Week Five: Modern Chinese Literature Fylde Building, Room 412 Wednesday, 1-1:50 pm Instructor: Gang Sui

Li Yaotang (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Lǐ Yáotáng; Wade–Giles: Li Yaot'ang, November 25, 1904 – October 17, 2005), courtesy name Feigan ( ), is considered to be one of the most important and widely read Chinese writers of the 20th century. He wrote under the pen name of Ba Jin (Chinese: ; pinyin: Bā Jīn), Pa Chin, Li Fei-Kan, Li Pei-Kan, Pa Kin, taking his pseudonym from Russian anarchists Bakunin and Kropotkin. Ba Jin started composing his first works in the late 1920s.simplified Chinesetraditional ChinesepinyinWade–Giles courtesy nameChinesepen nameChinesepinyinRussian anarchistsBakuninKropotkin

Ba Jins works were heavily influenced by foreign writers, including Emile Zola, Ivan Turgenev, Alexandr Herzen, Anton Chekhov, and Emma Goldman, and a substantial amount of his collected works are devoted to translations. His writing style, characterized by simplicity, avoids difficult, abstruse words, and makes him one of the easiest modern Chinese writers to read.Emile ZolaIvan TurgenevAlexandr HerzenAnton ChekhovEmma Goldman

Novels and Novellas: Destruction, 1929 The Dead Sun, 1931 The "Love" Trilogy (1931-5) Fog, 1931 Rain 1933 Lightning 1935 New Life 1933 Miners 1933 Germination 1933 A Dream of the Sea 1932 Autumn in Spring 1932 The "Torrents" Trilogy The Family 1933The Family Spring 1938 Autumn 1940 Lina 1940 Fires (in three volumes) Stars (English-Chinese bilingual) 1941

A Garden of Repose novella 1944 Ward No Cold Nights 1947 Nonfiction Random Thoughts Thinking Back on Writing 1981 Exploration and Memories 1982 Afterwords: A Collection 1982 Remembrance: A Collection 1982 Ba Jin: On Writing 1983 Literature: Recollections (with Lao She) 1983Lao She To Earth to Dust 1984 I Accuse: A Collection 1985 In My Heart 1986 Ten Years, One Dream 1986 More Thoughts 1995

Ba Jin died of cancer in Shanghai at the age of 100. His death marked the end of an era for Chinese literature, especially since he was the last major writer to live through the May Fourth Movement.cancerChinese literatureMay Fourth Movement

Dog Ba Jin For the purposes of comparison and/or contrast, discuss identity, dehumanization, racial inequality, social injustice, hypocrisy, brutality, apathy, hatred, distortion of religious institutions/beliefs and absence of a sense of belonging/safety/personal worth as manifested in Langston Hughess On the Road. On the Road -- protagonist: Sargeant (a black hobo) denied access to … -- an antagonist: the Reverend Mr Dorset -- the images of the four doors -- illusion vs. reality -- Christ: to save, or to be saved? God: speaking in black English?

Dog -- setting: the 1930s; a concession? (a tract of land in a Chinese city supposedly on lease to a foreign power) -- the I: a beggar denied access to … -- the I: retrogressing to a dog (or even less) -- antagonists: a tall, thin, wrinkled old man, a young man dressed in a handsome Western suit, a middle-aged man in an elegant long robe, a tall, robust young man, a pair of beautiful legs, the white puppy, people with fair skin, blond hair… speaking in a language (that is beyond me) -- the Holy One (disabled, and demystified): a loving father for all? A futile dummy? What is the use/function of religion? -- the end: captured (like Sargeant)