KSCB751 Contemporary Chinese Literature

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2015
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 4 credit(s) (plus 2 credits for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Irmy Schweiger (lecturer), Mgr. et Mgr. Dušan Vávra, Ph.D. (deputy)
Guaranteed by
doc. Lucie Olivová, MA, Ph.D., DSc.
Department of Chinese Studies – Asia Studies Centre – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. et Mgr. Dušan Vávra, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Chinese Studies – Asia Studies Centre – Faculty of Arts
Timetable of Seminar Groups
KSCB751/01: Mon 19. 10. 9:10–10:45 M22, Tue 20. 10. 12:30–14:05 M11, Wed 21. 10. 9:10–10:45 zrusena M12, Thu 22. 10. 10:50–12:25 M22, Mon 26. 10. 9:10–10:45 M22, Tue 27. 10. 12:30–14:05 M11
KSCB751/02: Mon 19. 10. 12:30–14:05 zrusena M12, Tue 20. 10. 15:50–17:25 M22, Wed 21. 10. 12:30–14:05 zrusena M13, Thu 22. 10. 14:10–15:45 M11, Mon 26. 10. 12:30–14:05 zrusena M12, Tue 27. 10. 15:50–17:25 M22
Prerequisites (in Czech)
KSCA013 History of China II || KSCA017 Chinese literature II
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 12 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/12, only registered: 0/12, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/12
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The PRC does not differ from other socialist countries where the state failed to convince society from its interpretations of the past. In contrast to history, which strives for a neutral and objective stance from which to narrate the past, literature can be thought of as multifunctional when it comes to traumatic history: as healing by restoring meaning where it has been destroyed, as subversive by telling counter-histories of the master-narrative, as complementary by integrating suppressed voices and painful experiences into the collective memory or as disturbing by narrating trauma as a persisting condition that continues into the present. During this course we will look into contesting narratives that are negotiating China’s traumatic past. How is history dealt with in official Party history, in unofficial memoires, in visual and literary texts that make use of different narrative modes to deal with collective trauma in 20th-century China and to reconstruct the past? In order to understand the relationship of historical trauma and collective memory and to show the way in which memory relates to the past and how far memory shapes collective identity of the present, among others the concepts of communicative and cultural memory by Jan and Aleida Assmann will be introduced.
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction: State-Sponsored Amnesia vs. Memory Boom: How to Make Sense of a Paradox?
  • 2. Seminar: The Burden of Memory: A Comparative Approach
  • 3. Lecture: A Tragedy of Good Intentions: The Master Narrative
  • 4. Seminar: Scar Literature: Reflection of Collective Psychology
  • 5. Lecture: Refusing to Forget: Unofficial Memoires
  • 6. Seminar: Literary Testimonials
  • 7. Lecture: Concepts of Memory: Communicative and Cultural Memory
  • 8. Seminar: Counter-narratives and subversive historiography I
  • 9. Seminar: Counter-Narratives & Subversive Historiography II
  • 10. Seminar: Social Media as Memory Spaces
  • 11. Seminar: Diaspora Interventions: Memoires of Exile
  • 12. Wrap-up: Literature and History
Teaching methods
The course will consist of lectures, student presentations, discussions and group work. We will watch short film clips and documentaries, read, analyse and discuss theoretical and literary texts and the students are very welcome to suggest literary texts or other material they would like to include.
Assessment methods
The final grading is:

EITHER exam (A-F), if the final essay is submitted (6 credits)
OR colloquium (P/N), without the final essay (4 credits)


1. active class attendance (30% of your final grade, 20% if the paper is submitted)
* read and prepare assigned texts as basis for class discussion
* share and discuss your thoughts in class

2. short presentation (40% each of your final grade, 20% if the paper is submitted) on a topic related to what is discussed in class

3. worksheets (30% of your final grade, 20% if the paper is submitted)
* worksheets are to be handed before our class session

4. term paper - only those, who passed the requirements above; exam (grading A-F) only; 40% of your final grade
* your final paper (4-6 pages) will be a discussion of a novel or short story that you will analyze on the basis of some to the concepts that we discussed in class
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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