Wan Boo Sow Lecture: The Neglected and The Popular

Topic: The “Neglected” and the “Popular”: A Discussion on the Studies of Pre-Modern Chinese Literature

Speaker: Professor Tan Tian Yuan

The history of Chinese literature extends thousands of years, giving rise to a vast collection of writers and literary works. Some rose to fame while many remained unnoticed. What could be the reason for that? Was there a selection process to determine what is considered classics? Who got to decide? What were the criteria, and did they change over time? How is Chinese literature seen through foreign eyes?

This talk aims to discuss, through subjective and objective perspectives the factors that determine how a literary work is received (including the preservation of texts and their forms, historical commentary and compilation, as well as the various aesthetic concepts in literature).