Modern Chinese Fiction

Catalog description

This course will survey literature produced at various points in the tumult of modern Chinese history, from the early Twentieth Century through to the present day. While the time period will be broad, we will hope to engage in close, critical readings of significant works of fiction from a selection of major authors writing in Chinese. Most of the course will focus on writers from Mainland China, with the inclusion of several examples of works from the broader Sinosphere. How do certain concerns of modernity arise in different texts, at different times, and for different writers in different places? What different relationships do we see being shaped between literature, life, and politics, and how does fiction negotiate certain tensions and anxieties about modern and contemporary life? By exploring a variety of engaging novels and short stories, we will hope to gain a more nuanced understanding of modern writing in Chinese, and the role that fiction has played as both an agent of modernity and a reflection of modern “Chinese” life, broadly conceived.