POSTGRADUATE PROSPECTUS

88 This degree is designed either as an endqualification in itself or to prepare the studentfor more advanced graduate work (MPhil/PhD).Incoming students will be expected to havecompleted at least the equivalent of the first twoyears of undergraduate language study at SOASin Japanese.JAPAN AND KOREAStudents attend three compulsory courses,i.e. Japanese Traditional Drama, ModernJapanese Literature and Theory and Practice ofComparative Literature. They also choose oneliterature/ language course from the list below;Students are required to write a 10,000-worddissertation based on Japanese and westernsources on a topic agreed with the advisor.MA JAPANESE LITERATUREJAPANESE TRADITIONAL DRAMA (HALF UNIT)The course aims to provide students with a workingawareness of the main texts and underlyingaesthetic principles of pre-modern Japanese dramafrom the earliest times to the mid-19th century.The course will be taught in English and will involveclose reading and discussion of both dramatic andtheoretical texts, as well as examination of visualmaterials including videos and prints. The primarytextual focus will be upon the dramatic genresof noh, jôruri and kabuki, and a major theme ofthe course will be the ways in which these genresrecast and recycle plots, structures and thematicelements from older prose and poetry canons. Inaddition to looking at genre transformation andinteraction, by reading translated extracts fromtheoretical writings the course aims to examinehow pre-modern Japanese dramatists, actors andassociated practitioners conceptualised their ownworking practices.MODERN JAPANESE LITERATURE (HALF UNIT,COMPULSORY COURSE)The course will cover literary writings from 1868to the present day. The texts will be used to discussthe wider social and economic developmentsin modern Japan. Topics covered will build onpre-modern themes already raised in the JapaneseTraditional Drama course, but attention will begiven to the distinct social and economic contextof modern Japan that led to a very different literaryarticulation of the relationship between peopleand their environment. An important question tobe addressed is whether modern Japanese literaryforms can be attributed mainly to the introductionof Western paradigms, or to a more native-basedliterary and cultural set of circumstances. Studentswill read background critical and theoreticalwritings from both Japanese and non-Japaneseperspectives, while seminars will offer theopportunity to tackle questions raised througha close reading of literary texts. It is hoped thatstudents will be able to make useful comparisonswith similar problems that have arisen in the fieldof pre-modern Japanese literature.THEORY AND TECHNIQUES OF COMPARATIVE LITERATURE(COMPULSORY COURSE)This course covers the historical development ofcomparative literature studies as an independentdiscipline and considers the main trends incomparative literary studies.LITERATURE COURSE- Pre-Modern Japanese Literature I- Pre-Modern Japanese Literature II- Readings in Modern Japanese Literature (MA)- Practical Translation from and into JapaneseEach course will cover selected readings in Japaneseand discussion of critical studies. For students withadvanced or native speaker competence in Japanese,an alternative minor unit may be selected with theapproval of the programme convenor.MA KOREAN LITERATUREDURATIONOne calendar year (full-time)Two or three years (part-time daytime only)START OF PROGRAMMESeptember intake onlyENTRY REQUIREMENTSMinimum upper second class honours degree(or equivalent)PROGRAMME CONVENORMs Grace KohSEE ALSO:MA Korean Studies,MA Comparative Literature,MA East Asian LiteratureThis degree is designed either as an endqualification in itself or to prepare the studentfor more advanced graduate work MPhil/PhD.Incoming students will be expected to havecompleted at least the equivalent of two years