Comparative Literature

Literary analyses and attempts for various interpretations of English literary works undoubtedly enrich students' general skills in English; their insight into texts, and understanding of some important cultural topics that well reflect the characteristics of human societies. This course aims to foster students' abilities of these through close reading of English literary works of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This session focuses on Emily Bronte's masterpiece, "Wuthering Heights", and examines the narrative, style, and author's messages from many points of view.

This course studies and discusses different aspects of modern science using some of the magical short stories of the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. It uses Borges' work as a vehicle for discussing how our views of the world have been affected by the advances made by science in the last 100 years. In particular, the course focuses on the foundations of disciplines such as cosmology, quantum theory, statistical physics, neuroscience, and computing, as well as mathematical concepts such as combinatorics and the idea of infinity, and other notions such as the concept of time.

Ever since Berlin became the capital of the first German nation state in 1871, it has attracted the attention of German as well as international writers and has featured prominently in fictional as well as non-fictional texts. Observers and visitors from other parts of Germany and from abroad have described and commented on Berlin as the German capital and its political relevance for the nation as a whole, but also as a place that they saw as quite different and disconnected from the rest of Germany. Opinions on the city have always been divided: At different historical junctures and from varied angles, authors have looked at the city with awe and admiration, or with skepticism and bewilderment, highlighting its liberty, modernity, and vibrancy on the one hand, or its ugliness, authoritarianism, or chaos on the other hand. In this course, we will read short literary and journalistic texts by American, English, Swiss, Austrian, Dutch, Russian, and German authors, written between 1870 and 2023 (some originally published in English, some translated into English), describing and commenting on Berlin in imperial Germany, during the Weimar years, in National Socialism, in divided Germany, and since unification. Studying these texts, students will engage with relevant aspects of Berlin history, society, and culture, while reflecting upon the challenges faced with when reading texts from different periods and referring to historical events and figures. 
 

This course investigates the cultural and political significance of food within Paris, with a distinctive literary approach. Focusing on the lively debates and controversies surrounding French culinary culture, it explores how food acts as a gateway to understanding dynamic changes in cities, global systems, and national identity formation. The course analyzes how food has been instrumental in fostering ideas of community and belonging. Through a rich selection of interdisciplinary readings, literary analyses, writing assignments, and exploratory excursions throughout Paris, the course examines how food influences personal identities, everyday life, and the political sphere, with a special emphasis on its representation in literature and the arts.

The swordsman novel of Jin Yong is a representative of Chinese popular literature in the 20th Century. The course will start with the “strange” reading phenomenon discussed by Yan Jiayan, and then introduce Jin Yong’s special life experience and the content of his fifteen novels. Based on the junction of Chinese traditional culture and contemporary culture, it aims to explore the potential great aesthetic values and cultural integrating functions of Jin Yong’s novels.

Teaching Purpose:

To understand the general process of the history of the development of world literature, to explain the formation and evolution of major literary trends and schools on the background of the history of ideological and cultural development; To be able to interpret the ideological content and artistic characteristics of the classic works (about ten works) of classic writers in detail.

The teaching content includes the basic knowledge of literary history as well as the general situation of social history and culture that affect the development of literature. Due to the limited class time, the teaching content is mainly European literature, with appropriate intersperses related content about the influence of Eastern literature on the development of Western literature.

This course teaches about the best achievements of Chinese literature in various ancient periods, enabling students to master the basic characteristics of major literary genres such as ancient Chinese poetry on the basis of studying some of the most representative works.

This course enables students to have a general and basic understanding of ancient Chinese literature, thereby improving their literacy in Chinese literature and laying a solid foundation for further education.

Part One: Tang Dynasty Literature; Part 2: Literature of the Song Dynasty.

Chinese Language (Foreign Language) is an undergraduate major offered by Fudan University for international students from all over the world. "Chinese Modern and Contemporary Literature" is a compulsory course of this major, which is divided into two parts: "Chinese Modern and Contemporary Literature (first)" and "Chinese Modern and Contemporary Literature (second)". It is a major backbone course for international students to study for one academic year after entering the third grade.

As a professional literature course for international undergraduates, the design and implementation concept of this course not only strives to show the overall style of modern and contemporary Chinese literature with time as the history and works of writers of different styles as the background, but also hopes to take emotion, humanity and values as the main line. To present Chinese society and the Chinese people in the literary world in a broader interdisciplinary perspective of literature, culturology and sociology, and to interpret China through literature.

"Modern Chinese Literature" and "Contemporary Chinese Literature" are one of the most popular courses among students from the Chinese Department of Chinese Language and Literature. However, because these two courses are both 4-hour professional compulsory courses, their training objectives, teaching content and The amount of works read far exceeds the needs of students from other departments. This course "Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature" is a public elective course tailored for students from other departments to learn and understand modern and contemporary Chinese literature. This course condenses the essence of "Chinese Modern Literature" and "Chinese Contemporary Literature". By telling the interaction between the important works of Chinese writers from 1917 to the present and Chinese society, it reproduces the "emotional structure" and "collective unconsciousness" of Chinese literature on modern China. "The expression can comprehensively enhance students' artistic realm and humanistic feelings.

The course analyses various depictions of "heroic women" in different cultural contexts and historical times. It explores the notion of female heroism in contrast to male heroism, indicating major differences and similarities. It also deals with women writers’ responses to male writers’ depictions of female protagonists. This course introduces students to certain major representative works of literature/topics from different cultural milieux and thereby develops their literary awareness and sensitivity, with a particular emphasis on the theme of heroic women in literature across a range of cultures and periods; engages students imaginatively in the process of reading and analyzing selected culturally different texts; develops an awareness of intercultural issues by presenting set texts not only individually, but also in relation to each other.