3 credits
This section for graduate students only
This class meets with EALC-C 306

Classical Chinese is one of the world's great literary languages.
More great works of art may have been written in Classical Chinese
than in any other language.  Part of the reason these works are
great is because they were written in a language so plastic that
when Western explorers first asked masters of Chinese prose about
the grammar of their language, the universal response
was, “Grammar?  There isn't any!”  Sometimes it seems that way.
Verbs become nouns from one line to the next, adjectives change to
verbs at the slightest provocation, prepositions become predicates,
interjections become subjects, and just when you think everything is
sorted out, numbers change into adverbs and a common conjunction
turns out to be the author's younger brother.  But somehow, once you
begin to catch on to its tricks, Classical Chinese becomes
transformed from a bewildering collection of ideographs into a
literary language more powerful than anyone raised in the narrow
world of alphabets and unambiguous syntax could imagine.

C306/C506 is a first step in mastering this remarkable language.
Using original literary works, we confront the most basic problems
of vocabulary and syntax.  Students begin learning how to coax from
texts their underlying grammatical structures and to identify the
easy regularities of the language in order to focus on writers'
dynamic use of ambiguity.

A sequence course, Literary Chinese II (C307/C507) will be offered
during the Spring 2009 term.

Text.  There will be a Coursepack of readings, glosses,
explanations, and exercises.

Prerequisites.  A grade of C or better in second-year Modern Chinese
or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.