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Academic Year 2002/2003


Aspects of Early Modern Chinese Literature
ALIT 203 FA

Crosslistings:
EAST 209

The advent if modern China offers us a great occasion to study the fundamental changes brought by the modernized West to bear on a profoundly Oriental society such as China. This course focuses on one best venue to observe such societal metamorphosis: through literary genres-novels, diaries, drama, and journalism-that shed much light on how the individual and society interacted amidst their struggle to absorb and reinvent ethnic and identity, social values, and cultural dynamics as China survived foreign aggressions, civil wars, and political upheavals. One main focus is on the effort of the individual to grapple with social and familial crises, traumas, and flux as a witness to China's distinct ways of entering the age of modernization and industrialization.

MAJOR READINGS

MODERN CHINESE STORIES AND NOVELLAS 1919-1949 (Joseph Lau, C.T. Hsia, Leo Lee, eds.) SCHOOLMASTER NI HUAN-CHIH, Yeh Sheng-tao THE CHINESE EARTH: STORIES BY SHEN TSENG-WEN (Ching Ti & Robert Payne, trans,) I MYSELF AM A WOMAN: SELECTED WRITINGS OF DING LING (Tani Barlow, ed.) THE NEW REALISM: WRITINGS FROM CHINA AFTER THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION (Lee Yee, ed.) HOMECOMING? AND OTHER STORIES BY HAN SHAOGONG (Martha Cheung, trans.) THE PAST AND THE PUNISHMENT BY YU HUA (Andrew Jones, trans.) RAISE THE RED LANTERN: THREE NOVELLAS BY SU TONG (Michael Duke, trans.)

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Regular short quizzes on reading assignments, one short (4-6 page) book report, a mid-term, a term paper and a final.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

This is a Chinese lit-in-English-translation course; knowledge of Chinese is not required. Although it is a lecture course, some class time will be devoted to discussion with the instructor and students both participating.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA AL&L    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-18-2003


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