Unit One Three Key Terms for Western Literature & Art 1
I Culture 2
II Western 8
III Contemporary 11
Unit Two Science and the Humanities 19
I Defi ning Human Knowledge 20
II The Rise of Western Humanism 25
III Humanism in Crisis 30
Unit Three Brain and Mind 41
I The Field of Psychology 42
II Sigmund Freud 46
III From Freud Onward 49
Unit Four Ethics and Aesthetics 61
I Ethics Since Antiquity 62
II Aesthetics in Theory and Practice 67
III The Postmodern Ethical and Aesthetical Turns 72
Unit Five Sex and Gender 83
I Interpreting the Difference 84
II The Feminist Movements 90
III Gender Troubles 95
Unit Six East and West 103
I Approaching China 104
II Politicizing the Orient 111
III A Case of Encounter： The Chinese American 115
Unit Seven History and Histories 123
I The Traces of History 124
II Historicism 127
III Small Narratives and New Historicism 130
Unit Eight Nations and the Globe 141
I Formation of Nations 142
II Going Global 146
III Beyond Globalization 151
內容試閱：
While there are many approaches to contemporary western literature and art, this book takes a cultural one, as works of literature and art are deeply rooted in their cultures. To fully appreciate them, it is therefore crucial to develop a sound understanding of contemporary western culture.
The term culture is perhaps one of the most elusive and meaning-loaded concepts in the study of humanities. A quick search online would yield hundreds of defi nitions in various lengths, each emphasizing a different aspect. Even so, almost all definitions centered on one intrinsic elementhuman. Indeed, literature and art are after all human products, and that is why this book has chosen to take human as the central theme on our journey to the wonderland of western literature and art.
In the first four units, the exploration shall be conducted in the following pattern. As a starter, Unit One outlines the scope with three essential termsculture western and contemporary. Unit Two extends the examination of the human factor in culture by tracing the development trajectory of western humanism, particularly in relation to theology and natural sciences. Unit Three delves into the mental world by turning to psychology and the impact of psychoanalysis on the humanist disciplines. Unit Four scrutinizes the ethical and aesthetic judgments to human activities.
From Unit Five on, the inspection is raised to a collective level. It is all too common for members of a culture to establish their collective identity in contrast to others, and sex and geography serve as two convenient categories for imagining otherness in this regard.Hence, Units Five and Six examine in the western literary and art works how the female and the eastern people have come to be made the others. Meanwhile, they attempt to delineate the reaction by the female and the eastern people being represented. Thereafter, Unit Seven ventures into history and tries to represent peoples interpretation of their collective past through stories. Unit Eight explores the formation of western nations and the status quo of globalization by investigating the expansion and contraction patterns within and between societies.
To help students establish a cross-cultural understanding of contemporary western literature and art, this book has the following three features.
First of all, the Chinese perspective. As will soon be shown, westerners have traditionally defined themselves against the Chinese culture. Similarly, to view the western world from a Chinese perspective might well help us Chinese readers rediscover ourselves. The contemporary Chinese students can get the best of both worlds by taking advantage of the heritage of Chinese culture they are born into and the bountiful western literature and art resources online.
Secondly, the emphasis on origin. Notwithstanding the word contemporary highlighted in the title, no current school of literature and art has developed out of nowhere, and that is why this book strives to trace the different ideas to their very beginning through etymology,for instance. For the same reason, a selection of seminal literary texts for instance, Marco Polos travel notes and Virginia Woolfs essays are provided to develop some first-hand experience.
Thirdly, critical thinking. This book seeks to strike a balance between factual acquisition and critical thinking. In evaluating and appreciating the works of contemporary western literature and art, students are introduced to certain important terms like humanism and such prominent fi gures as Immanuel Kant. The tasks provided in each unit are accordingly designed. All units contain some controversial issues to encourage critical analysis. For instance, Unit Five, Gender and Sex, starts by drawing attention to a possible discrepancy between the pair of synonyms. Unit Seven, History and Histories, urges students to discern the rhetoric of historical writing.
The western world has produced a host of great writers, artists, and thinkers. Within such limited space, this book has to content itself with offering but a glimpse into the rich abundance of their works.
Sept.1, 2020
Chen Bo & Liang Daohua
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