Studies in East-West Literary Relations

How ought we to think about the relation between the literary and the material? What is at stake in considering the roles that objects play in texts?  In this seminar, we will examine the ways in which anthropologists, art historians and sociologists as well as scholars of literature have related the interpretation of objects to the interpretation of texts. Topics include the metaphorical relation of object and text, concerns regarding the influence of commodity and gift relations on bonds of human relation, the development of conceptions of intellectual property, the aestheticization of waste. Theoretical writings focus on theories of the gift, the fetish, consumption, and commoditization. Fictional texts include works by James, Twain, Zola, Woolf, Morrison, Feng Menglong, Li Yu, and Lao She.

No knowledge of Asian languages is required.