CLS3160 - Chinese Literature and Modernity

Leader: Gloria Davies

Offered

Not offered in 2007

Synopsis

This unit will introduce students to twentieth-century Chinese literature in its political, historical and cultural contexts. It will also examine and compare Chinese and Western cultural values and expectations and ask how Chinese literature is received in the West. What is the relation between Chinese literature and "third-world literatures"? What ideological assumptions are implicit in Chinese literary representations of "China" and "the Chinese" and do these differ from Western representations? What differences are there between Chinese and Western representations of modernity?

Assessment

Essay (2250 words): 50%
Class project (equivalent 2250 words): 25%
literature review (equivalent 1125 words): 25%. Third-year students will be invited to show a greater degree of theoretical reflection in their projects.

Contact hours

2 hours (1 x 2 hour seminar) per week