KSCB002 Modern Chinese Literature

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Ondřej Vicher (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Ondřej Vicher
Department of Chinese Studies – Asia Studies Centre – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Ondřej Vicher
Supplier department: Department of Chinese Studies – Asia Studies Centre – Faculty of Arts
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 50 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/50, only registered: 0/50, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/50
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course provides an interpretation of the history of Chinese literature from the late 19th to the begining of the 21st century, with an emphasis on key trends and movements in Chinese literature within the historical and political background. It introduces the most important authors, themes and content of their works. Through reading excerpts in the original, students will learn about the specific features of their works, better understand the differences in literary styles, and deepen their language skills.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course, students should be able to:
- define a basic overview of Chinese literature from the late Qing Dynasty to the present, with an emphasis on key literary genres, major literary figures and their works.
- identify the role of national tradition and foreign influences in the formation and development of modern Chinese literature
- Introduce the development of Chinese literature in the historical and political context of the 19th–21st centuries.
- discuss the reception of modern Chinese literature in the West
- read and navigate original texts of the main authors of the period
Syllabus
  • 1. Literature at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and the origins of modern Chinese literature
  • 2. The May 4th Movement - the meaning and context of the era
  • 3. Poetry and essays during the May 4th Movement
  • 4. The origins of communist literature and "literature for the masses" and Mao Zedong's "Talks on Literature and Art"
  • 5. PRC Literature in the 1950s and 1960s
  • 6. Literature after the Cultural Revolution
  • 7. "New Realism" and Literature Reflecting the Cultural Revolution
  • 8. Avant-garde literature, literature in search of roots and the influence of Western modernism
  • 9. Women's literature, hooligan literature and the development of literature in the 1990s
  • 10. Contemporary literature since the beginning of the 21st century
  • 11. Modern Chinese Literature in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Overseas Chinese Literature
Literature
    required literature
  • HLADÍKOVÁ, Kamila. Moderní čínská literatura : učební materiál pro studenty sinologie. Illustrated by Veronika Kušniriková. 1. vyd. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci, 2013, 189 s. ISBN 9788024438405. info
  • MCDOUGALL, Bonnie S. and Kam LOUIE. The literature of China in the twentieth century. 1st pub. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997, vii, 504. ISBN 0231110847. info
  • From May fourth to june fourth : fiction and film in twentieth-century China. Edited by Ellen Widmer - Dewei Wang. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993, xviii, 435. ISBN 0674325028. info
    recommended literature
  • SHIH, Shu-mei. The Lure of the Modern: Writing Modernism in Semicolonial China, 1917-1937. University of California Press, 2001.
  • CARVER, Ann C. - CHANG, Sung-sheng Yvonne, eds. Bamboo Shoots after the Rain: Contemporary Stories By Women Writers of Taiwan. New York: The Feminist Press at The City University of New York, 1990.
  • The Cambridge history of Chinese literature. Edited by Kang-i Sun Chang - Stephen Owen. 1st pub. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010, xxxi, 793. ISBN 9780521116770. info
  • Chinese literature in the second half of a modern century : a critical survey. Edited by Bangyuan Qi - Dewei Wang. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000, xliii, 332. ISBN 0253337100. info
  • Setkání a proměny : vznik moderní literatury v Asii. Edited by Zlata Černá. Vyd. 1. Praha: Odeon, 1976, 284 s. URL info
Teaching methods
Lectures, reading of original texts and translation, discussion
Assessment methods
Active participation in class discussions and a semestral work.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2012, Spring 2017, Autumn 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/KSCB002