CH 503: MODERN CHINESE LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION
Fall, 2008

Time and Room: T/Th 1:30-3:30, Baker Systems 180
Instructor: Kirk A. Denton / 375 Hagerty Hall / 292-5548 (Office)
Office hours: T/Th 3:30-4:30
e-mail: denton.2@osu.edu
course webpage: http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/denton2/courses/c503/c503.htm

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Goals:

As a survey introduction to the literature of twentieth century China, the course is intended for students who have little or no knowledge of the Chinese language, history, or culture. All readings and class discussion are in English. Since it is arguably the most important genre of modern Chinese literature and is convenient to work with in class, emphasis is placed on the short story. Class lectures will present important historical and literary background to the period under scrutiny: from the 1910s, through the May Fourth Movement, the radicalization of the 30s, the Anti-Japanese War, the period of socialist construction, the Cultural Revolution, and the liberalization of the post-Mao era. The chronological arrangement of the course will give the student a sense of literary development. Great importance is placed on class discussion and on creating a dialogue of interpretations of the texts we read. It is hoped that students come away from this course having learned something about modern Chinese literature, but also about how literary texts work and the different ways readers may approach and appreciate these texts.

This course is one that fulfils the Literature portion of the GEC "Arts and Humanities" requirement. As such, students will engage in interpretation and evaluation of works of literature and reflect on what these texts mean to them personally, what they might mean in their specific historical and cultural contexts, and how they reflect or reflect on the human condition.

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Texts (available at SBX):

Lau, Joseph and Howard Goldblatt, eds. Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature. NY: Columbia UP, 2007. [Do not buy the earlier 1995 edition]

McDougall, Bonnie and Kam Louie. The Literature of China in the Twentieth Century. NY: Columbia University Press, 1997.

Kirk A. Denton, ed. China: A Traveler's Literary Companion. Berkeley: Whereabouts Press, 2008.

Optional (also available at SBX):

Denton, Kirk A., ed. Modern Chinese Literary Thought: Writings on Literature, 1893-1945. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996.

Recommended

Lodge, David. The Art of Fiction. NY: Penguin Books, 1992.

For further readings about and lists of translations of works of modern Chinese literature, link to Modern Chinese Literature and Culture Resource Center

For readings on modern Chinese history, go to History of China and link to the sections Emergence of Modern China, Republican China, and People's Republic of China.

For good reference work on various aspects of modern Chinese literature, see the China section of The Columbia Companion to Modern East Asian Literature. Ed. Joshua Mostow. NY: Columbia University Press, 2003.

Class powerpoints

Late Qing
May Fourth
Lu Xun
Romanticism
Women Writers
Revolutionary Literature
Regionalism
Modernism
War Literature
Maoist Period
Post-Mao Period
Taiwan

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Grading

1. Readings and Class Participation (10%)

• readings
• keep regular journal of your reactions to readings as basis for class discussion
• class participation and discussion

2. Midterm and Final (30% each)

• Will consist of short answer questions. Questions will focus on cultural-historical background, the literary characteristics of specific works, how specific works are representative of literary trends, etc. You might, for example, be asked to explain how certain texts are ironic, satirical, or parodic; how certain texts exemplify certain intellectual trends (ie. May Fourth iconoclasm, subjectivism, radicalism...)

3. Final Paper (30%)

• Your final paper, a close reading of a work of modern Chinese fiction, should be 5-10 pages in length. I will ask you sometime around the middle of the quarter to choose a topic. You may write on any short fiction of the modern period, but it might be easier for you to write on the work of a writer we have discussed in class. You may NOT write about a story that has been assigned for class. I would prefer you work on a single text rather than engage in comparative analysis. I would also prefer that you not consult secondary sources; should you feel a need to do so, please use proper bibliographic format (MLA or Chicago Style), giving credit where credit is due. Rest assured that I am very familiar with the secondary literature. Any use of these materials without proper references will be considered plagiarism, a serious infraction of academic protocol.
• Your analysis should offer an interpretation of the meaning of the text, which might ultimately be ambiguous or paradoxical. You analysis might also take into consideration the following: description of formal, literary characteristics (narrative mode, point of view, imagery, symbolism, or irony...) of the type we have discussed throughout the course. In other words, please think about how meaning is conveyed through the form of the story. You might also want to consider in your analysis the socio-historical and literary context that produced the text. What social function did the story have in the period of history in which it was written? Does this context somehow shape our reading of the text? However, do not allow this historical approach to limit your own subjective interpretation. Engage yourself creatively with the text, but be sure to draw evidence for your interpretation from the text itself. In sum, your paper should NOT simply retell the plot of the story; you must analyze.
• I would recommend to all of you (especially those of you who lack experience in writing papers) to avail yourself of the services of the OSU Writing Center. I expect your papers to be grammatically correct, written in proper academic style, well structured, organized logically, and argued coherently. Open with an explicit statement about your argument/interpretation; follow this with a brief (no longer than one or two paragraphs) synopsis of the plot; finally, present a systematically-argued analysis of the story, being sure to include evidence (citations) from the text to substantiate your views. Use the present tense to describe the contents of the literary work your are analyzing. Avoid equating a first-person narrator with the actual author, recognizing that there may be an ironic distance between them.
• Harvard University's Writing Center has an extensive list of tools with down-to-earth, practical advice on how to approach research and writing.
• This Research Guide for Students has good information on how to do citations, as well as approaches to writing papers. It is a good source for how to quote and paraphrase without plagiarizing.
• Harvard has a handout on close reading, that is, what tactics do you take when you first begin to read and analyze a text
• Glossary of literary terms by Robert Harris is a good place to start for short definitions of key terms. Here is another glossary of literary terms produced at the University of North Carolina, Pembroke
• Ideology handout by Professor John Lye at Brock University discusses issues of ideology in literature.  This is releveant to modern Chinese literature, in particular.  He also has extensive pages useful for the serious English or Comparative Literature major.

4. possible pop quizzes on readings

• if the instructor feels that students have not be doing readings and are not prepared for class discussion, he reserves the right to give pop quizzes

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SCHEDULE

WEEK ONE

Introduction / Historical and cultural background to Late Qing and May Fourth

WEEK TWO

con't/ popular fiction: READINGS: "For the Love of Her Feet" [download as pdf file]

Lu Xun and May Fourth iconoclasm: READINGS: "Preface" [3-7]

WEEK THREE (McDougall and Louie, 1-185; focus on pages 1-30)

Lu Xun con't: READINGS: "A Madman's Diary" [8-16]; "Kong Yiji" [17-21]

Lu Xun con't: READINGS: "Hometown" [in China: A Traveler's Literary Companion]

WEEK FOUR

May Fourth Romanticism: READINGS: Xu Zhimo's poems [499-501] Yu Dafu, "Sinking" [31-55]

Women Writers: READINGS: Ling Shuhua, "The Night of Mid-Autumn Festival" [95-102];

WEEK FIVE

Women writers con't: READINGS: Xiao Hong, "Hands" [174-189]; "On the Oxcart" [in China: A Traveler's Literary Companion]

MIDTERM

WEEK SIX

Revolutionary Literature: READINGS: Mao Dun and "Spring Silkworms" [56-73]

Regional Literature; READINGS: Shen Congwen, "Xiaoxiao" [82-94]; "Meijin, Baozi, and the White Kid" [in China: A Traveler's Liteary Companion]

WEEK SEVEN (McDougall and Louie, 189-321; focus on pages 189-207)

Chinese Modernism and the Aesthetic: READINGS: Shi Zhicun, "One Evening in the Rainy Season" [115-24]

Yan'an Literature and Rectification: READINGS: Ding Ling, "When I Was in Hsia Village" [132-46]

WEEK EIGHT

VETERAN'S DAY

Occupation Literature: READINGS: Zhang Ailing, "Sealed Off" [174-83]

WEEK NINE

Post-Revolutionary Literature; Cultural Revolution: READINGS: "Red Detachment of Women" [Film Viewing]

Post-Mao Literature: Introduction; Realism: READINGS: Liu Heng, "Dogshit Food" [366-78]; Yan Lianke, "Black Bristle, White Bristles" [in China: A Traveler's Literary Companion]

WEEK TEN: (McDougall and Louie, 325-448; focus on pages 325-44)

Roots Literature and Cultural Reflections: READINGS: Mo Yan, "Old Gun" [in China: A Traveler's Literary Companion]

THANKSGIVING

WEEK ELEVEN

Avant-garde literature: READINGS: Su Tong, "Escape" [445-54]; Yu Hua, "On the Road at Eighteen" [439-44]

Taiwan Literature : READINGS: Zhang Dachun, "Lucky Worries About His Country" (403-16) ; Zhu Tianwen, "Fin de Siecle Splendor" [388-402] [FINAL PAPERS DUE]

EXAM: Thursday, December 11, 1:30-3:30