Università Roma Tre

The course aims to illustrate the highlights and crucial points of contemporary Chinese literature, from the 1950s of the 20th century to the present, in order to highlight, through the analysis of the most representative works and authors, the main trajectories, theoretical views, ideas, feelings, values, ideological assumptions, and contradictions that have marked the recent history of mainland China. The course also aims to deepen the ability to read, understand, and critically analyze narrative texts in Chinese.

The course will be divided into two parts: the first part will consist of frontal theoretical lessons where the main themes of the course will be presented; the second part will instead focus on the guided reading and analysis of the texts in Chinese provided by the instructor.

First part: List of the main thematic areas
1. Yan'an Talks
2. Socialist Realism and Revolutionary Romanticism
3. After Mao: Scar literature and Dark Poetry
4. The 'Search for Roots' movement and Avant-garde
5. Neorealism
6. Literature, the Market, and the Internet

- Pesaro, N., & Pirazzoli, M. (2019). La narrativa cinese del Novecento. Autori, opere, correnti. Roma: Carocci (Parte seconda: L’era contemporanea).
- Pedone, V., & Zuccheri, S. (2020). Letteratura cinese contemporanea. Correnti, autori e testi dal 1949 a oggi. Milano: Hoepli (Chapters 1-6).
- Additional materials uploaded on Teams and Moodle