ASNST-226 From Oracle Bones to the Printed Page: A Media History of Chinese Literature

An interdisciplinary and transnational exploration of Chinese literature through the different media literary texts have inhabited over three millennia. We will ask how the physical media in which texts circulate can change the way they make meaning. Course begins in ancient China with texts incised in bone, cast in bronze, inked on bamboo and the earliest form of paper, and then charts the dramatic impact of woodblock printing on both Chinese literature and East Asian literature more broadly. Students will have an opportunity to handle brushes, ink stones, and Chinese woodblock printed texts.

Maximum Enrollment

Proseminar (16)

Credits

1.00

Notes

 No previous knowledge of China, the Chinese language, or Chinese literature is expected or required.