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ALIT258

Travel Literature of East Asia
ALIT258 SP

Crosslistings: EAST258, COL 267

Not Currently Offered

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 breakup 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

Wu Cheng-en, JOURNEY TO THE WEST
THE TRAVEL DIARIES OF XU XIAKE
Choe Pu, A RECORD OF DRIFTING ACROSS THE SEA
Basho, THE NARROW ROAD TO OKU
Li Ruzhen, THE TRAVELS OF LAOCAN
Lu Xun, THE TRUE STORY OF AH Q
Mark Salzman, IRON AND SILK
Cathy Davidson, THIRTY-SIX VIEWS OF MOUNT FUJI

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Weekly written responses to the readings and a final paper of 15 to 20 pages.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Only COL students will be allowed to take this course on a Credit/Unsatisfactory basis. All others must take it for letter grade. 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.

COURSE FORMAT: Discussion Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

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

Prerequisites: None

Last Updated on MAR-22-1999


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