Literature in Medieval Zen

Over the 14th-16th centuries, Zen monasteries were the most prolific centers of learning in Japan, patronized by the warrior elite as pundits of continental high culture. However, much of their vast written output has fallen between the cracks of modern academic disciplines. This course introduces the major literary genres associated with this milieu: verse (including gatha and painting inscriptions), tracts, shomono (vernacular commentaries), and formal epistles. Particular attention is devoted to continuities and differences with continental precedent, and to the interaction between aesthetic, devotional, and pedagogic frames of meaning.