ENG 2075 Modern Asian Literature
This course is an introduction to some of the critical issues and debates in Asian literary studies. Through a survey of Asian Literature and by this I mean literature from Japan, China, and India since the 1930s, students will explore some of the political, social, literary, and religious developments in these areas. We will look at some of the major developments such as the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in the 1930s, the defeat and reconstruction of Japan, the partitioning of India in 1947, the Cultural Revolution in China, etc. Representative texts will be studied with attention to their historical background and the aesthetic and cultural values that informed them. Throughout the course, students will focus on the convergence of religion and gender with race and ethnicity. Readings will include Xiao Hong's Field of Life and Death, Yu Hua's Chronicle of a Blood Merchant, Shauna Singh Baldwin's What the Body Remembers.
LA