English

This course concentrates on literary culture and its production in Ireland and Scotland in the transitional period of c.1100-1600. Students review the literary corpus that existed in Ireland before the arrival of the Normans, looking at the structure, genres, and typical content of this literature. The 12th century in Ireland witnessed the changeover from monastic to secular schools, a new professionalization of poetry-making, and the perfecting of syllabic metres which had been in use for some 500 years. Students assess the function of the poet and the nature of his relationship with his patron. Irish-Scottish literary connections at this period are often over-looked and forgotten, but the same standard literary language stretched across the straits of Moyle from north east Ulster to Gaelic-speaking Scotland. 

This course examines the grotesque style, a recurrent feature of American literature, by focusing on fiction works from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It begins by covering the definition of the “grotesque” from several scholars, each of whom present the concept differently. The grotesque, therefore, requires special deciphering that is examined in the seminar. An analysis of a selection of grotesque American fiction also allows a study of the reasons for the use of the grotesque and the role it plays.

This course explores madness and mental illness in recent and historical performance. It asks questions about how a society's constructions of madness are reflected in and produced by performance, and about the versions of subjectivity or selfhood that emerge when we play mad. The course is taught through practice-based case studies of ancient Greek, English Renaissance and 20th/21st century European texts and performances. It examines the versions of madness and mental illness produced in historical performance, and the ways in which these have been reinterpreted and rewritten to reflect current constructions and concerns of and about madness. It explores recent constructions of madness and its "treatment" on stage.

This introductory course aims to cultivate a broad understanding of the liberal arts, which forms the foundation of studies at Keio University. Conducted in a seminar style, students will deepen their learning through oral presentations, class discussions and debates, and practical work.

This course explores the relationship between the literary genre of “weird fiction” and conceptions of race and racism. How has weird fiction engaged with, promoted, and challenged racist ideas in an English language context? How might weird fiction be reworked to function as a positive force for change in an anti-racist way? More generally, why is it important that we, as 21st-century readers studying at a university in Japan, think seriously about these issues?

The class will read two stories by two different authors closely over the course of the semester. The goal of each class meeting will be to analyze the week’s assigned story section together in as much detail as possible, leading into broader thematic discussions of ideologies of race and racism in the genre of weird fiction.

This course introduces the major authors and characteristics of British poetry in the Romantic (ca. 1785-1830) and Victorian (ca. 1830-1900) periods. By analyzing the assigned texts carefully and critically, the course recognizes how the poets experimented with traditional poetic forms and genres to suit their artistic and imaginative vision, and how they critically reflected the political and social realities of their time. The course aids in understanding the artistic and cultural perspectives presented in the poems of each period. Students are encouraged to offer their own interpretations of the works in both oral and written form.

The course focuses on the variety of ways in which, since the mid-1800s, women writers from the United States have made use of non-realist genres and modes within short fiction as a means of both protesting and celebrating women’s positioning in what was still a self-consciously new and ostensibly utopian nation. It introduces students to the imaginative and discursive breadth displayed in texts produced by female writers prior to the 1970s. In doing so, the course explores the developments and continuities in fantastic fiction by women writers from the American Civil War, though the fin-de-siècle period, and into Modernism and its immediate aftermath. In this way, the course problematizes rigid periodization, in particular by highlighting the formal innovation and conceptual range of writers who employ a range of fantastical genres to explore issues from racism and oppression to infidelity and financial ruin, from science and the senses to the very nature of reality itself.

Aging is not all about old age; it is, more broadly, to do with one’s being in time and in relation to others. For example, aging invites one to think about care, something that many experience during their lifetime, and about their relationship to the environment. Thinking about aging, therefore, raises many important questions that are central to life.
 

The aim of this course is to address some of these questions, while introducing students to literary (and cultural) studies of aging. In particular, the course will think about aging from the feminist perspective by reading contemporary (post 1980s) narratives – short stories, novels and films – that explore aging for women and are produced or set in the UK. Although the texts are primarily concerned with women’s experiences of aging in the UK/Western context, one hope for the course is to encourage students to think about aging in broader contexts and one’s temporal being.

Although there will be brief lectures, the course will be run in a seminar style, focusing on class/group discussion. Students will be required to read and/or watch the texts outside class hours; ponder questions on worksheets provided in advance, and actively participate in discussion. 

 

The course provides practice in reading and understanding English texts, and the ability to express themselves orally and in writing in correct, polished English. Writing short texts of a general nature is practiced. Training in planning work and adapting to predetermined time frames is provided.

This course focuses on the literary and cultural production that has emerged under colonial rule and its aftermath in different locations including the Caribbean, Middle East, and Latin America, as well as texts written by diasporic and repressed minorities. It discusses a theoretical approach to development studies and comparative ethno-racial studies for current considerations about the contemporary global order. 

Old English was the language spoken and preserved in written texts up to the mid-eleventh century CE in the regions of the British Isles. It developed from the languages spoken by Germanic peoples coming to Britain from the continental mainland and presents the earliest precursor of Modern English. This course focuses on Old English texts written in verse, exploring their themes, styles, meanings, and the challenges of dealing with a language surviving only in a small number of often unique and damaged manuscripts. Texts read include heroic poetry, such as Beowulf, elegies, as well as Old English versions of Biblical texts. The focus of the readings is on the question of how such texts portray concepts of gender, how they construct but also deconstruct gender roles, and how they relate to gender theory in the 21st century. Students are introduced to the grammar and pronunciation of Old English and use their knowledge to work with the original texts alongside Modern English translations.