The seminar traces the early stages and subsequent development of aesthetic theory and criticism in two foundational literary traditions. Each week takes a major topic and compares its treatment in central critical texts of China and Greece. Readings are in both original and translation, with selections highlighted for close attention in the original languages. Key concepts to be studied include writing and orality, ritual, performance and reception, cosmology and the state, mimesis and allegory, as well as genre, authorship, style, and technique.
