COMPLIT 302

When East Meets West

Description

Why was Chinese and Japanese classical poetry so inspirational to Ezra Pound and the Imagist poets? How was Indian classical literature read in Europe during the period of high colonialism? What was the impact of Ibsen’s plays in China’s literary modernisation? How much have migration and cross-cultural communications between South and East Asia and the West over the last thirty years contributed to the evolution of global forms of narrative fiction? This course explores ways in which the literatures of "the East" and "the West" have encountered and inspired one another, and the range of political and cultural contexts in which this has taken place, including: colonial expansion, spiritual inquiry, modernisation, warfare, migration and globalisation. Central to this exploration will be the study of texts by authors whose experiences represent key moments of mis/understanding and re/interpretation from the nineteenth century to the present.

Availability 2012

Semester 2

Lecturer(s)

Coordinator(s) Dr Hilary Chung
Lecturer(s) Dr Ruth Diver

Assessment

Coursework + exam

Points

COMPLIT 302: 15.0 points

Prerequisites

Any 30 points at Stage II

Restrictions

COMPLIT 206