EAST-UA 952 Topics in Chinese Studies: Literary Transformations in Post-Mao China

After the death of Mao Zedong and the fall of the Gang of Four in 1976, the ideological stranglehold that had suffocated literary production during the Cultural Revolution gave way to a flourishing of literary exploration and experimentation. This course will look closely at the trajectories, developments, disjunctions, and transformations of literature beginning with the initial post-Mao period and moving through to the present day. The first half of the course will mainly examine literature from the 1980s, paying close attention to the complex intellectual scene of the “Culture Fever” (文化热) and the numerous and diverse schools of literature that arose during this dynamic decade. In the second half of the course, we will move on to the literature produced after the brutal suppression of the 1989 Tian’anmen protests, which is generally noted for its increased commercialization, popularization, and the death of a “humanistic spirit.” Finally, we will look at more recent works of literature produced in the 21st century, examining new popular genres by a younger generation of writers. Overall, we hope to pursue several overarching, guiding questions: What approaches does the literature of the post-Mao period take toward issues of historical, national, and social narrative? What political and theoretical anxieties continue to drive a diverse array of literary activities, and how have these changed over the past four decades? How have changing social and economic conditions shaped and been reflected in literature? Finally, what can our examination of post-Mao literary transformations tell us about the current state of Chinese society and what the future might hold?

College of Arts & Science, East Asian Studies Department | 4 units | Class# 4863

*this course can be used to satisfy Gallatin’s Humanities and Global Cultures requirements with a Course Review Request