This course introduces students to the most important Chinese fiction works of the twentieth century. This period witnessed the most momentous changes in Chinese society and its relations to the world. These ruptures are reflected in the style, content, readership and authorship of literature. This course examines how literature transforms and mirrors reality creating multiple “fictions” and multiple realities. Authors covered in this course include: Lu Xun, Yu Dafu, Mao Dun, Ding Ling, Mo Yan and Wang Anyi. The major themes of the course include: arguments about Chinese identities, the nexus between propaganda and literature, relations between men and women, tensions between tradition and modernity, literature as dissent, “Chinese” cosmopolitanism and Chinese “fictions” in Australia. English is the language for instruction and for all readings.

Essay (30%), Tutorial Presentation (30%), Final Exam (40%).

2 lectures, one tutorial per week

6 university courses (36 units).

Incompatible with ‘Chinese Fictions’ ASIA2003

McDougall, B. and Louie, K., The Literature of China in the Twentieth Century, Columbia University Press, 1999.
Supplementary text: Link, P., The Uses of Literature in the Socialist Chinese Literary System, Princeton University Press, 2000; Louie, K., Between Fact and Fiction: Essays on Post-Mao Literature in China, Sydney: Wild Peony, 1989; Widmer, E. & Wang, D. (eds), From May Fourth to June Fourth, Harvard University Press, 1993.