CLS2160

Chinese literature and modernity

Not offered in 1999

Gloria Davies

8 points - 3 hours per week - First semester - Clayton

Objectives Upon completion of this subject students should have developed critical perspectives on the differences between Chinese and Western understandings of modernity; explored questions of nationalism and ethnicity in relation to 'third world' literatures and post-colonialism; developed interpretive skills appropriate for reading Chinese literature as well as an ability to question their own cultural and political assumptions as readers.

Synopsis This subject introduces students to twentieth-century Chinese literature and its social, political and intellectual contexts. It focuses on the issue of modernity by examining Chinese and Western cultural expectations and aesthetic values for the ways in which they condition our understanding of the 'ethnic' experience. A range of literary texts in translation, mainly prose fiction dating from the 1910s to the present time, will be discussed. The approach taken is one informed by theoretical writings on third world literatures, Orientalism and postcoloniality.

Assessment Two tutorial papers (1500 words each): 50% - Essay (3000 words): 50% - Second-year students are expected to demonstrate familiarity with the set readings and with the general concerns of the course.

Prescribed texts

Ba Jin Family Anchor Books
Duke M (ed.) Worlds of modern Chinese fiction: Short stories and novellas from the People's Republic, Taiwan and Hong Kong Sharpe
Lee L Farewell my concubine Harper Collins
Li Ang The butcher's wife Point Press
McDougall B and Louie K The literature of China in the twentieth century Bushbooks
Zhao Y H and Cayley J (eds.) Under-sky, underground: Chinese writing today I Wellsweep

Recommended texts

Barlow T (ed.) Gender politics in modern China: Writing and feminism Duke U P
Bhabha H (ed.)Nation and narration Routledge
Chow R Woman and Chinese modernity: The politics of reading between East and West U Minnesota P
Lau J Hsia C T and Lee L O (eds) Modern Chinese stories and novellas 1919-1949 Columbia U P
Spence J The gate of heavenly peace: The Chinese and their revolution, 1895-1980 Penguin
Spivak G The post-colonial critic: Interviews, strategies, dialogues ed. S Harasym, Routledge

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