Course Code and Course Title

[CHES5104] Selected Themes on Chinese Literature II

Time and Venue

Wed 10:30 - 13:15
WLS_LG204

Instructor

Dr. Audrey Heijns

Course Description

Since the early days, the translation, dissemination and promotion of literature from China have resulted in the creation of diverse images of China in the West. In this course, we will read selected English translations of Chinese literature and relevant academic studies about the literary texts. Topics will focus on classical and modern texts, individual translators and various genres. Each of these topics will be approached from aspects of translation by way of analysing existing translations and conducting comparisons between different versions of the same text, as well as exploring the historical context and the background of the translators, and the promotion, distribution and reception of Chinese literature in the West. Within this context, relevant theories such as cultural translation, foreignization, domestication, Otherness, as well as concepts of Orientalism, world literature and gender performativity will be introduced and applied.

Course Outline

Chinese Literature in Translation

Chinese Poetry and the Discourse of Chineseness

Translating the Chinese Classics

Diversity in the Liaozhai Zhiyi

Chinese Culture translated by Lin Yutang

Martial Arts by Jin Yong *Guest Speaker: Ms. Gigi Chang

Modern Chinese Literature in English Translation

Yu Hua and Cultural Images of China                

Women in Chinese Literature

Global Storyteller: Mo Yan

Uncompromising Localism: Taiwan *Guest Speaker: Prof. Darryl Sterk

New Localism: Hong Kong