HUMA 1250 THEMES IN LITERATURE: LOVE AND DEATH
Summer 2017
Course duration: 8 weeks
Instructor: Li-fen CHEN
Course Description:
This course concentrates on the themes of love and death in literature and on ways
and the cultural milieu in which writers have handled these themes. It is the aim of
this course to guide students to approach literature as a form of entertainment and
enlightenment. We will study not only canonical works of “high” literature but those
of popular literature as well. For students who wish to learn the interpretive
strategies and understand the thematic significance of literary texts, this course
provides guidance to both aesthetic appreciation and recognition of psychological
and philosophical issues raised in literature. Readings are primarily poems and short
stories. We will also watch some films and discuss the relation of film and literature
in terms of these themes. Topics include the construction of subjectivity, gender and
sexuality, self and society, and the meaning of existence in the modern world.
Half of the readings are in Chinese. Students are expected to have a reading ability of
Chinese. The course will be conducted in English.
Course Objectives:
This course aims to:
•
sharpen students’ sensitivity to literary art and creative expression
•
foster students’ cultural awareness
•
familiarize students with interpretive strategies to tackle the psychological
and philosophical implications of literary texts
•
improve students’ writing and oral communication skills
•
unleash students’ own creative potentials
Course Requirements:

Class attendance. Attendance is essential. Absences exceeding two
allowances will result in a lower grade.

Participation. Students should prepare the required reading before each
lecture and actively participate in class as well as in group discussions.

Midterm exam. Students will answer two questions in short essay form in
English or Chinese.

Final exam. Students will answer two questions in short essay form in English
or Chinese.
Assessment:
• Attendance, class participation, and group discussions: 20%
• Midterm exam: 45%
• Final exam: 35%
Syllabus:
All readings can be accessed on-line via CANVAS.
Week 1: Modernizing Chinese Love Poetry
 Introduction
 徐志摩: Selected poems
Week 2: Rewriting Tradition, Constructing Male Subjectivity
• 鄭愁予:〈錯誤〉;〈情婦〉
Parody and Construction of Female Subjectivity
•
夏宇:〈也是情婦〉;〈甜蜜的復仇〉;〈愛情〉
Week 3: Love Sonnet, Voice, Woman
•
Elizabeth Barrett Browning: “If Thou Must Love me”; “How Do I Love
Thee?”
Sexuality and Lyricism
•
Robert Browning: “Meeting at Night”
Lessons of love
•
John Collier, “The Chaser”
Week 4: In Search of Love and Knowledge
•
Film viewing and discussion: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Week 5: Love and Artificial Intelligence
•
Film viewing and discussion: Her
Week 6: Between Love and Death: The Love Lyric That Is Elegy
• W. H. Auden: “Stop All the Clocks, Cut off the Telephone”
• Pablo Neruda: “A Dog Has Died”
Week 7: Grace under Pressure: Nada, Suicide, Existentialism
•
Ernest Hemingway, “A Clean Well-Lighted Place”
Week 8: Existentialism and Popular Literature
•
村上春樹:〈有熨斗的風景〉; 〈青蛙老弟，救東京〉