ALIT264 - Chinese Visual Imagination

[ Wesleyan Home Page ] [ WesMaps Home Page ] [ WesMaps Archive ] [ Course Search ] [ Course Search by CID ]
Academic Year 2002/2003

Chinese Visual Imagination
ALIT 264 SP

Crosslistings:
ARHA 282
EAST 264

How have Chinese artists imagined alternative worlds, the afterlife, immortal realms, paradise and hell? This course studies literary, visual and cultural materials from the earliest times to modern Chinese film, and will explore the aesthetic values, as well as the social and cultural contexts behind these representations. Topics include the depictions of ancestral portraits, paradise and hell in the Buddhist cosmology, fictive landscapes, garden designs, imperial architecture, and their antithesis in the construction of everyday life.

MAJOR READINGS

Charles Luk trans., THE VIMALAKIRTI NIRDESA SUTRA
Burton Watson trans., THE LOTUS SUTRA
Susan Bush and Hsio-yen Shih eds., EARLY CHINESE TEXTS ON PAINTING
Gilles Beguin, THE FORBIDDEN CITY: CENTER OF IMPERIAL CHINA
Ji Cheng, THE CRAFT OF GARDENS
A Reader of selected essays and articles

Films:
Zhang Yimou, RAISE THE RED LANTERN
Zhang Yimou, NOT ONE LESS

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

3 short (1 page) close readings of texts or analyses of paintings
5-7 page midterm paper
Final Examination
Participation in class discussion
Attendance at film screenings

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

No knowledge of Chinese is required.

Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

The instructor of this course will not be using the on-line wait list. If you are interested in this course, please contact the instructor directly.

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

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

Prerequisites: NONE

SECTION 01

Instructor(s): Lin,Pauline

Times: ....R.. 01:10PM-04:00PM; Location: SCIE137

Reserved Seats: (Total Limit: 20)

SR. major: 3 Jr. major: 3

SR. non-major: 3 Jr. non-major: 3 SO: 4 FR: 4

Special Attributes:

Curricular Renewal: Reading Non-Verbal Texts

Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-18-2003