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This course explores major romances of four East Asian cultures: Japan, Korea, China and Vietnam. The first three to be considered are leading works of prose fiction from the premodern East Asian literary corpus: Murasaki's TALE OF GENJI, Kim's NINE-CLOUD DREAM and Cao's THE STORY OF THE STONE (Dream of the Red Chamber). Although these works show no mutual influence, they follow similar patterns that lead us to posit certain common origins in East Asian storytelling and a common heritage of Bud dhist views of heaven and predestination, beliefs about gender relationships, five-element theory and garden architecture. At the same time, all three works partake of some of the characteristics of Western romance. The last two works, Vietnam's THE TAL E OF KIEU and Korea's TALE OF CHUNHYANG, represent a different strain of East Asian romance. Both are poetic narratives, and both come to symbolize national aspirations even as they focus on the virtuous woman in difficult times. Overall, the course see ks to establish a comparative view of four East Asian civilizations by concentrating on the single issue of the romantic tradition and to look for differences and similarities with Western examples of the form.
COURSE FORMAT: Lecture
Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA AL&L Grading Mode: Student Option
Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-19-2002
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459