Middlebury

CHNS 0220

Modern Chinese Literature

Modern China through Literature (in translation)
This course, taught in English, is a discussion-based seminar on some of the most significant works of short fiction, novellas, and novels that tell the story of China and the Chinese from the end of the Qing dynasty to the present. Students will gain a better understanding of the history of modern China by studying the works of literature that inspired readers and provoked debate during one hundred years of social reform, revolution, war, civil war, reconstruction, cultural revolution, cultural revival, and economic growth. Our reading will include work by authors such as Lu Xun (Diary of a Madman, 1918), Zhang Ailing (Love in a Fallen City, 1944), Ah Cheng (The Chess King, 1984), Yu Hua (To Live, 1993), and, from Taiwan, Zhu Tianwen (Notes of a Desolate Man, 1999). We will consider the mainstream (socially engaged realism), the avant-garde (varieties of modernism), and popular genres (romance and martial arts), and we will look for answers to the following questions: what has been the place of fiction in China in the modern era and what vision of modern China do we find in its fiction? (No prerequisites) 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Subject:
Chinese
Department:
Chinese
Division:
Languages
Requirements Fulfilled:
LIT NOA
Equivalent Courses:

Sections

Spring 2025

CHNS0220A-S25 Lecture

Fall 2023

CHNS0220A-F23 Seminar (Wang)

Fall 2022

CHNS0220A-F22 Seminar (Moran)

Spring 2021

CHNS0220A-S21 Lecture (Moran)

Fall 2019

CHNS0220A-F19 Lecture (Moran)
CHNS0220B-F19 Lecture (Moran)

Fall 2018

CHNS0220A-F18 Lecture (Xu)

Fall 2017

CHNS0220A-F17 Lecture (Chen)

Fall 2016

CHNS0220A-F16 Lecture (Chen)

Fall 2015

CHNS0220A-F15 Lecture (Chen)

Spring 2014

CHNS0220A-S14 Lecture (Moran)

Fall 2010

CHNS0220A-F10 Lecture (Moran)

Spring 2010

CHNS0220A-S10 Lecture (Moran)

Fall 2007

CHNS0220A-F07 Lecture (Moran)
CHNS0220B-F07 Lecture (Moran)

Fall 2006

CHNS0220A-F06 Lecture (Ridgway)
CHNS0220B-F06 Lecture (Ridgway)

Fall 2005

CHNS0220A-F05 Lecture (Ridgway)

Fall 2004

CHNS0220A-F04 Lecture (Moran)
CHNS0220B-F04 Lecture (Moran)

Spring 2004

CHNS0220A-S04 Lecture (Moran)