New Online Course: 金瓶梅 taught by Brendan O'Kane

[OneEye]

Hi all,

 

I'm happy to announce a very special new course we're offering: Chinese Culture through the Great Novels: The Plum in the Golden Vase Jīn Píng Méi 金瓶梅

 

An infamously lurid novel—despite its enduring popularity, it has been officially banned for most of the 400+ years since its publication—金瓶梅 tells the story of Xīmén Qìng 西門慶, a corrupt merchant and social climber, and chronicles his moral decline and the inevitable collapse of his house.

 

This one will be taught by Brendan O'Kane. Brendan taught our Intro to Premodern Chinese Literature course last year. Our students have enjoyed that course so much that I've gotten a lot of requests for him to teach another. Brendan's expertise is in Ming and Qing fiction, and particularly 金瓶梅, so we're very excited to be able to offer this course.

 

Those of you who have taken our previous courses will know that we've been doing the lessons live via YouTube livestreams. We're trying something different this time—Brendan will be pre-recording the video lessons, and we'll post a new lesson each week for 20 weeks, starting 29 April. Jin Ping Mei 金瓶梅 will be our window on Chinese society during the Ming Dynasty, and so each lesson will be a combination of longer lecture-style videos on the novel (5 chapters per lesson), plus shorter videos on relevant aspects of Ming history, culture, and society. 

 

There will also be live Q&A sessions each week during that 20-week period, and periodically (once or twice a month) thereafter. This way you can take the course at your own pace, but there's still an ongoing live component where you can get your questions answered by Brendan.

 

The course starts on Monday, 29 April. We're pricing it at $299, but there's a $100 early bird discount using the discount code 'jinpingmei' at checkout if you sign up before the course begins.

 

Happy to answer any questions!