A Brief Introduction to the 20th Century Chinese Literature

Semester: Fall

Lecturer: Dr. HAN Lei

Credit: 2

Course Description:

The 20th century Chinese literature is a profound reflection of Chinese intellectuals recasting their own humanistic traditions and participating in Chinese social governance and spiritual exploration with the changing times. At the same time, these courageous explorations combined with traditional Chinese culture, along with the development of New China’s cultural dissemination, also inspired the literary production and cultural research in the West and the entire world.
This required course serves three purposes. First, it introduces diachronically the history of 20th century Chinese literature. Second, it examines the shifts of kernel poetics in China in the 20th century, this critical and historical survey will show how each “poetics” was to effect a qualitative change in modern and contemporary Chinese academy of literature. Third, as a reverse reaction to Orientalism and a support to establish the subjectivity of Chinese literary studies, this course also sets as its task to analyze the problematics of Chinese poetics in the western theories in the 20th century.