31331 - Chinese Literature 3

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student is able to read, understand and translate short texts of Chinese literature into Italian. They are also able to place the text in its cultural and historical context.

Course contents

Knowledge and skills to be acquired
At the end of the course the student has deepened his knowledge of modern and contemporary Chinese literature, and is able to highlight the connections between the main historical events and the transformations at the cultural and literary level.
He/she has acquired the theoretical knowledge necessary to elaborate a critical interpretation of forms and contents, and is able to comment and expound using specific languages and methodologies for the analysis of literary texts.
The course is designed for those students who have already acquired basic knowledge of modern and contemporary Chinese history, thought and society through at least one of the following subjects: East Asian History, East Asian Philosophy, Sociology of Asian Countries. In addition, students are required to know the fundamentals of the history of Chinese literature from the 4 May 1919 Movement to contemporary times. This knowledge can be acquired in the following subjects: Chinese Literature 2, Chinese Culture and Literature 1.

Contents
The course will provide overviews for an in-depth understanding of the main historical and social changes that have characterised Chinese culture in recent times. Literary works, popular culture and trans-media works (visual culture, film and television transpositions, mix media, etc.), gender studies and cultural studies will be analysed.
The course is divided into three parts:
1) Introduction to the main aspects of the economic reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s and the evolution of Chinese society from the 1980s to the early decades of the 21st century. Particular attention will be paid to the narrative of national and individual identity. The following topics will be explored in depth: literature as socio-economic, political, ecological critique; the web-literature of the new post-1990s generations; the narration of precariousness and the new identities of workers; science fiction and alternative reality proposals.

2) The main issues related to gender identity that have emerged as a result of economic liberalisation and the opening up of Chinese society towards globalisation will be addressed. In particular, insights will be offered on: literature of the body; women's literature; new masculinities; queer narratives. Finally, some hints will be given on autobiographical narratives of transcultural Sino-speaking authors based in Europe and America, within the overall framework of transnational mobility and cultural fluidity that characterises the 21st century.

3) Translation of a short text from a contemporary Chinese author. Students will be guided towards the study of the main aspects concerning literary translation through guided reading of the original text and comparative analysis between examples of different translations (into Italian or English).

Readings/Bibliography

1. HISTORICAL-LITERARY BACKGROUND & TRANSLATION STUDIES

Historical outlines of Chinese contemporary literature:

selected chapters from:

- Routledge Handbook of modern Chinese literature, a cura di Ming Dong Gu (2020)

- The Columbia Companion to Modern Chinese Literature, a cura di Kirk Denton (2016)

 

Theory and practice of translation from Chinese into Italian:

selected chapters from:

– Silvia Pozzi. Il carattere e la lettera. Tradurre dal cinese all'italiano, Hoepli, Milano 2022.

- Nicoletta Pesaro (a cura di). La traduzione dal cinese. Riflessioni, strategie e tipologie testuali, Hoepli, Milano 2023.

 

 

2. LITERARY WORKS (IN TRANSLATION):

List A

· Mo Yan, Sorgo rosso, trad. dal cinese di Rosa Lombardi, Einaudi, 2014 (o altre edizioni).

· Mo Yan, Il paese dell’alcol, trad. S. Calamandrei, (Einaudi, 2016);

· Wang Anyi, La canzone dell’eterno rimpianto, trad. dal cinese di Maria Rita Masci (Einaudi, 2011).

· Yan Lianke, Il sogno del villaggio dei Ding, trad dal cinese di Lucia Regola, (Nottetempo, 2011).

· Yu Hua, Brothers + Arricchirsi è glorioso, trad. dal cinese di Silvia Pozzi (Feltrinelli, 2009);

· Yu Hua, Vivere!, trad. dal cinese di Nicoletta Pesaro (Feltrinelli, 2009);

· Yu Hua, Cronache di un venditore di sangue, trad. dal cinese di Maria Rita Masci (Feltrinelli, 2018).

List B

· Beijing Tongzhi, Beijing Story, trad. dal cinese di Lucia Regola (Nottetempo, 2009);

· Chi Ta-Wei, Membrana, trad. dal cinese Alessandra Pezza (add, 2022);

· Han Han, Le tre porte, trad. dal cinese di Silvia Pozzi (Metropoli d’Asia 2000);

· Hao Jingfang, Pechino pieghevole, trad. dal cinese di Silvia Pozzi (add 2020);

· Fan Yusu, I am Fan Yusu (2017) versione inglese online;

· Fang Fang, Wuhan. Diari da una città chiusa trad. dall’inglese (Rizzoli 2021);

· Guo Xiaolu, Nove continenti (2018) trad. dall’originale inglese Nine continents: A memoir in and out of China

· Lin Bai, Gatta. Giorni d’ebbrezza, trad. dal cinese di Maria Gottardo e Monica Morzenti in Rose di Cina (Edizioni e/o, 2003);

· Li Yiyun, Mille anni di buone preghiere, trad. dall’originale inglese A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2006);

· Liang Hong, China in one village. The story of one town and the changing world (2010);

· Liu Binyan, Two kinds of Truth. Stories and Reportage from China (University of Indiana Press, 2006);

· Mian Mian, Nove oggetti di desiderio, trad. dal cinese di Maria Rita Masci, (Einaudi, 2001).

· Sheng Keyi, Crescita selvaggia, trad. dal cinese di F. Picerni, (Fazi, 2022).

· Wang Shuqi, Cene per uno davanti ai fiori, trad. dal cinese di Martina Codeluppi (2019)

· Xu Zechen, Correndo attraverso Pechino, trad. dal cinese di Paolo Magagnin (Sellerio, 2014);

· Zhou Weihui, Shanghai baby, trad. Yuan H., (Bur, 2001);

· Zhu Wen, Dollari, la mia passione, trad. dal cinese di M. Gottardo e M. Morzenti (Metropoli d’Asia, 2009).

· AA VV Cinarriamo – Racconti di autori sino-italiani (Orientalia, 2019);

· AA VV Cinarriamo 2 – Racconti di autori sino-italiani (Orientalia, 2022);

 

3. CRITICAL ESSAYS:

Charles Laughlin, Chinese Reportage: The Aesthetics of Historical Experience. Durham: Duke University Press, 2002.

Fan Boqun, A history of modern Chinese popular literature. Cambridge 2020.

Jin Siyan, Subjective Writing in Contemporary Chinese Literature, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 2020.

Zhang Yinjin, A world history of Chinese literature, Routledge 2023.

Li Guo, “From the Margins to the Hearth”, Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, FALL, 2019, Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 162-206

Harlan Chambers, “Liang Village Series, Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, FALL, 2019, Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 249-292

Tani Barlow, The Question of Women in Chinese Feminism, Durham: Duke University Press, 2004.

Valentina Pedone, “Il favoloso mondo di Chen Xi. Narrazioni popnell’epoca della fluidità culturale”, LEA - Lingue e letterature d’Oriente e d’Occidente, n. 7 (2018), pp. 3-17.

Fiona J. Doloughan, Radical Realism, Autofictional Narratives and the Reinvention of the Novel, Anthem, 2023, Chapter 5: A cross-cultural memoir: Xiaolu Guo’s Once upon a time in the East.

Bao Hongwei, Queer China: Lesbian and Gay literature and visual culture under Postsocialism, Routledge 2020.

Geng Song and Derek Hird, Men and Masculinities in Contemporary China, Brill 2014

Pamela Hunt, Rebel Men: Masculinity and Attitude in Postsocialist Chinese Literature, Hong Kong University Press, 2022.

Andrea Riemenschnitter, Jessica Imbach, Justyna Jaguscik (a cura di), Sinophone Utopias: Exploring Futures beyond the China Dream, Cambria, 2023.

Michel Hockx, Internet Literature in China, Columbia University Press, 2015.

Micheal Berry, Translation, Disinformation, and Wuhan Diary: Anatomy of a Transpacific Cyber Campaign, Palgrave MacMillan, 2022.

Petrus Liu, Queer Marxism in Two Chinas, Duke University Press, 2015.

 

 

In view of the final oral examination, students must choose one literary work from List A and one work from List B. Each of the two chosen works will be accompanied by at least one critical essay.

N.B. Further critical essays will be proposed from week to week and uploaded on Virtual.

Students may propose additional works/critical essays to be included in the analysis of the chosen topic.

Teaching methods

Lectures, seminar meetings, in-class film viewings with discussion, group work.
Active student participation is strongly encouraged.

Assessment methods

The examination consists of an oral test during which the lecturer will assess students on the following topics:
1. mastery of the main historical/cultural/social issues relating to China from the 1980s onwards and framing of the thematic insights covered in the course.
2. translational analysis of a passage taken from the text translated in class.
The assessment of the test will be based on the following parameters: knowledge of the topics and propriety of language; ability to critically use the texts and concepts studied; ability to create logical and descriptive links between texts and related cultural/social phenomena; ability to propose and argue personal considerations; ability to historically contextualise the phenomena and identify the particular features of the texts studied.

3. Paper. In addition, during the final oral examination students will present and discuss with the lecturer the paper produced in advance on one of the topics covered in the course. The topic will be agreed with the lecturer at least three months in advance of the date of the exam in which they wish to take the exam. Starting from this research, students will have to produce a thesis (3500 words including bibliographical references), which will be handed in in advance and discussed during the oral exam.

N.B. For attending students, group work is possible. More information will be made available on the Virtual Platform.

Teaching tools

Gli argomenti affrontati nelle lezioni frontali verranno sviluppati attraverso lavori di gruppo guidati su approfondimenti specifici e/o testi. I dettagli sui contenuti e sull'organizzazione del lavoro saranno definiti all'inizio delle lezioni.

Una serie di film verrà proiettata durante il corso. La lista dei film, insieme agli orari delle proiezioni, verrà fornita all'inizio delle lezioni. A integrazione delle lezioni, sono previsti inoltre seminari tenuti da noti esperti di letteratura cinese e sinofona, e altre iniziative che prevedono la presenza di ospiti italiani e internazionali. Tali attività integrative fanno parte a tutti gli effetti del programma d'esame.

La partecipazione al 70% delle attività a latere del corso - accertata secondo modalità che verranno specificate all'inizio delle lezioni - verrà valutata come parte d'esame.

Office hours

See the website of Valeria Zanier