Paula Varsano
What does it mean to “know” a person, and what does it mean to be “known”? What role does language play in this important endeavor—when one is reading, and when one is writing?
This course guides students in exploring how writers in traditional China (and beyond) grappled with the most challenging of subjects: people. Students have the opportunity to (a) acquaint themselves with some of the ethical and methodological questions that have arisen when broaching these questions; (b) read deeply in a selection of writings drawn from a range of genres both in the Chinese literary tradition and in a sampling of Western-language traditions to examine a range of rhetorical tools employed in the portrayal of human lives and character; and (c) try their hand at applying what they have learned to their own creative work.
Although the course is dedicated to problems of language and writing, we also engage occasionally—primarily for the purpose of contrast—in analyzing visual arts, including film, photography, and painting.