70323 - Chinese Literature II (Second Language) L

Academic Year 2018/2019

  • Docente: Gaia Perini
  • Credits: 6
  • SSD: L-OR/21
  • Language: Italian
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Forli
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Intercultural and Linguistic Mediation (cod. 8059)

Learning outcomes

The student has got a basic mastery of the Chinese literary civilization, he/she is able to recognize its characteristics and features inside some specific texts and is also able to develop other notions and abilities that can be used to read other works of the same literary tradition  

Course contents

The course aims to provide a basic knowledge of the most relevant masterpieces of Chinese literature, starting from the pre-Qin classics, which have laid the foundation of the Chinese civilization, up to the modern novels written during the Ming and Qing dynasties. In this journey to discover this age-old literary heritage, the students will face several different genres (as for instance, the philosophical thought, poetry, short stories and novels); above all, the direct close reading of the texts is favoured over the traditional approach based on learning by rote the historical periods, the authors’ biographies or the styles of writing.

The literary texts will be read and analyzed either in an Italian/English translation, or, if possible, in their original language (under the teacher’s guide). The students will be encouraged to think about the linguistic structures, the translation process and also the modernity of the text.

The lessons will be interactive, which means that after processing the teacher’s explanations about the texts and their historical context, the students should take part in an open active discussion based on each literary work analyzed in class.


Readings/Bibliography

1. Cheng, Anne, Storia del Pensiero Cinese, Feltrinelli, Milano, 1997 (vol. I);

2. Edoarda Masi: Cento Capolavori della Letteratura Cinese, Quodlibet, Macerata, 2009;

3. Mario Sabattini, Paolo Santangelo: Il Pennello di Lacca. La narrativa cinese dalla dinastia Ming ai giorni nostri, Laterza, Bari, 2008;

4. Materials provided by the teacher (short texts from: Classico delle Odi; Analecta di Confucio; Zhuang Zi; Memorie dello Storico; Poesia Tang; Romanzo dei Tre Regni; Lo Scimmiotto; Il Sogno della Camera Rossa).


Teaching methods

Close reading; linguistic analysis; text-context analysis; reception theory (a special emphasis is given to the reader and his/her role in bringing the text to life by reading it)

Each lesson is divided in two parts: besides the introduction to each literary work, the description of its historical context and the close reading under the teacher’s guide, an open discussion among the students will be held (both about the linguistic aspects and the content). The students are required to read by themselves the texts that will be discussed in class (the assignment shall consist of few pages per week: from 5 to 30 at most)


Assessment methods

active participation of each student to the class debates and to the reading exercises held during the lessons; final oral examination 

Teaching tools

PowerPoint files and video, as well as the usual paper books

Office hours

See the website of Gaia Perini