Graduate

This course investigates literary and visual strategies in China through which material objects are depicted and animated. Our emphasis will be on reading primary sources and viewing real objects (online) up through the 18th century,  but we’ll also incorporate approaches from anthropology, the history of material culture and technology, literary theory, and art history in a comparative context.  Genres to be covered include the ode on things, the it-biography, tales of the strange, the vernacular novel, handbooks for connoisseurs and collectors, paintings and illustrated books. Students will be guided throughout the term to produce a final research paper. This may take the form of a cultural biography of a real object or class of objects; it could be a study of how objects are depicted in fiction or drama, in painting or a specific site; it could investigate how objects are treated in the antiquarian scholarly tradition, or become a form of obsessive collecting; or how they work in religious worship, commerce, or global exchange, but there are many other possibilities. All readings will be available in English. Some previous background in Chinese literature, history, or art history would be helpful but is not required.

The Foshuo guanwuliangshoufojing shuji 佛說觀無量壽佛經疏妙宗鈔 (known for short as the Guanjingmiaozongchao or Miaozongchao) was written by the great Tiantai thinker Siming Zhili 四明智禮 (960-1028) in 1021. For the previous 20 years, Zhili had been the main spokesman and theoretician of the Shanjia (“Home Mountain”) faction in the heated doctrinal debates with the Shanwai (“Off Mountain”) faction of the Tiantai school, and this work brought those controversies to a new fever pitch, making the most radical of the Shanjia doctrinal claims aggressively and provocatively clear.  Among these positions, the Shanjia ideas of “the ultimate dung beetle” 究竟蛣蜣and “all that exists is mind alone, but also matter alone” 唯心唯色 aroused perhaps the fiercest opposition, but the contentions concerning the nature and relations of the Three Bodies of the Buddha (trikaya) with respect to Amitabha Buddha in this subcommentary to a Pure Land sutra were also highly inflammatory, and a Shanwai attack soon followed. Zhili’s disciple Jingjue Renyue淨覺仁岳 (992-1064), his ablest and most ferocious attack dog during much of the previous 20 years of debate, quickly wrote a closely argued defense.   But soon thereafter, Renyue suddenly reversed his position, turning against many of the key Shanjia positions that he himself had so powerfully defended in years past, writing increasingly virulent polemics against his former teacher, thereby initiating the final phase of the Shanjia-Shanwai debate—now between Zhili and his former heir apparent. This class will be a close reading of the key texts in this debate: the Miaozongchao itself and Renyue’s defense and subsequent attack of that text. All readings will be in classical Chinese, reading proficiency in which is a prerequisite for this course. Some familiarity with Buddhist Chinese and theory is also highly recommended. Discussion will be in English. Prerequisites: Strong reading proficiency in Classical Chinese required. Previous knowledge of Buddhism and some experience with Buddhist Chinese is recommended.

Equivalent course(s): DVPR 40450, HREL 40450

From the earliest centuries of the common era until the 1870s, Japanese writers, artists, and scholars considered themselves to be living in the Sinosphere: the realm of China’s cultural and political centrality. Starting with a consideration of Chinese material culture in the Tale of Genji, we will proceed to address topics such as the relation between Chinese and Japanese handscroll paintings, the spread of Chinese-style ink monochrome painting in Japan, the rise of the Kano school as official painters and Chinese-style painting experts, and the immense popularity of literati painting and calligraphy. Korean painting’s intersection with Chinese and Japanese art in the medieval and early modern periods will also factor into the discussion. We will evaluate the changing dynamics around political power and gender embodied in the Chinese/Japanese oppositional duality and reassess the prevailing narratives concerning how the Sinosphere faded from view in the Meiji era.

In KORE 21300, students will learn basic principles, methods, and techniques in translation and apply appropriate strategies and methods to the practice and description of translation. Students will watch pre- recorded lecture videos, complete their weekly translation assignments (Korean to English and English to Korean), and participate in group or individual sessions to discuss their translation works. Students will also choose a literary work or a text of their own choice for their final translation project. The materials covered in this class include medical guidelines, campaign flyers, newspaper articles, reports, brochures, resume, business/academic emails, and editorials.

KORE 21200 is the second quarter of the Fourth-Year Modern Korean sequences. It is designed to continue to improve students’ speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills to an advanced level. This course will be focusing on enhancing speed, accuracy, and comprehension in advanced listening and reading of authentic texts (such as interviews, movies, novels, essays, reports, etc.) as well as the refinement of writing skills in various styles. Students will also discuss social, cultural, and political issues in Korea using their analytic skills and knowledge acquired in class.

This content-based language course designed to meet the needs of high-advanced level students of Korean, including international/heritage language students who have studied in Korea up to the primary school levels. There are two main goals for the course. The first objective of the course is to foster speed, accuracy, and comprehension in advanced listening and reading of authentic contemporary texts as well as the refinement of writing skills in various styles. The second objective is for the students to acquire a deeper analytic knowledge of cultural and social issues in contemporary Korea. By examining various articles, TV shows, and films, we are going to discuss contemporary Korean culture, politics and society. The themes that will be dealt with in the class are “The Hell Chosŏn discourse and Korean youth culture” “Pain and Sympathy: South Korean Society after the Sewol Ferry Disaster” and “Korea as Multi-Ethnic Society.”

This course is intended to improve Japanese reading, speaking, writing, and listening ability to the advanced low level as measured by the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Proficiency Guidelines. Weekly assignments require students to tackle modern Japanese texts of varying length and difficulty. Organized around a range of thought-provoking themes, reading assignments include academic theses, literary texts, and popular journalism. After each reading, students are encouraged to discuss the topic in class and are required to write their own thoughts on each reading along with a summary.

The course is a systematic introduction to pre-modern and early-modern texts written in classical Japanese (bungo or kogo), the standard written language in Japan up to the beginning of the twentieth century. We will learn and absorb the fundamentals of classical Japanese grammar and engage with some of the core grammatical problematics of the language. Throughout the course students will gain a firm foundation in how the language is constructed, increase their comprehension of the language’s vocabulary, and will familiarize themselves with original texts in prose and poetry alike, including narrative fiction (monogatari), anecdotes (setsuwa), essays (zuihitsu), and traditional Japanese poems (waka). The goal is to acquire a firm foundation in the classical language and to be able to read pre-modern texts with the help of a dictionary, for the purpose of academic research.

This course is intended to improve Japanese reading, speaking, writing, and listening ability to the advanced low level as measured by the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Proficiency Guidelines. Weekly assignments require students to tackle modern Japanese texts of varying length and difficulty. Organized around a range of thought-provoking themes, reading assignments include academic theses, literary texts, and popular journalism. After each reading, students are encouraged to discuss the topic in class and are required to write their own thoughts on each reading along with a summary. The class meets for two eighty-minute sessions each week.

This course introduces students to the fundamentals of Classical lyric poetry. The emphasis is on learning how to read poems in the original, but some critical writings in English on Chinese poetry and poetics will also be assigned to provide a context for interpretation.