Funny Love: When Eros Meets Humor in Chinese Literature

In this seminar we will read and critique “erotomantic” poems, plays, jokes, and stories from imperial China. They struck and amused the Chinese as both funny-strange and funny-haha. We will ponder: Why does such literature often involve humor? Does its eroticism entail it? Does its strangeness make it risible? What purposes does its humor serve? What does its funniness say about premodern Chinese conceptions of love, attitudes toward sex, sense of humor, and worldviews? What does it say about us today who may or may not find it outlandish and/or titillating? And what about the human condition at large?