Confusions of Pleasure: Early Modern Culture in China and Europe
In this course we will explore how the social, economic, demographic, and technological transformations associated with early modernity inflected the visual, literary, and material cultures of Early Modern China and Europe. We will focus on internal phenomena and the influences of globalization. Through investigation of various genres and media, including painting, prints, drama, fiction, and porcelain, we seek to understand central cultural preoccupations of the age, including anxiety over imitation and falsification, the elevation of the exotic and peculiar, and the quest for authenticity. Readings in secondary literature will be paired with primary texts. To study selected primary texts in Chinese, register for INTL 0405B. This course is equivalent to CHNS 0405 and INTL 0405. 3 hrs. sem.