Beyond Words: A Global Program in Literature
"Beyond Words" surveys essential texts and ideas of literature, philosophy and cultures through a critical lens and aims to make academic education in the humanities accessible to the world. Beyond Words is previously known as The Global Novel Podcast.
Beyond Words: A Global Program in Literature
Episode 3 The Tso Chuan: Theorizing "Chuan" In Early Chinese Narratives
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In this episode, we will theorize "chuan" as a unique narrative genre in world literature and unpack its ontological untranslatability by first getting to know the historical background surrounding its completion, which will help us better understand why the narrative tradition of China is so different than that of the West. Due to the historical nature of the genre, We will also discuss the relationship between history and fiction by situating this dichotomy in Aristotle's poetics. Finally, we will hear about what Chinese scholars think of Tso Chuan's literary status in Chinese narrative tradition as well as how it has been understood for the West.
Recommended book:
The Tso Chuan translated by Burton Watson
Audio clips regarding the background of Warring States period of China is from BBC radio In Our Times, with guest speakers Dr. Chris Cullen, Director of the Needham Research Institute at Cambridge University; Dr. Vivienne Lo, lecturer at the Wellcome Trust Center for the History of Medicine; Carol Michaelson, Assistant Keeper of Chinese Art in the Department of Oriental Antiquities at the British Museum.
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