ASCL 60s East Asian Literatures and Linguistics
ASCL 60.01 Traditional Chinese Short Fiction
This is a survey course of the Chinese narrative tradition in the form of short fiction, spanning roughly from the third century BCE to the second decade of twentieth century CE. We will discuss the birth and development of this literary form, including its esthetic and linguistic conventions, themes, and its relationships to other literary forms. We will also explore the philosophical, intellectual and sociopolitical atmospheres and circumstances, impacting the different stages of its long history. The goal of the course is to acquaint the student with this unique and important form of traditional Chinese literature. The material will be presented in chronological order. Knowledge of Chinese is not required.
- Mowry
- Dist: Lit; WCult: NW
- Not to be offered in the period from 20F through 21S
ASCL 60.02 Women in China: A Literary Approach
This is a survey course of Chinese ideas and practices concerning women. The pursuit of this theme will take the student through a wide variety of Chinese literary genres and materials, including the classics, poetry, fiction, drama, biography, familiar essay, and law. The use of women as a focus in the organization of the course provides the selectivity that makes such comprehensiveness possible. The aim is to provide the student with an intimate portrait of the development of Chinese culture as a whole through the examination of one of its central systems. The course is designed with the presumption that an understanding of Chinese thoughts about women will lead to an enhanced understanding of Chinese thoughts about Chinese people and life in general. The material will be presented in chronological order, keeping in mind the broader time perspectives. Knowledge of Chinese is not required.
- Mowry
- Dist: Lit; WCult: NW
- Not to be offered in the period from 20F through 21S
ASCL 60.03 Frontier in Traditional Chinese Thought: Beyond the Great Wall and the Becoming of China
The conceptions of frontier, frontier-heartland relations, unity and territoriality are crucial to the formation of the Chinese cultural and spatial identity from the ancient time to today. At the moment, the frontier space beyond the Great Wall takes up more than half of the entire Chinese territory. The ways Chinese people deal with their ethnic minority regions, differentiate the northerners and the southerners, view their own culture and cultural others and imagine their regional and global roles can all be related to the spatial conceptions with regard to the frontier in pre-modern China. This course will trace the development of these conceptions through a variety of philosophical, cosmological, religious, historical, geographical, and literary texts and images. Classical Chinese texts however are not categorized by discipline but represent a body of interdisciplinary knowledge that reflects the culture's thoughts and values. The course will deal with the materials in a way that relive their a-disciplinary nature while maintaining a critical perspective on them. When relevant, the course will also examine broader theoretical issues such as political morality, gender and sexuality, and border-crossing.
- Xie
- Dist: TMV; WCult: NW
- Not to be offered in the period from 20F through 21S
ASCL 60.04 Modern Chinese Literature Across Time, Space and Media
This upper level survey course will introduce participants to major works in modern Chinese literature and related media forms, as well as academic discussions surrounding them. Using a variety of sources, including literary texts, films, music, ballet, installation, and digital arts, students will closely examine each in terms of their content and form. Students will look at associated original texts, undertake critical analyses of their social contexts, consider their influences and the challenges they face in China and the world, and compare different media and genres. By highlighting the temporal development of modern Chinese literature as well as the spatial dissemination of the texts, the course will allow participants to realize both the depth and range of modern Chinese literature.
- Xie
- Dist. LIT; WCult: NW
- Not to be offered in the period from 20F through 21S
ASCL 60.05 Love and Desire in Modern Chinese Literature
Spanning a selection of short stories and novels from the early twentieth century to the turn of the millennium, this course explores connections between themes of filial piety, nationalism, revolutionary idealism, nostalgia for the past, ideological constraints placed on love, and attempts to subvert those constraints. Readings and discussions will relate the works covered to key intellectual and political movements, connecting ideas of individual romance and disillusionment to larger issues of modernity and globalization.
- Gibbs
- Dist: LIT; WCult: NW
- 21F: 2A
ASCL 60.07 Chinese Painting, Poetry and Philosophy
A systematically trained traditional Chinese scholar was expected to achieve perfection in all the three areas – classical poetry, calligraphy, and traditional Chinese painting. Thus, the poetry-calligraphy-painting "Three Perfections" represents certain significant aspects of the Chinese culture. Since none of the "Three Perfections" is possible beyond the intellectual context of Chinese philosophy, and also, since the traditional Chinese painting has to be written (in the way of Chinese calligraphy) rather than painted, the Chinese painting/calligraphy, poetry, and philosophy are indeed the key for understanding the Chinese culture. By introducing the basics of traditional Chinese painting/calligraphy, classical Chinese poetry, Chinese cosmology, philosophy and religions, this course is the gateway to the Chinese manuscript culture that defines the written tradition of the Chinese culture. The first-hand experience of basic brush-and-ink techniques of traditional Chinese painting/calligraphy provides the student with visual and enjoyable illustrations of the relationship between traditional Chinese art and cosmology. Reading through the oriental tradition of Chinese painting, poetry, and philosophy, the student will be able to view the same universe from a different but an artistic, literary, intellectual, and written perspective.
- Dist: ART; WCult: NW
- Not to be offered in the period from 20F through 21S
ASCL 60.09 Classical Chinese Poetry
This is an introduction to classical Chinese poetry from its beginning to the last imperial dynasty in China, Qing (1616-1911) dynasty. By reading, discussing and writing on the representative works of classical Chinese poetry, the students will familiarize themselves with the key genres of classical Chinese poetry, such as archaic style poem, fu rhapsody, modern style poem, ci lyric and qu musical lyric, as well as the major poets who have had an enduring impact on the Chinese literary tradition. We will study both the Chinese originals, and their English translations in this course. The poems will be examined in their cultural, historical, intellectual and literal contexts. Prerequisite: CHIN 51 or permission of the instructor.
- Dist: LIT; WCult: NW
- Not to be offered in the period from 20F through 21S
ASCL 60.19/LING 11.02, Languages of China
In this course, we will survey both the history of language in China, and the current linguistic situation. Topics will include geographical and genealogical classification of languages in China; the phonological and grammatical systems of representative languages; the reconstruction of Middle and Old Chinese; ways of writing both Sinitic and non-Sinitic languages; language as a marker of ethnic identity; and past and present language policies, both governmental and non-governmental.
- Pulju
- Dist: SOC; WCult: NW
- Not to be offered in the period from 20F through 21S
ASCL 60.20 Languages and Scripts of Gender, Class, and Nation
While language is commonly believed to be a great "tool" with which we describe our feelings and physical phenomena, it is also the portal through which we understand the world. In other words, language defines, constrains, and colors human experiences. With this premise as the basis, this course attempts to expand our horizons by examining the ways the spoken languages of Japan, Korea, and China convey concepts such as masculinity, femininity, affection, status, and solidarity. In the latter half of the term, we will also explore the layers of complexity embedded in the writing systems of these three nations. In so doing, we will shed light on each society's historical negotiation of its national identity, Sinophilia, and desire to become a first-class nation of the modern world. No previous knowledge of an Asian language is required.
- Schmidt-Hori
- Dist: INT or TMV; WCult: NW
- 21F: 11
ASCL 60.21 Body Politics in Japan: Beauty, Disfigurement, Corporeality
The body is a tangible, self-evident entity. Or is it? The premise of JAPN 62.01 is that the body is a political, ethical, sociocultural, and historical phenomenon deeply ingrained in our perceptions of self, other, and the world. This course is an endeavor to understand the politics of the body in premodern and modern Japan through a wide range of primary and secondary texts. In order to consider the multiple perspectives of the body across time, the readings are organized thematically, covering topics from physical beauty as virtue/vice, symbolic meanings of hair and clothing, aesthetics of the Tale of Genji, to disfigurement, disability, aging, race, among other things. This course is open to everyone and no knowledge of Japanese literature or language is required.
- Schmidt-Hori
- Dist: INT or TMV; WCult: NW
- 20F: 10
ASCL 60.22 Gender, Sexuality, and Power in Premodern Japan
With a mythical transgendered Sun Goddess, amorous noblemen in pursuit of beautiful ladies, vengeful women wreaking revenge on unfaithful lovers, and Buddhist priests and samurai in same-sex love affairs, classical Japanese literature is populated by figures with a surprisingly diverse range of gender types. The course will cover, in chronological order, myths, courtly tales, poetry, martial epics, ghostly drama, and medieval short stories from the 8th to 16th centuries, and through these texts depicting the interrelationship of gender, sexuality, and power, students will come to an understanding of how historical, political, linguistic and cultural forces shape subjectivity. The course is open to all students; it is taught in English and there are no pre-requisites.
- Schmidt-Hori
- Dist: TMV; WCult: NW
- 21F: 10
ASCL 60.23 Critiquing Modern Japan through the Works of Murakami Haruki
The students will read and discuss several works of Japan's best-known contemporary author, Murakami Haruki. Through focusing on the recurrent themes of violence, isolation, disconnection, materialism, apathy, and sexuality in Murakami's fictions, the students will consider the various societal issues of post-1970s Japan.
- Schmidt-Hori
- Dist: LIT; WCult: NW
- Not to be offered in the period from 20F through 21S
ASCL 60.24 Image and Text in Modernizing Japan
Images and text have been variously combined in the Japanese tradition, from the ancient picture scrolls to today's manga (comics). This course traces the evolution of such media in early modern Japan, with a focus on the late nineteenth century shift from the "communal reading" of visually-oriented texts to the silent, solitary reading of fiction. Some consideration will also be given to the re- emergence of the visual imagination in film, manga, and animation.
- Dorsey
- Dist: LIT; WCult: NW
- Not to be offered in the period from 20F through 21S
ASCL 60.25 The Art of War: Stories, Paintings, Films, and Propaganda from Japan's Modern Wars
In this course we will examine the relationship between a wide variety of cultural artifacts and modern Japan's experience of war, particularly WW II. Topics addressed within this context include: government censorship, literary subversion, popular culture versus high culture, visual versus written media, postwar cultural memory, the ideology of suicide squads, and the mentality of victimhood. No Japanese language is required for the course, but students with sufficient ability will be expected to make use of original sources.
- Dorsey
- Dist: LIT; WCult: NW
- 22W:10A
ASCL 60.91 Meta-Japanese: Reading about the Japanese Language in Japanese
This class focuses on a range of sociolinguistic issues in contemporary Japan with the goal of challenging the narrowly defined syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of the Japanese as a Foreign Language the students have been exposed to through textbooks, lectures, and media. The students will also read about and discuss the issue of linguistic hegemony of English in Japan, which is designed to help them understand the meaning of learning a vastly different foreign language in an academic setting.
- Schmidt-Hori
- Dist:LIT; WCult: NW
- Not to be offered in the period from 20F through 21S
ASCL 60.92 Theory and Practice of Translation
If the act of translation is straightforward, why are there so many Japanese words for it—honyaku, gendaigo-yaku, eyaku, chokuyaku, iyaku, and even chōyaku? This course will explore the theory and practice of translation, considering the various strategies translators have used in working across English and Japanese, two utterly different languages. We'll look at Japanese and English textbook translations, manga and young adult "translations" of classics like the Tale of Genji, Murakami Haruki's translation of Salinger and Jay Rubin's translations of Murakami. In conversation with some seminal texts of translation theory (read in English), we'll try our hand at translating poetry, jokes, songs, puns, prose and more. Open to students who have completed Japanese 31, the equivalent, or with the permission of the instructor.
- Dorsey
- Dist: LIT; WCult: NW
- 22W:10
ASCL 60.93 Countercultures of Japan's 1960s
Like their American counterparts, Japanese youth in the 1960s occupied university administration buildings, protested war and imperialism, and denounced discrimination, exploitation, and the status quo. This course will explore their counterculture through the music, fiction, film, and comics (manga) of that decade. Topics include ambivalent attitudes towards the U.S., generational discord, new conceptions of love and sex, the legacy of war and the relationship of culture to politics. Most of the course will be conducted in Japanese, but some theoretical and historical issues will be researched and discussed in English.
- Dorsey
- Dist: LIT; WCult: NW
- Not to be offered in the period from 20F through 21S
ASCL 60.94 Chinese Martial Arts Fiction
Martial arts fiction has a long history in China and is a very popular contemporary Chinese literary genre. Focusing on the most successful and influential Chinese martial arts fiction writer Louis Cha's (Jin Yong 金庸) novels in both Chinese originals and English translations, this course will not only introduce a typical Chinese literary genre that does not exist in the Western literary tradition, but also present the wonders of Chinese martial arts. By reading selections of Yitian tulong ji 倚天屠龙记 (The Tale of Relying on Heaven to Slay the Dragon) in Chinese and Shujian enchou lu 书剑恩仇录 (The Book and the Sword) in both Chinese and English, the student will examine the literary representations of both the external and internal Chinese kungfu 功夫, as well as their cultural contexts, including but not limited to Chinese calligraphy, cosmology, history, music, philosophy, poetry, and traditional Chinese medicine, etc. Supplementary readings on related topics, in particular, Taijiquan 太极拳, will also be provided. Most classroom reading materials will be in Chinese
- Dist: LIT; WCult: NW
- Not to be offered in the period from 20F through 21S
ASCL 60.95 Modern Chinese Poetry:
Resisting against over two thousand years of poetic tradition, Chinese poems in the twentieth century represent one of the major achievements of modern Chinese literature and reflect splendid brilliance of modern Chinese young literary talents. An introduction to the representative poets, schools and works of modern Chinese poetry, this course examines the language, style and merits of the newly developed modern Chinese poetic tradition. Works covered in this course, in both Chinese original and English translation, include those pioneering early vernacular poems by Hu Shi 胡适 (1891-1962) and Liu Bannong 刘半农 (1891-1934), etc. and contemporary experimental poems by the controversial avant-garde poets
- Dist: LIT; WCult: NW
- Not to be offered in the period from 20F through 21S