Course Description
This course will focus on two romance novels: Junichiro Tanizaki's "Shunkinsho" and Abbé Prévot's "Manon Lescaut" (Prévot was an 18th-century French writer). Both are masterpieces of romance fiction that shine brightly in the history of literature. While these two works do not seem to have anything in common, they are not without a connection—they both depict "the fate of a no-good man who has fallen in love with an outrageous woman." In this course, students will read these two works while paying attention to their relationships with various other literary works, such as music and films, and think about the relationship between the linguistic art of the novel and love. We will also introduce various theories of love (e.g., that of a modern philosopher named Jean-Luc Nancy). Please note that this course is not intended to teach students how to be successful in love. It would be cruel to ask the person in charge of this course to do so.
Students will be asked to submit two small papers during the semester.