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The National Endowment for the Humanities and the University of Oregon together: Exploring the human endeavor

The Early Modern Vernacular Novel in China and Japan

This four-week seminar will invite sixteen participants from colleges and universities to the University of Oregon campus, July 25 to August 19, 2022, to broaden their Asian Studies and World Literature curricula. Offered for the first time, the seminar focuses on early modern vernacular literary works from China and Japan that emerged during periods of rapid urbanization and the growth of global commercial markets. At the heart of this seminar are two novels: Plum in the Golden Vase from China and Eight Dogs from Japan. Both are adaptations of an earlier Chinese novel, Outlaws of the Marsh. By focusing on one work from each country that derives from the same source text, we will sketch a larger picture of the circulation of texts, techniques, aesthetics, and the development of vernacular language and culture in two East Asian centers of urbanization and commercialization. The seminar will treat these works as aesthetic texts as well as sources for teaching cultural and material history. The co-directors are specialists in Chinese and Japanese early modern fiction; their research and pedagogical experience give them unique insights into these texts and into the challenges and rewards of teaching them.

Please Note: Depending on public-health guidelines related to COVID-19, plans for a residential offering are subject to change.

This seminar has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this seminar and web resource, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.