Literary Sinitic and Transnational Literatures

A confluence of research in literature, linguistics, and the history of writing has encouraged new approaches to Literary Sinitic (wenyan) as a transregional and interliterate medium. This seminar introduces core debates in this emerging field on vernacularization, influence, glossing, disciplinarity, "extraterritorial" Chinese texts (yuwai Hanji), and the Sinographic cosmopolis. We further read examples of reception, commentary, and local composition in Literary Sinitic from the Japanese context to consider how these theories can be applied or contested.