Travel Literature of East Asia ALIT258 SP

Section  Limit  Enrollment  Available
  01       30      4         26

Travel literature is one important category of classical East Asian literature, a body of works assuming a Chinese center of the world. The first part of the course considers descriptions of travels within China, and from China to the periphery. It also takes up Japanese and Korean pilgrimages to China, or pilgrimages written against a background of deep respect for Chinese literature. Organization will be by kinds of travel (religious pilgrimage, political reporting, philosophical inquiry, natural description), and we will take up other matters, such as narrative voice and flow of time. We will work to define the dichotomies center/periphery and inside/outside in the context of this literature. The second part of the course treats works written during or after the break up of the traditional East Asian order. It follows the same organizational categories as the first half but takes note of new meanings of "center" and "periphery" that emerged in conjunction with western invasion. During this part of the course, travelogues by westerners are introduced, with a view to understanding what East Asia, or its component countries, might have meant to the non-East Asian world.

MAJOR READINGS

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

COURSE FORMAT: Discussion Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UG Credit: 1.00 Gen Ed Area & Dept: HA AL&L

Prerequisites: None

Section 01

Widmer, E

Times: M.W.... 1:10PM;

Grading Mode: Mixed

Registration Preference (1 high to 6 low, 0=Excluded) Sr: 1, Jr: 1, So: 1, Fr: 1

No Major Preference Given

Last Updated on MAR-10-1997