Guided Readings in Early Modern Vernacular Chinese, 16-20C

Undergraduate

This course is designed for students with L5 Chinese (or equivalent) who wish to engage deeply and directly with the late imperial Chinese narrative fiction canon (ca. 16th–20th centuries). It combines linguistic training in so-called “vernacular Chinese”—more accurately understood as a hybrid of literary and spoken registers—with critical inquiry into the concept itself. In particular, we examine how “vernacular Chinese” has been deployed as a retrospective category in shaping the Chinese novel tradition. Through the course, students develop the skills and confidence to read late imperial fiction in the original, gain familiarity with the media contexts that produced these works, and approach their literary “genealogy” from a critical, Sinological perspective. L5 Chinese (or equivalent). This means you can read a short Mandarin story with the help of a dictionary. Prior experience with classical Chinese will be helpful but not required. HU M 4pm-5:55pm