{"id":72,"date":"2011-12-29T13:47:36","date_gmt":"2011-12-29T18:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/kabesio\/?page_id=72"},"modified":"2022-01-29T18:10:05","modified_gmt":"2022-01-29T23:10:05","slug":"ea-252-hell-on-earth","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/kabesio\/home\/ea-252-hell-on-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"EA 252 Hell on Earth?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Are we living in a hell on earth?  This question consistently plagued 20th<\/sup> century Chinese writers when contemplating their society.  In this January course we will look at how Chinese writers have used literature and film to address the various political and social crises their country faced during the 20th<\/sup> century as we read short stories, plays, poetry and memoirs, and view films, written and produced between the 1920s and the 1990s. Some of the topics we will consider are changing assessments of traditional China\u2019s cultural legacy, China\u2019s response to modernity (often represented by the West), revolution and resistance in rural China, the Taiwan experience, the Cultural Revolution and its legacy, and the emergence of women writers in the 20th<\/sup> century. The format of the course will be lecture-discussion.  To encourage you to keep up with your reading you will be required to take an online reading quiz before the start of each class session.  You will also be required to post a minimum of 5 forum entries reacting to the films viewed outside of class, and an additional 7 forum entries reacting to class discussion, an event on Modern East Asia, or an event related to this year\u2019s Humanities Theme: Energy\/Exhaustion.  Two 3-5 page writing assignments, a 2-3 page research project proposal & preliminary bibliography, a draft thesis paragraph and detailed outline, an oral presentation outlining and summarizing your research, and a final paper of 8-10 pages combining research and literary analysis will be required.<\/p>\n

Required Texts:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Howard Goldblatt ed., Chairman Mao Would Not Be Amused<\/span>.  New York, Grove Press, 1995.<\/p>\n

John Howard-Gibbon trans., Teahouse: A Play in Three Acts<\/u> by Lao She.  San Francisco: China Books, 2013.<\/p>\n

Lau and Goldblatt ed., The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature<\/span>.  2nd<\/sup> ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.<\/p>\n

William A. Lyell, trans.  Diary of a Madman and Other Stories<\/u> by Lu Xun.  Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1990.<\/p>\n

All of the above are available at the bookstore.<\/em><\/p>\n

Online reserve readings will be selected from:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tani E. Barlow and Gary J. Bjorge ed., I Myself am a Woman: Selected Writings of Ding Ling<\/span>.  Boston, Beacon Press, 1989.<\/p>\n

Alan H. Barr trans., China in Ten Words<\/u> by Yu Hua. New York: Anchor Books, 2011.<\/p>\n

Amy Dooling ed., Writing Women in Modern China: The Revolutionary Years, 1936-1976<\/u>.  New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.<\/p>\n

Howard Goldblatt trans., The Drowning of an Old Cat and Other Stories<\/span> by Hwang Chun-ming.  Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980<\/p>\n

Kai-yu Hsu ed., Literature of the People\u2019s Republic of China<\/u>.  Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1980.<\/p>\n

Lau and Goldblatt ed., The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature<\/span>.  1st<\/sup> ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.<\/p>\n

Lau, Hsia and Lee ed., Modern Chinese Stories and Novellas 1919-1949<\/span>.  New York, Columbia University Press, 1981.<\/p>\n

Haiping Yan ed., Theatre and Society:  An Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Drama<\/span>. M.E. Sharpe, 1998.<\/p>\n

Course Moodle Page<\/a><\/p>\n

Useful Websites for the study of 20th Century Chinese Literature and Society<\/strong><\/p>\n