Course description:
The course is a general introduction for graduate students to
the literary history of the Republican period and the inception
of literary modernity in China, and to the current state of Western
critical approaches to the study of modern Chinese literature.
The first few weeks of the course are spent looking at general
issues: the problem of how modern Chinese literature has been
represented; issues of language and genre; and the literary field.
Students will also read major works, primarily in the short story
genre, and discuss issues central to the discourse of modernity,
with a focus on the "reception" in China of such Western
literary modes as realism, romanticism and modernism. Students
will also be asked to familiarize themselves with important secondary
materials in the field, as well as bibliographic tools for research
into the field. Time permitting, the final week of classes will
be spent reading and discussing articles about the "state
of the field." Attention will be paid to close reading of
literary texts and discussion of Western critical theory and its
role in analysis of Chinese fiction. The course is an introduction,
and as such is appropriate for DEALL students not specializing
in literary studies. Graduate students in DEALL not concentrating
in literature are encouraged to participate in this class.
After three weeks of general introductory discussion, the course
material is presented in chronological order (to get a sense of
literary development), yet organized according to certain themes.
Generally, the half of each week's class meetings will be in the
form of lecture, presenting background necessary for a discussion
of the readings, the focus of the second half.
Requirements
1. Readings and class discussion (20%)
- students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss
readings; this means participating through questions and voicing
of views
2. Two Class Presentations (20%)
- oral presentations of a critical ariticle and a fictional
text
3. Book Review (20%)
- 5 page review of a book-length English language study of
modern Chinese literature
4. Examination (40%)
Texts:
- [*] Photocopied packet (available in DEALL Graduate Reading Room)
- [MCLT] Kirk Denton, ed. Modern Chinese Literary Thought: Writings
on Literature, 1893-1945. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996.
- [SM] Leo Ou-fan Lee, Shanghai Modern: The Flowering of a New Urban
Culture in China, 1930-1945. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999.
- Secondary readings are available for download below
Course Schedule
WEEK ONE: CANONICITY AND LITERARY HISTORY
Secondary Readings:
Prusek, "Basic Problems of the History of Modern Chinese Literature:
A Review of C.T. Hsia s A History of Modern Chinese Fiction"
C. T. Hsia, "On the 'Scientific' Study of Modern Chinese Literature: A Reply to Professor Prusek"
Zhang Yingjin. "The Institutionalization of Modern Literary History in
China, 1922-1980."
WEEK TWO: LANGUAGE, STYLE, GENRE: ORIGINS OF MODERN LITERATURE
Primary:
Hu Shi, "Wenxue gailiang chuyi" [* translation in MCLT]
Chen Duxiu, "Wenxue geming lun" [* translation in MCLT]
Secondary:
Dolezelova, "The Origins of Modern Chinese Literature"
Gunn, "Formal Conventions of Style: A Social History"
WEEK THREE: THE LITERARY FIELD
Secondary:
Michael Hockx, "Playing the Field"
Leo Ou-fan Lee, "The Construction of Modernity in Print Culture"
and "Textual Transactions: Discovering Literary Modernism
through Books and Journals," from Shanghai Modern, 43-81; 120-150.
WEEK FOUR: POPULAR LITERATURE
Primary:
Su Manshu, "Sui zan ji" [*]
Ye Shengtao, "Wenyi tan" (On the literary arts) [translation in MCLT]
Secondary:
Perry Link, "Introduction," in Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies: Popular
Fiction in Early Twentieth-Century Chinese Cities.
Rey Chow, "Rereading Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies: A Response to the
Postmodern' Condition"
WEEK FIVE: LU XUN
Primary:
"Suiganlu sanshiba" (Random essay #38) [*]
"Kuangren riji" (Diary of a Madam) [*]
"Ah Q zhengzhuan" (True Story of Ah Q) [*]
"Zai jiulou shang" (In the Wineshop) [*]
Secondary:
Hanan, "The Techniques of Lu Hsun's Fiction"
Mills, "Lu Xun: Literature and Revolution -- from Mara to Marx"
Huters, "Blossoms in the Snow"
WEEK SIX: WOMEN WRITERS
Primary:
Ling Shuhua, "Jiuhou" (After drinking), and "Xiuzhen" (Embroidered pillow) [*]
Ding Ling, "Shafei nushi riji" (Diary of Miss Sophie) [*]
Secondary:
Rey Chow, "Virtuous Transactions: A Reading of Three Stories by Ling
Shuhua"
Wendy Larson, "Introduction" to Women and Writing in Modern China
WEEK SEVEN: ROMANTICISM
Primary:
Yu Dafu "Chenlun" (Sinking) [*]
Guo Moruo, "Shaonian Weite zhi fannao xuyin" (Preface to The Sorrows
of Young Werther) [translation in MCLT]
Secondary:
Denton, "Introduction," Modern Chinese Literary Thought: Writings on Literature, 1893-1945
Lee Ou-fan, "The Romantic Heritage." In The Romantic Generation
of Modern Chinese Writers
WEEK EIGHT: REALISM
Primary:
Ye Shaojun, "Fan" (Rice), and "Zhei ye shi yige ren" (This too is a human) [*]
Mao Dun "Chuncan" [*]
Secondary:
Anderson, "The Specular Self"
WEEK NINE: MODERNISM
Primary:
Mu Shiying "Ye zonghui li de wuge ren" [*]
Shi Zhecun, "Zai Bali da xiyuan" [*]
Zhang Ailing, "Fengsuo" [*]
Secondary:
Zhang Jingyuan, "Modernist Writers," from Psychoanalysis in China: Literary Transformations, 103-29
Leo Ou-fan Lee, "In Search of Modernity"
Leo Ou-fan Lee, Shanghai Modern [SM, pp. 153-303]
C.T. Hsia, "The Moral Burden of Modern Chinese Literature"
WEEK TEN: REGIONALISM
Primary:
Fei Ming, "Zhulin de gushi" (In the Bamboo Grove) [*]
Shen Congwen, "Xiao Xiao" [*]
Secondary:
Jeffrey Kinkley, "Shen Congwen and the Uses of Regionalism in Modern
Chinese Literature"
ISSUES IN THE STUDY OF MCL
Readings:
Rey Chow, "The Politics and Pedagogy of Asian Literatures in American
Universities" in Writing Diaspora.
Gloria Davies, "Chinese Literary Studies and Post-Structuralist Positions:
What Next?" The Australian Journal of Chinese Studies 28 (July 1991): 67-86.
"Ideology and Theory in the Study of Modern Chinese Literature" special issue of Modern China (see articles by Michael Duke, Liu Kang,
Perry Link, and Zhang Longxi)
Yue Daiyun, "Standing at a Theoretical Crossroads: Western Literary Theories
in China."
Williams, Philip, Review of Politics, Ideology, and Literaary Discourse in
Modern China: Theoretical Interventions and Cultural Critique, ed. Liu Kang
and Xiaobin Tang.
Materials Code
[*] (photocopied original source packet)
[MCLT] (Modern Chinese Literary Thought)
[SM] (Shanghai Modern)
