il Seminario, la cui frequenza è libera e aperta a tutti, sarà così strutturato:
una lezione introduttiva, il 14 novembre ore 16.00, aula A;
due cicli di tre incontri:
1) 22 e 28 novembre; 5 dicembre, ore 16.00 aula A
2) 16-23-30 gennaio 2007, ore 16.00 aula A.
Prof. Luisa Bienati
Presidente dei Collegi del corso di laurea in Lingue e Culture dell'Asia Orientale e del corso di
laurea Specialistica in Lingue e Civiltà dell'Asia Orientale
The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari) is not only the greatest work of literature ever produced in Japan, it is also our
richest source of knowledge about the life and culture of the court nobility of the Heian period. The aim of this
seminar, therefore, will be to view this world and the lives of those who populated it through the medium of their great,
long novel. To this end, we will read one chapter of the Genji, "Hana no En" (The Cherry Blossom Festival),
examining as we proceed the many aspects of Heian court life that it depicts. The structure of the court; rank, status,and
office; the importance of poetry in everyday life; relations between men and women -- these are but a few of the
subjects that this short but beautiful chapter brilliantly illuminates. Our text will be the Shôgakukan edition of Genji,
edited by Abe Akio, Akiyama Ken, and Imai Gen'e, which is equipped with detailed headnotes and a translation into
modern Japanese. For the benefit of those whose experience with this style of Japanese is limited, a copy of Royall
Tyler's English translation of the chapter will also be distributed.
Thomas Harper, the coordinator of the seminar, studied Japanese literature under Professors Robert H. Brower and
Edward G. Seidensticker at the University of Michigan and Stanford University, and The Tale of Genji under Professor
Abe Akio of Tokyo University. Thereafter, he taught Japanese literature at Yale University, the Australian National
University, and the University of Leiden. He is now retired from Leiden and living in Tokyo. His Ph.D. dissertation
was a study of Motoori Norinaga's (1730-1801) critique and commentary Genji monogatari Tama no ogushi (1796),
and subsequently the principle focus of his work has been the critical reception of The Tale of Genji from its beginnings
through the Edo period. He is now compiling, in collaboration with Professor Haruo Shirane of Columbia University,
a documentary history of Genji reception, which will be published by Columbia University Press in 2007 (we hope). In
recent years, he has developed a secondary interest in the vendetta of the forty-seven ronin from Akô (1703); but that is
another story....