The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Murakami
The White Tiger - Adiga
The Three Way Tavern - Ko Un
China in Ten Words - Yu Hua
The Case for Literature - Xingjian Gao
'In the magnificent opening story, "Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice," a young writer is urged by his friends to mine his father's experiences in Vietnam - and what seems at first a satire on turning one's life into literary commerce becomes a transcendent exploration of homeland, and the ties between father and son. "Cartagena" provides a visceral glimpse of life in Colombia as it enters the mind of a fourteen-year-old hit man facing the ultimate test. In "Meeting Elise" an ageing New York painter mourns his body's decline as he prepares to meet his daughter on the eve of her Carnegie Hall debut. And with graceful symmetry, the final, title story returns to Vietnam, to a fishing trawler crowded with refugees where a young woman's bond with a mother and her small son forces both women to a shattering decision.' (From the author's website.)
In this course we will read work by significant contemporary Asia-Pacific authors and respond interpretatively in discussion and critical and creative writing. Students are introduced to the practice of cross-cultural dialogue and encouraged to contribute to the conversation in their own way, drawing on their own experience, reading and imagination. Issues of mobility, belonging, social change, conflict and personal identity will be explored, with a focus on community storytelling and cultural translation. Workshops will help students to develop their writing skills. The course is aimed at students of English, Creative Writing or Asian Studies.