Abstract
The project aims to develop two new courses about transcultural studies for (under)graduate students. It is inspired from "Translation Studies" and "Sino-Occidental Exchanges during the Late Qing and the Republican Era," two courses that I have given during the past years in France and in Taiwan. In the new course, I will focus on six topics which can provide a survey of different aspects of Sino-occidental exchanges in Republican literature and culture during 1912-1949. The six topics will include "Translation and Adaptation of Text," "Transmission of Language and Reception of Key Words," "Space and Modern Urban Civilization," "Travel and Migration," "Students Abroad and Overseas Chinese People," and "Images and Mass Culture." The project will provide a connection to my research and teaching experiences, and allow to concentrate on the field of literature. It will give me a chance to strengthen my research in Republican literature, and will help graduate students to develop their interest in the domain. The project is not only for teachings and studies related to one single author, genre, or publication. From an open and interdisciplinary point of view, I will try to work with students on the period during which the Sino-occidental exchanges were rich and frequent. Since the late Qing, the Sino-occidental exchanges becomes an irreversible trend which will be even strengthened because of the May Fourth Movement. The project-course tries to reexamine the imitation, appropriation and transformation of Western literature and culture in the field of Republican literature. Besides, I will also pay attention to the transmission of Chinese literature and its reception in the domain of Sinology of Western world. The texts studied in this course will not be limited in traditional literary genres such as novel, poetry, drama, or essays. Instead, I will attempt to include heterogenous texts such as notes, journal articles, advertisements, and iconographical materials. In addition to my personal research, I hope to make use of the teaching resources and the experiences of this project-course to help graduate students discover texts which are unknown or unfamiliar to most researchers, and help them explore different possibilities of research in modern Chinese literature.