Wilt L. Idema obtained his BA and MA from Leiden University. Following continued study in Sapporo (at Hokkaido University) and in Kyoto (at Kyoto University), and research in Hong Kong (at the Universities Service Center), he returned to Leiden, where he taught in the Department of Chinese Language and Culture. He obtained his doctorate in 1974, and was promoted to Professor of Chinese Literature and Linguistics in 1976. Since 2000, he has been teaching at Harvard as Professor of Chinese Literature. Wilt Idema's research initially was focused on the early development of Chinese vernacular fiction (Chinese Vernacular Fiction: The Formative Period, 1974), but later shifted more towards early Chinese drama (Chinese Theater 1100-1450, A Source Book, with Stephen West; 1982; The Dramatic Oeuvre of Chu Yu-tun (1379-1439), 1985; Wang Shifu, The Moon and the Zither: The Story of the Western Wing, with Stephen H. West, 1992). In recent years he also has published on Chinese women's literature of the premodern period (The Red Brush: Writing Women of Imperial China, with Beata Grant, 2004). His current research is focused on China's rich tradition of popular narrative ballads. He is also the author, with Lloyd Haft, of A Guide to Chinese Literature (1997). For his voluminous Dutch-language translations, especially of classical Chinese poetry, he received the Martinus Nijhof Award for 1991, the highest distinction for literary translations in the Netherlands.

PUBLICATIONS

Personal Salvation and Filial Piety: Two Precious Scroll Narratives of Guanyin and Her Acolytes

GENERAL EXAMINATION FIELDS

Traditional Chinese literature (from the end of the Tang to the end of the Qing)

Candidates are expected to demonstrate a general knowledge of the major literary genres, works and authors of the period concerned, against the background of the major political, socioeconomic, intellectual and religious developments. While the emphasis will be on the vernacular genres (prosimetric literature, drama, and fiction), contemporary developments in classical literature and criticism also will have to be covered. Students are expected to have read the representative works in each of the major genres (at least partly in the original) and a larger selection of works in their genre of specialization. They are also expected to be acquainted with (and have developed a critical attitude to) the scholarly literature in English and to be aware of the main scholarly approaches in China and elsewhere.

Primary Research Language

Students in this field are expected to have a sound background both in modern and in classical Chinese; they also will have to acquaint themselves with the relevant varieties of the vernacular.

SPRING COURSES

Chinese Literature 201b. History of Chinese Literature: 900-1900: Seminar
Aesthetic and Interpretive Understanding 39. The Appropriation of Folklore in Modern and Contemporary China