RAS LECTURE
Tuesday 3rd November, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
Mesa-Manifesto 748 Julu Road, 上海巨鹿路748号
Dr. Oliver Kramer
The Big Novels: an introduction into the fiction of Ming and Qing dynasty China
The Big Novel is all too often known as the Big Unread Novel. Oliver Kramer will examine the imperial classics and introduce a literature that developed independently from Western influence yet addresses questions and gives answers relevant to all cultures. In the process, it hopes to inspire to make more unread novels read.
The novel of the Ming and Qingdynasty was derided as a genre, yet popular and influential beyond the time of Imperial China. Even now, the works of the time are republished, reread and reassessed. There are few in East or West who do not know “Monkey”, even though The Journey to the West (西游记) on which the story is based is less famous than its iconic characters or even the TV series. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三国演义), a tale of warfare and chivalry, has perhaps an even more immediate effect on contemporary culture: apart from numerous plots it has spawned for traditional theatre and opera, it has now become absorbed in the world of computer gamers.Other novels are less internationally famous, such as The Water Margins (水浒传),which sometimes has been compared to a Chinese Robin Hood tale. And then there is the most famous of all novels, The Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦), arite-of-passage novel that combines a stupendous array of genres making it a multi-layered work that rivals any of the great works of world literature.
This talk aims to introduce the major works of Chinese fiction of the last two dynasties. It will talk about the plots and story-lines, the debates they have engendered and the impact they had on society, at the time as well as through history. It will introduce heroes and villains known to most Chinese readers throughout the centuries. It will debate the age-old questions raised by the juxtaposition of metaphysical questions and the mundane, the transcendental and the imminent. It will illuminate periods of China’s history through the aesthetic light of fiction.
Oliver Kramer is Head Master at Oxford International College, Shanghai. He studied Chinese and Japanese at the Universities of Heidelberg, Taipei and Edinburgh eventually ending up with a PhD in Modern Chinese Literature. After several years as a radio journalist and finally finishing that doctorate, he became first a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, then later at SOAS, University of London, before taking over the Chinese department at Eton College. A frequent visitor to China for the last twenty years, he is now residing in Shanghai since summer 2008.
Entrance: RMB 30 (RAS members) and RMB 80 (non-members) those unable to makethe donation but wishing to attend may contact us for exemption, prior to the RAS Lecture. Membership applications and membership renewals will be availableat this event.
RSVP: to RAS Enquiry desk : enquiry@royalasiaticsociety.org.cn