Literature Classes

Starting Tuesday, October 1 (2024), Li Bai (Part 2):Golden Days on the life and works of Li Bai (701-762), arguably the greatest poet in Chinese literature, will be offered, will pick up from where Li Bai (Part 1) was left off in early June, 2024, at the point when Li Bai, seeking for gain of recognition of a wider public, left in 723 the southwestern Sichuan province where he grew up and much influenced by the bravura spirit in poetry of many previous masters during the early Tang. He traveled down through the Yangtze Valley and stayed in Jin-ling (Nanjing, today) for almost a year, where he composed the legendary ballad, Calling from Chang-gan, the center piece of our study last semester.

The ensuing 21 years (from 723 to 744) of Li Bai’s legacy of timeless poetic works on wine, moon, friendship, parting, sights of Nature in different seasons, joys and sorrows, glory and drifting in life, transcendent Daoist spirit: transporting inspirations that make up his literary oeuvres, will be selected and explored through a detailed reading of the original poems in Chinese, which is the curriculum of Li Bai (Part 2): Golden Days.

Class Schedule
Tuesday, 6:30 – 8:30 PM
October 1 – December 3
10 sessions (20 hours)
$550 member / $590 non-member
(plus a $30 non-refundable registration fee)
This class will be taught in English.

Modern Chinese literature (1918-2018) presents a spectacular cultural and intellectual transformation that reflected the impacts of political turmoil and societal collapse and rebuilding. A new writing culture emerged and reached immediate florescence in active responses to all the historic themes packed in China including revolutions and wars, poverty and reforms, censorship and ideological fights, and particularly the language itself breaking from the two-millennium tradition of literary Chinese.

In this course, students will read the original texts and engage in an in-depth discussion of works by the five most phenomenal and unusually gifted masters. The works selected will include essays, short stories, and poems by Lu Xun (鲁迅 1881-1936), Hu Shih (胡适 1891-1962), Xu Zhimo (徐志摩 1897-1931), Qian Zhongshu (钱钟书 1910-1998), Yu Guangzhong (余光中 1928-2017), with snapshots of Shen Congwen (沈从文 1902-1988), Ba Jin (巴金 1904-2005), Feng Zhi (冯至 1905-1993), Zhang Ailing (张爱玲 1920-1995)…

*This class will be taught in Chinese. An advanced level of proficiency in the Chinese language is required. A course package will be provided.

Class Schedule
Monday, 6:30 – 8:30 PM
September 30 – December 9 (No Class on October 14)
10 sessions (20 hours)
$550 member / $590 non-member
(plus a $30 non-refundable registration fee)