HIST 4459

History of Book in China

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2023-2024. Courses of Study 2024-2025 is scheduled to publish mid-June.

One of the pressing concerns for scholars of print culture is how to access the impact of print in the Chinese context. This course will examine the current scholarship on the history of Chinese books within a broader comparative framework of the history of book in general. The readings deal with the impact of print and the growth of book market on the intellectual, social, and political transformation of Chinese society, focusing on the culture and technology of printing as an indispensable condition of textual production, circulation, and reception. By suggesting the history of book not merely as the study of publishing and publishers but as an interdisciplinary approach to combine literary criticism, material culture, and history of the broader social conditions, this seminar aims to provide students an opportunity to conceive their own theoretical framework upon which more specialized research can be built.

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