Week Three: Modern Chinese LiteratureFylde Building, Room 412

Wednesday, 1-1:50 pm

Instructor: Gang Sui

A Madman’s DiaryLu Xun

For the purposes of comparison and/or contrast, discuss “satire”, “unreliable narration”, “reality/delusion”, “madness”, “horror”, and “cannibalism” as manifested in Poe’s The Tell-tale Heart and Swift’s A Modest Proposal.

-- a frame story (the madman – an official post?)

-- the “I” (Who is reliable?)

-- human characters (male, female, old, young, living, dead)

-- animals as characters

the Zhaos’ dog, the steamed fish, the hyena

-- setting: “The sun has stopped shining….”

cf. Macbeth

“real men vs. beasts”

“The fierceness of a lion, the timidity of a rabbit, the craftiness of a fox….”

-- man-eating history

-- questioning “tradition”, “Virtue/Morality”, and “brotherhood”

-- self-discovery: “I, who will be eaten by others, am the younger brother of an eater of human flesh!”

-- self-criticism/regret/repentance: “I may have eaten several pieces of my sister’s flesh unwittingly, and now it is my turn….”

-- “Save the children….”: from being/doing what?