Brief summary of this semester:

Brief summary of this semester:

• When I Whistle (approximately 2.5 weeks: )• World Lit papers 1 & 2 revisions (1.5 weeks)• Hard Times (3 weeks)• Review of Heart of Darkness (1 – 2 classes)• IB dead week and mock exams, March 5 – 16 • Clear Light of Day (HL only) (3 weeks)• Review for IB exams (2.5 weeks)• IB exams, May 2 – 22

The Japanese Aestheticaesthetic(s): branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste and with the creation and appreciation of beauty; also, a particular theory or conception of beauty or art (Merriam Webster)

To the Japanese, aesthetics are a basic part of daily life rather than an academic or philosophical discipline. The ancient ideals into which Japanese aesthetics are traditionally divided are:WABI: transient and stark beautySABI: beauty of natural patina (sheen on surface made by age and use) and agingYUGEN: profound grace and subtlety

CalligraphyA highly esteemed branch of traditional art in Japan

Modern Japanese Literature

• Japan’s defeat in WWII greatly influenced writers– disaffection– loss of purpose– coping with defeat

• A stress on the inner lives of characters is often evident in Japanese fiction– Buddhist tradition emphasizes self knowledge

and the impermanence of the material world• Alienation in the modern urban jungle is

another common theme

Japanese high school students and seifuku

Japan in WWII• The Axis Alliance of Germany, Italy, and Imperial Japan is

created in 1936• Japan at war with China from 1937• Hoping to dominate Asia, in December 1941, Japan

attacks and conquers U.S. and European possessions in the Pacific

• At its peak, Imperial Japan’s possessions include Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, parts of China, Malaysia, French Indochina, Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), Philippines, Burma, parts of India, and other Pacific Islands

• Japan defeated in numerous naval battles in 1942• Japanese navy decisively defeated by the U.S.; Japan

surrenders when U.S. invasion of home islands becomes imminent (15 August 1945)

Modern Japan

Shusako Endo1923 - 1996

• Among Japan’s most renowned 20th Century authors

• Unique perspective as a Japanese Catholic (baptized at age 11)

• Born in Japan, but moved to Dalian (Japanese occupied Manchuria) as a child• Began college as medical student, but shifted to literature with focus on French Catholic writers• Worked at munitions factory when WWII interrupted his university studies • Suffered from poor health: spent 2 years in a hospital; thought poorly of Japanese medicine

Endo: themes and motifs• Complex moral dilemmas• Christianity; oppression of Japanese

Christians• Outsiders, foreigners, alienation• Hospitals, patients, doctors, disease

When I Whistle, 1974Setting: Kansei, Western Japan

Sumiyoshi – Ashiya - Nishinomiya

Kansai…. Western Japan

WIW: themes- generation gap; clash in values between old and new Japan- futility and tragedy of war; also, its effects on a generation that has known it- Japanese hierarchies and social norms- acceptance vs. ambition- honesty and integrity- brief encounters that give life meaning

WIW: symbols & motifs• Aiko’s fountain pen• the color white• the beach (and its changes)• Nada (and its changes)• trains• diseases (cancer, TB)• weather

Traditional house and apartment building

Fusuma and traditional futon preparation

Ofuro

Bean Cakes

Obi –

the ‘belt’of the kimono

Japanese Calligraphy

Sources• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_aesthetics#Wabi-sabi• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_literature• http://alicetocracy.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/serafuku-a-japanese-school-uniform/• http://zackleey.blogspot.com/2011/06/japanese-high-school-boys.html• http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/indepth/cultural/hj/japanesecalligraphy.html• http://calligraphy-expo.com/eng/AboutCalligraphy/Hieroglyph/East.aspx?ItemID=1589• http://interestingfacts-themur.blogspot.com/2009/02/art-of-japanese-calligraphy-short.ht

ml• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_calligraphy• http://www.chocolate-fish.net/img_-2669• http://www.japanesecuisine.info/culture-of-japan/modern-japan• http://tokio-tokyo.blogspot.com/2010/10/tokio-cidade-dos-games-das-animacoes.html• http://www.dipity.com/tickr/Flickr-shinjuku/• http://www.nybooks.com/galleries/david-levine-illustrator/1982/nov/04/shusaku-endo/• http://www.crisismagazine.com/2011/shusako-endos-borrowed-faith• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shusaku_Endo• http://www.amazon.com/Wonderful-Fool-Peter-Modern-Classic/dp/0720613205• http://www.amazon.com/When-I-Whistle-Shusaku-Endo/dp/0720614376• http://www.amazon.com/Volcano-Shusaku-Endo/dp/0720614309