Modern Chinese Literature

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This course, taught in English, surveys an archive of seminal short fiction, novellas, novels, and poems that tell the story of China and the Chinese from the end of the Qing dynasty to the present. What has been the place of literature in China in the modern era? What vision of modern China do we find in its literature? How, moreover, does literature subvert the national narrative? Through literature as a window on the history of modern China, students gain a better understanding of Chinese history and culture with regard to its social reform, revolution, war, cultural revolution, cultural revival, and economic growth.