Chinese Poetry in the Far West

This course combines a study of Tang poetry with a survey of its influence on non-Chinese poetry in the modern era. We will emphasize the American context and Ezra Pound as the "inventor of Chinese poetry for our time," as T.S. Eliot memorably put it. In order to give students with no knowledge of Chinese the necessary tools for making the most of a facing-page translation, we will spend a significant portion of the course learning the characters most common to Tang poetry as well as the fundamentals of classical grammar. We will thus read the original poems alongside multiple translations and also discuss loose adaptations in "Chinese" modes. Theoretical questions concerning the nature of intercultural adaptation and globalization will be a constant concern. Readings will include numerous Chinese and American poets, and also extensive critical theory. For students with no knowledge of Chinese. 3 hrs. lect/disc.