Response Papers.

From time to time throughout the semester I will be assigning short response papers, basically a one- or two-page response to one of the assigned secondary sources on courtesan culture.

What I will be looking for in these papers is:

1. evidence that you understood the author’s argument: a brief summary of his or her thesis and the evidence that he or she uses to support the argument.
2. evidence that you thought about how the author’s argument enhances or complicates our understanding of courtesan culture in a given time and place.
3. good writing.

Within these parameters, you can go in any direction you want with these papers. If the text makes you think about gender roles, religious practice, the politics of the time, or contemporary Asian society (just to give a few examples), please write about it. I am hoping that these papers will stimulate your thinking about different aspects of courtesan culture and that this will deepen your understanding of Chinese and Japanese culture and society.

If you have further questions about writing response papers, you might visit the HWS Writes website.

Assignments.

1. Stephen Owen (1994), “Meaning the Words: The Genuine as a Value in the Tradition of the Song Lyric,” in Voices of the Song Lyric in China, ed. Pauline Yu (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press), 30-69;
   -or-
   Ronald C. Egan (1994), “The Problem of the Repute of Tz’u during the Northern Sung,” in Voices of the Song Lyric in China, 191-225; due Wednesday, Feb. 10.
   
   
2. Rayjashree Pandey (2004), “Poetry, Sex and Salvation: The ‘Courtesan’ and the Noblewoman in Medieval Japanese Narratives,” Japanese Studies 24, no. 1 (May): 61-79.
   -or-
   Yung-Hee Kim Kwon (1988), “The Female Entertainment Tradition in Medieval Japan: The Case of Asobi,” Theatre Journal 40, no. 2 (May): 205-16; due Wednesday, Feb. 22.
   
   
3. Jean Wetzel (2002), “Hidden Connections: Courtesans in the Art World of the Ming Dynasty,” Women’s Studies 31, no. 5 (September/October): 645-69.
   -or-
   Tseng Yuho (1993), “Women Painters of the Ming Dynasty,” Artibus Asiae 53, no. 1/2: 249-61;  due Wednesday, Mar. 10.
   
   
4. Judith T. Zeitlin (2006), “‘Notes of Flesh’ and the Courtesan’s Song in Seventeenth-Century China,” in The Courtesan’s Arts: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, ed. Martha Feldman and Bonnie Gordon (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 75-102;
   -or-
   Katherine Carlitz (1997), “Desire and Writing in the Late Ming Play Parrot Island,” in Writing Women in Late Imperial China, ed. Ellen Widmer and Kang-i Sun Chang (Stanford: Stanford University Press), 101-30; due Wednesday, Mar. 31.
   
   
5. Elizabeth de Sabato Swinton (1996b), “The Artistic Vision,” in The Women of the Pleasure Quarter: Japanese Paintings and Prints of the Floating World, by Elizabeth de Sabato Swinton et al. (New York: Hudson Hills Press), 107-33; due Wednesday, Apr. 14.

Format for Written Work
One of the things you will learn in an art history class is the importance of presentation. This applies to your written work as well:

1. Type all work in a 12-point font.
2. Double-space.
3. Leave one-inch margins on all sides.
4. Number your pages.
5. Staple your work.
6. Put your name on every page and the date on the first page.
7. Check that your spelling, grammar and punctuation are correct—these are crucial to effective communication of your ideas. Your grade will drop if you have excessive errors.
8. If you cite another source, you may use either parenthetical references or footnotes. (See A Note about Cheating and Plagiarism below.) Make sure that you follow a standard documentation style such as MLA or Chicago style.
9. Include a picture with a caption if appropriate (and please attach it to a clean sheet of paper—do not give me a loose postcard, an illustration torn from a magazine, or a copy of the book you found the picture in. Black-and-white photocopies are okay).

A Note about Cheating and Plagiarism
I will not tolerate any form of academic dishonesty. Not only does it destroy the trust that I have in you to do your best, it is unfair to the other students, and obviously you will not learn anything if you resort to cheating. If I find that you have cheated on a test or on a written assignment, you will receive a zero for the assignment and I will contact the Deans and/or the Committee on Standards about your case.

Now, just in case you are not clear about what plagiarism is: plagiarism is the use of someone else’s words or ideas without giving that person credit.  In application, this means that in your writing assignments, you need to cite your sources. When quoting directly from a text—say, five words or more in succession—you need to put those words in quotation marks and include a parenthetical reference or footnote citing the source. When rewriting a passage from a text in your own words, you don’t need the quotation marks but you do still need the parenthetical reference or footnote. If you don’t understand exactly what constitutes plagiarism, or how to use parenthetical references or footnotes, please ask me. I would prefer to explain what it is and how to avoid it before it happens rather than after.