CHIN-3542: Modern Literature from Taiwan

Course Description: This is a fifth-level Chinese course with a focus on applying your language skills in advanced reading, writing, and discussion contexts; in many ways, you may think of this as a content course that happens to be conducted in Mandarin Chinese. The topic of the course focuses on modern literature from the island of Taiwan. Once a peripheral island in the Chinese imaginary, it has long since become central to discussions of Chinese identity and nationhood. We will use literature as a lens for learning about Taiwan history, culture, and politics from the twentieth century to today, covering topics such as colonialism, leftism, political oppression, nativism, feminism, and Indigeneity through the works of canonical writers such as Lai He, Long Yingzong, Pai Hsien-yung, Chu T’ien-wen, and Syaman Rapongan.