Professor Li earned her BA from the University of Hong Kong and a PhD from Princeton University, where she taught before coming to Harvard University. She was a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows, and received a senior scholar research grant from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholar Exchange. Her first book, Enchantment and Disenchantment: Love and Illusion in Chinese Literature (Princeton University Press: 1993), traces the discourse on desire and its myriad transformations in the Chinese literary tradition. She is also the author of The Readability of the Past in Early Chinese Historiography (Harvard University Asia Center: forthcoming), which investigates the ordering impulse of Chinese culture in understanding the past, especially in connection with conceptions of rhetoric, exegesis, and interpretation of early China.

GENERAL EXAMINATION FIELDS

Early Chinese Literature (beginnings - ca. 3rd century A.D.)

Candidates are expected to have a broad knowledge of major genres and representative works, as well as their intellectual and historical contexts. They should be acquainted with critical and exegetical traditions, and also demonstrate familiarity with modern scholarly approaches (especially in Chinese and English). General knowledge of later literary history is recommended, although it is not part of the requirement.

Primary Research Language

Students should have a good knowledge of classical and modern Chinese.

Late-Imperial Chinese Literature (Ming and Qing dynasties)

Candidates are expected to be familiar with major genres and representative works from the late-imperial period (from ca. 14th century to the end of the Qing dynasty). They will have a choice of either focusing on works written in classical Chinese (genres of prose and poetry) or in the vernacular (fiction, drama, prosimetric literature), although the goal is to be comprehensively acquainted with all genres and their cultural-historical contexts. They should also pay attention to commentary traditions and modern secondary scholarship. General knowledge of earlier literary history is recommended, although it is not part of the requirement.

Primary Research Language

Students should have a good knowledge of classical, pre-modern vernacular, and modern Chinese.

FALL COURSES

Chinese Literature 152. Masterworks of Chinese Fiction: Tradition and Modernity
Catalog Number: 85564
Wai-yee Li
Half course (fall term). M., 1–4. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7, 8
An introduction to the masterworks of Chinese fiction from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Beyond close readings of excerpts from some of the best known Ming-Qing novels, we will explore the contexts that establish their cultural significance: the traditions they build on, their social and intellectual contexts, the commentaries and sequels they generate, and their reverberations in contemporary culture.
Note: Readings are in both Chinese and English. For works in classical Chinese, students are allowed to consult translations into modern Chinese or English. The course will be taught in Chinese and counts towards the Chinese language citation. It also fulfills the requirement for the EAS junior tutorial.

Chinese Literature 231. Late-Ming Literature and Culture
Catalog Number: 2770
Wai-yee Li
Half course (fall term). W., 1–4. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7, 8
Surveys writings from second half of sixteenth century until fall of Ming, including prose (including “informal essays”), poetry, drama, fiction. Examines late-Ming literary-aesthetic sensibility (and questions how such a category may be justified.)
Prerequisite: Reading knowledge of classical and pre-modern vernacular Chinese required.

SPRING COURSES

Chinese Literature 115 (formerly Chinese Literature 239). Gender and Power in Chinese Literature: Seminar
Catalog Number: 7569
Wai-yee Li
Half course (spring term). M., 1–4. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7, 8
Uses conceptions of gender and representations of women to examine shifting paradigms of virtues and vices, notions of rhetoric and agency, ideas about politics, power and historical explanations, and boundaries of supernatural realms and religious transcendence.

Chinese Literature 232. Early Qing Literature and Culture
Catalog Number: 8447
Wai-yee Li
Half course (spring term). W., 1–4. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7, 8
Examines works in Qing prose, poetry, fiction, and drama. Focuses on memory and representation of the fall of the Ming in early Qing. Explores how this preoccupation merges and co-exists with developments in this period.
Prerequisite: Reading knowledge of classical and pre-modern vernacular Chinese required.