JPTR 3210

This is my favorite class this semester. Each class consists of reading around 50 pages (give or take 20 pages depending on the day) of The Tale of Genji and having a 75-minute discussion of the book (two classes a week). The whole book is 1120 pages, and we are reading the Royall Tyler unabridged version of the book. The story is thrilling like a tv show, and each class's discussion is quite fun as well. I read really slowly, and each page takes me around two minutes. This class did take up a lot of my time. I would say it is almost impossible to do this class without doing at least half the readings.

The Tale of Genji is literally the parent of all light novels; however, there are significant cultural differences between the time of 1000 AD Heian Japan and today. There is polygamy, and affairs are common and accepted. Some characters are considered adults by around age 12 (it varies actually). Our protagonist Genji is relatively promiscuous, but he loves all the women he meets (probably?). There is a lot of gallantry going on, or in other words, cheating and raping. Those actions did not have the same repercussions as they did as today but are still at least frowned upon and can cause major controversies. Therefore, if you cannot come to terms with this significant cultural difference, I suggest you do not take this class, as the character relationships make up the crux of the book.

After finishing the book, one thing I would tell people not to expect is a strong thematic message other than impermanence/ephemeral nature of the world that results from a person living for a long time and seeing things coming and going. I think the book is quite memorable, but it can definitely be seen as trash in the eyes of some.

As for assignments, each discussion class we need to submit a one-page daily response — analysis and interesting observations made during the class's reading. They are a completion grade. There is a five-page essay due in the first month, and a 15-page essay at the end of the semester as the final grade. If the student gets a higher grade on the 15-page essay, then their five-page essay grade is also raised. A five-minute presentation is done on the last day of class regarding something related to Heian Japan (music, poetry, court life etc.) and is peer-evaluated, so if you put in some evidence of good faith effort, your peers will probably give you a good score. He is very generous with the grading as you can see with the grade distribution.

Prof. Heldt is very nice in temper and gives insights into the book during our discussions. He does tend to interrupt often to point out important aspects of the chapters read, but he lets the students talk it out very often. Everyone has to lead one discussion, and that typically means finding interesting sections of the homework reading to discuss during class. One can literally go onto CourseHero summaries to know which parts are important and then find the corresponding quote in their own text to ask what people's feelings are about the chapters.