Sustainable Development Goals
Abstract/Objectives
Cultural activities shape the memories of our lives, and in turn, memory continuously rewrites our sense of cultural identity. As AI technology sweeps across the world, how do we, as human beings, distinguish between truth and falsehood within the digital code? How do we engage with both personal and collective memory maps to extract and create shared cultural vocabularies and experiences? This course is led by Professor Pai Hsien-yung, with weekly lectures delivered by scholars and experts from a variety of disciplines and areas of expertise. Following the three-year focus on Eastern and Western literature in the “Pai Hsien-yung Tsing Hua Literary Lecture Series” (2020–2022), the 2023 lecture series shifted to the theme “Cultural Memory and Reconstruction.” Grounded in Taiwanese literature, the course rethinks our land, history, and memory, while integrating elements from theater, film and television, the IP industry, and cultural and creative works. Through this lens, it examines the resilience and boundless potential that emerge when literary works intersect with contemporary visual media.
Results/Contributions

Sponsoring Organization: TSMC Foundation

Number of Students Enrolled: 143

 

Continuing the course concept of “Literature X Performing Arts Duet,” the 2024 iteration shifts the focus from the speaker’s perspective to formal aesthetics, under the theme "Literature X Film Duet." Each week, the course spotlights a film adapted from either Chinese or world literature. Using text as the starting point and visual storytelling as an expanding lens, the course creates a rich, engaging, and dynamic classroom atmosphere that embodies an interdisciplinary learning model.

 

The course is structured thematically, with each week dedicated to one unit. This allows students to grasp the core essence of each topic and cultivate a broad yet deep cultural perspective—building a shared cultural memory among Tsing Hua students.

 

To help students clearly understand learning objectives and course content, each class session includes a lecture and discussion, followed by a guided reading session led by teaching assistants who are PhD holders or doctoral candidates in the humanities and social sciences. These sessions will walk students through key textual excerpts, explaining literary meanings and narrative depth in detail. This approach ensures that even students unfamiliar with the original works can gain insight into the art of literary and cinematic adaptation, and experience the joy of reading across genres and eras.

 

For students who have previously encountered the featured works, the lectures and dialogues delivered by scholars and experts offer a fresh opportunity to reflect—connecting literary origins with cinematic interpretations, and engaging in deeper contemplation of how human cultural memory is preserved and reconstructed.

Keywords
Modern Literature, Taiwanese Literature, World Literature, Adaptation, Cultural Studies, Film
References
Contact Information
羅仕龍
losl@mx.nthu.edu.tw