Chevron Left
Back to Words Spun Out of Images: Visual and Literary Culture in Nineteenth Century Japan

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Words Spun Out of Images: Visual and Literary Culture in Nineteenth Century Japan by The University of Tokyo

4.8
stars
722 ratings

About the Course

In their ambition to capture “real life,” Japanese painters, poets, novelists and photographers of the nineteenth century collaborated in ways seldom explored by their European contemporaries. This course offers learners the chance to encounter and appreciate behavior, moral standards and some of the material conditions surrounding Japanese artists in the nineteenth century, in order to renew our assumptions about what artistic “realism” is and what it meant. Learners will walk away with a clear understanding of how society and the individual were conceived of and represented in early modern Japan. Unlike contemporary western art forms, which acknowledge their common debt as “sister arts” but remain divided by genre and discourse, Japanese visual and literary culture tended to combine, producing literary texts inspired by visual images, and visual images which would then be inscribed with poems and prose. Noticing and being able to interpret this indivisibility of visual/literary cultures is essential in understanding the social and psychological values embedded within the beauty of Japanese art....

Top reviews

DP

Oct 8, 2020

Very interesting where I finished the whole course 2 weeks before the due date because I really enjoyed it. I have been a Japan fanatic since middle school so this course is really my cup of tea

YM

Nov 30, 2020

It was really fun to learn about the history of such art pieces as well as the notable people behind its creation and influence. Mr. Campbell discussed everything clearly as expected.

Filter by:

226 - 228 of 228 Reviews for Words Spun Out of Images: Visual and Literary Culture in Nineteenth Century Japan

By Mihika R

•

Aug 31, 2022

I enjoyed it a lot

By byw

•

Apr 24, 2023

The course material is excellent, but I would appreciate more resources to further explore the continuation of the 19th and 20th century spirit in contemporary Japanese works. Although the content covered in the course is informative, it seems somewhat limited in scope.

Also, would it be possible to provide the Japanese text? I would like access to reading materials in Japanese that include terms such as 'kimono' with their corresponding hiragana and katakana notation.

By Caroline H

•

Jan 24, 2018

It was a surprise to see a course on this topic. At first I found the central premise fascinating, but would have preferred more conciseness in the lectures and a wider variety of assessment tasks. For instance, why not have students analyse some images themselves?