Chinese self-writing has a rich and multifaceted history. Autobiographical texts not only continue to make for fascinating reading, but they have also long been regarded as an important part of the Chinese literary tradition. Our inquiry pursues three goals: (1) To get an understanding of the conventions of self-writing in China, we read and discuss important premodern Chinese autobiographical texts in classical Chinese from a spectrum of genres, including prefaces, letters, and poems. (2) We review traditional and contemporary approaches to the interpretation of these texts, focusing on questions of narrative, the representation of self-hood, and authenticity. (3) To throw the early and medieval Chinese autobiographical tradition into sharper relief, we look beyond ancient China and include selected autobiographical works of other literary traditions (ancient and modern) into our discussions. To complement the literary sphere, we also look into self-representations in other media. Overall, the seminar revolves around what happens when humans put themselves into their writing: Why are we writing about ourselves and what are the rules of this kind of writing? Why are we reading autobiographies and making them part of our canons?
Prerequisite: one year of classical/literary Chinese (or kambun/kobun), either at Yale or elsewhere. Modern Chinese is not required, and students are not expected to know the pronunciation of the texts we read in Mandarin (i.e., Korean, Japanese, Cantonese, etc. pronunciation is fine). Students who have never taken literary Chinese but have reason to believe that they can handle the course readings (e.g. native speakers of Chinese or Japanese) should consult the instructor. Instructor permission required.